The New York rally, held near the United Nations building, was organized by United for Peace and Justice, a coalition endorsed by a wide range of groups, from the U.S. Peace Council, to the National Council of Churches, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

While the political tone of the New York rally was set by the Democratic Party politicians and other liberals who spoke, and by the patriotic, pacifist, and Stalinist forces that predominated among its organizers, the action was also marked by the large-scale participation of students and other young people.

Placards expressing variations on the theme of "No war for oil" were visible here and there among th crowds, registering a recognition that Washington’s professed reasons for going to war--to deal blows to terror, to eliminate "weapons of mass destruction," and to establish democracy in Iraq--camouflage the real, profit-driven motivation of U.S. imperialist foreign policy.

Many speakers and participants viewed the war drive as the personal crusade of President Bush, rather than as the latest step in Washington’s accelerating bipartisan course toward more conflicts and wars. They presented "regime change" in the United States--that is, the election of a Democratic Party president--as a solution to the war drive.

Many called for prolonged United Nation weapons "inspections" as an alternative to an invasion. A number carried signs applauding the stance of the governments of imperialist France and Germany, which have posed as champions of the United Nations and advocates of peace, as they maneuver to advance their own imperialist designs upon the oil wealth and other resources of the Arab-Persian Gulf.

Like the sanctions imposed and maintained by resolutions of the UN Security Council, the inspections are part of continuing and deepening violations of Iraqi sovereignty that help pave the way for war.

A number of signs said, "Vive La France." Others read "Nein," meaning "no" in German. Some participants carried large pictures of Hans Blix, the head of the UN arms "inspections" in Iraq.

United for Peace and Justice co-chair Leslie Cagan told the New York Times that rally organizers wanted to show that the United Nations could be "a symbol for the possibility of international cooperation."

Several speakers also argued that the drive toward war is a "diversion" from the social crisis at home--frequently adding in the next breath that the "threats" from Al Qaeda and the north Korean workers state are more immediate than that from Iraq.

"There should be no rush to war," said Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, "when our cities need funding for schools, hospitals, and other vital services."  
 
For ‘intrusive’ inspection regime
NAACP chairman Julian Bond said that the administration’s concentration on war with Iraq was a strategy to win the recent mid-term elections and to "obscure" the erosion of civil liberties and rising unemployment. "In lieu of a unilateral attack," he said, an "intrusive, unfettered inspection regime" should be reinforced in Iraq, backed by a force of multinational soldiers.

"If we really favor regime change," he added, "we ought to begin right here at home."

"Real patriots must stand up and give peace a chance," said National Action Network leader and Democratic presidential aspirant Alfred Sharpton.

"I stand ready to defend America against any threat," said Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. "But we must not be afraid to also fight for peace." Lee said it is hypocritical to go to war in Iraq where she said the sanctions are working while ignoring the more immediate threat in North Korea.

Others spoke out against aspects of the bipartisan war at home. Maher El Jamal of the Arab American Muslim Federation criticized the government’s requirement that immigrants from a number of countries report to immigration officials to be interrogated, fingerprinted, and registered. "We are being hunted and denied our human rights for no other reason than being Muslim and from the Middle East," he said.

Many in the youthful crowd told Militant reporters that this was their first such demonstration. Emily Hellman, Mike Forcella and Noah Gage--all 20-year olds--came to the rally together from Alfred College in western New York. "We wanted to be part of something big," said Hellman. "We’re about to finish college and be thrown into the middle of all this."

Danika Nieves, 16, and Cathy Rizzo, 33, came from New Jersey. Nieves said that she had joined the rally "to be part of educating the public." Rizzo hoped that the UN would decide "not to attack Iraq."

Jordan Frohlinger, 22, is from Massapequa, Long Island, and attends Nassau Community College. "Some students say that the war doesn’t affect them," he said, "but it does."  
 
City denies permit to march
In a serious attack on long-established rights to protest, city officials refused the organizers a permit for a march from the UN building to Central Park, and restricted their activity to a rally. A federal judge concurred with the city’s contention that a march would constitute a "security risk." No march has been permitted in the area since the September 11 attacks.

The police even denied the coalition’s request to place portable toilets along the rally site, saying that the portajohns would pose a "security threat."

The thousands of cops on duty penned the action into an area along First Avenue estimated to hold around 10,000 people. Uncounted thousands never reached the rally. Forced to walk many blocks and through an obstacle course of police barricades, protesters spilled onto streets throughout midtown Manhattan.

Throughout the day the cops continued to clear people from areas nearly three blocks away, driving empty buses through the streets to force marchers onto the sidewalks. Rally organizers released a video the following day showing cops using pepper spray and wading into crowds with horses.  
 
Actions in other cities
An estimated 200,000 people joined the San Francisco action. Some of the signs read, "Let the execs fight for oil, bring our boys home;" "Regime change 2004;" and "Inspections work, war won’t."

A group of 20 young Koreans marched to the rhythm of a drum with an image of a reunified Korean peninsula in blue on the back of their red T-shirts.

Large groups of Chinese workers joined the action. The march and rally had been set for February 16 to avoid conflict with celebrations of the Chinese New Year the previous day. The Chinese Progressive Association distributed leaflets in Chinatown encouraging participation in the march.

Connie Liu, 40, said she decided to join the march because "things are bad now and would only get worse if there were a war." Liu recently lost her job and lives with her family in a Chinatown single-room-occupancy hotel.

Some 10,000 people marched in Philadelphia on February 15. Jim Duncan, a 21-year-old physics student at Haverford, opposed both Washington’s war moves and the calls for stronger action by the UN Security Council. "I think that the U.S. makes justification for war for its own interest," he said. "There should be no sanctions, no inspections."  
 
Protests around the world
The large marches in a number of cities in other countries also included a patriotic current--this time bearing a strong anti-American stamp.

More than 750,000 rallied in London--one of the largest protests, alongside those organized in Italy and Spain. Among the speakers at the rally were former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson and actress Vanessa Redgrave. A contingent from the Peterborough Islamic Society chanted, "Who are the terrorists? Bush and Blair!"

In Glasgow, Scotland, 50,000 people rallied outside the spring conference of the Labour Party.

An estimated quarter of a million people rallied across France, 100,000 of them in Paris. Supporters of the Socialist Party, Communist Party, Green Party, and others who had been part of the previous left government called on the present government to use its veto in the Security Council.

Large contingents organized by committees that defend immigrants participated with banners reading, "Defend the Palestinian and Iraqi people."

Demonstrations were organized in a number of cities and towns in Iceland, from the capital of Reykjavik, to Akureyri in the north, to Isafjordur on the northwestern peninsula. About 2000 participated in Reykjavik protest, called by Campaign Against War, a coalition of various pacifist and political groups.

Members of the Left-Green political party, the only parliamentary party with an official position against war on Iraq, carried signs saying "Iceland Against War" and "Stop US Imperialism."

Despite rain and strong wind, the march headed to the Icelandic government building and then to the U.S. and British embassies. The representatives of the United Kingdom and Germany are in the same building, and a group of people began shouting: "Go Schröder!"

In Athens 200,000 people marched on the U.S. embassy. The action was called by the country’s main trade union organizations, including the General Confederation of Greek Workers, the Civil Servants’ Supreme Administrative Council, and the Athens Labor Center. Rallies took place in 30 other towns, organized by the Communist Party of Greece, the Coalition of the Left, and the governing Panhellenic Socialist Movement.

A protest of a similar size was organized in Sydney, Australia.

Judy Darcy, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, told a rally of 30,000 in Vancouver that the Canadian government should have its "own" foreign policy. Not just Iraq, but the United States and the workers states of north Korea and China should be disarmed, she said.

Demonstrations took place throughout the province of British Columbia including 6,000 in Victoria. Signs carried at a rally of 12,000 in Edmonton read, "Leaders for Peace: France, Germany and Canada!"

At a march of 10,000 in Auckland, New Zealand, a banner demanded, "Boycott U.S. Brands!" Margaret Crozier of Greenpeace called on "our prime minister to stand up for New Zealand."

Rollande Girard in San Francisco; Hilda Cuzco in Philadelphia; Joyce Fairchild in London; Carol Ball in Glasgow; Nat London in Paris; Sigurlaug Gunnlaugsdóttir in Reykjavík; Georges Mehrabian in Athens; Linda Harris in Sydney; Beverly Bernardo in Vancouver; Natalie Stake-Doucet in Edmonton; and Terry Coggan in Auckland contributed to this article.
 
 
Related articles:
Socialists attract youth interested in revolution
Thousands march in South Africa against drive to war on Iraq  
 
 
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