A sea of a million and a half faces, voicesand whistles echoing in the city streets, effigies of Bush and Blair covered inpainted blood, banners of protest, banners of derision, peace flags and peacefairies mingling in an outpouring of democratic free speech and assembly.
Pacifists, Muslims, activists, Greens,concerned citizens, Tories and New Labours alike, anyone and everyone wasrepresented.' Regardless of age, race, social class, ethnicity, religiousbackground, or other identifying characteristic, the march welcomed anyonewilling to show solidarity in denouncing the United States' accelerationtoward war.
The millions of protesters who gathered thispast Saturday in cities throughout the Western world have sent a powerfulmessage that is still being ignored.' The D-Day of Feb. 14 has come andgone, and the UN is no closer to a resolution than the day before.'
The UnitedStates however, is becoming more aggressive and more divisive in its drivetoward armed conflict.' Threats are being made in council meetings andtroops have already been deployed.' The UN and NATO are split and quicklycrumbling, bringing the rest of the Western world to its knees.' Economicsanctions, military revocations, and diplomatic backbiting are all taking theirtoll upon global efforts at cooperation.' Eastern European countries arethrowing in with the U.S. while Western Europe is still firmly committed to adelayed UN solution.' Members of the European Union are engaged in debatesthat highlight the cultural and ideological chasms between nations.
Declarations, vetoes, and politicalalliances are springing up throughout the world, with far-reaching andpotentially detrimental consequences.' The focus of the 1990s on globalcooperation and economic prosperity has been supplanted by international strifeand terrorist threats.' The privilege of its moat-like isolation gives theUnited States a bargaining chip European nations don't have.' WWIIwas not fought on the soil of Kansas. No concrete and barbed wire wall ranthrough the center of Los Angeles.' A single European nation cannot affordto alienate all its neighbors, nor fight a war on its own.' America thinksits superpower status gives it more global clout than any other country--beingthe bullying big brother has its perks.
The situation of the UK does not parallelthat of America.' The Twin Towers did not fall in London, anthrax did notinvade the Royal Post, but terrorism is still a major concern for the people ofthe nation.' The airports now have military guards, and a poison scare waslinked to Muslim asylum seekers.' The British people are well aware of thethreat posed by terrorism, yet the majority of the population does not supporta war on Iraq.' It is because of, and in spite of, all of these reasonsthat Sunday's march was the largest protest British history has everseen.' Masses of people filled the London streets for over seven hours,and most Western European cities saw similar anti-war demonstrations.
The divisions over this war are madeexplicit at every level.' From the demonstrators this weekend waving signsand shouting slogans to the disagreement on the UN Security Council, everyindividual and every nation is forced to choose a side, to back a politicalprogram, to subscribe to an ideology, and ultimately to proclaim an allegiance.
