A lively MIM, RAIL and SLALA contingent hit the anti-war march down Hollywood boulevard in Los Angeles February 15. Our literature table often attracted crowds several people deep, looking to pick up their copies of MIM Notes and sign our petitions. Our comrades' efforts garnered 200+ signatures supporting our demand that the University of California divest from Israel, and another 100+ signatures in support of Philippine political refugee Jose Maria Sison.(1) We also handed out 1200 copies of MIM Notes, and the crowd could easily have absorbed more.(2)
In a stellar example of the importance of quality activism over quantity, one interested onlooker pushed us over the 200 mark on UC Divest signatures for the day by taking charge and gathering signatures himself. After listening to RAIL debate Israeli settlerism with some Zionist critics, this persyn grabbed a clipboard and circulated through the crowd filling it with signatures. Activists from the Women in Black, an organization of Israeli and Jewish wimmin who oppose the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, also asked for blank petitions they could circulate and return to us. Two Croatian peace activists with banners reading "No Support for U.$. War, No support for I$rael" spent time at our table discussing Israeli atrocities in the occupied territories.
Plenty of protesters MIM talked to said the February march was their first, and MIM is happy to see the anti-war forces continuing to build momentum. The main march and rally in LA drew probably 50,000 or 60,000, and area demonstrations from San Diego to Ventura drew an additional 10,000. LAPD estimates for the January 11 and February 15 marches were 5,000 and 30,000; organizer estimates were 15,000 and 100,000 for the two events respectively.(3)
The number of new demonstrators who came out in February means that there is no shortage of work for revolutionaries to do in getting our analysis of events out to more people. The fact that two-thirds of Amerikans support a war against Iraq should not discourage us as there are many more in that last one-third who have not yet come into contact with MIM's line.
As we argued in MIM Notes 276, even the small minority marching against war is sorely in need of confrontation with revolutionary politics.(4) Among the anti-war marchers we saw on February 15, the most common slogans reflected the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. The "impeach Bush" folks (who clarified to MIM that they are also calling for Cheney's, Rumsfeld's and Ashcroft's job) were out in force. We also saw signs sporting the slogan "duct tape this," with a picture of Bush with his mouth taped over; and others saying "hey Daddy, I can make war too."
MIM does not spend a lot of time skewering Bush as an individual because we are concerned with the system of imperialism. After all, Amerika's last Democratic president signed the so-called Iraq Liberation Act supporting what is politely called "regime change" -- George Bush's acknowledged goal in going to war. But Amerikans have short memories, and the unfortunate truth is that many people at the anti-war marches believe this war would not be in the making if Al Gore were in the White House. Another way of saying this is that the anti-war demos would be a lot smaller with a Democratic president.
Similarly, protesters have raised the slogan to "win without war" or to "use the UN" instead of using bombs on Iraq. Which really begs the question: use the UN for what? And what, to these people, is so wrong with waging a hotter war against Iraq in the first place? MIM is no more in favor of "coercive diplomacy" than we are in favor of quickening the bombing campaign against Iraq. We are agitating against the u.$. military presence in the Middle East, not to negotiate its form.
Some protesters told MIM they do not "trust" the polls that say two-thirds of Amerikans support going to war in Iraq. To see more opposition to the war pollsters had to throw in the conditions of substantial Iraqi civilian casualties, substantial u.$. military casualties, or a lengthy and expensive occupation. Amerikans would also prefer to wait for UN approval on a war (though it is not clear from the polls if this is more out of concern for international opinion or the expense of a war).(5) To the people who say Amerikans have more anti-militarist credentials than all that, we point out the gap between numbers of Amerikan anti-war demonstrators and their counterparts in Europe.
Using the rally totals from indymedia.org for the 15 February demos, less than 700,000 Amerikans, or less than one-quarter of one percent of the population, came out for anti-war demonstrations. Compare that to the 1.5 million, or 2.5% of the British population, who rallied in London. Pundits pointed to enormous demonstrations in European countries whose governments oppose the war as well. Even though these populations seemingly had less need of demonstrations, 1.5% of France's population rallied, along with 4.3% in Italy and 6.8% in Spain.(6) Looking at it another way, with less of a reason to march and one-seventh the population, the Spanish people came up with four times as many anti-war demonstrators as the Amerikans. It stands to reason that the most parasitic country would have the worst record on protesting military aggression.(7)
RAIL and SLALA comrades caught their share of flak from Zionist opponents of our UC Divest petition. One critic told our comrades that never having been to Israel they could not understand its politics. A RAIL activist responded that even though he'd never been to the moon he was quite certain it was a large barren rock. Our critic called Israel the only democracy in the Middle East and stressed the importance of supporting the Israeli peace movement.
We have heard this racist, war-mongering myth about Israeli democracy before. Zionism's liberal wing uses it to exaggerate the importance of the tiny minority of Israelis who are "brave" enough to challenge their government, even in the midst of a "hostile" Arab world. But the history of I$rael is one of land grabbing, genocide and aggression towards everyone in the region. Already U.$. foreign aid to I$rael is $18 million per day, six times as much as the U.$. spends on "famine relief" for the entire world.
Anti-war protesters should be especially wary of the myth of the exclusive democracy of the Israeli state as Amerika prepares for war in Iraq. The U.$. has every intention of installing a quisling regime in the place of Saddam Hussein, and of supporting this regime with a military presence more intrusive than that in Afghanistan, if necessary. Talking democracy in the Middle East is code for supporting U.$. interests -- interests that include free and easy access to the oil in the Persian Gulf.
Many Zionists slandered RAIL as anti-semitic, some saying of the UC Divest petition: "I'm Jewish, I can't sign this." One confused and reactionary banner had the slogan "Anti-War, Pro-U.S., Pro-Israel." Divesting from Israel has much less to do with Jews than with the fact that the one-quarter of Palestinian children are living with malnutrition under Israeli occupation, border closings and curfews.(8). Divesting means refusing to support the humiliation of the Palestinian people under the daily brutality of the Israeli occupation.
Notes:
1. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/cal/DivestIsrael.htm http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/agitation/philippines/sisonpetitionoct02.htm
2. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/pirao/mndistrocampaign.html
3. MIM Notes 275, Los Angeles Times 16 February, 2003.
4. www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/mn276.pdf
5. New York Times 14 February, 2003.
6. Look for Feb 15 coverage at indymedia.org It is true that the numbers are not perfect, but they generally reflect the pull between the low estimates of the police and the high estimates of demo organizers.
7. For those who question the big national polls and MIM's analysis of the anti-war movement, we recommend conducting your own poll. MIM has done this, and has refined and suggested some questions for future polls. www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/mn271.pdf
8. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/mn269.pdf