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Weekend anti-war protests continue across Middle East, Asia, Europe as thousands demonstrate
CAIRO, Egypt - More than 15,000 university students in Egypt called for holy war to help the Iraqis fight off the allied "aggression" while tens of thousands of others from Spain to Indonesia poured into the streets bearing banners, yelling chants and lighting candles for peace.

Most demonstrations against the 11-day-old war were peaceful, though in many countries the demonstrators expressed frustration with their governments' support of the coalition offensive in Iraq.

posted by West 7:25 AM

 

Massive rallies denounce war
(The New Zealand Herald, 31 March 2003)
More than 100,000 angry Indonesians, many carrying young children, jammed the streets of Jakarta yesterday, shouting anti-American slogans and waving protest banners over the war in Iraq. . . . demonstrators shouted "America, America: terrorist, terrorist" . . . The crowd in Jakarta gathered near the British Embassy before marching to the heavily fortified US mission. Witnesses said more than 100,000 people, including thousands of women in white veils, took part. Organisers put the number at 250,000. . . . More than 100,000 people protested in strongly anti-war Germany, half at a rally in Berlin, where banners read "Stop America's Terror". . . . Hundreds of women, some carrying placards declaring "The US and Britain are the axis of evil", protested in Sana, Yemen. . . . Elsewhere in the Arab world, 10,000 turned out at a rally organised by Egypt's ruling party in Port Said. . . . In Amman, Jordan, more than 3000 people demanded that the kingdom expel US troops. . . . Protesters in Rome hung black mourning banners from the city's bridges. . . . In Athens, 15,000 people chanting "We'll stop the war" marched to the US Embassy.

posted by Lorenzo 10:14 AM

 

Students, rights activists march for peace on U.S.-Mexican border city
TIJUANA, Mexico - Wearing black ribbons and singing songs critical of the war, hundreds of young people marched through this teeming border city Saturday to protest the military conflict in Iraq.

Human rights activists, religious groups and students from various schools led the protests, which began in Tijuana center and ended simultaneously at the San Ysidro bridge spanning the U.S.-Mexican border and at the theater of a local university.

"Look, just around the corner, here comes (U.S. President George W.) Bush, bombing," they sang. "With the world watching and clothed in lies, he says that they are winning. And where there are other tyrants, he barges in to replace them, possessed by the oil devil."

Saturday's demonstration was the fourth anti-war march held in this city of nearly 1 million people across from San Diego, California, since the Iraq war began on March 19.

posted by West 8:37 AM

 

Tens of Thousands Around World Rally for Peace
BOSTON (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Boston to protest the war in Iraq, the latest in a wave of peace demonstrations that circled the globe on Saturday.

In what officials and historians said was the biggest protest in Boston in at least 30 years, thousands chanted "This is what democracy looks like" as they paraded through the elegant streets of America's education capital.

The diverse crowd included not just students and faculty from New England college campuses but families and retired people -- many of whom said the U.S.-led war had triggered a political awakening in their souls.

"This war spoke to me as being wrong, unjust, immoral and certainly not what American values are all about," said Susan Hughes, a former member of President Bush's Republican Party who lives in Groton, Massachusetts.

"Bush started this war to depose a dictator, but now we have an administration that is acting like the dictatorship we are trying to take out," the 46-year-old said as she prepared to march through Boston.

In New York, a few hundred protesters, primarily pro-Palestinian and also opposed to the Iraq war, marched down Broadway from Times Square to Union Square in downtown Manhattan. Demonstrators waved large Palestinian flags and chanted for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian areas and against the war.

Last week, an estimated 150,000 to 250,000 people protesting the war marched along same route.

posted by West 8:34 AM

 

Muslims, Christians side by side as Iraq peace protests sweep globe
AKARTA (AFP) - A fresh wave of demonstrations against the US-led war on Iraq (news - web sites) kicked off in Asia, with the Muslims and Christians of Jakarta marching side by side to oppose the continuing conflict.

As hundreds of thousands rallied in Indonesia Sunday, the world's most populous Muslim nation, China gingerly allowed its first anti-war protests and Europe geared up for another day of pacifist action.

About 200,000 people, many of them women with children, marched through Jakarta in the country's biggest protest to date against the 11-day-old war to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The protestors, many of them Muslims in white dress, gathered in a sprawling city square facing the US embassy, guarded by police wielding batons and shields.

Several Christian youth groups added their weight to the protes, and their presence was acknowledged by the main speakers.

Crowd estimates varied. Police put the number of participants at around 200,000, while the organisers said more than three million people showed up.

One group of protestors held up a strip of green cloth the length of a football pitch, inscribed with "Stop the massacre in Iraq". Other people crowded round to write their names on the banner.

The organisers -- a coalition of Muslim groups including some of the country's most influential religious bodies -- dubbed the gathering a rally of "one million believers".

posted by West 8:30 AM

 

LOBBY WASHINGTON ON APRIL 8, 2003 TO CREATE A U.S. DEPARTMENT OF PEACE!
dopcampaign.org - At this critical time in our nation's history, righteous action is the antidote to despair. Please participate in a powerful citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace, sponsored in the House of Representatives by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. This bill establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, cultivating an array of peace-building policies and procedures. On April 8th, this historic legislation will be introduced for a second time; whether or not it becomes law is dependent on whether we, the people of the United States, take the time to make phone calls, lobby our Congresspeople, and in other ways create the political will to make it happen.

Please join us, either in Washington D.C. for the bill's introduction and our initial lobbying campaign, or in your local area, as we blanket every Congressional district with a strong message of support for a Department of Peace.

posted by West 9:30 PM

 

Police approve but limit China's first anti-war protests
BEIJING (AFP) - Police have given the go ahead for China's first domestic protests against the war on Iraq, but greatly limited the numbers allowed to demonstrate, organisers said.

posted by West 10:02 AM

 

Police use tear gas as Malaysian opposition protest Iraq war
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysian police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators, mostly from the political opposition, who rallied Saturday outside the Australian Embassy here to protest the war in Iraq.

The protesters, who staged a sit-down demonstration outside the embassy, scuffled with police when officers moved in to scatter the crowd, but there were no reported injuries. Police then fired a round of tear gas.

Twelve protesters including a woman were arrested for defying police orders to disperse, Mohamad Nor Masdar, a police spokesman told reporters.

Kuala Lumpur Deputy Police Chief Ahmad Baharin said the rally organizers did not seek police permission as required by law.

"This is an illegal rally. They don't have a permit and therefore they should not be here," Ahmad told The Associated Press.

posted by West 10:01 AM

 

South Koreans protest war in Iraq; students scuffle with police
SEOUL, South Korea - Students scuffled with riot police as thousands of activists marched through downtown Seoul on Saturday to protest the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

posted by West 10:00 AM

 

Protests intensify against Iraq war across India's largest state
LUCKNOW, India - Thousands of protesters burned effigies of U.S. President George Bush and held marches across India's most populous state Saturday, opposing the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

"Do not spill blood for oil!" the protesters shouted as they marched on the streets of Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

On Friday, mobs clashed with police in the Muslim-dominated city of Aligarh in this northern state and officers opened fire. Six protesters and a number of police were wounded. Saturday's protest was largely peaceful.

posted by West 9:58 AM

 

Thousands protest against Iraq War in Cape Town, demand U.S., UK and Spanish ambassadors be expelled from South Africa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Thousands of anti-war protesters burned American flags Saturday and demanded that U.S., British and Spanish ambassadors be expelled from South Africa.

Lawmakers, activists, trade union members and religious groups were among more than 10,000 who marched to the U.S. Consulate, the South African Press Association reported.

Some carried Palestinian and Afghanistan flags and placards that read: "Down with imperialist war" and "Satan's puppet — Bush."

The chairman of Parliament's foreign affairs portfolio committee, Pallo Jordan, said the war was not about weapons of mass destruction.

"What the war was about from the very beginning, was to change the government of Iraq and to put their own government in there, so they can gain access to Iraqi oil," he said.

posted by West 9:55 AM

 

Young Poles stage protest in Warsaw against Iraq war
WARSAW, Poland - Some 2,000 young Poles, banging drums and chanting "No Blood for Oil," demonstrated in downtown Warsaw Saturday against the U.S.-led war in Iraq and their own government's support for it.

The protesters marched to the U.S. Embassy, which was heavily protected by riot police and metal barriers, in Poland's largest anti-war demonstration so far.

"War always means innocent victims, " said Marcin Wyszkowski, 24, a history student who traveled from Krakow, some 300 kilometers (180 miles) south of Warsaw, for the protest. "There is no moral justification for the aggression — only U.S. economic and strategic interests in the region."

posted by West 9:51 AM

 

Protests across Italy against war
ROME - Anti-war protesters held rallies across Italy on Saturday, hanging black mourning banners on bridges in Rome and marching toward a U.S. military base in northeastern Italy.

Italy is home to a strong anti-war movement, with scattered protests most days since the war in Iraq broke out. Demonstrators oppose both the conflict and the Italian government's position of allowing U.S.-led coalition forces to use Italian air space and military bases for logistical purposes.

"This flag is a sign of mourning for all those killed in this war, who have no political color or party," said Lucia Corbo, a 55-year-old teacher who helped hang a black banner on a Rome bridge.

Lorenzo Parlati, 31, who works for an environmentalist group, said the black flag represented both death and oil — "which is the real reason behind this war," he said.

More rallies occurred across the nation, from Turin in the north to Palermo in Sicily, where about 20 activists got onto the roof of the city's Politeama theater, hanging a banner that read: "Disobey the war."

posted by West 9:39 AM

 

More anti-war protests ahead as public fears long Iraq conflict
PARIS (AFP) - Campaigners across the world were gearing up for another weekend of protests against the war in Iraq, as public fears mounted that US-British forces could become embroiled in a bloody and prolonged conflict that would have dangerous consequences for global security.

posted by West 9:36 AM

 

Pakistan Asks for Peace Talks With India
SLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan on Friday urged the United States and Britain to arrange peace talks with India to resolve the intractable Kashmir dispute — the cause of two wars and perpetual tension on nuclear-armed South Asia.
 
"We will welcome any proposal on their part to help ensure peace in the region," Information Minister Sheikh Ahmed told The Associated Press in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital. "We would like to see them get involved."

Ahmed was responding to a joint statement issued Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw asking New Delhi and Islamabad to "consider immediately implementing a cease-fire and taking other active steps to reduce tension."

posted by West 9:34 AM

 

Mexico to use its position as head of U.N. Security Council to continue to push for peace in Iraq
MEXICO CITY - Mexico plans to use its monthlong post as head of the U.N. Security Council to push for peace in Iraq without increasing tension among the deeply-divided body.  

In a phone interview Friday night, Mexican Ambassador to the United Nations Adolfo Aguilar Zinser said his country's delegation was "perfectly ready" to confront the security council's "particularly complicated situation."

As a non-permanent member, Mexico will have its chance to head the security council starting Monday and lasting through April 30.

While it has called for Iraq to disarm, this country's government has been critical of the U.S.-led fighting in Iraq and used its position on the security council to push for peace until the war began March 19.

posted by West 9:30 AM

 

Over 200 Arrests in New York Anti-War Protest
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Police arrested 215 protesters on Thursday, including some 150 who lay down in the middle of New York's 5th Avenue during the morning rush hour as part of a "die-in" to protest the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

About 400 anti-war activists converged near Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, many of them lying on their backs near the intersection of 49th Street and 5th Avenue and others holding signs and chanting "No War, No Oil, No Profit."

The "die-in" resulted in about 150 arrests for disorderly conduct and blocking traffic, a police spokesman said. Other arrests came at smaller demonstrations at other intersections.

The two-hour peaceful protest, which closed part of 5th Avenue and snarled city traffic, was the latest of several acts of civil disobedience and anti-war demonstrations in New York and other large U.S. cities.

Since last week, similar demonstrations have closed downtown San Francisco streets with a total of more than 2,000 people arrested.

The United States and Britain invaded Iraq a week ago, saying they wanted to overthrow President Saddam Hussein and rid the country of suspected weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has denied possessing the weapons.

"I'm against this illegal war of aggression," said protester Daniel Grulich. "I think there are ways through diplomatic and multilateral action that we could have disarmed Saddam Hussein."

Several of the demonstrators said they were also protesting media coverage of the war and accused "corporate media of making profits off the war."

posted by West 7:10 PM

 

South Koreans protest planned dispatch of troops to Iraq war
SEOUL, South Korea - Hundreds of teachers rallied near South Korea's National Assembly on Thursday to urge legislators to vote against a government bill authorizing the dispatch of 600 military engineers and 100 medical personnel to support the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

posted by West 8:13 AM

 

Hundreds Protest in New York's Anti-War 'Die-In'
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Scores of protesters lay down in the middle of New York's 5th Avenue during Thursday morning rush hour as part of a "die-in" to protest the U.S.-led war on Iraq and police said they arrested at least 60 people.

posted by West 8:12 AM

 

Peace Activists Planning to Disrupt Manhattan by Sarah Ferguson
villagevoice.com - Taking their cue from protesters in San Francisco, who shut down that city's financial district last week with a wave of raucous street blockades, marches, and sit-ins, activists in New York—including many from more mainstream groups—are calling for widespread civil disobedience in midtown Manhattan this Thursday. Their aim is to disrupt "business as usual."

The actions include a mass die-in at 8 a.m. at Rockefeller Center to protest "media collusion and corporate profiteering from the war." (Rockefeller Center houses NBC and General Electric, among other companies.)

There are also plans for roving traffic blockades at intersections and other "creative disruptions" outside the offices of media firms, oil companies, and military contractors, starting at 7 a.m. and continuing throughout the day.

As with the San Francisco demos, "autonomous affinity groups" will decide how and where they intend to disrupt. A list of potential targets is posted at www.m27coalition.org.

"We want to bring home the fact that life here can't just go on like normal while people are being slaughtered in an unjust war abroad," says Max Uhlenbeck, a student coordinator for United for Peace and Justice, which organized Saturday's four-hour march down Broadway.

posted by West 8:15 AM

 

Abraham On War
There will always be those who thrive . . . There are always those who thrive when masses are dying of sickness. There are always those who thrive economically when economic decline seems to be the order of your nation. There are always those who are clear-minded, even in environments of confusion. You do not need everyone, you do not need anyone, to align with your desire-only you need to align with your desire. . . . And where your work lies, where all of your work lies, is in finding ways to vibrationally align with your desires. Simply put: you've got to figure out how to feel good, no matter what. You've got to stop saying, "I feel good, mostly, but under these conditions; and that condition needs to change before I can feel better." Because now you are giving all of your power away to others who are making decisions about their lives, which have nothing to do with your lives. . . . So then you say, "So, what do I do? I put blinders on? I hide myself? How can I drive down the street without being aware of different people having different opinions about whatever is in the news today? . . . How do I keep from feeling outrage or concern or blame, or guilt? How do I live in this world and not respond to what's going on?" And we say, we would not want you to live in a world where you are not responding to what's going on. All we are suggesting is that you practice who you are and how you feel, so much, that your response to what they are doing doesn't become more of who you are, than your response to what you are desiring. What we are suggesting is, that you think so much about who you are, and what you are doing-that what others are doing that feels like it is happening in relationship to you-is a miniscule part of the picture of that which is You. . . . We are not here to debate the rightness or the wrongness of what you, or anyone, chooses. We are not taking sides, for, or against, anything. We are here to help you understand that, as individuals, your life can be as wonderful or as horrible as you allow it to be. And it all depends upon the focus that you practice. And therein lies the basis of anyone's success: How much do I practice the thoughts that bring me joy, and how much do I practice the thoughts that bring me pain? . . . No one can ever do anything "bad" to you. No one can assert into your experience. Everything, without exception, comes only by your individual invitation to it. . . . When you give something your attention and it becomes your dominant vibration relative to the subject, that is your asking. You say, "No, I'm asking for Well-being. How could not Well-being come into my experience?" And we say, because you often are not a vibrational match to Well-being. You're finding too many things to fuss about. You're finding too many things to be upset about. You're finding too many injustices-too many things that make you feel negative emotion. . . . The only way that we have ever seen that any of you can use the Guidance that you were born with is by making this statement and really meaning it and coming to live it: "Nothing is more important than that I feel good. Nothing is more important than that I am consciously aware of the vibrational mix of that which I am giving my attention to. Nothing is more important than that I read the vibration of my Being in this moment, to know whether it's a life-giving moment, or a life-squelching moment; whether it is the allowing of Well-being, or the disallowing of Well-being." . . . So, let's say that there are two people who have a disagreement that you don't understand, that are arguing in the parking lot. And as you walk by, you hear their argument, but you are used to things going well for you. And so, while you couldn't help but hear them, you wonder, sort of, how you even got there. You don't give it very much attention. But someone that you are with turns and hears them a little bit, and says to you, "Wait up for just a moment." Now, your natural instinct isn't to get involved in something like this, but you have another intention, and that is to stay with the friend, or lover or mate, that you came with. So, while you do not have an intention to get involved in any argument, in fact, that's not the nature of you, you do have an intention to stay with this person who has other peripheral intentions. And so, it turns out that the person that you are with has had a parking lot or two scuffles of his own, and is only peripherally interested, so he just stops for a moment and as he listens, he hears something that stirs something within him, and now he feels that he must take action, because he can see that the big one is clearly going to beat up on the little one. . . . And so, your friend now gets involved, and now you're involved. Now, somebody else comes, and somebody else comes, and before you know it, you have a whole lot of people that are, sort of, gathered around this issue that really did not have anything to do with the beginning of it. But the more you listen, and the more you begin to talk among yourselves, the more you begin to take sides. And then you can clearly see that this one is right, or you can clearly see that this one is right. And now, because of your involvement with it over a period of a few days or weeks or months, or years, it begins to feel very personal to you as you begin to really relate to the issue. And so, you get these things activated within yourself. And so, that, in a very scanty way, is exactly the sort of thing that escalates into these culminations that evolve into world events. It is our promise to you, that if mass consciousness were not involved nothing could ever escalate to be something that is played out on the world stage. It would play out in the parking lot. But the more people get involved in it, then the more energy is around it, and then, the more large the events must come about. . . . When your Twin Towers were struck by airplanes on 9/11, it was a huge culmination of energies that had been going on for a long time. But when you think about it, it was a very small representation; it certainly was not a world war; it certainly was not a world event. It was proportionate to the energies that had been stirred. But now, as a result of all of the attention that's been offered to it, it is becoming a bigger energy. And it could not amass that energy, if there were not millions of people that are getting collectively involved with it. In other words, it's just a parking lot brawl that got bigger-that's all it is. . . . So, that's why, the two statements that we made earlier, we really want you to hear both of them. One: there will always be war, whether it's in a parking lot, or it will be as big as you choose to participate within and give power to it. But second: Well-being is always the dominant Energy. And so, you speak it in terms like, "The pendulum is swinging." And we say, don't make someone else's parking lot brawl about you. Don't become involved in it. Don't let them bring you into it. Don't let them make you use it as your excuse to deny the Energy. If you are really wanting to bring your government to the place that it cannot wage war, then don't get involved in it and add your Energy to it, you see. It is so wonderful when you realize that you can be joyful without anybody else ever figuring it out. And that the majority of people, when they focus upon their own experiences, do live in joy. We would make the parking lot brawl, no matter how big it seems, a non-issue to our vibrational experience. And if everyone would do it, there wouldn't be enough Energy for George Bush or Saddam to have a war. They'd be having a parking lot brawl.

posted by Lorenzo 10:51 AM

 

Hundreds arrested in anti-war protests in US cities
NEW YORK (AFP) - The anti-war movement took to the streets for demonstrations and civil disobedience campaigns across the United States, resulting in hundreds of arrests including more than 1,300 in one city alone.

posted by West 7:30 AM

 

Thousands march in Asia, as anti-war protests enter second day
TOKYO - Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators shut down airports and banks, snarled traffic with bicycles and called for boycotts of American products in the second day of global protests against the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Two people were shot dead and dozens more injured as police clashed with some 30,000 demonstrators chanting "Death to America!" who were trying to storm the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, as outrage over the U.S.-led attacks on Iraq spilled into the streets across the Mideast for a second day Friday.

A four-hour nationwide strike in Greece called in opposition to the war brought the country to a standstill. More than 150,000 people demonstrated in Athens, and more than 60,000 outside the U.S. Consulate in the northern port of Thessaloniki.

posted by West 7:28 AM

 

Boston.com / Latest News / Sports / Fans boo as U.S. national anthem is played
MONTREAL (AP) - Fans booed during the playing of the U.S. national anthem before the New York Islanders' 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

The sellout crowd of 21,273 at Bell Centre was asked to ''show your support and respect for two great nations'' before the singing of the American and Canadian national anthems.

But a significant portion of the crowd booed throughout ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' in an apparent display of their displeasure with the U.S.-led war against Iraq. More than 200,000 people turned out for an anti-war demonstration in Montreal last Saturday.

posted by West 7:26 AM

 

US Anti-War Protests Flare, More Than 1,000 Arrests
washingtonpost.com - SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Police arrested more than 1,000 people in San Francisco on Thursday -- the most demonstrators taken into custody on a single day in the city in 22 years -- as tens of thousands protested across America against the U.S. war in Iraq.

"If this was happening in every city, there would either be martial law or an end to war," said one Berkeley student who chained himself to 16 others on a major San Francisco street.

Protests took place in other cities across the United States as well as in European capitals.

posted by West 7:23 AM

 

Protest creates gridlock on SF streets
sfgate.com - Waves of anti-war protesters made good on their promise to disrupt downtown San Francisco this morning, as they occupied intersections throughout the Financial District, South of Market and Civic Center, preventing buses and cars from navigating the streets.

Demonstrations began with sunrise and heated up rapidly after 7 a.m., as groups of protesters fanned out to locations they had selected over the previous several weeks.

By late morning, demonstrators were still moving from intersection to intersection, and large portions of Market Street, Van Ness Avenue and other thoroughfares were blocked off.

"We don't want to alienate people. I hope people realize that political murder merits action that inconveniences them," said Quinn Miller, 32, who took the day off from his job for a banking company and said he expected to be arrested for the first time in his life.

posted by West 12:44 PM

 

Anti-War Activists Snarl Traffic in D.C.
washingtonpost.com - Anti-war protesters blocked morning rush-hour traffic in Washington and San Francisco and chanted "no blood for oil" outside the White House on Thursday in reaction to U.S. military strikes against Iraq.

As many as 150 demonstrators temporarily shut down the inbound travel lanes of one of the Potomac River crossings, snarling rush-hour traffic. Some 50 demonstrators bicycled through downtown Washington carrying signs that said, "Bikes not Bombs." Three people were arrested.

"There are many, many people here and around the world that are opposed to this war," said Dana Hubbard, 54, of Washington.

posted by West 10:04 AM

 

Australians protest their nation's involvement in Iraq war
SYDNEY, Australia - Anti-war protesters barricaded the gates of Australian Prime Minister John Howard's mansion in Canberra Wednesday, angering the leader and forcing him to leave on foot.

Greenpeace demonstrators dressed as United Nations staff chained themselves to gates and under jeeps, blocking all the entrances of the residence, known as The Lodge, in the capital. The protesters met no resistance from police or security guards when they arrived early in the morning.

posted by West 10:01 AM

 

Yahoo! News - Hundreds of Mexicans gather at U.S. Embassy to protest war in Iraq
MEXICO CITY - Hundreds of students and civilian activists gathered in front of a heavily guarded U.S. Embassy throughout the day Wednesday to protest war in Iraq.

The demonstrators waved signs reading "No to the imperialist war against Iraq," and "Bush, calm your thirst for blood."

U.S. President George W. Bush gave Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein an ultimatum to surrender power by 8 p.m. EST Wednesday or face a U.S. invasion. The White House announced later Wednesday night that the disarmament of Iraq had begun.

Minutes before the deadline passed, members of the Mexican branch of the environmental group Greenpeace built a pyramid of oil drums bearing the slogans "Bush kills for oil," then climbed inside where they posed as cadavers.

posted by West 10:00 AM

 

Thousands protest in Bangladesh against war on Iraq
DHAKA, Bangladesh - More than 15,000 people marched through the streets of Dhaka Thursday in dozens of separate rallies against the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

The protesters, including groups of children and doctors, chanted anti-U.S. and British slogans and burned the flags of the two nations, which are providing most of the troops for the assault on Baghdad.

Some groups held candlelight vigils.

"Children want peace," about 50 school students shouted in a rally several hours after the attack on Iraq began.

posted by West 9:57 AM

 

Italian youths protest war; strikes called
ROME - Police in Rome stopped anti-war demonstrators marching toward the U.S. Embassy Thursday, while protesters elsewhere in Italy blocked highways and train tracks or clashed with officers as tens of thousands of students, workers and other Italians rallied against the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

posted by West 9:56 AM

 

Activists Urge Walkouts to Protest War
WASHINGTON - Anti-war leaders urged Americans to show their opposition to U.S. military strikes against Iraq by participating in walkouts and protests nationwide. Others expressed support for military action to oust Saddam Hussein from power.

posted by West 9:55 AM

 

France Denounces Iraq War, Thousands Protest
PARIS (Reuters) - France on Thursday warned of serious consequences no matter how long hostilities lasted in Iraq (news - web sites) and at least 10,000 anti-war protesters marched on the U.S. Embassy.

posted by West 9:53 AM

 

German anti-war protests draw 50,000 in Berlin, Schroeder dismayed by war
BERLIN - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Thursday that the war in Iraq was wrong, saying it would cause suffering for thousands and must be ended as soon as possible.

In a nationally televised speech to the nation, Schroeder said his opposition to war was in tune with the overwhelming majority of Germans and the majority of the world's nations.

Schroeder's dismay was reflected in anti-war protests nationwide, including more than 50,000 peace demonstrators who massed in Berlin in the largest rally Thursday. Some burned two American flags.

posted by West 9:52 AM

 

Thousands Around World Protest Iraq War
CAIRO, Egypt - Hundreds of thousands of people marched on American embassies in world capitals Thursday to protest the war against Iraq, including a violent clash in Cairo, where demonstrators hurled stones and metal barricades and pounded on cars.

posted by West 9:49 AM

 

More than 100,000 people take part in Greek anti-war protests
ATHENS, Greece - More than 100,000 people, many of them high school and university students, marched to the U.S. embassy in Athens Thursday as mass demonstrations were held throughout Greece to protest the war against Iraq.

Chanting "No to the war" and "Americans killers of people," the protesters in Athens gathered for the first in a series of mass demonstrations organized by labor activists, student and teachers' unions. Hundreds of riot police surrounded the building and protests are expected to stretch into the weekend.

posted by West 9:48 AM

 

Thousands in Belgium protest start of war, police use water cannon
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Thousands of people took to the streets Thursday to protest the start of the U.S.-led war against Iraq, with police using water cannons to keep demonstrators away from the American embassy.

posted by West 9:47 AM

 

Christmas lights put to good use in San Diego, California

posted by Lorenzo 9:32 AM

 

In Memorium: Rachel Corrie

Peace activist Rachel Corrie is shown at the Burning Man festival in a photo from September 2002, in Black Rock City, Nev. Corrie, 23, a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., died Sunday, March 16, 2003, in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) city of Rafah while trying to stop a bulldozer from tearing down a Palestinian physician's home. She fell in front of the machine, which ran over her and then backed up, witnesses said. Israeli military spokesman Capt. Jacob Dallal called her death an accident. State Department spokesman Lou Fintor said the U.S. government had asked Israeli officials for a full investigation. (AP Photo/Denny Sternstein)

On March 16, 2003, Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American college student and peace activist from Olympia, Washington was murderously crushed under the tracks of a 60-ton American made Caterpillar bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier while he was demolishing the Rafah home of Palestinian Dr. Samir Nasrallah in the Gaza Strip. Rachel had been working for seven weeks in Gaza opposing the destruction homes as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement. Corrie is the first foreign peace activist to be killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising for freedom more than 29 months ago. Rachel was a student at Evergreen College in Olympia and is described as a campus leader and a person of keen intellect, bravery, and gentleness.

Recently, she wrote to her mother: “Just want to write to my Mom and tell her that I’m witnessing this chronic, insidious, genocide and I’m scared, and questioning my fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature. This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for all of us to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore.”

Protest Israel’s deliberate and senseless murder of an American citizen. Demand that the Congress freeze continued American aid to Israel by contacting your senators and representative through: http://cflweb.org

Call the White House Comment Line at (202) 456-1414. Express your outrage about Rachel’s murder and in her memory demand that the United States refuse to grant Israel an additional $14 billion in aid as long as the Palestinian genocide continues during Israel’s brutal military occupation of Palestinian territory.

Contact Caterpillar, Inc. and demand that Caterpillar end its business relationship with Israel. Caterpillar, Inc., 100 N.E. Adams St., Peoria, Illinois 61629, (309) 675-1000.

posted by Lorenzo 8:00 PM

 

Global Candlelight Vigil for Peace: Sunday, March 16 -- 7:00 PM
This link will tell you where the nearest Peace Vigil is to you.

posted by West 9:03 PM

 

Why We Demonstrate for Peace
Why We Are Here [ Seattle ]
Because the world we imagined, the one
we had always counted on
is disappearing.
...
We are here by the insistence of spirit
and the authority of nature.
...
We are not here to tinker with your laws.
We are here to change you from the inside out.
This is not a political protest.
It is an uprising of the soul.

Why We Are Here [ London Feb 15th 2003]
Because the world we have long hoped-for ,
The one we have been counting on,
Is about to be destroyed.
Because democracy is threatened
By a few unrepresentative
Rabid power-seeking war-mongers.
Because power and profits
Are being put before people.
Because our natural world is becoming unnaturally
Governed by military-industrial vested interests.
...
We are here by the insistence of spirit
And the authority of nature.
To demonstrate that the time has come
To express our democratic right
Not to be passively manipulated.
We are here to change the threatening course of events,
To express the mass voice of democratic dissent,.
This is an uprising of the collective soul.

posted by Lorenzo 11:28 AM

 

Peace Activist Moving Into Home Near Bush Ranch
DALLAS (Reuters) - President Bush has a new neighbor in Crawford, Texas -- a peace activist who plans to use his house near the president's ranch as a springboard to speak out on issues such as a war with Iraq.

John Wolf, a peace activist from the Dallas area, recently completed paperwork to buy a home in Crawford, a town of less than 1,000 people. He plans to use the facility as an interfaith peace house that can serve as a base to launch peace protests near the ranch Bush calls the Western White House.

"I wish the peace house was already up and running," Wolf said.

The house, near city hall, is one of the first structures that visitors to Crawford see after passing along a sign on the highway that welcomes people to town and reminds them it is the "Home of President Bush."

posted by West 8:16 AM

 

Peaceniks take Jewish mysticism to Palestinians on peace quest
KALANDIA, West Bank - Israeli troops stared in amazement and weary Palestinians broke into broad smiles as a group of Jewish, Christian and Druse activists descended on an army checkpoint Tuesday to hand out ancient Jewish mystical texts in the name of peace.

posted by West 8:14 AM

 

Asian peace mission heads to Iraq
MANILA, Philippines - An Asian peace delegation will travel to Baghdad to join other anti-war activists in opposing possible U.S. military action against Iraq, organizers said Wednesday.

"Although we may not be able to stop war because the United States is hellbent to pursue it ... at least we can show to the whole world ... our solidarity with the Iraqis," said Rep. Hussin Amin, one of two Philippine legislators in the peace mission.

Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales, who heads the delegation, said it would express opposition to unilateral U.S. action against Iraq and stress the need for a peaceful solution to the crisis.

"If we want peace in Iraq, if we want Iraq to develop — and we are talking about the children, the women, the people of Iraq — then we must help them develop peacefully, and the best way to do that is to lift the economic sanctions," she said.

She and other delegation members said they support U.N.

posted by West 8:13 AM

 

Thousands March for Peace Across Britain
LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of peace protesters took to the streets across Britain on Saturday in a bid to halt the march to war against Iraq.

But for Prime Minister Tony Blair, the top priority was to rally international backing for a proposed March 17 deadline to get Saddam Hussein to disarm his forces. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw circulated the revised draft U.N. resolution on Friday.

"He is focused on the issue of Iraq over the weekend. He will be speaking to various people," a spokesman for Blair told Reuters as the diplomatic pressure built up.

At least 10,000 people protested in the rain-sodden northern city of Manchester, the largest of several demonstrations organized by the Stop The War Coalition.

The march came less than a month after around a million anti-war protesters marched through central London in the country's biggest ever peace march.

Saturday's demonstrators waved "No blood for oil" banners in what was billed by the organizers as Manchester's biggest march for years.

posted by West 9:31 PM

 

Tens of thousands in Indonesia hold anti-war rally, pray for peace
SURABAYA, Indonesia - Reading from the Quran and chanting for peace, tens of thousands of people gathered Sunday for one of Indonesia's largest rallies against a U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

posted by West 9:29 PM

 

Peace activists intend to mount disruptions at war's outbreak
BOSTON - They have marched and chanted, hoping to use persuasion to prevent war. If that fails, though, activists are readying a more aggressive strategy of sit-ins and social disruptions, meant to restore peace in Iraq.

Protest sit-ins, especially at federal buildings, defense recruiting offices and military bases, have been mapped out for dozens of U.S. cities in the first day or two of any war, anti-war organizers say. Some also foresee widespread walkouts at schools and workplaces. A smaller number talk of blocking roads and bridges.

"Once war happens, there will be civil disobedience. It's bringing to a higher level what people have been doing," said coordinator Bal Pinguel at the American Friends Service Committee, an arm of the pacifist Quaker church.

posted by West 9:28 PM

 

My Voice for Peace, An Excellent Resource for Peace Workers
MyVoiceForPeace.com is a website devoted to the peaceful resolution of conflicts around the world. A resource for finding out who to call, write, or email in order to encourage the parties to stop the cycle of violence. We take no sides in the conflicts, except the side of non-violent resolution. . . . This site lists the contact information for most of the world leaders involved in dragging the world into war. And it also is an excellent resource for mass mailing U.S. Senators.

posted by Lorenzo 1:35 PM

 

Students Call for Peace
New York Newsday - Brian Harris, a freshman at Manhattan's Beacon High School, said he made his move during his third-period math class. That's when he stood up and walked out of the classroom, joining thousands of students around the city and country who rallied yesterday to protest the impending war with Iraq.

posted by West 7:59 AM

 

Peace activists prepare for day of rallies, marches
NEW YORK - Anti-war activists, determined to continue the momentum from last month's massive global rallies, were preparing for another day of marches and demonstrations.

A national student strike was scheduled for Wednesday, and organizers said students at high school and college campuses around the United States were prepared to either walk out of class or not attend at all as a sign of their stance against military action in Iraq.

"The purpose is really to show that students and youth are for books, not bombs. It's really that simple," said Lenore Palladino, a graduate student at the New School University in Manhattan. "The priorities of the administration are not our priorities."

The strike effort was being coordinated by the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition. Spokeswoman Sarah Ahmed said students at campuses around the country were planning teach-ins, rallies and demonstrations.

posted by West 8:26 PM

 

Iran Announces Iraq Peace Proposal
DOHA, Qatar - Iran offered a plan Tuesday to avert war in Iraq (news - web sites) by holding elections supervised by the United Nations -- one of several proposals emerging as Muslim leaders prepared for a summit focused on the U.S.-led effort to oust Saddam Hussein.

posted by West 8:24 PM

 

Thai senators to embark on peace mission to Iraq
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thai senators and human rights activists will visit Iraq this week to call for peace and urge Baghdad's cooperation with the United Nations as the threat of a U.S.-led war rises, officials said Wednesday.

posted by West 8:19 PM

 

Crucifixion offered in peace plea
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand woman has offered to be crucified by U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) if he pledges not to attack Iraq. Mary Grierson said she had emailed the challenge to the White House and as an open letter to leading U.S. newspapers. "Send your troops home and take me instead, on behalf of everyone in the world who does not want war and oppression," she wrote. But the deal has a catch -- Bush would have to personally hammer in the nails. "I don't think he would have the courage to do it quite frankly, but that is the measure of a man," she told Radio New Zealand. "Can he follow through with this aim of creating more chaos in the world if he had to do it just to one person himself?"

posted by West 8:18 PM

 

Peace activists bearing flowers thank ambassadors for opposing Iraq war
WASHINGTON - U.S. peace activists clad in pink and bearing flowers held quiet rallies Wednesday at the Washington embassies of France, Russia, Turkey, Mexico and Chile to thank those nations for opposing a war with Iraq.

posted by West 8:16 PM

 

Senegal peace protesters urge African countries to vote against U.N. resolution allowing Iraq invasion
DAKAR, Senegal - Chanting "Bush, butcher, Blair, terrorist," nearly 1,000 marched for peace in this west African nation Wednesday, urging three other African countries to cast their crucial votes against a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing an invasion of Iraq.

posted by West 8:15 PM