HOME
your socialist home on the internet
ABOUT US
who we are, our politics, and what we do
GET ACTIVE!
joining ysa, getting active locally, making a difference
NEWS & VIEWS
articles, fliers, statements and opinions
THEORY
what is socialism, reading lists and study guides
CONTACT US
our email, snail mail, phone number and club directory
LINKS
socialist, youth, activist, labor, feminist, anti-racist, and other important sites
WHAT'S NEW
listing of what's been recently added
report on jan. 18 protests
“This is what Democracy looks like!”
A report back from the Jan. 18 anti-war protests
by Rose Helin & Derek Seidman
Upon seeing an aerial shot of the massive anti-war
protest in DC last week, one may have mistakenly
thought it was a clip from decades ago. Indeed, as one
gazed into the vast sea of humanity that assembled on
that frigid afternoon, braving the cold weather to
protest the impending war on Iraq, it seemed to be a
portal to days gone by.
But this wasn’t a scene from the tumultuous years of
the Vietnam War. No, this was the scene in Washington
DC on January 18th, 2003, where an estimated
400,000-500,000 ordinary Americans gathered together
to stage the largest and most powerful anti-war
demonstration since the anti-Vietnam war resistance of
decades past.
The demonstration, organized primarily by
International ANSWER, was only part of a wide
constellation of other protests that took part all
over the globe, including 250,000 in San Francisco and
25,000 in Portland. Featured speakers at DC included
Jesse Jackson, actress Jessica Lange, former LBJ
attorney general Ramsey Clark, and Al Sharpton.
The scope and diversity of the protest’s participants
was a beautiful reflection of the larger American
society. Along with people from the major cities one
would expect, there were a flood of signs upon which
protesters proudly declared their home states:
Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Vermont,
Minnesota… and of course, “Another Texan against the
War”.
It would have been nigh-on impossible to count the
number of children and grandparents present, and the
sign or T-shirt which read “Another Mother against the
War” seemed ubiquitous (we can only hope this trend of
protests-as-family-events continues to increase).
People of all colors were well-represented and
scattered everywhere, and there was a large presence
of all kinds of religious folks. Union locals from
around the nation attended, proudly waving their
banners, and the enormous turnout of young people,
standing side-by-side with their elders who resisted
the Vietnam War three decades ago, was a promising
refutation of the supposed apathy that our generation
has involuntarily been labeled with.
War veterans (who perhaps know better than any of us
what is at stake) stood and marched for peace, while
families of current members of the military clenched
signs adorned by pictures of their loved ones. On of
the more moving of these read: “This is our son
Daniel. (picture). He is being shipped to the Gulf
right now. We love him very much and don’t want him to
die. Please stop this war from happening”.
The most striking feature of this demonstration was
the sheer number of ordinary Americans who, amidst the
routine of their day-to-day lives, took it upon
themselves to come from hours, even days away, in
order to stand up for what they believe. These are
people who for the most part aren’t engaged in any
type of political activity, but just felt like they
needed to do something. It was these people who
composed the overwhelming majority of the rally and
march.
The protest represented a sure sign that a significant
change is occurring amongst the American people. These
weren’t your usual leftists who attended. They were
the youth, women, and men whom you see everyday at the
grocery store, the mall, or at work. After a long
hiatus, these people are reemerging for a real fight
back against not just the war, but against all the
travesties and contradictions that are affecting their
lives: rising unemployment, low wages, poverty, lack
of medical care, deteriorating education, and the
like. While the demand to stop the war was the thrust
behind the rally, all these other issues were
invariably raised by speakers and participants.
The anti-war movement is now riding on a wave of fiery
momentum. If having several hundred thousand people
turn out on Jan. 18th wasn’t enough, 42 cities
councils (including Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit,
Oakland, Baltimore, and Rochester, NY) have passed
anti-war resolutions at the time when this article was
written. Countless unions and union locals have
demanded a halt to Bush’s war drive, and campuses,
from university to middle school, are sizzling with
activity and debate all over the country.
The DC rally was broadcasted live on CNN and C-SPAN,
and aired repeatedly afterwards. Unlike any recent
grassroots political action, there was a national buzz
about this demonstration, and the media was forced to
give it attention (albeit with many false distortions
of the marchers’ goals and ideas).
It was the talk of the streets. I was in New York City
for the ten days before the protest, and heard people
on subways, restaurants, and elevators discussing it
with anticipation and excitement. As with other
protesters I’ve talked to, I personally know many
people who couldn’t make it down to DC, but who wanted
to go and supported the cause. The scope of anti-war
sentiment stretched much further throughout the
country than the number of demonstrators present in
DC, which says an awful lot.
The surfacing of an active, politicized public is what
the DC rally really signified, and it is an
all-too-welcome development. If the current actions of
the government tell us anything, this positive trend
will only continue. With all the attacks on public
services, civil rights and civil liberties, women’s
rights, and a general disillusionment with the Bush
administration and its Democratic sidekicks, perhaps
this is all just the beginning of a long awaited
reemergence of the type of radical, multi-issued mass
movements that have rocked this country in the past.
It seems like as in the rest of the world, the United
States is in a stage of increasingly acute transition.
As the NY Times stated, “the demonstrators [were] a
clear sign that noticeable numbers of Americans no
longer feel obliged to salute the administration's
plans because of the shock of Sept. 11” (Jan. 20).
More than ever, ordinary people of conscience are
faced with the burning question: “what type of world
do we really want to live in?”. In this spirit, we
embrace the beginning of an answer to this question
that close to a million people gave, with cold feet
and homemade picket signs in hand, on January 26.
Whether you realize it or not, and whether you want it
or not, the times are indeed a changin’. Democracy is
about to get messy.
Note: At the same time as 350,000+ were marching in Washington D.C. another 200,000+ were marching in San Francisco. There were also coordinated demonstrations held in more than 30 countries -- including Canada (20,000 in Montreal), Japan, Ireland, Egypt, Spain, Argentina, South Africa, Jordan, Belgium, Syria, Hong Kong, Russia, Germany and Britain. There was even an anti-war protest of 50 people in Antartica!
