WASHINGTON DC (10/25/03)--Casualties of the US war on Iraq since March 19, 2003 include

* 341 U.S. soldiers dead, over 1938 wounded
* Over 8,000 Iraqis dead, over 20,000 wounded
* $64 billion cost to the U.S. government, or $640 per household.

This, while 43.6 million U.S. citizens and residents lack health benefits (15.2% of the population) and 38 million live below the poverty level (12.4% of the population).

These numbers are from the Rockland Coalition for Peace and Justice in New York (www.rocklandaction.org/rpc.html), one of the many antiwar groups from more than 140 cities and 40 states across the United States protesting the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and educating.

The protest, sponsored by International ANSWER (www.internationalanswer.org/)and United for Peace and Justice (www.unitedforpeace.org/) drew tens of thousands, according to Andrew Becker of ANSWER. Were there more than 100,000 as one observer Indymedia encountered, a veteran estimator of antiwar demonstrations since the Vietnam War era, told us, claiming he had estimated 30,000, then gave up? Or were there less than 50,000, as another antiwar veteran told us? No matter. People were there protesting and educating on a sunny fall day with blue sky, white clouds, temperature in the 60s with low humidity--one of those days in October residents of the Baltimore-Washington area love to experience as tree leaves turn from green to red and yellow.

As speakers, like New York activist Al Sharpton and Colombian trade unionist Luiz Aldolfo Cardona, addressed those gathered for the rally, we encountered UFPJ activists with colorful 2x10 foot banners saying in six languages "The World Says No to War!"--"El Mundo Dice No a la Guerra!" (Spanish) on red, "Ang Mundo Ay Laban Sa Digmaan" (Tagalog/Philippines) on purple, Arabic on green, Hebrew on blue, Urdo/Pakistan on orange, Korean on black, and "New York Says No to War" on blue. According to Bill Dobbs of UFPJ, the banners, which were carried at the large February 15 antiwar protest in New York City, represent six targeted communities threatened by the U.S. war on terrorism.

Nearby, we spoke to Filipe Chavez, a Yaqui Indian, with Organic Valley Family Farms in Wisconsin. According to Chavez, there are 700 such farms in Wisconsin, and many of these farmers are, like Chavez himself, Vietnam veterans. Chavez, who spent 18 months in Vietnam, spoke of the experiences of many veterans who found that government benefits for their military service was inadequate, and later cut, and who feel betrayed by their government. Some have attempted suicide. Some Vietnam veterans now have children in Iraq. Chavez dealt with alcoholism upon returning from Vietnam, but was encouraged by his grandmother to break the habit. He also noted that the spread of organic farming in Wisconsin increased the economic health of its farming community. Chavez, like other farmers and veterans present, was protesting the occupation of Iraq to spread "seeds of peace."

Hundreds of veterans participated in the march, which travelled the same route as the October 26, 2002 march against the war, encircling the streets bordering the White House. Many were with the Veterans for Peace contingent (www.veteransforpeace.org/). VfP's chants were in the manner of drill sergeant-troops interaction. Some harkened back to anti-Vietnam war cadences. Here's one:

Hey, hey Uncle Sam
We remember Viet Nam
We don't want your Iraq war
Bring our troops back to our shore.

If they tell you to go
There is something you should know
They wave the flag when you attack
When you come home they turn their back.

Vets for peace are here to say
Bring our troops back home today
War will mean that soldiers die
War will mean that mothers cry.

Bush wanted to attack
Sent the Army to Iraq
Guns and tanks and bombs to drop
All this madness has to stop.

Bush and Cheney talk that talk
But they know they're chicken hawks
Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Powell
Bush's CRAP is smellin' fool.

Veterans against the war
We know what we're marchin' for
Bring the troops back to our soil
We say no blood for oil.

Dubya's lies should make him choke
He must still be snortin' coke
Saddam's secret poison gas
Must be stashed up Rumsfeld's ass.

Bush says "Bring 'em on"
But he ain't standin' near the bombs
With soldiers lives he sure acts brave
But he ain't standin' near a grave.

The Veterans for Peace were the contingent which followed after the contingent behind the lead ANSWER and UFPJ banners. Following were hundreds more groups--from Ann Arbor MI, California, Chapel Hill NC, Chicago IL, Colorado, Kalamazoo MI, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Orange County, Richmond VA, Sullivan County NY, Toronto Ontario, Wisconsin, .... And those of an explicitly Left persuasion--the anti-capitalist, aka 'black', bloc, Black Radical Congress, Communist Party, Green Party, International Socialist Organization, Industrial Workers of the World, Solidarity, Workers World Party, ....

And then the puppets, those wonderful, creative, educational constructions. There was a Bush-Cheney Tyrannosaurus Rex, its flesh-tearing teeth prominent, though its tail carried the message "Regime Change Begins at Home." There was a tall puppet, its eyes covered by an American flag with its right-hand outstretched hand carrying a television with the logos of ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC broadcasting, the media oligopoly which frames and clouds the political understanding of US citizens, and its left carrying a SUV, symbol of unsustainable, oil-dependent consumerism, with the logos of Halliburton, Harken, AMOCO, British Petroleum, Exxon, Gulf, and Mobil, potentially direct beneficiaries of the US government's imperialist occupation of Iraq. And there were the Four Horsemen of the Apocalyse, or rather four Christian Crusaders bringing war, famine, pestilence, and death, not really puppets, but activists dressed in black with silver helmets and masks--Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft, no doubt.

One of our favorite groups was the Keys of Resistance (www.keysofresistance.com/) from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. According to Gwen Shlichta, a graduate student in evolutionary biology, Keys of Resistance is an activist-performance group committed to creative nonviolent civil disobedience. Their focus is on the threat to civil liberties which the USA PATRIOT ACT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) represents (see Indymedia coverage of this act baltimore.indymedia.org/feature/display/2498/index.php). Keys of Resistance was present to encourage citizens "protect their civil liberties by helping to make their voices heard." Dressed in 1940s secretarial suits with matching hats, Shlichta, along with Gwen Blue, Sara Daily, and Kim Korinek, were busy typing, on antique typewriters, letters dictated by protesters and addressed to Congressional representatives and Senators calling for the protection of civil liberties. Keys of Resistance 1940s attire harkens back to the World War II period when there was much political letter-writing--non-email letter-writing still carries more weight today. According to Shlichta, 195 communities and states have formed grassroots groups in opposition to the USA PATRIOT ACT, with, in many cases, local governments passing resolutions.

Feeder Marches

Earlier in the day at Malcolm X Park on 16th Street, hundreds attended a rally organized by the Black Voices for Peace (www.bvfp.org/). The theme of the rally corresponded with that of the larger ANSWER/UFPJ rally: End the Occupation Now. Speakers included Ruby Sales, Phyllis Bennis, Njoki Njehu, Rev. Walter Fauntroy, Ron Daniels and Rev. Al Sharpton, among others.

Civil rights activist Ruby Sales assailed the Bush administration for pushing white supremacy at home and abroad with its attack on the poor domestically and its foreign wars. Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies, spoke of two occupations that needed to be ended, those of the U.S.occupying Iraq and Israel in the Palestinian territory. The element that links the two together, Bennis said, was Washington D.C.

Ron Daniels, director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, called on blacks to be at the forefront of the peace movement, referring to another time in history (1972 specifically) when blacks organized to lead in the creation of a new society. He pointed out that just being black, however, is not enough. To make his point he referred to the curse of the three C's, Condeleeza, Colin and Clarence.

Rev. Al Sharpton decried the Bush's Iraq war as a political, not a military, strategy. Regarding ending the occupation, Sharpton said "You can't leave with dignity, there is no dignity in this war. You just need to leave." He also admonished his fellow Democratic candidates saying they shouldn't haggle over how much of the requested $87 billion Bush should receive, saying "Bush shouldn't get a dime for an immoral, wicked war that is fought for business interest."

The crowd was joined by two "feeder marches", one of students of University of Maryland, College Park and the other from the local Latino community. Also seen in the crowd was a man in the uniform of the San Francisco police department. The entire group marched from Malcolm X Park to the Mall to join with the ANSWER/UFPJ march.

There was also a feeder march of 200 which included the Shirts Off Coalition, Positive Force, and an anti-capitalist contingent which marched to the Washington Convention Center attempting to make connections between Washington DC as a neglected colony and US imperialism before heading to the Monument.

The Flag Burned Brightly

As the main march returned to the Washington Monument, a number of symbolic "American flag" burnings occurred in the street at Connecticut Avenue and 14th. On the sidewalk, we talked to five high school students, participants in the National Youth Leadership Forum. Participants in the Forum are nominated by their high schools. This group, which included students from California and New York, had participated in a mock trial--a "Supreme Court case" dealing with the constitutionality of random drug testing in public schools making Fourth Amendment arguments. They had had initially visited museums, but then came to "check out" the protest. Nima Rahimi said the "burning of the flag shocked me." William Pickett, who had attended the February 15 antiwar protest in San Francisco, thought that "change had to be made, but through reforms." Rahimi said that the protest "shows opposition, but I'm not sure it'll change anything, unless the protests increase to the level during the Vietnam War."

So, where are the "seeds of peace"? What are the "keys to resistance"? The "seeds of peace" include the brown-skin, dark-eyed Filipe Chavez--the Yaqui Vietnam veteran, the fair-skinned, blue-eyed Gwen Shlichta--the 20-something graduate student, the irreverent, black-masked 'flag-burner', the high school students William Pickett and Nima Rahimi--youthful debaters of constitutional rights and first-time protest participants/observers, and millions others in the US and around the world. What are the "keys to resistance"? What combination of strategy and tactics within/among the labor and social movements can open up the doors to a democratic, peaceful world during/after resistance to capitalism, imperialism, and oligarchic/authoritarian rule?

"Resist the Empire! A Fall of Action for Peace and Justice" reads the tabloid distributed by United for Peace and Justice at the demonstration. The schedule of protests on the cover assumes a strategic perspective--"Defend Immigrant Rights," End the Occupation of Iraq," "Stop the FTAA: Free Trade Area of the Americas," "Shut Down the School of the Americas."--the inter-linking of the movements for labor and immigrant rights with the movements against US militarism and neoliberal globalization. Time enough, hopefully, to get typing on those keys of antique typewriters and computer keyboards to create educational information and to organize diverse constituencies. See you in Miami for the FTAA meetings November 19-21 (www.ftaaimc.org/).

See also the report by William Hughes baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/5303/index.php .

Selected Photos by William Hughes

"End the Occupation of Iraq" "Bring the Troops Home Now"
(Linked Banners of International ANSWER and United for Peace & Justice)
baltimore.indymedia.org/media/all/display/1788/index.php

"Koreans Oppose US War & Occupation"
baltimore.indymedia.org/media/all/display/1801/index.php

"Enron, Bush, & Cheney"
baltimore.indymedia.org/media/all/display/1803/index.php

"Free Farouk Abdel-Muhti"
(WBAI journalist detained by INS)
baltimore.indymedia.org/media/all/display/1800/index.php