People's Democracy

"ENOUGH DEATHS - NO RETALIATION"

Anti-war Demonstrations In US And Europe

In United States

Sherborn’s Louise Coleman, 55, stood in Copley Square accompanied by a dog wearing peace symbols. On this occasion, Coleman - the founder of Greyhound Friends in Hopkinton - was neither advocating for canines nor disparaging race tracks. She and about 850 like-minded compatriots - swimming against the tide of public anger and opinion - trekked to Boston on September 25 to oppose military action. Another group gathered in Copley Square on tuesday.

Instead of waving American flags, both gatherings carried signs that read, "No more victims - anywhere." Instead of the national anthem, they sang "Amazing Grace."

"I’m not at all against finding the people who did this," Coleman said about the masterminds behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that left more than 6,000 people dead and as many wounded. "But I would feel better if civilians in Afghanistan were recognised as being the oppressed people they are and not associated with the perpetrator. It doesn’t make sense to go into a hornet’s nest with a baseball bat."

This is the calm before the storm. President Bush has told Americans to prepare for war. The U.S. military has mobilised for air strikes and planes are ready at bases in the Middle East. But the peace loving people are standing up. They cringe at the words "collateral damage." They eschew the chest-thumping, "dead or alive" proclamations. And they say their views are being ignored by the mainstream news media. Reporters have confused covering patriotism with promoting it, they argue. And Americans have been manipulated by the media and the White House into thinking the country wants war and vengeance.

At risk of sounding un-American, many of the longtime peace activists said they support U.S. Rep. Barbara J. Lee’s lone vote last Friday against giving Bush approval to use all necessary force against terrorism.

"It was amazing (Lee) had the courage to do that," said Sherborn’s Coleman. Coleman, a self-described patriot of peace, calls the recent flag-waving displays of patriotism well-intentioned, but naive. Particularly when nuclear weapons are on hair-trigger alert.

They want those responsible for Tuesday’s atrocities brought to justice by legal means and through the judicial court process. "Is our system of law reserved for Americans only?" asked Carol Coakley, 52, of Millis. "If we are planning to bomb Afghanistan without proof of guilt, how are we different from our enemies?" Coakley - employed at Framingham State College and a member of Framingham’s Working Group to Reduce Military Spending - was among Wednesday’s crowd decrying America’s push toward war.

"I don’t think flag waving, rah-rah-rah and retribution is the mainstream view," said Coakley, who marched in countless anti-war demonstrations in the 1960s. A self-described pacifist, Coakley prefers to believe a movement toward pacifism is afoot. She puts her faith in a younger generation of Americans, saying they possess a more global than nativist view.

"They’re more tolerant," she said, "because they’ve met people from other cultures, other races on campus or while traveling overseas."

On Thursday, a series of peace rallies on campuses around the nation - including Wellesley College, MIT, Harvard University, Boston University and Boston College - buttressed her claim.

In Sherborn, workers at the Peace Abbey say they’ve seen a tenfold increase in visitors to its Pacifist Memorial. Here, the 12 major faiths of the world are represented and the Adhan - the Islamic call to prayer - plays over the abbey’s loudspeaker daily.

In the wake of recent racially motivated assaults against Arab- and Muslim-Americans, Lewis Randa - the Peace Abbey founder, a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War - wears a muslim skull cap "to know what it’s like to be viewed as a threat to society." "It’s a despicable thing for Bush to say we will punish those who host terrorists. We hosted Tim McVeigh. Did we bomb his home state?" he questioned.

In Europe

In London, about 4,000 demonstrators gathered peacefully outside the Defense Ministry dressed in black and carrying pieces of paper saying: "Stand shoulder to shoulder for peace and justice. No more violence."

Several thousand demonstrators took to the streets of Berlin and other German cities, shouting "No Third World War" and urging the United States not to answer attacks on its cities with more violence.

Carrying banners reading "Enough deaths" and "No retaliation", the demonstrators gathered outside the Berlin city hall. Police said a few thousand people were on the streets. Smaller protests were also held in Cologne, Bremen and Kassel.

In Budapest, hundreds of people marched through the city center to voice their opposition to possible U.S. retaliatory strikes.

Around 1,000 protesters marched through the Belgian city of Liege under banners reading "Make Love, Not War" as European finance ministers discussed the September 11 assaults on the United States.

The organisers, a broad alliance of social rights groups and left-wing activists dubbed D14, staged a rally several hundred yards from the barricaded conference center where the ministers met, and later dispersed peacefully. The police here kept a low profile, with horses, water cannon and other anti-riot gear well out of sight to avoid raising tensions as the colorful crowd of mostly young protesters converged at a nearby crossroads to the sound of heavy drum beats.

"Today, the first principle is to be anti-war and refuse to participate in U.S. action," D14 activist George Robert said.The rally broke up in late afternoon after observing a minute of silence for the dead in the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.