February 15, 2003 anti-war protest
Encyclopedia
The February 15, 2003 anti-war protest was a coordinated day of protest
s across the world expressing opposition to the then-imminent Iraq War
. It was part of a series of protests and political events
that had begun in 2002 and continued as the war took place.
Sources vary in their estimations of the number of participants involved. According to BBC News
, between six and ten million people took part in protests in up to sixty countries over the weekend of the 15th and 16th; other estimates range from eight million to thirty million.
Some of the largest protests took place in Europe
. The protest in Rome
involved around three million people, and is listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the largest anti-war rally
in history. Madrid
hosted the second largest rally with more than 1½ million people protesting the invasion of Iraq, whereas Mainland China
was the only major region not to see any protests, but small demonstrations attended mainly by foreign students were seen later.
to the United Nations General Assembly
on September 12, 2002 which argued that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein
was violating UN
resolutions, primarily on weapons of mass destruction
, and that this necessitated invasion.
The proposed war was controversial with many people questioning the motives of the U.S. government and its rationale. One poll which covered 41 countries claimed that less than 10% would support an invasion of Iraq without UN sanction and that half would not support an invasion under any circumstances.
Anti-war groups worldwide organised public protests. According to the French
academic Dominique Reynié
between the January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 anti-war protests, the demonstrations on February 15, 2003 being the largest and most prolific.
The invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003.
claim that the day was possible only because it "was carefully planned by an international network of national social movement
organisations."
Immanuel Wallerstein
has spoken of the international protests as being organised by the forces of "the Porto Alegre camp in reference to the emergence of global social movements who had been organising around international events such as the 2001 World Social Forum
in Porto Alegre
." Some commentators claim this is an example of "grassroots
globalisation", for example one book claims that "The worldwide protests were made possible by globalisation ... But make no mistake—this was not your CEO's
globalisation. The peace demonstrations represented, not a globalisation of commerce, but a globalisation of conscience".
The idea for an international day of demonstrations was first raised by the British anti-capitalist
group Globalise Resistance
(GR) in the wake of an anti-war demonstration in Britain of 400,000 on September 28. At the time GR was involved in planning for the Florence
European Social Forum
(ESF) and brought up the suggestion at an ESF planning meeting. According to GR's Chris Nineham
, "There was considerable controversy. Some delegates were worried it would alienate the mainstream of the movement. We, alongside the Italian delegates, had to put up a strong fight to get it accepted."
The proposal was accepted and at the final rally of the ESF, in November 2002, the call officially went out for Europe-wide demonstrations on February 15, 2003. This call was firmed up in December at a planning meeting for the next (2003) ESF which took place in Copenhagen
. This meeting was attended by delegates from many European anti-war organisations, the US group United for Peace and Justice
, and representatives of groups from the Philippines
. The decision was taken to set up a Europe-wide anti-war website and to commit to spreading organisational coordination both within and beyond Europe. An email network connecting the different national organisations across Europe, and eventually also the different US groups, was set up.
In December 2002, the Cairo Anti-war Conference
pledged to organise demonstrations in Egypt
and the International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq
(which came out of the Cairo conference) sought to co-ordinate more demonstrations across the world. Around this time, the US anti-war group ANSWER
called for actions in North America supporting the proposed protests in Europe.
Another important platform for the spreading call to demonstrate internationally occurred at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil
which took place at the end of 2002. European delegates sought to popularise the plan for the increasingly international demonstration. They met with some success, including the organisation of an anti-war assembly which was attended by almost 1000 people.
countries. In Austria, 30,000 people (SW estimate) took to the streets of its capital, Vienna
.
In Switzerland in order to "concentrate the movement" most activists agreed to organise a single demonstration for the whole country in Bern. On the day roughly 40,000 people joined the protest in front of the Bundeshaus, the seat of the Swiss federal government and parliament. The demonstration, which ran under the slogan "Nein zum Krieg gegen Irak - Kein Blut für Öl!" (No to war in Iraq - no blood for oil!) was the largest in Switzerland since 1945.
In Slovenia
, roughly 3.000 people gathered in the capital's
central park of Kongresni trg, supported by the mayor Danica Simšič, and marched the streets in one of the largest demonstrations since independence in 1991.
countries had large demonstrations for their total population size. In Belgium organisers had expected around 30,000 people to attend a demonstration in Brussels
, which is the home of the European Parliament
. They were shocked by a turn out of approximately 100,000 people (WSWS and GLW estimate). The march took over 3 hours to cross the city.
In Luxembourg
, approximately 14,000 people demonstrated and the Netherlands saw around 70,000 (USA Today estimate) to 75,000 people (WSWS estimate) protest in Amsterdam
.
This was the country's largest demonstration since the anti-nuclear
campaigns of the 1980s.
saw around 100 protesters gather in Mostar
. This protest spanned the sectarian divide with both Muslims and Croats
attending.
where 10,000 people (WSWS estimate) took part in a protest in the capital city of Zagreb
. Croatia also saw protests in Osijek
, Vukovar
, Knin
, Zadar
, Šibenik
, Split
and Dubrovnik
.
saw a demonstration of between 500 (USA Today estimate) and more than 800 people (SW estimate) at the British army
base in Dhekelia. Enduring heavy rain protesters briefly blocked the base. They then marched to Pyla
village where they watched other demonstrations occurring across the world on a giant screen. The demonstration was mostly attended by Greek Cypriots but they were joined by some Turkish Cypriots.
Square in Prague. Czech philosopher Erazim Kohak
addressed the crowd, saying, "War is not a solution, war is a problem."
Protesters listened to music and speeches before marching to the Czech government building, where they submitted petitions, then march continued to the US embassy.
estimate) to 200,000 (WSWS estimate) people marched through the streets, ending in a rally at the Place de la Bastille
. This location's role in the French Revolution
was considered to give it a historical significance.
There was also a demonstration in Toulouse
of around 10,000 people.
Protesters, including members of Gerhard Schröder
's government, filled the boulevard between the Brandenburg Gate
and the Victory Column
.
ATTAC Germany's spokesperson Malte Kreutzfeld was reported as praising the broadness of the demonstration, saying "The churches and trade unions have linked to make the coalition far broader than even the anti-nuclear missile marches in the 1980s."
, Greece, 150,000 people (WSWS estimate) demonstrated. The protest was generally peaceful, but a small group clashed with police. The police fired tear gas at the group some of whom threw rocks and petrol bombs. Police reported that the trouble was down to a group of anarchists who had split off from the main demonstration.
, the Dublin march was only expected to draw 20,000 people, but the actual figure was given variously as 80,000 (police estimate), 90,000 (BBC estimate), 100,000 (Guardian estimate) or 150,000 (Socialist Worker
(SW) estimate). The march went from Parnell Square, passing the Department of Foreign Affairs at St. Stephen's Green
, and on to the Dame Street for a rally where popular Irish folk
singer Christy Moore
, Kíla
and Labour Party
politician Michael D Higgins were among many speakers from the platform. The march disrupted traffic for more than four hours. Protesters demanded that the Irish government stop allowing the United States military to use Ireland's Shannon Airport
as a transatlantic stop-off point in bringing soldiers to the Middle East.
The biggest demonstration of the global day of protest took place in Italy in Rome. Nearly 3000 buses and thirty train
s were specially chartered to bring people to the demonstration, which was organised under the slogan "Stop the war; no ifs or buts". The organisers were shocked at the size of the turn out and the unexpected number of people forced the demonstration to set off two hours early.
650,000 people (police estimate) took place in a final rally at which there were many international speakers including Kurds
, Iraqi dissidents, Palestinians, a representative of the American Council of Christian Churches
and an Israeli conscientious objector
who addressed the crowd from a stage hung with Pablo Picasso
's Guernica
. The size of the demonstration meant that the majority of demonstrators did not make it into the final rally and in total three million people (organisers' estimate, supported by the Guinness Book of World Records) were on the streets. This was listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the largest anti-war rally in history.
According to the Green Left Weekly
(GLW), the demonstration contained people from across Italian society; "Catholic nuns and priests marched alongside young people with dreadlocks, nose rings and Palestinian scarves. Christians, anarchists and communists mingled".
saw around 1,000 demonstrators (SW estimate) join a protest. The weather was cold and rainy. After the demonstration an anti-war concert was held in the capital, Valletta
.
were more than 60,000 protesters (Police estimate and Socialist Worker estimate) joining a demonstration. Protests of around 15,000 took place in Bergen and Trondheim
, and 10,000 in Stavanger
. Small protests also took place in at least 30 towns across the country. At the rally in Oslo the vice-chair of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions
(LO) spoke from the platform claiming that "Bush only cares about American oil interests".
In Denmark 20,000 to 30,000 protesters (WSWS estimate) took part in a march in the capital city, Copenhagen.
In Sweden, 35,000 demonstrated in Stockholm
. and about 25,000 in Gothenburg
. In Helsinki
, Finland, an estimated 15,000 people participated in one of the largest mass-protests in the republic's history.
, Poland of 10,000 people (SW estimate). The demonstration through central Warsaw passed the US embassy. Another protest, organized by the local Wrocław Anti-War Coalition (WKA), was held in the city of Wrocław in the market square by the town hall, with 400-500 people participating.
gathered around 80,000 People to march through the city, it was a very peaceful march without police trouble.
, where there was a demonstration of 200 people (WSWS estimate) in the capital city of Belgrade
.
the largest was probably in the capital city Madrid
, where between 660,000 (Government source’s estimate) and 2,000,000 (GLW estimate) took part in what was probably the biggest demonstration since the death of the fascist dictator
Francisco Franco
in 1975.
Barcelona
also had a large, with estimates of 350,000 (Delegación de Gobierno), 1,300,000 (Barcelona city hall and Police) or 1,500,000 (GLW) people
joining a demonstration which moved from the Passeig de Gràcia to the Plaça de Tetuan. Spain also had demonstrations of approximately 500,000 in Valencia
(GLW estimate), 250,000 in Seville
(GLW estimate) (200,000 Government sources estimate), 100,000 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
(GLW estimate) and 100,000 in Cadiz' (GLW estimate) as well as over fifty other towns and cities across the country (WSWS estimate).
Particularly remarkable was the turnout in the small Asturian
city of Oviedo
which had a turnout of 100,000 even though its total population was only 180,000.
took place in Istanbul
, thousands (SW estimate) demonstrated. The local authorities had banned the protest claiming to have worries about national security, however the protest organisers went ahead with the rally under the cover of calling a press conference.
Before the rally there were many arrests and supporters of the march have accused the police of targeting "dark looking people" with the aim of stopping Kurds, many carrying placards referring to the Kurdish issue, from attending the demonstration.
Kurds made up around half of the demonstration and most were demonstrating both against the war and against Turkish treatment of Kurds. When the rally finished all those who had spoken from the platform were arrested then later released without charge. This included two stars of one of Turkey's most popular TV comedy show who had announced on the previous Friday night episode of their show that they would be attending the demonstration.
Turkey also saw demonstrations in Adana
, Ankara
, İzmir
, Zonguldak
, İzmit
, Antalya
and Muğla
.
of around 2,000 people (USA Today estimate) joined a "Rock against the war" rally Kiev
s central square.
(StWC) held a protest in London which it claimed was the largest political demonstration in the city's history. Police estimated attendance as well in excess of 750,000 people and the BBC estimated that around a million attended. The protest was organised under the slogan "No war on Iraq - freedom for Palestine
".
The StWC, who had previously held a series of demonstrations and rallies against the Afghanistan war
and the upcoming Iraq war, jointly called the London demonstration with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
(CND) and the Muslim Association of Britain
joined the StWC for this event.
In the lead-up to February 15, the StWC was organising the march from a small office donated by the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education
. As the event approached estimates of the possible number attending rose and in the belief that it would be considerably bigger than the previous demonstrations they had organised StWC agreed with the police for the march to start from two separate locations; Thames Embankment
for Londoners and those travelling in from the south, and Gower Street
for those travelling in from the midlands and the north. They planned for the two marches to merge at Piccadilly Circus
and then proceed to a rally at Hyde Park
.
The negotiations for this plan faltered when government Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Tessa Jowell
instructed the Royal Parks agency
to deny permission for the rally in Hyde Park - ostensibly for safety reasons and to protect the grass. However, this was resolved when, after failure to agree on an alternative venue and pressure from the StWC, this decision was reversed.
Plans for the demonstration were backed by the Mayor of London
Ken Livingstone
who used his position to help resolve the administrative issues. Previously the British press had taken a low view of the newsworthiness of demonstrations, with The Guardian
claiming to have a general policy not to cover them. However, sections of the media came over to support this demonstration. For example, the Daily Mirror gave large coverage in the lead up to the march and provided thousands of placards on the day. The demonstration also received sponsorship support from Greenpeace
and Mecca-Cola
.
As the date for the march approached the BBC was predicting that around 500,000 people would attend, while the StWC was hoping for numbers to top the symbolically significant million mark.
The weather, on the day of the protest was grey and cold, but reports noted that people remained "in high spirits" as London became gridlock
ed and protesters were stuck for hours at Gower Street and Embankment. Hundreds of coaches brought protesters from 250 towns and cities across the UK, with around 100 coaches coming from Wales alone. Many commentators noted the diversity of those attending the march. Euan Ferguson noted in The Observer
that:
All police leave in the capital was cancelled for the event, though Scotland Yard
later said that it passed off almost without incident.
The fashion model Kate Moss
and designer
Alexander McQueen
led a group of protesters from the fashion world. Also among protesters was the graffiti
artist Banksy
, who produced placards for the demonstration with the slogan 'Wrong War'.
Protesters who managed to reach Hyde Park in time heard various speakers, including George Galloway
, Tony Benn
and Bianca Jagger
however many were not able to reach the rally as those travelling home by coach had to leave before completing the march route. Protesters at the back end of the march did not reach Hyde Park until hours after the speakers and performers had finished.
Charles Kennedy
, then the leader of the Liberal Democrats
, was a late addition to the list of speakers. There was some media speculation that he only decided to speak after a lead article in The Guardian was critical of his absence from the planned speaker list. There had been some controversy within the StWC over allowing Kennedy to speak since his party was committed to opposing the war only in the absence of a second UN resolution, but the coalition decided that failing to invite him "would have been divisive for the movement and would have fragmented anti-war opposition to the war."
Because of the size of the march, accurate estimates of the number of people in attendance are difficult. It is relativity uncontentious that the march was the largest ever political demonstration in the UK and the biggest taking to the streets since the Golden Jubilee weekend
in 2002.
In an ICM poll for The Guardian (February 14, 2003 – February 16, 2003), 6% of people claimed that someone from their household went on the march or had intended to. The StWC claims that this translates into 1.25 million households and thus supports the estimate of two million people, assuming that more than one person could come from each household.
RadioVague in conjunction with the now defunct CableRadio broadcast speeches, music and interviews from the event to the internet throughout the day using a satellite uplink provided by Psand.net.
A sole person demonstrated in opposition to the march outside the Iraqi section of the Jordanian Embassy on the day - Jacques More a writer from Croydon - with a placard saying "When evil dictators rule, remember Churchill not Chamberlain...".
which would end at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
(SECC) where the Labour Party
was holding a conference for party members. The Labour Party requested that the SECC refuse permission for a stage and PA system outside the conference hall. In response to this the then Scottish Socialist Party
MSP
Tommy Sheridan
tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament
to allow the event to take place, condemning what he claimed were attempts to "stifle all opposition to warmonger Blair". The Labour Party was unsuccessful in blocking the demonstrators' plans. Tony Blair was due to give a speech at the same time as the protesters would have arrived outside the conference centre, but the speech was rescheduled to an earlier time to avoid this.
On the day between 50,000 people (Guardian estimate) and 100,000 (World Socialist estimate) joined the march, which started at Glasgow Green
. By the time the front of the march had travelled the two miles (3.2 km) to the SECC, Blair had delivered his speech and had left the area. One protester was quoted as saying "We've chased him out of town."
march was held in Belfast
, where 10,000 (Guardian estimate) to 20,000 (SW estimate) protesters from across the sectarian divide joined the demonstration. The march started at the Arts College at 14:30 and moved through that Royal Avenue towards Belfast City Hall
. Prominent politicians from Sinn Féin
, the Social Democratic and Labour Party
(SDLP) and the centrist Alliance Party
joined the protest. Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams
spoke from the platform at the end rally saying "If President Bush and Mr Blair want war, it should be war against poverty and for equality." There was also a rally in Newry
in County Down
attending by hundreds of protesters (BBC estimate).
The biggest took place in Montreal
where more than 100,000 people protested (SW and WSWS each estimated 150,000) despite wind-chill temperatures of below −30 °C (−22 °F). 80,000 people joined a demonstration in Toronto, 40,000 in Vancouver, 18,000 (by police estimates) in Edmonton
, 8,000 in Victoria
, 4,000 in Halifax and 6,000 in Ottawa. Some of the other major centres where protests were held included Windsor
and Calgary
There were protests in 70 cities in total. These demonstrations took place despite very cold weather, average temperatures were below −35 °C (−31 °F).
In Chicoutimi
, 1,500 people braved a −40 °C (−40 °F) wind-chill temperature including wind gusts reaching 50 km/h (31 mph), in what was surely one of the coldest marches of the global day of protest.
reporting that 150 U.S. cities had protests.
According to the World Socialist Web Site
, protests took place in 225 different communities.
The largest protests took place in the nation's largest cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City, but there were also smaller rallies in towns such as Gainesville, Georgia
; Macomb, Illinois
; and Juneau, Alaska, among scores of others.
. However, a week before the march, police claimed that they would not be able to ensure order and District Court
Judge Barbara Jones ruled against allowing the route. Instead, protesters were only permitted to hold a stationary rally.
According to Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York City Civil Liberties Union, judicial denial of a permit for a protest march was an unprecedented restriction of civil liberties
, as marching and parading through New York's public streets to express various points-of-view is "a time-honoured tradition in our country that lies at the core of the First Amendment
".
On the day, over 300 buses and four special trains brought protesters in from across the country. 100,000 protesters (BBC estimate) took part in a rally near the UN building. Among those taking part was the 9/11 Families For Peaceful Tomorrows
, a group made up of some relatives of victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center
. Speakers included politicians, church leaders and entertainers, such as actress Susan Sarandon
and South African Anglican Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
.
As people tried to reach the rally area they ended up constituting an unplanned march, stretching twenty blocks down First Avenue and overflowing onto Second and Third Avenue.
In total estimates range from been 300,000 to 400,000 protesters (WSWS estimate).
to over a million protesters (Berlin Heise estimate)
The protests were largely peaceful though a small group of protesters who were reported to have broken off from the main rally, caused damage to property in the Union Square
district, and threw stones at police officers, which resulted in forty arrests.
There were numerous complaints that the police were too heavy handed. Many streets were blocked off and protesters reported feeling hemmed in and scared. By the end of the day, police reported that there had been roughly 275 arrests; organisers dispute this number, claiming that there were 348 arrests. The local Independent Media Center
produced a short video claiming to show inappropriate and violent police behaviour, including backing horses into demonstrators, shoving people into the metal barricades, spraying a toxic substance at penned-in demonstrators, using abusive language, and raising nightsticks against some who couldn't move. However, NYPD spokesman Michael O'Looney
denied the charges claiming that the tape was "filled with special effects" and that it did not prove the police had not been provoked.
A CNN journalist reported that the crowd was diverse, including "older men and women in fur coats, parents with young children, military veterans and veterans of the anti-war movement."
At a demonstration in Los Angeles, California, 50,000 (WSWS estimate to 60,000 (GLW estimate) protesters (CNN said "thousands") marched down Hollywood Boulevard
filling it for four blocks. Amongst the protesters were the actors Martin Sheen
and Mike Farrell
and director Rob Reiner
. Martin Sheen, who at the time was playing a fictitious U.S. president in The West Wing, said that "None of us can stop this war ... there is only one guy that can do that and he lives in the White House."
Other activists in California originally planned to hold a protest in San Francisco
on the Saturday but they changed to the Sunday in order not to conflict with the city's Chinese New Year
's parade. The protest was held on Sunday February 16. The BBC estimated the crowd size to be 150,000 people,
while protest organisers and police agreed that the crowd count was 200,000 people. However, a San Francisco Chronicle photographic investigation estimated that the number in attendance at the peak period was closer to 65,000 people, although it did not state how many people were in attendance for the duration of the demonstration.
This dispute highlights the continuing debate over the accuracy of crowd estimates
in large public demonstrations.
There was some controversy over Rabbi
Michael Lerner
not being selected as a speaker for the rally at the end of the demonstration. Lerner claimed that he was not picked to speak for reasons of anti-semitism
due to his support for the existence of the Israeli state. The organisers responded with a statement that he was not picked because of an arrangement between the groups that organised the demonstration that there would be no speakers that had publicly attacked any other anti-war group and that "since he had publicly attacked A.N.S.W.E.R. in both the New York Times and Tikkun
community email newsletters, his inclusion in the program would violate [this] agreement." They also noted that two rabbis with views similar to those of Michael Lerner would be speaking.
In Colorado Springs
, 4,000 protesters were dispersed with pepper spray
, tear gas, stun guns and batons. 34 were arrested on failure to disperse and other charges
and at least two protesters had to have hospital treatment.
In Seattle organisers aimed to have 20 to 30 thousand people join a march from Seattle Center
following a giant blue planet, the emblem adopted by the march organisers. On the day 50,000 people (GLW estimate) turned out to protest under the dual slogan "Stop the war on Iraq; Stop the war on immigrants", more than on the Seattle protests against the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999
.
Demonstrations also took place in Philadelphia, where thousands (CNN estimate) joined a march to the Liberty Bell
,
and in Chicago where 10,000 people demonstrated (GLW estimate).
In Florida
a small number of protesters staged a naked protest on Palm Beach
. They initially had some problems getting permission for the action, but on the Thursday before, a U.S. District court ruled that the planned nude protest was legal at the public beach. Most of the attendees had come from the four-day Mid-Winter Naturist Festival that was taking place at the same time.
There was also a demonstration of 900 people (USA Today estimate) on the island of Puerto Rico
.
laureate Rigoberta Menchú
.
, where their protest took place on the day before February 15, Friday. An estimated 70,000 people marched down Montevideo
's Avenida 18.
In Brazil, a protest led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
was attended by 1,500 marchers (Police estimate).
In Buenos Aires
, Argentina
, an estimate of 50,000 protesters attended.
populations, in particular the countries of the Middle East, had the highest levels of opposition to the proposed Iraq war, however demonstrations in many of these countries were relatively small. One United Arab Emirates
newspaper Al Bayan
led with the statement: "The people of the world and more than one million Europeans demonstrate against an attack on Iraq while the Arab people and their leaders are in a deep coma."
The reasons for this are no doubt complex, but one factor that is commonly cited is the suppression of protest movements by the conservative leaders of those countries. A report by Asef Bayat in the Middle East Report suggests that "the Arab governments allow little room for independent dissent" as is shown by the fact that "Since 2000, demands for collective protests against the US and Israel have been ignored by the authorities" and "unofficial street actions have faced intimidation and assault, with activists being harassed or detained".
, the country in which the war would take place, protesters marched down Palestine Street in Baghdad
where several thousand Iraqis—many carrying Kalashnikov
rifles—joined in the global protests. Unlike the vast majority of protests across the world the protest in Baghdad was also in support of the Baathist regime; it was called by Saddam Hussein as "World Anger Day". Protesters carried posters of Saddam and burned US flags.
A large protest also took place on the streets of Damascus
in Syria
which borders Iraq. Protesters chanted anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans while marching to the "People's Assembly" in a demonstration of between 10,000 (GLW estimate) to 200,000 protesters (CBS estimate and USA Today estimate).
In Lebanon
, 10,000 protesters (CBS estimate) took part in a demonstration in Beirut
. However, the protest ended early when it rained heavily.
There were also demonstrations of 10,000 people (GLW estimate) in Beirut, Lebanon, and 5,000 people (GLW estimate) in Amman
, Jordan
.
In Israel
there was a demonstration in Tel Aviv
of approximately 2,000 (USA Today estimate) to 3,000 people (GLW and WSWS estimate). The demonstration contained both Arabs and Jews
. It was organized by a wide range of peace organizations including the Communist Party of Israel
, the National Democratic Assembly, the Arab Democratic Party
, the Independent Media Center, the Alternative Information Center
, Ta'ayush
, the Gush Shalom
movement, and the Organization for Democratic Action
. However, it was boycotted by other left-wing
groups, including Peace Now and Meretz.
The demonstration was co-ordinated with a similar demonstration which took place in Ramallah
.
were 5,000 (SW estimate) people marched.
However, there was a demonstration of 25,000 in Tokyo on Friday, the day before as well as smaller demonstrations in Osaka
and other cities. Amongst the protesters in Tokyo was a group of survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
.
Around 3,000 people (SW estimate) joined an illegal
demonstration in the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur
despite police warnings that any participants in a protest would face stern action. The demonstration ended at the US embassy at Jalan Tun Razak.
Taiwan
had a protest of more than 2,000 people (WSWS estimate) in the capital city of Taipei
under the slogan of “No Blood for Oil”.
India saw protests across the country including 10,000 (BBC estimate) in Calcutta.
In Bangladesh
2,000 people joined a demonstration in Dhaka
.
In South Korea there was a demonstration of 2,000 people (WSWS estimate) which took place in the capital city Seoul
. The protest started with a rally at Ma-ron-i-ea Park after which there was a demonstration that ended in Jong-Myo Park were the size of the protest increased in size to 3,000 people (WSWS estimate). Jong-Myo Park was surrounded by riot police who almost out numbered the protesters. Protests also took place in the South Korean cites of Pusan, Taegu, Taejon, Kwangju and Wonju
.
No protests were reported as having taken place in mainland China. According to a WSWS correspondent from Beijing there were two factors that explain the lack of protest in mainland China; "[Beijing’s] appeasement of imperialism and its fear of any public protest, whatever its content." There was a demonstration in Hong Kong of up to 1,000 people (WSWS estimate).
estimate) and 20,000 people (SW estimate) joined a protest in Johannesburg
in South Africa.
In Cape Town
5,000 (USA Today estimate) to 20,000 protesters (WSWS estimate) joined a demonstration march which started at 10 in the morning on Keizersgracht road and ended at the offices of the US consulate-general which was guarded by a ring of riot police, were there was a rally with speakers. Protests were organised by the Anti-War Coalition
and the Stop the War campaign of the Congress of South African Trade Unions
(Cosatu).
Protests of thousands of people also took place at Durban
and Bloemfontein
.
A number of prominent ANC
politicians attended marches. At the Cape Town rally the South African Minister, Pallo Jordan
addressed the protesters saying; "We will stop the war. The voice of the people will be heard."
n city of Sfax
was attacked by police who beat the protesters with batons and truncheons, injuring at least 20.
took place on the day before, on Friday morning, heralding the weekend of demonstrations. Protesters handed floral Valentine's Day messages to the representatives of the US, British and Australian governments urging them to avoid the war.
, Australia where around 150,000 people (BBC estimate) (Over 200,000 organisers estimate) joined a demonstration.
On the Saturday protests also took place in Australia’s six state capitals with 200,000 protesters (BBC estimate) demonstrating in Sydney, and an estimated 600,000 demonstrating in cities around the country. The Sydney demonstration included a feeder march of 10,000 trade unionists.
Beyond the capitals, many major cities and towns around Australia had protests.
Queensland:
New South Wales:
Tasmania:
Victoria:
South Australia:
Western Australia:
Northern Territory:
At protests in Australia in Bellingen
, New South Wales
around 2,500 people (SW estimate) joined a rally at the towns sports ground. As well as hearing from speakers the demonstrators were entertained by a group of a cappella
singers called 'The Bushbombs'. The rally was about as large as the town's population.
and Wellington
. The Auckland march was bigger than expected forcing police to shut off Queen Street
. People were reported to be still starting the march as those at the front of the march reached a rally in Myers Park several kilometres away. In Wellington the march had to carry on after the then planned end point as there were too many people to fit into the park. There were also protests in at least 18 other centres, including Dunedin, Thames, Opotiki, Whakatane, Whangarei, Timaru and Rotorua, and Picnic for Peace in Christchurch.
held a rally on the ice at the edge of the Ross sea.
on the planet - the United States, and worldwide public opinion".
The unprecedented size of the demonstrations was widely taken to indicate that the majority of people across the world opposed the war. However, the pro-war Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard
, claimed that the protests were not representative of public opinion, saying "I don't know that you can measure public opinion just by the number of people that turn up at demonstrations."
The potential effect of the protests was generally dismissed by pro-war politicians; the then US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice
was reported as saying that the protests would "not affect [the US administration's] determination to confront Saddam Hussein and help the Iraqi people".
Her view was borne out as the day of protests, along with the protests that followed it, failed to stop the war. However, the protests and other public opposition have been held up as a key factor in the decisions of the governments of many countries, such as Canada, to not send troops to Iraq.
Though demonstrations against the Iraq war and subsequent occupation have continued none has matched this day in terms of size. One explanation for this that has been suggested is that people have become disillusioned with marching as a political tactic because of the failure of these demonstrations to achieve their explicit aim. In 2006 three years after this day, in an article arguing for people to attend a further march, Mike Marqusee put forward two counter arguments to this. Firstly he claimed that it was too soon to judge the long-term significance of the demonstrations noting that "People who took part in the non-cooperation campaigns in India in the 20s and 30s had to wait a long time for independence." and that "There were eight years of protest and more than 2 million dead before the Vietnam war came to an end". Secondly, he claimed that while the effect of marching may be uncertain, the effect of not marching would surely be to make it more likely that the occupation would continue.
According to Alex Callinicos
some people argue from the idea that the demonstrations have failed, to the notion that the anti-war movement should concentrate on direct action
rather than mass demonstrations. He argues against this claiming that putting pressure on governments not to join in with "Bush’s imperial project" requires an expression of opposition of large numbers of people and claims that "scattered, localised direct actions do not provide the necessary visibility" He further claims that "big national demonstrations are also important in sustaining the momentum of the [anti-war] movement".
Despite failing in its explicit aim, the February 15 global day of anti-war protests had many effects that, according to some, were not directly intended. According to United Kingdom left-wing anti-war
activist Salma Yaqoob
, one of these was that they were a powerful antidote to the idea that the war was a "Clash of Civilizations
", or a religious war, an idea she claimed was propagated both by Western leaders and reactionary forces in the Arab world. This is echoed in the words of former Hizb ut-Tahrir
organiser Hadiya Masieh who said of the non-Muslims marching in London "How could we demonise people who obviously opposed aggression against Muslims?".
Protest
A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...
s across the world expressing opposition to the then-imminent Iraq War
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
. It was part of a series of protests and political events
Protests against the Iraq War
Beginning in 2002, and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world...
that had begun in 2002 and continued as the war took place.
Sources vary in their estimations of the number of participants involved. According to BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, between six and ten million people took part in protests in up to sixty countries over the weekend of the 15th and 16th; other estimates range from eight million to thirty million.
Some of the largest protests took place in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The protest in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
involved around three million people, and is listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the largest anti-war rally
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
in history. Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
hosted the second largest rally with more than 1½ million people protesting the invasion of Iraq, whereas Mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
was the only major region not to see any protests, but small demonstrations attended mainly by foreign students were seen later.
Background
In 2002, the United States government began to argue for the necessity of invading Iraq. This formally began with a speech by U.S President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
to the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
on September 12, 2002 which argued that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
was violating UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
resolutions, primarily on weapons of mass destruction
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
, and that this necessitated invasion.
The proposed war was controversial with many people questioning the motives of the U.S. government and its rationale. One poll which covered 41 countries claimed that less than 10% would support an invasion of Iraq without UN sanction and that half would not support an invasion under any circumstances.
Anti-war groups worldwide organised public protests. According to the French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
academic Dominique Reynié
Dominique Reynié
Dominique Reynié is a French academic. He is a professor of political science at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.-References:Article :...
between the January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 anti-war protests, the demonstrations on February 15, 2003 being the largest and most prolific.
The invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003.
International coordination
The February 15 international protests were unprecedented not only in terms of the size of the demonstrations but also in terms of the international coordination involved. Researchers from the University of AntwerpUniversity of Antwerp
The University of Antwerp is one of the major Belgian universities located in the city of Antwerp. The name is sometimes abbreviated as UA.-History:...
claim that the day was possible only because it "was carefully planned by an international network of national social movement
Social movement
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
organisations."
Immanuel Wallerstein
Immanuel Wallerstein
Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein is a US sociologist, historical social scientist, and world-systems analyst...
has spoken of the international protests as being organised by the forces of "the Porto Alegre camp in reference to the emergence of global social movements who had been organising around international events such as the 2001 World Social Forum
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemonic globalization...
in Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
." Some commentators claim this is an example of "grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
globalisation", for example one book claims that "The worldwide protests were made possible by globalisation ... But make no mistake—this was not your CEO's
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
globalisation. The peace demonstrations represented, not a globalisation of commerce, but a globalisation of conscience".
The idea for an international day of demonstrations was first raised by the British anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....
group Globalise Resistance
Globalise Resistance
Globalise Resistance is a British anti-capitalist activist group. The group was established after the emergence of the anti-globalisation movement and sought to bring together a broad array of organisations opposed to neo-liberal capitalism and corporate power.The group has organised conferences...
(GR) in the wake of an anti-war demonstration in Britain of 400,000 on September 28. At the time GR was involved in planning for the Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
European Social Forum
European Social Forum
The European Social Forum is a recurring conference held by members of the alter-globalization movement . In the first few years after it started in 2002 the conference was held every year, but later it became biannual due to difficulties with finding host countries...
(ESF) and brought up the suggestion at an ESF planning meeting. According to GR's Chris Nineham
Chris Nineham
Chris Nineham is one of the founder members and now one of the National Officers of the Stop the War Coalition in the UK. He was one of the main organisers of the 15 February 2003 anti-war protest against the invasion on Iraq....
, "There was considerable controversy. Some delegates were worried it would alienate the mainstream of the movement. We, alongside the Italian delegates, had to put up a strong fight to get it accepted."
The proposal was accepted and at the final rally of the ESF, in November 2002, the call officially went out for Europe-wide demonstrations on February 15, 2003. This call was firmed up in December at a planning meeting for the next (2003) ESF which took place in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
. This meeting was attended by delegates from many European anti-war organisations, the US group United for Peace and Justice
United for Peace and Justice
United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 1,300 international and U.S.-based organizations opposed to "our government's policy of permanent warfare and empire-building."...
, and representatives of groups from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. The decision was taken to set up a Europe-wide anti-war website and to commit to spreading organisational coordination both within and beyond Europe. An email network connecting the different national organisations across Europe, and eventually also the different US groups, was set up.
In December 2002, the Cairo Anti-war Conference
Cairo Anti-war Conference
The Cairo Conference against U.S. hegemony and war on Iraq and in solidarity with Palestine , generally known simply as Cairo Anti-war Conference, is an anti-war and anti-neo-liberalism conference held regularly since 2002 in Cairo, Egypt...
pledged to organise demonstrations in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and the International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq
International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq
The International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq is a campaign umbrella group launched in Cairo 2003, at the Cairo Anti-war Conference, to oppose the invasion of Iraq....
(which came out of the Cairo conference) sought to co-ordinate more demonstrations across the world. Around this time, the US anti-war group ANSWER
A.N.S.W.E.R.
Act Now to Stop War and End Racism , also known as International A.N.S.W.E.R. and the ANSWER Coalition, is a United States-based protest umbrella group consisting of many antiwar and civil rights organizations...
called for actions in North America supporting the proposed protests in Europe.
Another important platform for the spreading call to demonstrate internationally occurred at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
which took place at the end of 2002. European delegates sought to popularise the plan for the increasingly international demonstration. They met with some success, including the organisation of an anti-war assembly which was attended by almost 1000 people.
Europe
Demonstrations took place across Europe and some of the largest drawing attendance figures in the tens of thousands in many cities. Approximately one-fifth of the total demonstrators worldwide protested in Europe.Alpine countries
This level of protest was also apparent in the AlpineAlps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
countries. In Austria, 30,000 people (SW estimate) took to the streets of its capital, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
In Switzerland in order to "concentrate the movement" most activists agreed to organise a single demonstration for the whole country in Bern. On the day roughly 40,000 people joined the protest in front of the Bundeshaus, the seat of the Swiss federal government and parliament. The demonstration, which ran under the slogan "Nein zum Krieg gegen Irak - Kein Blut für Öl!" (No to war in Iraq - no blood for oil!) was the largest in Switzerland since 1945.
In Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, roughly 3.000 people gathered in the capital's
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
central park of Kongresni trg, supported by the mayor Danica Simšič, and marched the streets in one of the largest demonstrations since independence in 1991.
Benelux
The BeneluxBenelux
The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...
countries had large demonstrations for their total population size. In Belgium organisers had expected around 30,000 people to attend a demonstration in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, which is the home of the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
. They were shocked by a turn out of approximately 100,000 people (WSWS and GLW estimate). The march took over 3 hours to cross the city.
In Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, approximately 14,000 people demonstrated and the Netherlands saw around 70,000 (USA Today estimate) to 75,000 people (WSWS estimate) protest in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
.
This was the country's largest demonstration since the anti-nuclear
Anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
campaigns of the 1980s.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
saw around 100 protesters gather in Mostar
Mostar
Mostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country...
. This protest spanned the sectarian divide with both Muslims and Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
attending.
Croatia
There were also protests in CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
where 10,000 people (WSWS estimate) took part in a protest in the capital city of Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
. Croatia also saw protests in Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
, Vukovar
Vukovar
Vukovar is a city in eastern Croatia, and the biggest river port in Croatia located at the confluence of the Vuka river and the Danube. Vukovar is the center of the Vukovar-Syrmia County...
, Knin
Knin
Knin is a historical town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia, located near the source of the river Krka at , in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the railroad Zagreb–Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as a one-time capital of both the Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the...
, Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
, Šibenik
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
, Split
Split (city)
Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
and Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
.
Cyprus
CyprusCyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
saw a demonstration of between 500 (USA Today estimate) and more than 800 people (SW estimate) at the British army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
base in Dhekelia. Enduring heavy rain protesters briefly blocked the base. They then marched to Pyla
Pyla
Pyla is a village in Larnaca District, Cyprus. It is one of only four villages located within the United Nations Buffer Zone, the other three being Athienou, Troulloi and Deneia. Pyla is located in the eastern part of the island, adjacent to the British Sovereign Base Area of Dhekelia...
village where they watched other demonstrations occurring across the world on a giant screen. The demonstration was mostly attended by Greek Cypriots but they were joined by some Turkish Cypriots.
Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, over 1,000 people joined a rally at Jan PalachJan Palach
Jan Palach was a Czech student who committed suicide by self-immolation as a political protest.- Death :...
Square in Prague. Czech philosopher Erazim Kohak
Erazim Kohák
Erazim Kohák is a Czech philosopher and writer. His early education was in Prague. After communists took over Czechoslovakia in 1948, his family escaped to the United States....
addressed the crowd, saying, "War is not a solution, war is a problem."
Protesters listened to music and speeches before marching to the Czech government building, where they submitted petitions, then march continued to the US embassy.
France
In France, there were demonstrations in somewhere between twenty (Observer estimate) and eighty cities (WSWS estimate); the organisers estimated that over half a million marched in total. The biggest demonstration took place in Paris where around 100,000 (USA TodayUSA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
estimate) to 200,000 (WSWS estimate) people marched through the streets, ending in a rally at the Place de la Bastille
Place de la Bastille
The Place de la Bastille is a square in Paris, where the Bastille prison stood until the 'Storming of the Bastille' and its subsequent physical destruction between 14 July 1789 and 14 July 1790 during the French Revolution; no vestige of it remains....
. This location's role in the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
was considered to give it a historical significance.
There was also a demonstration in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
of around 10,000 people.
Germany
In Germany, coaches brought people from over 300 German towns to Berlin to join a demonstration of 300,000 (police estimate) to 500,000 (organizers' estimate) people; the largest demonstration that had occurred in Berlin for several decades.Protesters, including members of Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens. Before becoming a full-time politician, he was a lawyer, and before becoming Chancellor...
's government, filled the boulevard between the Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
and the Victory Column
Berlin Victory Column
The Victory Column is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War, by the time it was inaugurated on 2 September 1873, Prussia had also defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War and France in the...
.
ATTAC Germany's spokesperson Malte Kreutzfeld was reported as praising the broadness of the demonstration, saying "The churches and trade unions have linked to make the coalition far broader than even the anti-nuclear missile marches in the 1980s."
Greece
In AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Greece, 150,000 people (WSWS estimate) demonstrated. The protest was generally peaceful, but a small group clashed with police. The police fired tear gas at the group some of whom threw rocks and petrol bombs. Police reported that the trouble was down to a group of anarchists who had split off from the main demonstration.
Ireland
In IrelandRepublic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, the Dublin march was only expected to draw 20,000 people, but the actual figure was given variously as 80,000 (police estimate), 90,000 (BBC estimate), 100,000 (Guardian estimate) or 150,000 (Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
(SW) estimate). The march went from Parnell Square, passing the Department of Foreign Affairs at St. Stephen's Green
St. Stephen's Green
St Stephen's Green is a city centre public park in Dublin, Ireland. The park is adjacent to one of Dublin's main shopping streets, Grafton Street, and to a shopping centre named for it, while on its surrounding streets are the offices of a number of public bodies and the city terminus of one of...
, and on to the Dame Street for a rally where popular Irish folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
singer Christy Moore
Christy Moore
Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
, Kíla
Kíla
Kíla are an Irish folk music/World music group, originally formed in 1987 in the Irish Language secondary school, Coláiste Eoin in Co. Dublin. Kila's blend of Irish traditional music and World Music with a modern rock sensibility is generally credited with breathing new life into contemporary Irish...
and Labour Party
Labour Party (Ireland)
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...
politician Michael D Higgins were among many speakers from the platform. The march disrupted traffic for more than four hours. Protesters demanded that the Irish government stop allowing the United States military to use Ireland's Shannon Airport
Shannon Airport
Shannon Airport, is one of the Republic of Ireland's three primary airports along with Dublin and Cork. In 2010 around 1,750,000 passengers passed through the airport, making it the third busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland after Dublin and Cork, and the fifth busiest airport on the island...
as a transatlantic stop-off point in bringing soldiers to the Middle East.
Italy
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
s were specially chartered to bring people to the demonstration, which was organised under the slogan "Stop the war; no ifs or buts". The organisers were shocked at the size of the turn out and the unexpected number of people forced the demonstration to set off two hours early.
650,000 people (police estimate) took place in a final rally at which there were many international speakers including Kurds
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
, Iraqi dissidents, Palestinians, a representative of the American Council of Christian Churches
American Council of Christian Churches
The American Council of Christian Churches was founded in 1941 under the leadership of Carl McIntire. McIntire and others created a fundamentalist organization set up in opposition to the Federal Council of Churches...
and an Israeli conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
who addressed the crowd from a stage hung with Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
's Guernica
Guernica (painting)
Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso. It was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, Basque Country, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces, on 26 April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War...
. The size of the demonstration meant that the majority of demonstrators did not make it into the final rally and in total three million people (organisers' estimate, supported by the Guinness Book of World Records) were on the streets. This was listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the largest anti-war rally in history.
According to the Green Left Weekly
Green Left Weekly
Green Left Weekly is an Australian radical left-wing newspaper, written by progressive activists to "present the views excluded by the big business media". It was published by the Democratic Socialist Perspective from its inception in 1990 until January 2010, when the DSP merged into the Socialist...
(GLW), the demonstration contained people from across Italian society; "Catholic nuns and priests marched alongside young people with dreadlocks, nose rings and Palestinian scarves. Christians, anarchists and communists mingled".
Malta
The island of MaltaMalta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
saw around 1,000 demonstrators (SW estimate) join a protest. The weather was cold and rainy. After the demonstration an anti-war concert was held in the capital, Valletta
Valletta
Valletta is the capital of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt in Maltese. It is located in the central-eastern portion of the island of Malta, and the historical city has a population of 6,098. The name "Valletta" is traditionally reserved for the historic walled citadel that serves as Malta's...
.
Nordic countries
Norway saw its biggest series of protests since 1917. The biggest took place in its capital OsloOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
were more than 60,000 protesters (Police estimate and Socialist Worker estimate) joining a demonstration. Protests of around 15,000 took place in Bergen and Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
, and 10,000 in Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
. Small protests also took place in at least 30 towns across the country. At the rally in Oslo the vice-chair of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions
Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions
The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions is a national trade union center, decidedly the largest and probably the most influential umbrella organization of labour unions in Norway. The 21 national unions affiliated to the LO have more than 850,000 members of a Norwegian population of 4.8 million...
(LO) spoke from the platform claiming that "Bush only cares about American oil interests".
In Denmark 20,000 to 30,000 protesters (WSWS estimate) took part in a march in the capital city, Copenhagen.
In Sweden, 35,000 demonstrated in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. and about 25,000 in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
. In Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Finland, an estimated 15,000 people participated in one of the largest mass-protests in the republic's history.
Poland
There was a demonstration in WarsawWarsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland of 10,000 people (SW estimate). The demonstration through central Warsaw passed the US embassy. Another protest, organized by the local Wrocław Anti-War Coalition (WKA), was held in the city of Wrocław in the market square by the town hall, with 400-500 people participating.
Portugal
In LisbonLisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
gathered around 80,000 People to march through the city, it was a very peaceful march without police trouble.
Russia
In Russia, which had several demonstrations, the largest occurred in Moscow, with 400 people (WSWS estimate) in attendance.Serbia
Small demonstrations also took place in SerbiaSerbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, where there was a demonstration of 200 people (WSWS estimate) in the capital city of Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
.
Spain
Spain saw demonstrations in around 55 cities and towns across the country;the largest was probably in the capital city Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, where between 660,000 (Government source’s estimate) and 2,000,000 (GLW estimate) took part in what was probably the biggest demonstration since the death of the fascist dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
in 1975.
Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
also had a large, with estimates of 350,000 (Delegación de Gobierno), 1,300,000 (Barcelona city hall and Police) or 1,500,000 (GLW) people
joining a demonstration which moved from the Passeig de Gràcia to the Plaça de Tetuan. Spain also had demonstrations of approximately 500,000 in Valencia
Valencia (city in Spain)
Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union...
(GLW estimate), 250,000 in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
(GLW estimate) (200,000 Government sources estimate), 100,000 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria commonly known as Las Palmas is the political capital, jointly with Santa Cruz, the most populous city in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and the ninth largest city in Spain, with a population of 383,308 in 2010. Nearly half of the people of the island...
(GLW estimate) and 100,000 in Cadiz' (GLW estimate) as well as over fifty other towns and cities across the country (WSWS estimate).
Particularly remarkable was the turnout in the small Asturian
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
city of Oviedo
Oviedo
Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....
which had a turnout of 100,000 even though its total population was only 180,000.
Turkey
The main demonstration in TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
took place in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, thousands (SW estimate) demonstrated. The local authorities had banned the protest claiming to have worries about national security, however the protest organisers went ahead with the rally under the cover of calling a press conference.
Before the rally there were many arrests and supporters of the march have accused the police of targeting "dark looking people" with the aim of stopping Kurds, many carrying placards referring to the Kurdish issue, from attending the demonstration.
Kurds made up around half of the demonstration and most were demonstrating both against the war and against Turkish treatment of Kurds. When the rally finished all those who had spoken from the platform were arrested then later released without charge. This included two stars of one of Turkey's most popular TV comedy show who had announced on the previous Friday night episode of their show that they would be attending the demonstration.
Turkey also saw demonstrations in Adana
Adana
Adana is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean, in south-central Anatolia...
, Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
, Zonguldak
Zonguldak
Zonguldak is a city and the capital of Zonguldak Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Its population, according to the 2009 census, was 108,792. It is an important port on the Black Sea because of the coal mining in Zonguldak Province...
, İzmit
Izmit
İzmit is a city in Turkey, administrative center of Kocaeli Province as well as the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. The city center has a population of 294.875...
, Antalya
Antalya
Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.- History :...
and Muğla
Mugla
Muğla is a city in south-western Turkey. It is the center of the district the same name, as well as of Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey´s Aegean coast. Muğla center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a distance of about from the nearest seacoast in the Gulf of...
.
Ukraine
There was also a demonstration in UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
of around 2,000 people (USA Today estimate) joined a "Rock against the war" rally Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
s central square.
London
The British Stop the War CoalitionStop the War Coalition
The Stop the War Coalition is a United Kingdom group set up on 21 September 2001 that campaigns against what it believes are unjust wars....
(StWC) held a protest in London which it claimed was the largest political demonstration in the city's history. Police estimated attendance as well in excess of 750,000 people and the BBC estimated that around a million attended. The protest was organised under the slogan "No war on Iraq - freedom for Palestine
Proposals for a Palestinian state
Proposals for a Palestinian state currently refers to the proposed establishment of an independent state for the Palestinian people in Palestine on land that was occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967 and before by Egypt and by Jordan since 1949...
".
Organisation
The StWC, who had previously held a series of demonstrations and rallies against the Afghanistan war
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
and the upcoming Iraq war, jointly called the London demonstration with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an anti-nuclear organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
(CND) and the Muslim Association of Britain
Muslim Association of Britain
The Muslim Association of Britain is an Islamic organisation in the United Kingdom established in 1997.-Anti-war activities:Along with Stop the War Coalition and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, it has co-sponsored various demonstrations against the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq...
joined the StWC for this event.
In the lead-up to February 15, the StWC was organising the march from a small office donated by the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education
National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education
The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education was the British trade union and professional association for people working with those above statutory school age, and primarily concerned with providing education, training or research...
. As the event approached estimates of the possible number attending rose and in the belief that it would be considerably bigger than the previous demonstrations they had organised StWC agreed with the police for the march to start from two separate locations; Thames Embankment
Thames Embankment
The Thames Embankment is a major feat of 19th century civil engineering designed to reclaim marshy land next to the River Thames in central London. It consists of the Victoria and Chelsea Embankment....
for Londoners and those travelling in from the south, and Gower Street
Gower Street (London)
Gower Street is a street in Bloomsbury, Central London, England, running between Euston Road to the north and Montague Place to the south.North Gower Street is a separate street running north of the Euston Road...
for those travelling in from the midlands and the north. They planned for the two marches to merge at Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly...
and then proceed to a rally at Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
.
The negotiations for this plan faltered when government Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport is a United Kingdom cabinet position with responsibility for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The role was created in 1992 by John Major as Secretary of State for National Heritage...
Tessa Jowell
Tessa Jowell
Tessa Jowell is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Dulwich and West Norwood since 1992. Formerly a member of both the Blair and Brown Cabinets, she is currently the Shadow Minister for the Olympics and Shadow Minister for London.-Early life:Tessa Jane...
instructed the Royal Parks agency
The Royal Parks
The Royal Parks is an organisation within the UK Government that manages the eight Royal Parks and certain other areas of garden and parkland in London.They are an executive agency of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
to deny permission for the rally in Hyde Park - ostensibly for safety reasons and to protect the grass. However, this was resolved when, after failure to agree on an alternative venue and pressure from the StWC, this decision was reversed.
Plans for the demonstration were backed by the Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
who used his position to help resolve the administrative issues. Previously the British press had taken a low view of the newsworthiness of demonstrations, with The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
claiming to have a general policy not to cover them. However, sections of the media came over to support this demonstration. For example, the Daily Mirror gave large coverage in the lead up to the march and provided thousands of placards on the day. The demonstration also received sponsorship support from Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
and Mecca-Cola
Mecca-Cola
Mecca-Cola is a cola-flavoured carbonated beverage. The flagship product of the Mecca Cola World Company, it is marketed as an alternative to U.S. brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola to "pro-Muslim" consumers...
.
As the date for the march approached the BBC was predicting that around 500,000 people would attend, while the StWC was hoping for numbers to top the symbolically significant million mark.
The event
The weather, on the day of the protest was grey and cold, but reports noted that people remained "in high spirits" as London became gridlock
Gridlock
The term gridlock is defined as "A state of severe road congestion arising when continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill; a traffic jam of this kind." The term originates from a situation possible in...
ed and protesters were stuck for hours at Gower Street and Embankment. Hundreds of coaches brought protesters from 250 towns and cities across the UK, with around 100 coaches coming from Wales alone. Many commentators noted the diversity of those attending the march. Euan Ferguson noted in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
that:
All police leave in the capital was cancelled for the event, though Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
later said that it passed off almost without incident.
The fashion model Kate Moss
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
and designer
Fashion design
Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....
Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen
Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE was a British fashion designer and couturier best known for his in-depth knowledge of bespoke British tailoring, his tendency to juxtapose strength with fragility in his collections, as well as the emotional power and raw energy of his provocative fashion shows...
led a group of protesters from the fashion world. Also among protesters was the graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artist Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
, who produced placards for the demonstration with the slogan 'Wrong War'.
Protesters who managed to reach Hyde Park in time heard various speakers, including George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
, Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
and Bianca Jagger
Bianca Jagger
Bianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan-born social and human rights advocate and a former actress and model...
however many were not able to reach the rally as those travelling home by coach had to leave before completing the march route. Protesters at the back end of the march did not reach Hyde Park until hours after the speakers and performers had finished.
Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....
, then the leader of the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
, was a late addition to the list of speakers. There was some media speculation that he only decided to speak after a lead article in The Guardian was critical of his absence from the planned speaker list. There had been some controversy within the StWC over allowing Kennedy to speak since his party was committed to opposing the war only in the absence of a second UN resolution, but the coalition decided that failing to invite him "would have been divisive for the movement and would have fragmented anti-war opposition to the war."
Because of the size of the march, accurate estimates of the number of people in attendance are difficult. It is relativity uncontentious that the march was the largest ever political demonstration in the UK and the biggest taking to the streets since the Golden Jubilee weekend
Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was the international celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries, upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, and was intended by the Queen to be both a commemoration of her 50...
in 2002.
In an ICM poll for The Guardian (February 14, 2003 – February 16, 2003), 6% of people claimed that someone from their household went on the march or had intended to. The StWC claims that this translates into 1.25 million households and thus supports the estimate of two million people, assuming that more than one person could come from each household.
RadioVague in conjunction with the now defunct CableRadio broadcast speeches, music and interviews from the event to the internet throughout the day using a satellite uplink provided by Psand.net.
A sole person demonstrated in opposition to the march outside the Iraqi section of the Jordanian Embassy on the day - Jacques More a writer from Croydon - with a placard saying "When evil dictators rule, remember Churchill not Chamberlain...".
Scotland
In addition to the demonstrations in London, the United Kingdom also saw protests in Scotland. Anti-war activists planned a demonstration in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
which would end at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre , located on the north bank of the River Clyde, in Glasgow, is Scotland's largest exhibition centre....
(SECC) where the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
was holding a conference for party members. The Labour Party requested that the SECC refuse permission for a stage and PA system outside the conference hall. In response to this the then Scottish Socialist Party
Scottish Socialist Party
The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing Scottish political party. Positioning itself significantly to the left of Scotland's centre-left parties, the SSP campaigns on a socialist economic platform and for Scottish independence....
MSP
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan is a Scottish socialist politician. He has had various prominent roles within the socialist movement in Scotland and is currently one of two co-convenors of the left-wing Scottish political party Solidarity....
tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
to allow the event to take place, condemning what he claimed were attempts to "stifle all opposition to warmonger Blair". The Labour Party was unsuccessful in blocking the demonstrators' plans. Tony Blair was due to give a speech at the same time as the protesters would have arrived outside the conference centre, but the speech was rescheduled to an earlier time to avoid this.
On the day between 50,000 people (Guardian estimate) and 100,000 (World Socialist estimate) joined the march, which started at Glasgow Green
Glasgow Green
Glasgow Green is a park situated in the east end of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde. It is the oldest park in the city dating back to the 15th century.In 1450, King James II granted the land to Bishop William Turnbull and the people of Glasgow...
. By the time the front of the march had travelled the two miles (3.2 km) to the SECC, Blair had delivered his speech and had left the area. One protester was quoted as saying "We've chased him out of town."
Northern Ireland
The Northern IrishNorthern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
march was held in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, where 10,000 (Guardian estimate) to 20,000 (SW estimate) protesters from across the sectarian divide joined the demonstration. The march started at the Arts College at 14:30 and moved through that Royal Avenue towards Belfast City Hall
Belfast City Hall
Belfast City Hall is the civic building of the Belfast City Council. Located in Donegall Square, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, it faces north and effectively divides the commercial and business areas of the city centre.-History:...
. Prominent politicians from Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
, the Social Democratic and Labour Party
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
(SDLP) and the centrist Alliance Party
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....
joined the protest. Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
spoke from the platform at the end rally saying "If President Bush and Mr Blair want war, it should be war against poverty and for equality." There was also a rally in Newry
Newry
Newry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...
in County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
attending by hundreds of protesters (BBC estimate).
Canada
Canada saw protests in 70 cities and towns (WSWS estimate).The biggest took place in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
where more than 100,000 people protested (SW and WSWS each estimated 150,000) despite wind-chill temperatures of below −30 °C (−22 °F). 80,000 people joined a demonstration in Toronto, 40,000 in Vancouver, 18,000 (by police estimates) in Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, 8,000 in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, 4,000 in Halifax and 6,000 in Ottawa. Some of the other major centres where protests were held included Windsor
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
and Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
There were protests in 70 cities in total. These demonstrations took place despite very cold weather, average temperatures were below −35 °C (−31 °F).
In Chicoutimi
Chicoutimi, Quebec
Chicoutimi is one of the three boroughs of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada, and was a separate city in its own right until 2002. Chicoutimi had a population of 59,764 in the Canada 2001 Census, the last census in which Chicoutimi was counted as a separate city....
, 1,500 people braved a −40 °C (−40 °F) wind-chill temperature including wind gusts reaching 50 km/h (31 mph), in what was surely one of the coldest marches of the global day of protest.
United States
Protests took place all across the United States of America with CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
reporting that 150 U.S. cities had protests.
According to the World Socialist Web Site
International Committee of the Fourth International
The International Committee of the Fourth International is the name of two Trotskyist internationals; one with sections named Socialist Equality Party which publishes the World Socialist Web Site and another linked to the Workers Revolutionary Party in Britain.-Foundation:The International...
, protests took place in 225 different communities.
The largest protests took place in the nation's largest cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City, but there were also smaller rallies in towns such as Gainesville, Georgia
Gainesville, Georgia
-Severe Weather:Gainesville sits on the very fringe of Tornado Alley, a region of the United States where severe weather is common. Supercell thunderstorms can sweep through any time between March and November, but are concentrated most in the spring...
; Macomb, Illinois
Macomb, Illinois
Macomb is a city in and the county seat of McDonough County, Illinois, United States. It is situated in western Illinois southwest of Galesburg. The population was 18,588 at the 2000 census. Macomb is the home of Western Illinois University.- Geography :...
; and Juneau, Alaska, among scores of others.
New York
Organisers of the New York City protest had hoped to march past the United Nations BuildingUnited Nations headquarters
The headquarters of the United Nations is a complex in New York City. The complex has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1952. It is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, on spacious grounds overlooking the East River...
. However, a week before the march, police claimed that they would not be able to ensure order and District Court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
Judge Barbara Jones ruled against allowing the route. Instead, protesters were only permitted to hold a stationary rally.
According to Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York City Civil Liberties Union, judicial denial of a permit for a protest march was an unprecedented restriction of civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
, as marching and parading through New York's public streets to express various points-of-view is "a time-honoured tradition in our country that lies at the core of the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
".
On the day, over 300 buses and four special trains brought protesters in from across the country. 100,000 protesters (BBC estimate) took part in a rally near the UN building. Among those taking part was the 9/11 Families For Peaceful Tomorrows
September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, also known as 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows or simply Peaceful Tomorrows, is an anti-war organization for survivors of the September 11, 2001 attacks and friends and family members of the victims.It aims to develop and advocate nonviolent...
, a group made up of some relatives of victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
. Speakers included politicians, church leaders and entertainers, such as actress Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
and South African Anglican Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
.
As people tried to reach the rally area they ended up constituting an unplanned march, stretching twenty blocks down First Avenue and overflowing onto Second and Third Avenue.
In total estimates range from been 300,000 to 400,000 protesters (WSWS estimate).
to over a million protesters (Berlin Heise estimate)
The protests were largely peaceful though a small group of protesters who were reported to have broken off from the main rally, caused damage to property in the Union Square
Union Square (New York City)
Union Square is a public square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.It is an important and historic intersection, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the...
district, and threw stones at police officers, which resulted in forty arrests.
There were numerous complaints that the police were too heavy handed. Many streets were blocked off and protesters reported feeling hemmed in and scared. By the end of the day, police reported that there had been roughly 275 arrests; organisers dispute this number, claiming that there were 348 arrests. The local Independent Media Center
Independent Media Center
The Independent Media Center is a global participatory network of journalists that report on political and social issues. It originated during the Seattle anti-WTO protests worldwide in 1999 and remains closely associated with the global justice movement, which criticizes neo-liberalism and its...
produced a short video claiming to show inappropriate and violent police behaviour, including backing horses into demonstrators, shoving people into the metal barricades, spraying a toxic substance at penned-in demonstrators, using abusive language, and raising nightsticks against some who couldn't move. However, NYPD spokesman Michael O'Looney
Michael O'Looney
Michael Patrick O'Looney is the managing director and head of corporate communications for Barclays Capital and Barclays Wealth in the Americas. Prior to this position, O'Looney ran corporate communications for Merrill Lynch...
denied the charges claiming that the tape was "filled with special effects" and that it did not prove the police had not been provoked.
A CNN journalist reported that the crowd was diverse, including "older men and women in fur coats, parents with young children, military veterans and veterans of the anti-war movement."
Other U.S. cities
Hollywood Boulevard
-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
filling it for four blocks. Amongst the protesters were the actors Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
and Mike Farrell
Mike Farrell
Michael Joseph "Mike" Farrell is an American actor, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series M*A*S*H . He is an activist for politically liberal causes....
and director Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
. Martin Sheen, who at the time was playing a fictitious U.S. president in The West Wing, said that "None of us can stop this war ... there is only one guy that can do that and he lives in the White House."
Other activists in California originally planned to hold a protest in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
on the Saturday but they changed to the Sunday in order not to conflict with the city's Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
's parade. The protest was held on Sunday February 16. The BBC estimated the crowd size to be 150,000 people,
while protest organisers and police agreed that the crowd count was 200,000 people. However, a San Francisco Chronicle photographic investigation estimated that the number in attendance at the peak period was closer to 65,000 people, although it did not state how many people were in attendance for the duration of the demonstration.
This dispute highlights the continuing debate over the accuracy of crowd estimates
Crowd counting
Crowd counting is a technique used to count or estimate the number of people in a crowd. At ticketed events, turnstiles are often used to precisely count the number of people entering a venue. At unticketed events, especially events that take place in the streets or a park rather than an enclosed...
in large public demonstrations.
There was some controversy over Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Michael Lerner
Michael Lerner (rabbi)
Michael Lerner is a political activist, the editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish interfaith magazine based in Berkeley, California, and the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue of San Francisco.-Family and Education:...
not being selected as a speaker for the rally at the end of the demonstration. Lerner claimed that he was not picked to speak for reasons of anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
due to his support for the existence of the Israeli state. The organisers responded with a statement that he was not picked because of an arrangement between the groups that organised the demonstration that there would be no speakers that had publicly attacked any other anti-war group and that "since he had publicly attacked A.N.S.W.E.R. in both the New York Times and Tikkun
Tikkun (magazine)
Tikkun is a quarterly English-language magazine, published in the United States, that analyzes American and Israeli culture, politics, religion and history from a leftist-progressive viewpoint, and provides commentary about Israeli politics and Jewish life in North America...
community email newsletters, his inclusion in the program would violate [this] agreement." They also noted that two rabbis with views similar to those of Michael Lerner would be speaking.
In Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...
, 4,000 protesters were dispersed with pepper spray
Pepper spray
Pepper spray, also known as OC spray , OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears...
, tear gas, stun guns and batons. 34 were arrested on failure to disperse and other charges
and at least two protesters had to have hospital treatment.
In Seattle organisers aimed to have 20 to 30 thousand people join a march from Seattle Center
Seattle Center
Seattle Center is a park and arts and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington. The campus is the site used in 1962 by the Century 21 Exposition. It is located just north of Belltown in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.-Attractions:...
following a giant blue planet, the emblem adopted by the march organisers. On the day 50,000 people (GLW estimate) turned out to protest under the dual slogan "Stop the war on Iraq; Stop the war on immigrants", more than on the Seattle protests against the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999
WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999
The WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 was a meeting of the World Trade Organization, convened at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington, USA, over the course of three days, beginning November 30, 1999. A week before the meeting, delegates admitted failure to agree...
.
Demonstrations also took place in Philadelphia, where thousands (CNN estimate) joined a march to the Liberty Bell
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American Independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formerly placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House , the bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack in 1752, and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY...
,
and in Chicago where 10,000 people demonstrated (GLW estimate).
In Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
a small number of protesters staged a naked protest on Palm Beach
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
. They initially had some problems getting permission for the action, but on the Thursday before, a U.S. District court ruled that the planned nude protest was legal at the public beach. Most of the attendees had come from the four-day Mid-Winter Naturist Festival that was taking place at the same time.
There was also a demonstration of 900 people (USA Today estimate) on the island of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
.
Mexico
The chief demonstration in Mexico took place in Mexico City where around 10,000 people (USA Today estimate) joined a demonstration which ended with a rally at a heavily guarded US embassy. Among the demonstrators was Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
laureate Rigoberta Menchú
Rigoberta Menchú
Rigoberta Menchú Tum is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the K'iche' ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War , and to promoting indigenous rights in the country...
.
South America
Protests took place across South America including UruguayUruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, where their protest took place on the day before February 15, Friday. An estimated 70,000 people marched down Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
's Avenida 18.
In Brazil, a protest led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...
was attended by 1,500 marchers (Police estimate).
In Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, an estimate of 50,000 protesters attended.
Asia
Areas in Asia with large MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
populations, in particular the countries of the Middle East, had the highest levels of opposition to the proposed Iraq war, however demonstrations in many of these countries were relatively small. One United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
newspaper Al Bayan
Al Bayan
Al Bayan is a popular Arabic language newspaper in the United Arab Emirates. It was established in 1980 by the government of Dubai. Until 2003 it was part of Dubai Media Department...
led with the statement: "The people of the world and more than one million Europeans demonstrate against an attack on Iraq while the Arab people and their leaders are in a deep coma."
The reasons for this are no doubt complex, but one factor that is commonly cited is the suppression of protest movements by the conservative leaders of those countries. A report by Asef Bayat in the Middle East Report suggests that "the Arab governments allow little room for independent dissent" as is shown by the fact that "Since 2000, demands for collective protests against the US and Israel have been ignored by the authorities" and "unofficial street actions have faced intimidation and assault, with activists being harassed or detained".
Middle East
In IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, the country in which the war would take place, protesters marched down Palestine Street in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
where several thousand Iraqis—many carrying Kalashnikov
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
rifles—joined in the global protests. Unlike the vast majority of protests across the world the protest in Baghdad was also in support of the Baathist regime; it was called by Saddam Hussein as "World Anger Day". Protesters carried posters of Saddam and burned US flags.
A large protest also took place on the streets of Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
which borders Iraq. Protesters chanted anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans while marching to the "People's Assembly" in a demonstration of between 10,000 (GLW estimate) to 200,000 protesters (CBS estimate and USA Today estimate).
In Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, 10,000 protesters (CBS estimate) took part in a demonstration in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
. However, the protest ended early when it rained heavily.
There were also demonstrations of 10,000 people (GLW estimate) in Beirut, Lebanon, and 5,000 people (GLW estimate) in Amman
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
.
In Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
there was a demonstration in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
of approximately 2,000 (USA Today estimate) to 3,000 people (GLW and WSWS estimate). The demonstration contained both Arabs and Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
. It was organized by a wide range of peace organizations including the Communist Party of Israel
Communist Party of Israel
Maki |Maki]]. Maki, the original Israeli Communist Party, saw a split between a largely Jewish faction led by Moshe Sneh, which recognized Israel's right to exist and was critical of the Soviet Union's increasingly anti-Zionist stance, and a largely Arab faction, which was increasingly anti-Zionist...
, the National Democratic Assembly, the Arab Democratic Party
Arab Democratic Party (Israel)
The Arab Democratic Party commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acroynym Mada was a political party in Israel. Since the late 1990s it has been a faction within the United Arab List.-Background:...
, the Independent Media Center, the Alternative Information Center
Alternative Information Center
The Alternative Information Center is a joint Palestinian-Israeli non-governmental organization which "engages in dissemination of information, political advocacy, grassroots activism and critical analysis of the Palestinian and Israeli societies as well as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict"...
, Ta'ayush
Ta'ayush
Ta'ayush is a grassroots non-violent organization established in the fall of 2000, by Gadi Algazy and a group of Palestinians and Jewish citizens of Israel. It describes itself as "a grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews working to break down the walls of racism and segregation by constructing a...
, the Gush Shalom
Gush Shalom
Gush Shalom is an Israeli peace activism group founded and led by former Irgun and Knesset Member and journalist, Uri Avnery, in 1993...
movement, and the Organization for Democratic Action
Organization for Democratic Action
The Organisation for Democratic Action is a political party in Israel, where it is commonly known by the acronym, Da'am .-Name:The party has slightly different names in Arabic and Hebrew...
. However, it was boycotted by other left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
groups, including Peace Now and Meretz.
The demonstration was co-ordinated with a similar demonstration which took place in Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
.
Other areas in Asia
Small protests took place across Japan mostly being held outside US military bases. The biggest demonstration of the day took place in ShibuyaShibuya, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....
were 5,000 (SW estimate) people marched.
However, there was a demonstration of 25,000 in Tokyo on Friday, the day before as well as smaller demonstrations in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
and other cities. Amongst the protesters in Tokyo was a group of survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
.
Around 3,000 people (SW estimate) joined an illegal
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
demonstration in the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
despite police warnings that any participants in a protest would face stern action. The demonstration ended at the US embassy at Jalan Tun Razak.
Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
had a protest of more than 2,000 people (WSWS estimate) in the capital city of Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
under the slogan of “No Blood for Oil”.
India saw protests across the country including 10,000 (BBC estimate) in Calcutta.
In Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
2,000 people joined a demonstration in Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
.
In South Korea there was a demonstration of 2,000 people (WSWS estimate) which took place in the capital city Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
. The protest started with a rally at Ma-ron-i-ea Park after which there was a demonstration that ended in Jong-Myo Park were the size of the protest increased in size to 3,000 people (WSWS estimate). Jong-Myo Park was surrounded by riot police who almost out numbered the protesters. Protests also took place in the South Korean cites of Pusan, Taegu, Taejon, Kwangju and Wonju
Wonju
Wonju is the most populous city in Gangwon province, South Korea.Wonju is a city approximately east of Seoul and the capital can be reached within 1hr 30minutes by bus or train. Wonju is home to three major universities which attract many students from Seoul and elsewhere. They provide facilities...
.
No protests were reported as having taken place in mainland China. According to a WSWS correspondent from Beijing there were two factors that explain the lack of protest in mainland China; "[Beijing’s] appeasement of imperialism and its fear of any public protest, whatever its content." There was a demonstration in Hong Kong of up to 1,000 people (WSWS estimate).
South Africa
A protest of between 8,000 and 10,000 (AllAfrica.comAllAfrica.com
AllAfrica.com is a website that aggregates news produced primarily on the African continent about all areas of African life, politics, issues and culture. It is available in both English and French and produced by AllAfrica Global Media, which has offices in Cape Town, Dakar, Lagos, Monrovia,...
estimate) and 20,000 people (SW estimate) joined a protest in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
in South Africa.
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
5,000 (USA Today estimate) to 20,000 protesters (WSWS estimate) joined a demonstration march which started at 10 in the morning on Keizersgracht road and ended at the offices of the US consulate-general which was guarded by a ring of riot police, were there was a rally with speakers. Protests were organised by the Anti-War Coalition
Anti-War Coalition
The Anti-War Coalition is a coalition of South African anti-war activists. It could have links to the international Stop the War Coalition but has instead chosen to involve itself with local politics, in particular the Workers International Vanguard League...
and the Stop the War campaign of the Congress of South African Trade Unions
Congress of South African Trade Unions
The Congress of South African Trade Unions is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the biggest of the country’s three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions, altogether organising 1.8 million workers.-Establishment:COSATU was established in...
(Cosatu).
Protests of thousands of people also took place at Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
and Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals – the other two being Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Pretoria, the administrative capital.Bloemfontein is popularly and...
.
A number of prominent ANC
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
politicians attended marches. At the Cape Town rally the South African Minister, Pallo Jordan
Pallo Jordan
Dr Zweledinga Pallo Jordan was the Minister of Arts and Culture of the Republic of South Africa from 29 April 2004 to 10 May 2009...
addressed the protesters saying; "We will stop the war. The voice of the people will be heard."
Tunisia
A protest of around 3,000 (SW estimate) in the TunisiaTunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
n city of Sfax
Sfax
Sfax is a city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD 849 on the ruins of Taparura and Thaenae, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate , and a Mediterranean port. Sfax has population of 340,000...
was attacked by police who beat the protesters with batons and truncheons, injuring at least 20.
Fiji
Protests in FijiFiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
took place on the day before, on Friday morning, heralding the weekend of demonstrations. Protesters handed floral Valentine's Day messages to the representatives of the US, British and Australian governments urging them to avoid the war.
Australia
Friday also saw protests in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia where around 150,000 people (BBC estimate) (Over 200,000 organisers estimate) joined a demonstration.
On the Saturday protests also took place in Australia’s six state capitals with 200,000 protesters (BBC estimate) demonstrating in Sydney, and an estimated 600,000 demonstrating in cities around the country. The Sydney demonstration included a feeder march of 10,000 trade unionists.
Beyond the capitals, many major cities and towns around Australia had protests.
Queensland:
- Bundaberg (150), MackayMackay, QueenslandMackay is a city on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is nicknamed the sugar capital of Australia because its region produces more than a third of Australia's cane sugar....
(1,000), Noosa (?), RockhamptonRockhampton, QueenslandRockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
(600), Toowoomba (800), Townsville (1,000 to 2,000)
New South Wales:
- Armidale (5,000), BathurstBathurst, New South Wales-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
(peace bus to CanberraCanberraCanberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
12 Feb) 32, BellingenBellingen, New South WalesBellingen is a small town on Waterfall Way on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately halfway between the major Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane...
(3,000), BegaBega, New South WalesBega is a town in the south-east of New South Wales, Australia in the Bega Valley Shire. It is the economic centre for the Bega Valley.-Place name:One claim is that place name Bega is derived from the local Aboriginal word meaning "big camping ground"....
(400), Byron Bay (3,000), FosterFoster- Places :Australia* Foster, VictoriaUnited States* Foster, California ** Foster, San Diego County, California** Foster, Siskiyou County, California* Foster, Indiana* Foster, Missouri* Foster, Nebraska* Foster, Oregon* Foster, Rhode Island...
/Tuncurry (700), KempseyKempsey, New South WalesKempsey is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia and is the council seat for Kempsey Shire. It is located 15 kilometres inland from the coast of the Pacific Ocean where the Pacific Highway and the North Coast railway line cross the Macleay River...
(300), Kingscliff (1,000), LismoreLismore, New South WalesLismore is a subtropical town in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. Lismore is the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area. Lismore is a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State.-History:...
(7,000), NewcastleNewcastle, New South WalesThe Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
(20,000), TamworthTamworth, New South WalesTamworth is a city in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Peel River, Tamworth, which contains an estimated population of 47,595 people, is the major regional centre for southern New England and in the local government area of Tamworth Regional Council. The city...
(500), TareeTaree, New South WalesTaree is a city on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Taree and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then Taree has grown to a population of around 20,000 people and is the centre of a significant agricultural district. It is 16 km from the sea coast,...
(?), Tathra (1,500), Wollongong (Feb8) (5,000), Wagga Wagga (1,000)
Tasmania:
- LauncestonLaunceston, TasmaniaLaunceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
(1,000), StrahanStrahan, Tasmania-See also:* Convicts on the West Coast of Tasmania* Macquarie Harbour* Railways on the West Coast of Tasmania* West Coast Piners-Further reading:* *...
(50), DevonportDevonport, Tasmania-Sport:The Devonport Football Club is an Australian Rules team competing in the Tasmanian Statewide League. The Devonport Rugby Club is a Rugby Union team competing in the Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide League...
(750)
Victoria:
- Geelong (200), AlburyAlbury-Places:*Albury, New South Wales, Australia** Electoral district of Albury is an electoral district in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, based around the area.*Albury, Hertfordshire, England*Albury, Oxfordshire, England*Albury, Surrey, England...
(?), Mildura (?).
South Australia:
- Mt Gambier (500), Whyalla (Peace Vigil)
Western Australia:
- Margaret RiverMargaret RiverMargaret River is a river in southwest Western Australia. Although small and unremarkable, it is the eponym of the iconic town and tourist region of Margaret River, famous for its surfing, caves and wine....
(Peace pilgrimmage) (20)
Northern Territory:
- Alice Springs (400)
At protests in Australia in Bellingen
Bellingen, New South Wales
Bellingen is a small town on Waterfall Way on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately halfway between the major Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
around 2,500 people (SW estimate) joined a rally at the towns sports ground. As well as hearing from speakers the demonstrators were entertained by a group of a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
singers called 'The Bushbombs'. The rally was about as large as the town's population.
New Zealand
The first actual demonstration of the day took place in New Zealand where 10,000 people demonstrated in AucklandAuckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
and Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
. The Auckland march was bigger than expected forcing police to shut off Queen Street
Queen Street, Auckland
Queen Street is the major commercial thoroughfare in the Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand's main population centre. It starts at Queens Wharf on the Auckland waterfront, adjacent to the Britomart Transport Centre and the Downtown Ferry Terminal, and runs uphill for almost three kilometres in a...
. People were reported to be still starting the march as those at the front of the march reached a rally in Myers Park several kilometres away. In Wellington the march had to carry on after the then planned end point as there were too many people to fit into the park. There were also protests in at least 18 other centres, including Dunedin, Thames, Opotiki, Whakatane, Whangarei, Timaru and Rotorua, and Picnic for Peace in Christchurch.
Antarctica
A group of scientists at the US McMurdo StationMcMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National...
held a rally on the ice at the edge of the Ross sea.
Effect
At the time, many commentators were hopeful that this global mobilization of unprecedented scale would stop the coming Iraq war. New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were "two superpowersSecond Superpower
"Second Superpower" is a term used to conceptualize a global civil society as a world force comparable to or counterbalancing the United States...
on the planet - the United States, and worldwide public opinion".
The unprecedented size of the demonstrations was widely taken to indicate that the majority of people across the world opposed the war. However, the pro-war Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
, claimed that the protests were not representative of public opinion, saying "I don't know that you can measure public opinion just by the number of people that turn up at demonstrations."
The potential effect of the protests was generally dismissed by pro-war politicians; the then US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
was reported as saying that the protests would "not affect [the US administration's] determination to confront Saddam Hussein and help the Iraqi people".
Her view was borne out as the day of protests, along with the protests that followed it, failed to stop the war. However, the protests and other public opposition have been held up as a key factor in the decisions of the governments of many countries, such as Canada, to not send troops to Iraq.
Though demonstrations against the Iraq war and subsequent occupation have continued none has matched this day in terms of size. One explanation for this that has been suggested is that people have become disillusioned with marching as a political tactic because of the failure of these demonstrations to achieve their explicit aim. In 2006 three years after this day, in an article arguing for people to attend a further march, Mike Marqusee put forward two counter arguments to this. Firstly he claimed that it was too soon to judge the long-term significance of the demonstrations noting that "People who took part in the non-cooperation campaigns in India in the 20s and 30s had to wait a long time for independence." and that "There were eight years of protest and more than 2 million dead before the Vietnam war came to an end". Secondly, he claimed that while the effect of marching may be uncertain, the effect of not marching would surely be to make it more likely that the occupation would continue.
According to Alex Callinicos
Alex Callinicos
Alexander Theodore Callinicos is a Trotskyist political theorist, a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party and its International Secretary, and is Director of the Centre for European Studies at King's College London...
some people argue from the idea that the demonstrations have failed, to the notion that the anti-war movement should concentrate on direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
rather than mass demonstrations. He argues against this claiming that putting pressure on governments not to join in with "Bush’s imperial project" requires an expression of opposition of large numbers of people and claims that "scattered, localised direct actions do not provide the necessary visibility" He further claims that "big national demonstrations are also important in sustaining the momentum of the [anti-war] movement".
Despite failing in its explicit aim, the February 15 global day of anti-war protests had many effects that, according to some, were not directly intended. According to United Kingdom left-wing anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
activist Salma Yaqoob
Salma Yaqoob
Salma Yaqoob is the leader, and former vice-chair, of the Respect Party and a former Birmingham City Councillor. She is also the head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition and a spokesperson for Birmingham Central Mosque....
, one of these was that they were a powerful antidote to the idea that the war was a "Clash of Civilizations
Clash of Civilizations
The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world....
", or a religious war, an idea she claimed was propagated both by Western leaders and reactionary forces in the Arab world. This is echoed in the words of former Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international Sunni. pan-Islamic political organisation but keeps it open for all including shias,some of its beliefs are against sunni school of thought, whose goal is for all Muslim countries to unify as an Islamic state or caliphate ruled by Islamic law and with a caliph...
organiser Hadiya Masieh who said of the non-Muslims marching in London "How could we demonise people who obviously opposed aggression against Muslims?".
Further reading
- We Are Many, documentary film and website about the February 15, 2003 movements
- Stop the War: The story of Britain's biggest mass movement, Andrew MurrayAndrew Murray (campaigner and journalist)Andrew Murray is a British campaigner and journalist who has been Chair of the Stop the War Coalition from its formation in 2001. In this capacity he presided at the concluding rally of what is claimed as the largest political demonstration in British history, against the Iraq war in 2003...
and Lindsey GermanLindsey GermanLindsey German is the convenor of the British anti-war organisation Stop the War Coalition and a former member of the central committee of the Socialist Workers Party. She was editor of Socialist Review for twenty years until 2004...
, ISBN 1-905192-00-2 - Voices Against War: F15 NYC, Indymedia, DVD
- The World Says No to War, Larry Neilson, QuickTimeQuickTimeQuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
movie - Google Video of the 2003 London demo. Series of Interviews
- Archived copy of United for Peace and Justice's organizing webpage for the February 15, 2003, demonstrations (includes list of cities)
External links
- Cities jammed in worldwide protest of war in Iraq CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
article. February 2003. - Over 200 Pictures from 133 Protests around the World on February 15/16, 2003
- www.15feb2003.co.uk - Archived interviews from London on February 15, 2003
- Sound montage from London February 15, 2003