Marching for a Global Peace

By Mark Engler, AlterNet. Posted April 22, 2002.

Many people ask me to explain why we were marching in Washington, D.C. this past weekend. In response I describe the largest-ever U.S. demonstration in support of Palestinian self-determination, the protest calling for an end to destructive World Bank/IMF projects in the developing world, the lobbying efforts to close the nefarious U.S. Army School of the Americas, and a festival of music to stop military aid to Colombia.

"Wasn't it a bit unfocused?" they say.

It is true that the protests took on many issues, and struggled to draw connections between them. But that's exactly the point: War-planners may be content to answer challenges from abroad by invoking simplistic dualisms of good versus evil. In contrast, the diverse issues addressed in the protests reflect the complexity of the questions we face in the world today.

No doubt, "dead or alive" militarism has the advantage of being simple, but it has the notable downside of making the world a more dangerous place. President Bush rarely lacks zeal in expanding his "Axis of Evil" headhunting. And his administration's refusal to submit evidence for international review, their flimsy coalition-building, and their macho swagger alienate citizens throughout the international community. Already the arrogant rhetoric of "infinite justice" has perpetuated a "Screw You" foreign policy: Tough luck for those millions abroad who criticize U.S. military interventions; they are left to stew in their resentment.

The various protests in Washington, D.C. together reflected an international perspective that is admittedly more challenging than the Bush Administration's cowboy diplomacy.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of Arab-Americans and their supporters rallied in solidarity with Palestinians under attack. These protesters argued that the U.S. should end its support -- and funding -- for Israel's bloody violations of international law. One protest display, a plywood shantytown near the White House, depicted the human rights catastrophe with a symbolic model of the bulldozed, smoldering homes of occupied cities like Jenin, Ramallah, and Nablus. Marchers carried gruesome photos of children maimed and killed in past attacks.

At other points during the weekend of protest, demonstrators likened this destruction to the situation in Colombia. There, a flood of U.S. military aid has been used to strengthen paramilitary assassins and deepen the country's civil war. On Sunday, musicians performed for a poncho-covered crowd that braved the drizzle to show their concern. The following day, police arrested approximately forty Colombia Mobilization activists who staged sit-ins near the Capitol.

Addressing economic policy, speakers at a rally outside the headquarters of the World Bank described how "structural adjustment" has worsened poverty and inequality in a long list of developing countries. Throughout protesters sought to make connections between recent military aggression and the profit-driven interests of multinational elites. Signs reading "More World, Less Bank!" accompanied calls of "No Blood for Oil."

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