Washington DC: The March 20th End all U.S. Wars March and Rally drew thousands of supporters from all around the country. The sea of posters and banners spoke to the issues of those who came. Mock coffins were created to signify the loss of lives as a result of these ongoing wars and increase in U.S. foreign aggression.
Speaking for the Black is Back Coalition, secretary Ayesha Fleary took the stage early in the rally denouncing these aggressive acts, stating “we are against these imperialist driven wars which seek to monopolize the world’s resources at the cost of lives of innocent men, women and children,” which got positive response from the audience. She went on to explain how U.S.’s agenda of terror started, stating
It has committed crime after crime against the world starting with the heinous murders of millions of indigenous people, right on this land…as they fought and died millions of Africans were imported as beast of burden to build the cities and economies of this country.”
This seemed like a welcome statement in line up of speakers who spoke of far off wars without speaking of the wars that have been waged against the oppressed people of this country. The secretary rounded off her speech by calling for an end to the wars and encourage the crowd to “watch with gleeful eyes as the imperialist empire crumbles at our feet” which the audience responded well to. With her speech nearing its conclusion she put out the position “we understand that any wish for its success means a continuation of bloodshed,” which among this crowd needed to be said because while there were peace-loving people who wanted to see Iraq or Afghanistan free, still encourage the “democracy” of the U.S. not understanding that this “democracy” will not allow for the freedom of the world’s people.
Other organizations that were present were the People’s Organization for Progress (POP), Koreans for Peace, Raging Grannies, MANA (Muslim Alliance in North America), Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Code Pink, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), just to name a few. The two hours of rally speeches covered everything from healthcare and unemployment to calling for the destruction of capitalism. Anti-War activist Cindy Sheehan stated, “that we need to do more than protest…shaking our fists at empty buildings” speaking to the fact that the protest was happening on a weekend. One of the speakers expressed her discontent with this country by burning the U.S. Flag prefacing it by saying “you want to know what I think of this flag,” the crowd cheering as the smoke wafted in the air.
The protest brought out every wing of the anti-war movement from those that consider peace the answer to those who want full out revolution. I want to echo Cindy Sheehan’s sentiments that revolution doesn’t happen on the weekend; if there is to be any change in this country we have to create revolution anywhere that we are. Without addressing the injustice and wars that are happening to the oppressed peoples of this nation we are ill prepared to address the injustices that are happening anywhere else. All Power to the People!
