On March 19, the fifth anniversary of the war, and in the preceding days, protests took place in cities and towns large and small in the United States and all over the world.
The ANSWER Coalition took a leading role organizing demonstrations in key U.S. cities, and numerous progressive organizations and individuals stepped up to the plate to mark the 5th anniversary with hundreds of protests around the country.
Members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation participated and helped organized a number of these events. Below are reports from some of the many actions that took place.
Los Angeles, Calif.
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The overwhelmingly youthful demonstration filled the six-lane street from sidewalk to sidewalk. A militant contingent of over 200 young people wore red shirts and marched together. Students lined the front banners, chanting “Iraq for Iraqis, troops out now!” and “Alto a la guerra, stop the war!”
The main rally was chaired by Jim Lafferty, National Lawyers Guild and Interim General Manager of KPFK; Jennifer Caldwell, ANSWER Coalition; Carlos Alvarez, coordinator of Youth & Student ANSWER; and Christine Araquel, Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines.
In front of the CNN building, thousands chanted, “CNN, can’t you see? Put the peace march on TV!” Despite winds and rain, many thousands stayed for hours.
The action was initiated by the ANSWER Coalition and built by a broad coalition of left and progressive organizations, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation. It was the biggest anti-war action in Southern California since fall 2007.
San Francisco Bay Area, Calif.
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In Berkeley, the ANSWER Coalition organized a rally near Berkeley High School attended by around 100 students. Five high school students spoke.
Over 7,000 joined an evening march and rally organized by the ANSWER Coalition in San Francisco. Large numbers of youth attended the demonstration, chanting “Occupation is a crime, from Iraq to Palestine” and “No More War.” The PSL’s vibrant contingent chanted and agitated the crowd all the way to the Mission District.
Prior to the march, a rally was held at the Civic Center. Speakers included Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq; independent presidential candidates Cynthia McKinney and Gloria La Riva; Zeina Zaatari, Free Palestine Alliance; Iraqi American activist Mohammed Al-Adeeb; Eugene Puryear, National Co-Coordinator of Youth and Student ANSWER; and others.
Chicago, Ill.
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The action was made up of a majority of young, energetic and militant protestors. There was a significant turnout of young people from Arab and Muslim communities.
ANSWER Chicago coordinator John Beacham told thousands that the war makers “want us to fight their wars and fight each other. We must resist their divide and conquer strategies and fight them.”
Other speakers included Iraq Veterans Against the War, representatives of the Palestinian community and the immigrant rights struggle, CODEPink, Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism, Teamsters Local 743 and Voices for Creative Non-violence.
With a booming sound system, banners, signs and leaflets, PSL volunteers did anti-war outreach to thousands of people.
Florida
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In Fort Lauderdale, over 100 people lined the street in front of the Federal Building. A giant banner read, “5 shocking and awful years.” Michael Prysner, PSL congressional candidate in Florida’s 22nd District and Iraq war veteran, told the crowd, “This government wants us to believe that the enemy is in Iraq. … The enemy is not in the houses we raid, or the villages we bomb—the enemy is in the White House, the Pentagon and on Wall Street.”
The Tampa Bay actions drew the most demonstrators, with 75 in Brooksville earlier in the day, and 250 in the after-work protest.
Campus actions coordinated with the ANSWER Coalition took place at Florida State University in Tallahassee and at University of Florida in Gainesville.
Seattle, Wash.
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A high point of the rally was a speech by Nada Elia from the National Council of Arab Americans. Elai told the cheering crowd, “From Palestine to Iraq people everywhere are rising up in resistance, standing up to the world’s superpower, turning that superpower’s dreams of empire into nightmares. Let us join them.”
New Haven, Conn.
Over 50 demonstrators gathered on March 19 in pouring rain at the Federal Building in New Haven, Conn. for a rally and march. The demonstration demanded an end to the war now; money for people’s needs, not war and prisons; and an end to the criminal siege of Gaza and Israel’s collective punishment of the Palestinians.
The march wound through downtown, passed the Yale University campus and continued to the New Haven Detention Center, where the marchers joined a rally for prisoners’ rights. Many people who were getting out of school and work joined the march.
A wide array of community activists spoke at the action, including members of the ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Washington, D.C.
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On March 18, about 100 people marched in the afternoon past the National Archives, Justice Department, FBI and IRS, concluding at the Capitol Building. Later in the day, hundreds gathered for “Frozen Union Station,” freezing in place for five minutes in the train station. Chants of “End the War Now” then echoed through the huge ceilings for about 10 minutes as commuters and tourists walked through during rush hour.
On March 19, hundreds participated in 12 consecutive hours of street actions, beginning with a civil disobedience action at the IRS in which over 30 were arrested.
Groups, including many students and veterans, marched through the downtown streets for the rest of the day, enduring cold pouring rain. Marchers persistently retook the streets as police roughly pushed them out. The day concluded with a civil disobedience action at the Capitol in which another group was arrested.
These events followed the March 10-12 “Stop-Loss Congress” actions and the March 13-16 Winter Soldier event organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War.
