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This story first appeared in Peoples Dispatch on March 20, 2023. It is published here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
On March 18, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, more than 2,500 people representing more than 200 organizations gathered in front of the White House to protest against the latest military action: the escalation and extension of the war. in Ukraine.
Speakers argued that the invasion of Iraq and the central role of the US as the aggressor on the world stage could no longer be linked to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“[The warmongers] I want you to somehow think that this is progressive, that it is good, that it is morally right to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to fight to the last Ukrainian, ”said Eugene Purier from BreakThrough News, opening the rally. “For what? Only for the ability of the United States government to control the whole world!”
After the rally, demonstrators placed coffins at the gates of the White House, decorated with the flags of Iraq, Russia, Palestine, Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan, the United States and Syria, representing the lives of those killed during the US military offensive. . Ellen Barfield of Veterans for Peace addressed demonstrators outside the White House. “Veterans, we have seen casualties, we have called for casualties, I am afraid to say,” she said. “People in this country are hungry and suffering because more than 50% of our discretionary budget every year is spent at the Pentagon on weapons that don’t work, on stupid wars that make us less safe.”
“Unfortunately, the general public worships the troops, so they listen to us,” said Ellen Barfield of Veterans for Peace, an activist in the campaign against the Iraq War. People mailing list during the kickoff rally on March 18. “We use our status. And this is the essence of Veterans for Peace – to support each other in order to better inform the public about the real cost of the war, not only for us, but for them, for the whole world.
The March 18 demonstration sought to unite the struggles of different people under the auspices of the anti-war movement. Riya Ortiz of Damayan Migrant Workers addressed the crowd to speak about the struggles of Filipino survivors of human trafficking. In conversation with People mailing listOrtiz made a connection between anti-imperialism and the Philippine struggle: “The reason why [Filipina workers] were sold because the US has ruined our home country, we don’t have our own heavy industry, and the country’s main commodity is our people.”
Reverend Annie Chambers, a former Black Panther and activist since the age of 14 (and now 81), spoke at a rally for the poor and underprivileged in the US. “We are talking about peace here. But do you know where you live? You live in the United States of America,” she said during her speech.
“How can we talk about the world? And we have our own people starving in the street. Disabling food stamps. Termination of social assistance. Homelessness,” she continued. “Only the needy suffer when we fight for the greedy.”
The demonstrators then marched with coffins and banners to the Presbyterian Church on New York Avenue for sermons, a site famous for having one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last sermons. The march also stopped briefly at the Washington Post to publicly denounce corporate media propaganda messages, highlighting the fundamental role they played in changing public opinion in support of military spending and war. At the training, speakers discussed social movements and anti-imperialist struggles in such diverse regions as Haiti, Eritrea, Syria, Guam, water defenders in Hawaii and anti-fascists in Ukraine.
“This is an event that [warmongers] didn’t even want it to happen,” Eugene Purrier said. “The powers that be… none of them want this to be here. They want people to be confused.” The proportion of people in the US who believe the country is sending too much aid to Ukraine has grown, and while most support sending aid to Ukraine as a whole, only a minority support an increase in US troops abroad.
“This is a proxy war, but this is a dress rehearsal for a larger war that the US intends to fight to weaken Russia, overthrow its government, start a war and confrontation with China to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. Brian Becker at a rally in front of the White House. “We are determined, we are going to create a new movement. This movement does not end today, this movement begins today.”
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