Posted on 02/15/2003 9:05:36 AM PST by Pokey78
Millions of people worldwide are joining in demonstrations against a possible US-led war against Iraq. Hundreds of rallies and marches are taking place in up to 60 countries this weekend.
Crowds have been gathering in London, where a rally culminating in Hyde Park is expected to draw more than half a million protesters.
Massive demonstrations - a day after UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix issued a largely positive assessment of the UN's disarmament process in Iraq - are also being organised in Rome, Berlin and New York.
Tens of thousands of people braved bitter weather to converge on the German capital from the east and west of the city.
Along with France, Germany has been one of the most vociferous opponents of war with Iraq.
The BBC's Ray Furlong in Berlin says a real cross-section of people are taking part in the demonstration - young students, families with children, as well as pensioners - reflecting the strong anti-war feeling that runs right through German society.
And demonstrators in Paris are preparing to march on the city's traditional rallying point - the Place de la Bastille.
Some of the first protests on Saturday were seen in New Zealand, as environmental pressure group Greenpeace flew a plane over Auckland harbour trailing a banner reading "No War, Peace Now".
About 5,000 marched through Auckland and a similar number in the capital Wellington.
Rallies are being held in several cities in Australia, where a protest in Melbourne on Friday drew a crowd estimated by organisers at 150,000 - the largest there since anti-Vietnam War marches 30 years ago.
In Seoul - capital of South Korea, one of the staunchest US allies in Asia - hundreds of demonstrators rallied, shouting chants such as "Bush, Terrorist!" and carrying banners urging "Drop Bush, not bombs".
Celebrities
In London, organisers are confidently predicting the country's largest anti-war protest.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has suffered a fall in popularity following his staunch support of US plans to launch military action against Saddam Hussein.
"We believe that the London demonstration will be one of the biggest and the most pivotal because the British Government is actively involved in the build up to war and the British people definitely do not want war," said Stop The War UK leader Andrew Murray.
Speakers at the rally in Hyde Park include Charles Kennedy, leader of Britain's second-biggest opposition party and US activist Jesse Jackson.
In New York a protest is scheduled to start at 1200 local time (1700GMT) near UN headquarters - the currently scene of intense diplomatic discussions following Friday's report by Hans Blix.
Celebrities and activists such as Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and black activist Angela Davis will be attending the demonstration.
And they be joined by some families of the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center, marching as "9/11 Families for Peace."
Say it with flowers
Anti-war activists in Turkey are calling on fellow citizens to simultaneously turn off all lights at 2000 local time (2200 GMT) as a novel sign of support for anti-war sentiment.
In Malaysia - a predominantly Muslim state - hundreds demonstrated outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur bearing banners and placards with slogans such as: "No war. Stop US aggression" and "No more blood for oil".
And in Thailand about 2,000 people - mostly Muslims - rallied in front of the US and UK embassies in the capital on Saturday.
Protests of varying sizes were also reported in: Japan, Nepal, India, South Africa, Cyprus, Spain, Syria, Egypt and Iraq.
The tiny South Pacific island nation of Fiji also saw its share of anti-war sentiment, with an anti-war group sending floral messages to foreign embassies urging them to put pressure on the US and its allies to avoid war.
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The press today will use vague counts and packed photos to make us think that there were many more than were actually present at these events, and we must get the word out on the actual numbers if we are to present it fairly.
(Nelson) HA-ha...
These anti-american protests are coordinated by a world wide effort sponsered by communists groups, and I have a good suspision, by radical islamist groups. Do some research. Follow the money.
We have it good as gold in terms of freedom and truth yet we don't realize that most of the world languishes under government controlled media, lies and corruption that dwarfs anything you'd find on CNN or from Clintonesque scandals.
Yep. They don't even try to hide it. These people aren't merely socialists, or even communists; they're STALINISTS, which explains perfectly their support for a third-rate dictator and butcher like Saddam.
By and large, they are NOT anti-war. They are anti-Bush, anti-US and pro-Saddam.
Sounds like a slogan that French women should apply to their own persons, before worrying about America.
Of course it would...for the global economy!!! Grow a pair and face the world for what it is. America is the only Super Power in the world. Period. We are the moral, cultural, political and military superstars of the world.
How do you think these world wide marches happened to take place around the world, almost simultaneoulsy? Do you think it's a co-incidence? Do think that average citizens all over the world climbed out of bed and felt they just had to go out into the garage, make a vile anti-Amierican sign and then converge in some place where thousands of other average citizens with their own hateful signs also just happened to be? Or do you think this may have been orchestrated by someone. For every asshole out there with a sign there's 100 who feel the other way and 100 who don't care.
GWB is in a quandry. While the U.N., the protesters and our own citizens who hate or who are ashamed of our country hold a strong hand today, we own the deck. Question is, do our leaders have the intestinal fortitude to do what's right?
"The British capital had one of the largest marches for peace on a day of global protest - at least a million people, organizers claimed, although initial police estimates were about half that."
These protesters, heavily funded by global interest, are still not able to pull in the numbers they had paid for. They are LYING about the number they have pulled together, and only diligence will reveal the truth about these protests. Yes, some of them will be large gatherings - but it doesn't really matter. Europe will sink even further into irrelevence, thanks to paid holidays like this one.
They are not the majority in THIS country, and they know it. So do we. That is all that matters.
You don't FEEL like it?!! Screw that pablum, Ickey, because you are in this up to your ever-lovin' ass, whether you like it or not. The global left has been marching on this nation since 1917, and these "spontaneous" eruptions of duplicitous anti-Americanism (disguised as concern for Iraqi children) really ought to be slapping you awake in a big way. The U.N. has been exposed as a global fraternity for oppressive hegemonies, yet we are supposed to quake because the useful idiots who bow to the powder blue idol can organize protests of people who have nothing better to do today? The world - or at least part of it - is taking you, me and every American on... if you think we would be less of a pariah if we would just bend over this time and give the world a jar of Vaseline and an apology for being so naughty to Saddam, you don't know jack about human nature and how the mean old world has, does, and always will operate.
What's the global economy without the United States? Are the French going to sell a lot of wine to Chileans? Think anyone in Zimbabwe under the rank of Deputy Mugabe Rumpswab will be buying Mercedes Benzes? Maybe the Belgians can get nations to buy back their own cacao in individually wrapped form after all the middlemen take their cut. Do you think the ChiComs will sell a lot of die-cast junk to Uzbekistan toy collectors? Death blow... get real. A lot of what is going on right now will be bitter medicine in the short term, but it is medicine, nonetheless. All this can do is make us stronger and let us know who not to go to the dance with.
I am getting real tired of the Chicken Littles on this forum (and in this nation) who have nothing better to do than project the image of a quivering, effeminate Uncle Sam. That kind of crap is going to make the bad guys bolder, and it can get Americans killed. The activists and so-called "journalists" who keep plugging way at our resolve are going to be just as guilty as any Al Qaida infiltrator as far as damage to our nation is concerned. If keyboard pundits sitting on their loathsome, spotty bottoms can't muster an ounce of courage while our sons, daughters, parents and servicepeople of all types are going toe-to-toe with some of the worst characters and weapons this young century can offer, then we are not just gutless, we are beneath contempt.
*slap*
Sorry, just had to wake you up. Here, have a coffee....
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