Geen
Oorlog - No a la Guerra
Biggest peace action in Amsterdam since 1980s:
stop war drive!
Biggest peace action in
Amsterdam since 1980s: stop war drive!
Biggest peace action in Amsterdam since 1980s:
stop war drive!
Over ten thousand people filled Amsterdam’s medieval central square, the
Dam, on Sunday 30 September. They were there for an open air meeting for
peace, against all terrorism, and against xenophobia. It had been organized
with no help from corporate/quasi governmental media; by the Internet/e-mail
in spite of Carnivore/Echelon; by putting up posters, in spite of police not
liking that sometimes. It was the biggest peace action in The Netherlands
since the 1980s, when half a million people marched against deploying NATO
nuclear missiles in The Netherlands. It brought veterans of these marches,
and later campaigns against the Gulf War and 1999 Yugoslavia war, together
with young to very young people. Over 150 organizations supported it, from
Afghan refugees in the South Eastern Netherlands to Filipino migrant workers
in the Western Netherlands; from youth movements to now aging resistance
fighters against Hitler’s occupation in The Netherlands, 1940-1945.
“Justice, not revenge” was often heard.
A bign sign on the central stage said: No xenophobia, no war. Smaller signs
said: War means death for many, profits for some [in the armaments
industry]. Drop the debt, not the bombs. No crUSAde [in English]. Love
power. No to NATO military action. All the arms we need [picture of people
embracing]. Terror does not bring peace; neither does imperialism. US terror
policy is source of terrorism. Think of the children. Against patriarchy.
Violence never solves anything. Fight war, not wars [from British anarchist
punk band Crass]. Quotes from Bob Marley, and Bob Dylan (Don’t follow
leaders). An Eye for an Eye makes everyone blind (Socialist Party). No War
(Kurdish League). Six thousand Americans not more important than six
thousand Afghans. “Mr Bush, Thou shall not kill either.” And about
Bush’s Italian fellow ‘crusader’ against what he considers
‘inferior’ Islamic people, Berlusconi: A world without Berlusconi is
possible. Berlusconi, from Genua to worse [in Genua, Berlusconi’s police
killed Carlo Giuliani, who fought for African immigrants]. There were flags
of Palestine; of Kurdistan; of Che Guevara; of the Puerto Rican island
Vieques wounded by US Air Force bombs; a big white dove of peace on a pole.
And: Remember Vietnam ... Serbia ... Lebanon ...
Shortly before 14 h., the meeting chair for the Platform Against the 'New
War', Ms D. de Jongh of the Guatemala solidarity committee, welcomed the
people. Then, the peace song Blue Balloon, sung by. Frank Bilsen, with
Mohamad Sayid Khan from India accompanying him on South Asian string
instrument. Blue balloons with the continents in green, floated around the
stage.
Then, Carolien van der Stadt, of the Women's International League for Peace
and Freedom (WILPF), spoke. She quoted, to loud applause from the crowd,
East Timorese women who commemorated the victims in New York by laying
flowers, but also said: We have never asked for bombs on Jakarta, capital of
Indonesia, when its US supported Suharto dictatorship occupied our country
and massacred its people! And women from Kosovo, who said: Terrorists are
not states. States should not become terrorist. Ms Van der Stadt concluded:
NATO doctrine will never bring peace; neither will Bush’s Son of Star Wars
plan.
Then, Kashba (a Dutch Moroccan band) played. Though the majority of the
audience did not understand Arabic, everyone sang along with their Salam
aleikum [sometimes changed by the band to Hebrew Shalom, or words for peace
in other languages]. Everyone clapped and danced, from pre-teen Afghan
refugee child, to Dutch teenage punk rocker, to thirtyish African with
Ethiopian flag colored woollen hat, to elderly Chinese lady. South African
Rachel Bramdaw in the audience front row inspired everyone, moving with the
rhythm, with pink butterfly wings fastened, black arms in long white gloves
holding a wand with a pink star. A middle aged man from Turkey danced with
stacks of paper De Socialist in his hands. Other papers, like Targets,
Manifest (communist), and TV like NOS (national public) and RTL (national
commercial) were present.
Then, Harir Faquiri spoke, for the Afghan Women’s League. Until she was
eight, she had lived in Afghanistan. Now, she is one of the ten thousands of
Afghan refugees in The Netherlands. She said to applause the Dutch media
should stop equating the Taleban with Afghans, or Muslims, in general. The
United States government had supported false “freedom fighters”. Also
the Northern Alliance, whom they start to support now, have a terrible
record of killing, ethnic mass rape, and giving women a status lower than an
animal’s. Like the Taleban, the Northern Alliance have practically no
support among Afghan refugees in The Netherlands. When Western leaders
denounce “International terrorism” this is like an empty sound to Afghan
refugees. We remember their arms deals. They have never supported
pro-democracy Afghans.
Then came Henk Oosterling, philosopher of Erasmus University in
Rotterdam, denounced the media for pretending wars are like video games.
And Bush, for his “Wild West” rhetoric of “Wanted: dead or alive”,
killing suspects before any court can decide about guilty or not guilty.
Meanwhile, the governments make the taxpayers pay for the air line
corporations. Like the US “war on drugs” in practice became a war on
democracy, so will the “war on terrorism”. We should not forget that
today’s “globalization” and its privatization is the heir to
colonialist, imperial history. We should stop proclaiming “superiority”
of Western over so called “primitive”civilizations. Oosterling concluded
to thunderous applause: “We want global justice! Not “Infinite
Justice”“!
Then, the choir Jan en Alleman from The Hague sang. They sang the
Peace Song, of the 1980s anti-cruise missiles march: “We fight the
armaments ... Economic interests lead to risks of war.” Then, a Japanese
song, about never again nuclear bombs after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The next speaker was Lambrecht Wessels, of the Interkerkelijk Vredesberaad
(IKV). Some twenty years ago, the IKV had a mass base among Christians;
however, while that base shrunk, leaders edged closer to government
policies. Wessels was the only one of the speakers, poets and musicians on
the stage whose viewpoints many in the audience were unhappy about. Though
the IKV had not signed the “Anti New War” platform, both the organizers
and the IKV wanted Wessels at the rostrum as a mark of diversity.
Then, Saskia Kouwenberg spoke, ex observer in East Timor, and the
Moluccas. On the Moluccas, military and financial elites abuse religious
differences between Muslims and Christians, who had always gone on well
together, to set people against each other. Now, the world threatens to
become somewhat similar like the Moluccas. Bush says: “Either you are with
George W. Bush, or you are with the terrorists”. Well, Ms Kouwenberg said,
as an anti-terrorist: Mr Bush, I am NOT with you!
The next speaker was Celine van der Hoek, of the Anti Fascist League (also
active against the Yugoslavia war). She told how she in her youth had to
hide for Hitler’s Nazis. How she eventually landed in a concentration
camp, and was one of few survivors. She reminded the audience that Emperor
Nero himself burned Rome, and blamed others, Christians, to increase his
powers. The hysterical war propaganda of today reminds me of the 1933
Reichtstag Fire, made by the Nazis themselves; the prelude to World War II.
That war started with supposedly Polish soldiers, really Germans, attacking
Gleiwitz (Glywice) radio station. People, oppose today’s hysteria,
bringing back yesterday’s fears! Stop the war drive of Bush and his Dutch
supporters! There should only be one kind of politics; humane politics,
fairly sharing the riches of the world. Unlike now, when billions become
victims of globalization and capitalism!”
After the strong applause for Celine had died down, the Dutch Moroccan
band 'Lozanne' played a mix of Northern African rai music with Spanish
flamenco, setting the crowd dancing.
After them came Abdou Menehbi, of the Euro-Mediterranean Migrants’Center.
He strongly condemned Dutch racists who [like during the 1999 war] thought
they could ride the tide of war hysteria. They burnt an Islamic school,
where days before, teachers and students had commemorated the victims of New
York. They daubed an Islamic school with “USA”, “White Power”, and
Celtic crosses. They twice attacked a Syrian Orthodox church. Arrogance is
the best ally fundamentalists can wish for. Menehbi said: “Stop terrorism!
But, stop it everywhere. Stop oppression of so called developing countries.
Remember what the Palestinians have to suffer. Western countries, change
your foreign policy! When Dutch prime minister Kok says: “We are at war”
this is perceived as Islam=terrorism. We should stop this equation. The
Dutch media wrongly accused Moroccans in Ede, teachers in Almere,
Palestinians, of being pro-terrorism. Prime Minister Kok should know that
unconditional support for the Bush administration’s road to war will
deeply split Dutch society. The bitter fruits of military attacks will be
more terrorists, not ending terrorism. No war!
Next came Frans Bloem, a Dutch born singer/songwriter, living in New York,
with a view of the Twin Towers. He had just heard the authorities were
allowing him to move back into his appartment. He sang “Help is on its
way”, dedicating it to the victims in New York, and oppressed people
everywhere in the world.
Then, Meindert Stelling, Dutch Air Force captain (retired), military law
specialist, and chair of Lawyers for Peace. He said international law
prohibits to wage an aggressive war. This was especially confirmed at the
post 1945 Nurnberg and Tokyo tribunals, punishing Axis leaders for
aggressive war. Only self defence is legal; revenge is not. 11 September
2001 was a criminal, not a military, attack. The UN Security Council did not
give the US government a mandate for a military attack. Do not let
international law become another victim, along with innocent Afghan
civilians.
Next came a puppet show by Micha Kluft. Puppet shows are a tradition on the
Dam in Amsterdam since the seventeenth century. The hero of Dutch puppet
shows is Jan Klaassen, a poor, simple man. He has to fight joining the army,
militarism (a general) and the “Dood van Pierlala”, Death (a skeleton).
Jan asks Death: “Are you Bin Laden? Are you Bush?” In the happy end, Jan
is reunited with his wife Katrijn.
Then came Harry van Bommel, Member of Parliament for the Socialist Party. He
had an “An eye for an eye makes everyone blind” sticker on. He rejected
the “Wild West rhetoric” of George W. Bush, “Wanted: Dead or alive.”
The Socialist party opposes having the Netherlands join a war through NATO.
The United Nations, not the United States, should end terrorism. No to
terrorism; no to war! Stop war mongering!
Like Van Bommel, the next speaker, Nuri Karabulut, chair of the Democratic
League of Workers from Turkey in The Netherlands (DIDF) had also been there
during the 1999 protest on the same Dam square against NATO’s war. The
violence in New York was horrible, Karabulut said. However, it should never
be used as a pretext to make more innocent people suffer. Terrorism feeds on
a background of imperialism. Let us not forget that the US government used
to support Bin Laden. Now, there is clamor for more power for secret
services like the CIA, the very CIA who sponsored Bin Laden and the Taleban.
We should oppose attacks on citizens’ freedoms. No to a national ID card;
no to more powers for the Dutch secret service. No to racists, like the
Turkish Gray Wolves and their Dutch counterparts. The power elites should
stop manipulating religious differences between Christians and Muslims to
foment unrest and war. Not just the democratic rights of immigrants; the
democratic rights of all are in danger. We should oppose the mass
‘downsizing’ for workers, and the cuts in collective services.
After Karabulut, everyone danced to the Latin American music of the Fanfare
van de Eerste Liefdesnacht.
Then, Menno Sijtsma, a non violent anarchist, of the Zin! Society. He said
terrorist criminals should be punished; however, also those in high places
in Western countries. The life of every person killed on Iraq is worth as
much as of every person killed in the Twin Towers.
Jasper Fastl is chair of the Young Socialists, linked to the Partij van de
Arbeid [Social Democrats; biggest party in Dutch coalition government].
Fastl regretted that Prime Minister Kok, PvdA party leader, was not there
alongside him. Terrorism, Fastl said, can thrive if there is an abyss
between rich and poor. This split is both in Western countries internally,
and world wide. Bush’s and NATO’s arrogance does not face this. NATO has
never yet solved a problem. We should oppose a national ID card in The
Netherlands. We should oppose media lies against young Moroccans living in
The Netherlands. Media-demonized Muslims are we ourselves; their struggle is
our struggle, long live international solidarity!
Then, the Chilean exile guitar player Marim Bula played Latin American
songs: No a la guerra! Ending the song with a loud: VIVA CUBA! He reminded
people 11 september was also when the CIA supported the putsch by Pinochet,
leading to ten thousands of dead Chileans. He predicted the forces of peace
would win eventually. So, he ended his performance with Venceremos, the song
of the Unidad Popular coalition of murdered Chilean President Salvador
Allende.
Next, the African poetess Lennie St. Luce with her strong voice read her
poems, in English: “Freedom will only be there, when killing Black men
will be considered as important as killing White men.” Terrible as the
deaths in the WTC were, the building was not a symbol of democracy, but of
capitalist inequality. “Love more! We don’t want another war!”
Next came Yvonne Breuk, director of the Humanist Union, saying No war in my
name. And no playing off of people in The Netherlands with different views
on religions, against one another!
Wim Lankamp, of the Dutch Palestine Committee oppposed the “New
War”where CNN wants to lead us to. We must strive for justice. For 53
years, the rights of Palestinians are denied. The WTC in New York was a
crime; so were the massacres in Sabra and Shatila camps.
After this, people danced to the African Caribbean drum band 'Brotherhood'
from Amsterdam South East. Then, Imam Hamza Zaid lead a prayer for all
victims of violence, New York and elsewhere, followed by silence to
commemorate.
Then, as the band Jamesz played blues music, people lighted candles on the
Dam. The peace movement will continue, with marches in other cities in The
Netherlands this week. The very day the US attacks militarily, demonstrators
will go to Museumplein, Amsterdam, 19 h; US Embassy, The Hague, 19 h;
Martini Tower Groningen. They will also hang out white sheets everywhere out
of windows as signs for peace.
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
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