Anti-War March Held in Downtown Detroit
to Mark the 3rd Anniversary of Iraq Invasion
Bring the troops home now was major
theme
From the Pan-African News Wire Monitoring Service
DETROIT, March 18, 2006 (PANW)--Hundreds of people gathered in downtown
Detroit on Saturday afternoon to protest the 3rd anniversary of the
United States invasion and occupation of Iraq. Beginning with a rally
at the 'Spirit of Detroit' statue outside the Coleman A. Young
Municipal Center, several speakers denounced the ongoing American
involvement in Iraq demanding that the troops be brought home
immediately.
This demonstration took place in conjunction with similar events held
in over 700 cities throughout the country. In addition, marches and
rallies were staged in more than 40 countries around the globe.
In Detroit, the focus of the demonstration centered around the impact
of the war policies of the Bush administration on the budget deficit in
the city. In a poster circulated announcing the march, it stated that
over $400 million dollars of city taxpayer money are spent each year to
help finance the occupation of Iraq.
In an opening statement at the rally, Abayomi Azikiwe of the Michigan
Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI), the
organization which called for the demonstration, stated that "we
are a part of a mass movement. In over 40 countries throughout the
world people are marching, demonstrating and holding vigils calling for
peace now."
Azikiwe, who is also the editor of the Pan-African News Wire, continued
by emphasizing that "This war is illegal. We said this over three years
ago. The Bush administration lied to us, they lied to the world, they
told us that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Later they
had to admit that their own pretense for going into Iraq was
false. So why are we still there? We say that the United States
Government is still there in order to exploit the oil in Iraq. They are
trying to set up bases in the Middle-East to try to conquer the entire
region. Well we cannot allow them to do this. We have to mobilize and
we have to organize."
"Even the corporate media says that only 33% of the people in this
country who have been interviewed say that they support what the Bush
administration is doing in Iraq and not only in Iraq, but right here in
the United States," Azikiwe continued.
"So what do we have to do? We have to organize and we have to mobilize.
There are a lot of folks in this country who are opposed to this war.
There are a lot of people who are opposed to the policies of the Bush
administration. But they have to come out. They have to get
organized. They have to be mobilized. They have to take action that it
is really going to cripple this administration,
to bring it down. We have to have a people's government here in the
United States, Azikiwe declared.
Beheejah Shakur, a veteran of the United States military, who refused
to fight in the first war against Iraq in 1991, spoke to the audience
saying that "I protested the first Gulf War and they filmed me and had
me on the six o'clock news. But I don't care they are still out there
filming me, taking pictures of me and I am still protesting and will go
on protesting. This war is insane. I told them at that time that
I will go if you give me a card where when I pull up to the pump they
will give me a discount. They didn't agree, so I said 'Hell no I won't
go.'"
Shakur went on to state that: "They are killing people in Iraq and not
only Iraq but in Afghanistan. Next it will be Iran. In fact people are
telling us that there are already service people on the ground in Iran
as we stand here today. Iran is going to be the next big fiasco.
Because that's all it is in Iraq, a fiasco. This country is not telling
you the true numbers. You have no idea how many Americans are being
slaughtered and killed and bombed, because they are only going to tell
you a few numbers because they don't want Americans to know exactly
what is going on."
"In addition to all the American servicemen and women that are being
killed, think about all the Iraqis. The elderly, the children,
everybody is being affected in that country and it has to stop.
Just a few days ago I was at a meeting of the Department of Community
Health and they were saying that their budget was being cut. I told
them that reason the budget was being cut is because all the money is
going to Iraq and we need to stop it. We need to tell the president: we
have had enough of this. We need to shut this country down and tell
them to stop taking our money and sending it to Iraq," Shakur concluded.
City water department employee Derrick Grisby also addressed the crowd
saying that he is a prime example of how the war is affecting public
sector workers. The city administration announced recently that 5% of
the work force in the water department are being laid off. Grisby
refuted the insinuation of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in his state of city
address implying that absenteeism is too high and that employees will
be punished for refusing to come to work. Grisby stated that "City
workers are hard workers."
"George Bush is a murderer. If you give the order to have someone
killed here in America, you are just as much to blame as the one who
pulled the trigger. This man has killed thousands and thousands
of poor Iraqi children. There is a DVD we are circulating
entitled: 'Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre', it's short and really
documents some horrible atrocities committed by the military in Iraq,"
Grisby stated.
Al Fishman of Peace Action and the Detroit Area Peace With Justice
Network (DAPJN) took the bullhorn and expressed his appreciation to
MECAWI for organizing this demonstration.
"This is my second demonstration today because I was in Northville
earlier where a demonstration was held with nearly 200 people in the
heart of Republican territory. I think it is important to realize that
there is a debate going on. There are some Republican candidates for
Congress who are trying to run their campaigns as far away from Bush as
they can. However, this does not take into account that each and
every day that this war continues more Americans and Iraqis are dying.
More people are being tortured and renditioned. At some point there has
to be an accounting for these crimes. And that is the job of the
American people."
"When the war in Vietnam ended there was a great resistance to
repeating this kind of foreign policy. When the president's father
initiated the previous war against Iraq in the 90s the elder George
Bush was heard saying 'we have kicked the Vietnam syndrome'. Well we
are here to say to the people of the country that no you have not
kicked the Vietnam syndrome or the Iraq syndrome either," Fishman
concluded.
A MECAWI student chapter member at Wayne State University, who had just
returned from doing relief work in New Orleans during alternative
spring break, discussed how people are still dying in New Orleans. Isis
Sushiela, a graduate of Barnard College in New York pointed out that
"we need to keep paying attention to what is going on in New Orleans.
It is not in the news anymore. It is like a crisis that has come and
gone. But it is not gone, it is still going on. People are being
exposed to danger. It is the third most toxic site in the world right
now. People down there still need your support. As long as the
war is going on they are not going to get the money down there that is
needed."
Margaret Gutshall, a former Green Party candidate in the state of
Michigan, encouraged people to run for office this year on a platform
opposing the war. The crowd began to chant loudly: No War! No
War! No War! No War!
Addressing the burgeoning domestic crisis in the United States, Marian
Kramer, a leader in the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization stated
that "there are two wars going on: the war in the Middle-East and the
war here in the United States. We are here today and every day to tell
Bush to end this war. Bush talks about terrorism but he is the worst
terrorist in the world. Its great for us to be out here today but
we have to do this every day."
"Let's get rid of the terrorists in Washington," Kramer said.
"Let's stop the war here and stop the war on a global level."
David Sole, the president of UAW 2334, and a leading member of MECAWI
was the final speaker before the march began. Sole re-emphasized the
national character of the demonstrations taking place over the weekend.
"On this third anniversary of the Iraq war, a day of shame and infamy
in U.S. history, the money that's being spent in Iraq is desperately
needed here at home. People are getting their water shut-off and have
no access to utilities. Their children are going to bed hungry.
Many of these things can be solved with just a portion of the money
thrown down the drain in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Sole addressed the threats by the United States against Venezuela and
other countries who are trying to build progressive regimes.
"Isn't it interesting that the U.S. Senate is calling for an
investigation of one oil company, you would think it would be the one
that is raising prices, but instead they called for an investigation of
CITGO, which is owned and operated by the government of Venezuela and
they are being investigated because they have agreed to lower prices of
heating oil for poor communities right here in the United States."
"We say hell no to the war, hell no to the lay offs. Money for our
cities, not for war. We are also marching against the threats to Iran
for their desire to develop peaceful nuclear power. Washington is using
the same language they used against Iraq. Hands off Iran. Stop the war
before it starts," Sole concluded.
At this point people went into the streets and began the march up
Woodward Avenue. Even though MECAWI had been granted a permit to
march in the street on Wednesday by the Detroit City Council, the
police seemed to know nothing about it.
According to Cheryl Labash of the Michigan Campaign to Free the Cuban
Five: "Hundreds marched up Woodward Avenue in the street through the
gentrified Detroit downtown. From old to young including disabled
activists in scooters and wheel chairs, the crowd said, 'Bring the
Troops Home, Now!' 'Money for Our Cities, Not for War.' The Jobs with
Justice banner read 'make Jobs not War.' Detroit is the poorest major
city in the United States. Michigan is the state with the highest
unemployment rate in the nation. At the Martin Luther King Day
demonstration police violated the marcher's permit, but today
Detroiters took the streets although police again denied knowing a
permit was granted by City Council."
Labash continued by saying that "In Windsor, Canada(right across the
river from Detroit) at noon, anti-imperialist demonstrators
including a strong Lebanese delegation, called for an end to the
occupation led by the U.S. Also at noon demonstrators protested the war
in Northville, a Detroit suburb. Yesterday activists reenacted U.S.
torture vignettes on the steps of the Federal Building, three people
were arrested."
Another participant in the demonstration held in Northville, a Detroit
suburb, that was held earlier in the day, stated that "This war
is clearly unpopular! Even in Northville public sentiment appears more
pronounced against the war than for it. Probably between 150-200 people
came out, very vocal, very crowd oriented- as in -reaching out to
townspeople about the grave situation in Iraq . As usual, lots of
solidarity in the crowd and complete unity around "Troops Out Now" as a
central demand. Someone from the rally read off the names of the 78
Michigan fallen in Iraq. There was also someone from the ACLU who spoke
out about violations against our civil liberties that are occurring
across the country that they are currently fighting against. After a
short rally, there was a march around town. About five, mostly younger,
white males constituted an organized resistance. It was good for them
to come out and see how outnumbered they are, both in comparison to us
and among even Nor!
!
thville citizens. They garnered some, to minimum support I would say.
At one point two cops strolled by and talked with some demonstrators,
and then left. Uniformed police were not a large presence."
The march concluded at Central United Methodist Church where a cultural
anti-war program was held afterwards. The concert featured
musicians Mike Anton, Scott Harrison, Dead Letter Office, Juan Jaunko
& the Whale and poet Wardell Montgomery. This cultural event
was coordinated by MECAWI member Kyle McBee with technical assistance
from John Donabedian of the Detroit MLK Committee.
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