Report: Peace Demonstrations In Rotterdam, Amsterdam, And Elsewere
At the same time, there were also thousands of people demonstrating, for the same demand: No war against Iraq, in Amsterdam, Terneuzen, Heerlen, Amersfoort; and other places in The Netherlands, as part of a worldwide day of peace action. Very early in the morning, in Sevenum in the South Eastern Netherlands, peace activists had managed to stop a train with a US military cargo destined for Iraq, chaining themselves to it; and had forced the train to return.
Already one hour before the official beginning, there were demonstrators at Schouwburgplein. Some minutes later, the red and yellow truck of Theaterstraat theatre company arrived, and the stage was set up. First on stage were Latin American songs on the indigenous people of the Americas, and the US supported dictatorship in Paraguay.
Signs said: Not one man, not one woman, not one cent, for the "new" war. Warning: Saddam's most dangerous body double, George Double Bloody Bush, is still at large. Stop Dutch participation in the war. Stop war for oil and money. Against imperialism, for international friendship. They asked on Iraq now that US troops are in Baghdad: Liberated; or occupied? There were symbols of anarchist punk rock band Crass; blue and white peace flags. Also flags of the Arab European League, with branches in Belgium and The Netherlands. They, including many young women, had brought a banner: "Peace in the East means peace in the West." Leaflets changed hands, like from Turkish communists, Turkish Kurds, Dutch anarchists, and refugees from Iran. From the Ruhr region in Germany, members of the Party for Social Equality had come.
The meeting started officially with a speech by Agnes, of the youth movement Peace 180. The number 180 in our name, Agnes said, refers to the 180 Iraqi children who used to die even before the war from the effects of depleted uranium and the embargo. Today, of course, far over 180 Iraqi children a day die. A clique of rich males, like at the Project for a New American Century, important advisers to George W. Bush, kills so many people in poor countries. We seem powerless. Scott Ritter, ex UN arms inspector in Iraq, now anti war, said in The Netherlands recently: "The Netherlands are also a colony of the US." Balkenende, the Dutch caretaker Prime Minister, is our Bush, or Bush's puppet. However, anti war British Labour MP George Galloway says (a quote attributed by others to Irish socialist James Connolly) : "The mighty only seem mighty for as long we are on our knees. So, let us stand up!" Let us stop the transportation of US arms through Rotterdam harbour! There was a minute of silence for all who had died in Iraq.
Poet Ger van Wijk succeeded Agnes on stage. One of his poems was on how Bush, just before officially starting the war on TV, was jocular; then playing at being serious when talking on war.
The next speaker was Wim van Wijk, of Rotterdam Against the New War. He started with the action against the US military train at Sevenum of that morning. He said we needed more actions, including strikes. US troops did not stop looting in Iraq, in order to have an excuse to set up a new dictatorship. However, the troops guarded the Iraqi oil industry extremely thoroughly. Well, the Afghan people have seen what happened to the promised "peace and reconstruction" that never became reality.
Before the march started, a young woman member of the Arab European League said that the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein now was replaced not by liberation, but by occupation.
Then, the demonstration through the city center of Rotterdam started. The red and yellow truck went ahead, with explanation to onlookers on the demonstration's aims. One of the slogans which people shouted was: George Bush, terrorist! The demonstrators got much support from honking motorists on main roads and clapping people on sidewalks.
The march arrived at its final point, Plein 1940. This square is called after May 1940, when Hitler's air force, the Luftwaffe, destroyed the city center of Rotterdam, killing many people. A monument by sculptor Ossip Zadkine to the victims of the Nazi bombing commemorates this.
Bart of the International Socialists spoke. He mentioned the other peace demonstrations going on simultaneously this day: in Amsterdam, German cities, Washington D.C., San Francisco, London, Arab cities, etc.
After him, there was a concluding speech in Arabic, by a Green Left councillor of the Rotterdam suburb Delfshaven.
The meeting chair announced that peace action would go ahead after 12 April, like Monday 14 April at Rotterdam businesses participating in US military transports, on 21 April in The Hague at the Easter Peach March, and the May Day demonstration at 18.30 on 1 May in Rotterdam.
Also in Rotterdam, the struggle for peace is linked to the struggle for civil rights, especially in The Netherlands, and for refugees. There is also co-operation with the Dutch national platform against the "New War"; see http://www.wereldcrisis.nl
The Rotterdam organizing committee of the demonstration can be reached at phone [in The Netherlands] (0)10-4620852 or rtno@rtno.nl. See http://www.rtno.nl The national Dutch coalition against the "new war" at o43@kerkenvrede.nl.
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