arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Successful peace demonstration and start of trade union peace campaign in Leiden, The Netherlands

On Saturday 20 October, there was the third successful peace meeting and march in Leiden, The Netherlands, in the twelve days since US and British military attacks against Afghanistan began (besides smaller local actions in Leiden). The Leiden Anti War Committee [originally founded in 1999 to protest the NATO Balkans war] had organized it.

They started at the Van der Werf Park (which became a park in the nineteenth century after a military ammunition dump explosion blew up the houses there). Again, the biggest sign said: No to war, no to terrorism.. Also, someone brought an image of Dutch Prime Minister Kok as the faithful Dalmatian lapdog of George W. Bush of the US, seeing everything in Dalmatian black and white. Someone else brought a picture of an Afghan child. "Native" Dutch, as well as people from Yugoslav, African, Asian, and American origin had come.

Driek van Vugt of the Socialist Party, youngest member of the Dutch Senate, handed over the loudhailer so people could speak out. The introductory speech was by a trade unionist. He introduced the start of he national campaign of Trade Unionists for Peace and Equality. Trade unionists of various unions in The Netherlands in this campaign want to oppose the war against the Afghan civilians, and to fight racism raising its ugly head in the wake of warmongering; see http//http://www.petitiononline.com/nuvrede/petition.html They were inspired by the founding of New York City Labor Against War.

Next, Janna, a member of the Anti War Committee, and of anarchist collective Eurodusnie, spoke about the message of solidarity we had received from peace activist Marya in Canada: the white poppies, symbol of peace since they were adopted as such by women, widowed by the First World War. Janna also named the campaign against armament industries.

Jeroen told of the plans of the Anti War Committee to continue to fight for peace. Every Saturday, beginning Saturday 3 November, at 1 p.m.., peace activists would have a picket at the City Hall at the Breestraat. Apart from that, on Friday 9 November, 19:30, starting from the Stadhuisplein, there would be a demonstration to commemorate Hitler's anti-Semite violent "Kristallnacht". People would march against racism and war, which inflames racism.. Jeroen warned against abolishing civil liberties in the name of the so called "war against terrorism".

A US citizen who had immigrated to The Netherlands named the over one hundred cities all over the world where today, we knew that people also demonstrated against the war against the Afghan civilians: Zwolle, Eastern The Netherlands; Ieper, Belgium; Uppsala, Sweden ... In Australia: Dromana, Melbourne, Perth. New Zealand: Dunedin, Queenstown, Wellington. In Canada: Sechelt, Vancouver. In the USA: Corvallis, Birmingham, Flagstaff, Little Rock, Chico, Huntington Beach, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Denver, Fort Collins, Westport, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Lawrence, Boston, Beverly, Wenham, Ypsilanti, Minneapolis, Springfield, Plymouth, Northampton, Detroit, St. Cloud, Columbus, St. Louis, Missoula, Eatontown, Northfield, Albuquerque, Gallup, Santa Fe, Taos, Albany, Buffalo, Hudson, Kingston, New York City, Yonkers, Bloomington, Dover, Lewisbury, Charlotte, Boone, Asheville, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Yellow Springs, Cleveland, Portland, Honesdale, Honesdale, Philadelphia, Providence, Salt Lake City, Memphis, Nashville, Austin, Charlotteville, Fredericksburg, Olympia, Laramie, Richmond, Washington, D.C. In Hawaii: Waikiki. In Britain: Bury, London, Preston, Bristol, Sheffield, Swansea, Leeds, Lancaster, Manchester, Glasgow. In Switzerland: Bern, Zürich. Italy: Caserta, Padova. Portugal: Lisboa, Porto. Spain: Madrid, Valencia. Greece: Athens. South Africa: Mafikeng, Pretoria. Philippines: Manila. Japan: Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima.

Then, there was a spirited march down the Breestraat, the main shopping street of Leiden. Marchers gave postcards to the many spectators; cards, to send to Prime Minister Kok to protest the war. Slogans resounded against the ancient buildings of the Breestraat: "1-2-3-4 [Dutch: vier], we want peace here! 5-6-7 [zeven], let the Afghans live [leven]!""Stop the war, peace now"! "Afghans die, Lockheed [just awarded by Bush the fattest military contract in history] profiteers!" People came running out of pubs along the demonstration route to show their support.

The demonstrators arrived at the destination of today: the monument to the anti Nazi resistance fighters of World War Two.

A speech mentioned the e mail address of Berkeley, California, local councilor Dona Spring: GOTOBUTTON BM_1_ spring@ci.berkeley.ca.us Her pro peace proposal had been adopted by the majority of Berkeley council. Then, right wingers threatened to kill pro peace councillors, and kill Berkeley economically. Many demonstrators noted Ms Spring's address to send her messages of solidarity.

Also, a speaker named the interview by Donald Rumsfeld of the Pentagon in USA Today. Rumsfeld said the US would probably not get Bin Laden, and the Taliban would keep at least some government power in Afghanistan. Well, this is one of the few days when peace activists should be grateful to a war hawk like Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld had blown apart his own war propaganda splendidly. On the other hand, he did not seem to have trouble finding out where in Afghanistan Red Cross buildings, UN anti landmines offices, mosques, houses of city dwellers or peasants were.

Jan Beentjes, member of the Anti War Committee, said the real factors behind this war were not what the propaganda said, but questions of oil, other economics, and power politics.

A member of the Rotterdam peace movement said how she had been in Canada until a week ago. There, forces of oppression tried to use September 11 and after to smash all progressive movements, even depicting animals' rights activists as "terrorists". However, she found out very many people in Canada opposed this, and joined the growing peace movement. This should also happen in The Netherlands. She invited everyone to the peace demonstration in Rotterdam, Saturday 10 November, 2 p.m., starting at Plein 1940, monument by the sculptor Ossip Zadkine to the victims of the Nazi bombs on Rotterdam in May 1940.

The next speaker was Dr Hans Feddema, an anthropologist and ex-member of the Provincial Assembly for the Green Left party. Dr Feddema expressed criticism of the leaders of his party like Paul Rosenmöller for not opposing the war. However, a decision on changing official party views for the better might be close. The war went from bad to worse. A prominent Egyptian Islamologist had warned that the US Air Force bombed all efforts by moderate people like him for better relations between Islam, Christianity, and other religions, to pieces. The ideas of Samuel Huntington on the "clash of civilizations" threatened to become a self fulfilling nightmare. The final speaker pointed out there were also signs of hope, like big peace demonstrations of both Christians and Muslims in Lagos, Nigeria.

The official part of the demonstration had ended with one minute of silence for all the innocent dead in this cycle of violence, from New York to Kabul. In Leiden and elsewhere, the peace actions will go on.

Of course, the date was 27 October