arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Again peace demonstration in Leiden, The Netherlands

Three days after Monday 8 October (the day after US and British military attacks against Afghanistan began), there was again a successful peace meeting and march in Leiden, The Netherlands, on Thursday 11 October. The Leiden Anti War Committee [originally founded in 1999 to protest the NATO Balkans war] had organized it.

While at the earlier protest there had been between 80 and 100 people, now between 100 and 200 gathered on the Stadhuisplein, the square next to the 16th century city hall. Again, the biggest sign said: No to war, no to terrorism.

The introductory speech was by Rosa. She had fled her native Afghanistan five years ago to The Netherlands. Afghanistan used to be a free and beautiful country, she said. However, then the United States government started to use it as a pawn in its cruel Cold War games. War and fundamentalist tyranny were the consequences. Now, George W. Bush started the "New War" against the innocent civilian people of Afghanistan. The US supported tyranny had already taken almost everything from the Afghan people. The bombs and cruise missiles of the US Air Force were now taking away the last thing the Afghan people still had: each other, to love. Tremendous applause thanked our Afghan representative's moving speech.

Next, Jan Beentjes, a photographer, communist, and member of the Anti War Committee, spoke. He named the five reasons to be against the war of the Anti War Committee of Students in Solidarity at the University of Pittsburgh in the US (broadly similar to those of Z Magazine).

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. Among rank and file party members, people missed the Pacifist Socialist Party (one of the four parties out of which Green Left formed). Meanwhile, with a mosque being hit, the war went from bad to worse.

Then, we marched to the monument for the World War Two resistance fighters, shouting: Stop the war, peace now! The marchers passed a building of a conservative student fraternity. There, five counter protesters stood, some said. Well, maybe they were counter protesters: their signs were illegible. Who were they? Maybe members of Dutch neo Fascist group Voorpost, linked to the bigger Vlaams Blok in Belgium? Voorpost has a record of a five man demonstration when Nelson Mandela visited Leiden, with a "Mandela murderer" sign; and of attacking antiwar protesters already during the 1999 NATO-Yugoslavia war. In Antwerp, Belgium, recently, the Vlaams Blok Führer, Filip De Winter, led 20 of his members in a "Bush is right" mini pro war demonstration. Well, after our march, it turned out these five young men were politically ignorant in this rather than really Rightist. They had read about an anti war march passing their turf. In their fertile imagination as formed by the corporate media, they expected a demonstration by Taleban supporters with big turbans and long beards trying to butcher innocent bystanders with sharp long scimitars. Instead, they discovered refugees from the Taleban and anti Taleban remarks in leaflets in the march. So, they went to the march organizers to apologize for their mini counter demonstration.

After we arrived at the Second World War Resistance monument, Paul Day addressed the crowd. He used to be a member of the Leftist Surinam song group Revo; now he is local council member for the Socialist Party. Of course, he said, everyone opposes the terrible attack in New York. However, we also oppose the war by George W. Bush. We oppose his Wanted Dead or Alive rhetoric from the Wild West. We oppose the slavishness of Wim Kok, the Dutch Prime Minister, who meekly follows Bush.
After a lady read a peace poem, the final speech was by Marco, of the Leiden anarchist collective Eurodusnie; summing up reasons why this war must be opposed.

After a call on everyone to come to the big national peace demonstration on Saturday 20 October, 2 p.m., Dam square, Amsterdam, several new people (including from Germany, Djibouti, and former Federal Socialist Yugoslavia) applied to become active in the Anti War Committee Leiden.