arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Successful peace demonstration in Haarlem, The Netherlands

On Saturday 1 December, there was the first local peace meeting and march in the medium sized town of Haarlem, The Netherlands, since US and British military attacks against Afghanistan began. Before 1 December, the local peace movement had distributed flyers against the war. Though the weather was rainy, hundreds gathered on the medieval central square, the Grote Markt. A banner said: stop the war, stop the cycle of violence.

The first speaker from the seventeenth century balcony of Haarlem town hall was Dr Hans Feddema, an anthropologist and ex-member of the South Holland Provincial Assembly for the Green Left party. Dr Feddema said the war was becoming worse and worse. It would definitely not solve terrorism. Like the 1998 bombs on Sudan and Afghanistan had not solved terrorism, they had only prepared for the present escalation. Like the escalation of violence by the British army in Ireland had not solved anything. As an anthropologist, I often go to Sri Lanka, where the government violence against the Tamil Tigers does not solve anything. The comments of Dutch Asian scholar, Professor P. van der Veer, on the war against the Afghan civilians, were that imperialism from colonial days was coming back in a new form. Feddema noted that the leaders of his party like Paul Rosenmöller had withdrawn their earlier mistaken support for military violence. A decision on changing official party views for the better had been made. That really should have been the case right from the start of the war, however "better too late than never." Feddema quoted US American George Kennan criticizing arrogance of his country's politicians to other countries. Was this war "for human rights"? Or did the natural gas of Central Asia have anything to do with it?

Then, there was a spirited march down the the main shopping streets of Haarlem. Marchers gave postcards to the many spectators, to send to Prime Minister Kok to protest the war. Slogans resounded "Stop the war, peace now"!

A young citizen of Haarlem from a Moroccan family told me how dearly his father would have liked to be at the demonstration. His father, an invalid, sat in his chair seeing innocent Afghans being killed on television. His father said: "As a Muslim, I am totally opposed to violence against people of other religions. One should never kill the innocent. So, why is Bush?" He did not have an electric wheelchair, so he could not come. So, I am here to represent also my father. When I used to hear about anti-Palestinian violence, I used to blame "the Jews". However, I know better now: one should not kill innocent Palestinians. One should also not kill innocent Israeli Jews; common demonstrations of both Jews and Palestinians, like in Haifa after Palestinians had been killed in Galilea, like on May Day, were better. One should not kill the innocent in New York. And not in Kabul or Mazar-i-Sharif either! Here, he interrupted his explanation for a moment, to shout along with all the other demonstrators: "Stop the war!" He continued: "I oppose Bin Laden. I oppose Bush. It means so much for me to be at peace demonstrations. They show that not just me as an individual, not just Moroccans, not just Muslims, but many Dutch and other nationalities oppose this killing of innocent people. I certainly intend to be at the next demonstration, in Leiden."

The demonstrators arrived back at the Grote Markt. There, the international law specialist and retired Air Force captain, Meindert Stelling, addressed them. He noted that since the first and second world wars, the UN Charter and international law ban military aggression. The US/British attack on Afghanistan is a dangerous blow against international law.

Finally, one of the organizers mentioned the coming peace demonstrations, like on Thursday evening, 20 December, 7 p.m., Stadhuisplein, Leiden.