arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

In hartje Brussel kwamen vandaag, zoals in meer dan 500 andere steden in de wereld, heel wat mensen op straat om te protesteren tegen de aankomende oorlog in Irak. Het was een heel gevarieerde betoging, waarin vooral de Amerikaanse president George W. Bush het moest ontgelden: heel wat mensen spotten met Bush en zijn onlesbare olie- en oorlogsdorst. Opvallend was ook dat naast veel jeugdbewegingen, vakbonden en mensen uit de buurt, veel families met jonge kinderen naar Brussel waren afgezakt. Algemeen gesproken was het een feestelijke en positieve optocht tegen de oorlog en voor vrede.

Les pays arabes se trouvent ainsi dans une situation paradoxale : ils sont ceux qui ont le plus à perdre d'un nouvel affrontement dans la région, tant du point de vue économique que de leur stabilité politique, mais ils donnent une impression de totale résignation, même s'ils soutiennent la prolongation des inspections, explique Tangi Salaün, correspondant au Caire, du Parisien. Un état d'esprit résumé par le roi Abdallah de Jordanie, qui a souhaité que « cela se termine le plus vite possible ». (...)

Alors que les manifestations antiguerre se multiplient à travers le monde, seuls quelques dizaines d'Egyptiens font face à l'impressionnant dispositif policier déployé à chaque rassemblement. Et la presse gouvernementale égyptienne multiplie les attaques contre Saddam Hussein. L'Irak sera au menu du « sommet d'urgence » des ministres des Affaires étrangères de la Ligue arabe, ce week-end au Caire.

Preparations for a huge anti-war demonstration in Beirut Saturday are stumbling over political divides. The demonstration, which will coincide with similar gatherings across the globe, will be split in two between local groups seen as supportive of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and those who refuse to be linked to the strongman and his regime.

Those groups seen as friendly to Saddam will meet at 4pm in Barbir and will include partisans of the banned Iraqi Baath Party, al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, Arab nationalists, the Lebanese Women's Council and Palestinian factions from the refugee camps. They all fall under the umbrella of the Civil Movement for the Support of Palestine and Opposing War Against Iraq, spearheaded by the Association of Committees and Leagues, whose president, Maan Bashour, formerly belonged to the Iraqi Baath Party and recently met with Saddam in Iraq.

The other group, which calls itself the Popular Campaign, includes the Democratic Forum, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the followers of Metn MP Nassib Lahoud and the Qornet Shehwan Gathering, environmental groups like Greenpeace and Greenline, the Free Patriotic Movement, Communist Students, the Direct Line leftist student group, and organizations boycotting Israel like Nadi as-Saha.

The Popular Campaign will also gather at 4pm, but in front of the National Museum, and both will march to UN House. Once in the Beirut Central District, the two groups will meet and tensions may rise as the pictures and the slogans of one group could irritate the other. The main slogan of the Popular Campaign will be "No to War, No to Dictatorships," while that of the Civil Movement will be: "Peace for Iraq, Freedom for Palestine and Glory to the Resistance." The division was sparked by an earlier anti-war demonstration in January when some parties were angered over the presence of portraits of Saddam.

Read more on: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/15_02_03/art4.asp