Biggest peace action in Amsterdam since 1980s: stop war drive!

Over ten thousand people filled Amsterdam’s medieval central square, the Dam, on Sunday 30
September. They were there for an open air meeting for peace, against all terrorism, and
against xenophobia. It had been organized with no help from corporate/quasi governmental
media; by the Internet/e-mail in spite of Carnivore/Echelon; by putting up posters, in spite of
police not liking that sometimes. It was the biggest peace action in The Netherlands since the
1980s, when half a million people marched against deploying NATO nuclear missiles in The
Netherlands. It brought veterans of these marches, and later campaigns against the Gulf War
and 1999 Yugoslavia war, together with young to very young people. Over 150 organizations
supported it, from Afghan refugees in the South Eastern Netherlands to Filipino migrant
workers in the Western Netherlands; from youth movements to now aging resistance fighters
against Hitler’s occupation in The Netherlands, 1940-1945. “Justice, not revenge” was often
heard.

A bign sign on the central stage said: No xenophobia, no war. Smaller signs said: War means
death for many, profits for some [in the armaments industry]. Drop the debt, not the bombs.
No crUSAde [in English]. Love power. No to NATO military action. All the arms we need
[picture of people embracing]. Terror does not bring peace; neither does imperialism. US
terror policy is source of terrorism. Think of the children. Against patriarchy. Violence never
solves anything. Fight war, not wars [from British anarchist punk band Crass]. Quotes from
Bob Marley, and Bob Dylan (Don’t follow leaders). An Eye for an Eye makes everyone blind
(Socialist Party). No War (Kurdish League). Six thousand Americans not more important than
six thousand Afghans. “Mr Bush, Thou shall not kill either.” And about Bush’s Italian fellow
‘crusader’ against what he considers ‘inferior’ Islamic people, Berlusconi: A world without
Berlusconi is possible. Berlusconi, from Genua to worse [in Genua, Berlusconi’s police killed
Carlo Giuliani, who fought for African immigrants]. There were flags of Palestine; of
Kurdistan; of Che Guevara; of the Puerto Rican island Vieques wounded by US Air Force
bombs; a big white dove of peace on a pole.

Shortly before 14 h., the meeting chair for the Platform Against the 'New War', Ms D. de
Jongh of the Guatemala solidarity committee, welcomed the people. Then, the peace song 
Blue Balloon, sung by. Frank Bilsen, with Mohamad Sayid Khan from India accompanying
him on South Asian string instrument. Blue balloons with the continents in green, floated
around the stage. 

Then, Carolien van der Stadt, of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
(WILPF), spoke. She quoted, to loud applause from the crowd, East Timorese women who
commemorated the victims in New York by laying flowers, but also said: We have never
asked for bombs on Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, when its US supported Suharto dictatorship
occupied our country and massacred its people! And women from Kosovo, who said:
Terrorists are not states. States should not become terrorist. Ms Van der Stadt concluded:
NATO doctrine will never bring peace; neither will Bush’s Son of Star Wars plan.

Then, Kashba (a Dutch Moroccan band) played. Though the majority of the audience did not
understand Arabic, everyone sang along with their Salam aleikum [sometimes changed by
the band to Hebrew Shalom, or words for peace in other languages]. Everyone clapped and
danced, from pre-teen Afghan refugee child, to Dutch teenage punk rocker, to thirtyish
African with Ethiopian flag colored woollen hat, to elderly Chinese lady. South African Rachel
Bramdaw in the audience front row inspired everyone, moving with the rhythm, with pink
butterfly wings fastened, black arms in long white gloves holding a wand with a pink star. A
middle aged man from Turkey danced with stacks of paper De Socialist in his hands. Other
papers, like Targets, Manifest (communist), and TV like NOS (national public) and RTL
(national commercial) were present.

Then, Harir Faquiri spoke, for the Afghan Women’s League. Until she was eight, she had lived
in Afghanistan. Now, she is one of the ten thousands of Afghan refugees in The Netherlands.
She said to applause the Dutch media should stop equating the Taleban with Afghans, or
Muslims, in general. The United States government had supported false “freedom fighters”.
Also the Northern Alliance, whom they start to support now, have a terrible record of killing,
ethnic mass rape, and giving women a status lower than an animal’s. Like the Taleban, the
Northern Alliance have practically no support among Afghan refugees in The Netherlands.
When Western leaders denounce “International terrorism” this is like an empty sound to
Afghan refugees. We remember their arms deals. They have never supported pro-democracy
Afghans.

Then came  Henk Oosterling, philosopher of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, denounced the
media for pretending wars are like video games.  And Bush, for his “Wild West” rhetoric of
“Wanted: dead or alive”, killing suspects before any court can decide about guilty or not
guilty. Meanwhile, the governments make the taxpayers pay for the air line corporations. Like
the US “war on drugs” in practice became a war on democracy, so will the “war on
terrorism”. We should not forget that today’s “globalization” and its privatization is the heir to
colonialist, imperial history. We should stop proclaiming “superiority” of Western over so
called “primitive”civilizations. Oosterling concluded to thunderous applause: “We want global
justice! Not “Infinite Justice”“!

Then, the choir  Jan en Alleman from The Hague sang. They sang the Peace Song, of the
1980s anti-cruise missiles march: “We fight the armaments ... Economic interests lead to risks
of war.” Then, a Japanese song, about never again nuclear bombs after Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.  

The next speaker was Lambrecht Wessels, of the Interkerkelijk Vredesberaad (IKV). Some
twenty years ago, the IKV had a mass base among Christians; however, while that base
shrunk, leaders edged closer to government policies. Wessels was the only one of the
speakers, poets and musicians on the stage whose viewpoints many in the audience were
unhappy about. Though the IKV had not signed the “Anti New War” platform, both the
organizers and the IKV wanted Wessels at the rostrum as a mark of diversity.

Then, Saskia Kouwenberg spoke, ex observer  in East Timor, and the Moluccas. On the
Moluccas, military and financial elites abuse religious differences between Muslims and
Christians, who had always gone on well together, to set people against each other. Now, the
world threatens to become somewhat similar like the Moluccas. Bush says: “Either you are
with George W. Bush, or you are with the terrorists”. Well, Ms Kouwenberg said, as an anti-
terrorist: Mr Bush, I am NOT with you! 

The next speaker was Celine van der Hoek, of the Anti Fascist League (also active against the
Yugoslavia war). She told how she in her youth had to hide for Hitler’s Nazis. How she
eventually landed in a concentration camp, and was one of few survivors. She reminded the
audience that Emperor Nero himself burned Rome, and blamed others, Christians, to increase
his powers. The hysterical war propaganda of today reminds me of the 1933 Reichtstag Fire,
made by the Nazis themselves; the prelude to World War II. That war started with supposedly
Polish soldiers, really Germans, attacking Gleiwitz (Glywice) radio station. People, oppose
today’s hysteria, bringing back yesterday’s fears! Stop the war drive of Bush and his Dutch
supporters! There should only be one kind of politics; humane politics, fairly sharing the riches
of the world. Unlike now, when billions become victims of globalization and capitalism!”

After the strong applause for Celine had died down, the Dutch  Moroccan band 'Lozanne'
played a mix of Northern African rai music with Spanish flamenco, setting the crowd dancing. 
After them came Abdou Menehbi, of the Euro-Mediterranean Migrants’Center. He strongly
condemned Dutch racists who [like during the 1999 war] thought they could ride the tide of
war hysteria. They burnt an Islamic school, where days before, teachers and students had
commemorated the victims of New York. They daubed an Islamic school with “USA”, “White
Power”, and Celtic crosses. They twice attacked a Syrian Orthodox church. Arrogance is the
best ally fundamentalists can wish for. Menehbi said: “Stop terrorism! But, stop it
everywhere. Stop oppression of so called developing countries. Remember what the
Palestinians have to suffer. Western countries, change your foreign policy! When Dutch prime
minister Kok says: “We are at war” this is perceived as Islam=terrorism. We should stop this
equation. The Dutch media wrongly accused Moroccans in Ede, teachers in Almere,
Palestinians, of being pro-terrorism. Prime Minister Kok should know that unconditional
support for the Bush administration’s road to war will deeply split Dutch society. The bitter
fruits of military attacks will be more terrorists, not ending terrorism. No war! 

Next came Frans Bloem, a Dutch born singer/songwriter, living in New York, with a view of
the Twin Towers. He had just heard the authorities were allowing him to move back into his
appartment. He sang “Help is on its way”, dedicating it to the victims in New York, and
oppressed people everywhere in the world.

Then, Meindert Stelling, Dutch Air Force captain (retired), military law specialist, and chair of
Lawyers for Peace. He said international law prohibits to wage an aggressive war. This was
especially confirmed at the post 1945 Nurnberg and Tokyo tribunals, punishing Axis leaders
for aggressive war. Only self defence is legal; revenge is not. 11 September 2001 was a
criminal, not a military, attack. The UN Security Council did not give the US government a
mandate for a military attack. Do not let international law become another victim, along with
innocent Afghan civilians.

Next came a puppet show by Micha Kluft. Puppet shows are a tradition on the Dam in
Amsterdam since the seventeenth century. The hero of Dutch puppet shows is Jan Klaassen, a
poor, simple man. He has to fight joining the army, militarism (a general) and the “Dood van
Pierlala”, Death (a skeleton). Jan asks Death: “Are you Bin Laden? Are you Bush?” In the
happy end, Jan is reunited with his wife Katrijn.

Then came Harry van Bommel, Member of Parliament for the Socialist Party. He had an “An
eye for an eye makes everyone blind” sticker on. He rejected the “Wild West rhetoric” of
George W. Bush, “Wanted: Dead or alive.” The Socialist party opposes having the
Netherlands join a war through NATO. The United Nations, not the United States, should end
terrorism. No to terrorism; no to war! Stop war mongering!

Like Van Bommel, the next speaker, Nuri Karabulut, chair of the Democratic League of
Workers from Turkey in The Netherlands (DIDF) had also been there during the 1999 protest
on the same Dam square against NATO’s war. The violence in New York was horrible,
Karabulut said. However, it should never be used as a pretext to make more innocent people
suffer. Terrorism feeds on a background of imperialism. Let us not forget that the US
government used to support Bin Laden. Now, there is clamor for more power for secret
services like the CIA, the very CIA who sponsored Bin Laden and the Taleban. We should
oppose attacks on citizens’ freedoms. No to a national ID card; no to more powers for the
Dutch secret service. No to racists, like the Turkish Gray Wolves and their Dutch
counterparts. The power elites should stop manipulating religious differences between
Christians and Muslims to foment unrest and war. Not just the democratic rights of
immigrants; the democratic rights of all are in danger. We should oppose the mass
‘downsizing’ for workers, and the cuts in collective services.
	
After Karabulut, everyone danced to the Latin American music of the Fanfare van de Eerste
Liefdesnacht.

Then, Menno Sijtsma, a non violent anarchist, of the Zin! Society. He said terrorist criminals
should be punished; however, also those in high places in Western countries. The life of every
person killed on Iraq is worth as much as of every person killed in the Twin Towers. 

Jasper Fastl is chair of the Young Socialists, linked to the Partij van de Arbeid [Social
Democrats; biggest party in Dutch coalition government]. Fastl regretted that Prime Minister
Kok, PvdA party leader, was not there alongside him. Terrorism, Fastl said, can thrive if there
is an abyss between rich and poor. This split is both in Western countries internally, and world
wide. Bush’s and NATO’s arrogance does not face this. NATO has never yet solved a
problem. We should oppose a national ID card in The Netherlands. We should oppose media
lies against young Moroccans living in The Netherlands. Media-demonized Muslims are we
ourselves; their struggle is our struggle, long live international solidarity!

Then, the Chilean exile guitar player Marim Bula played Latin American songs: No a la
guerra! Ending the song with a loud: VIVA CUBA! He reminded people 11 september was
also when the CIA supported the putsch by Pinochet, leading to ten thousands of dead
Chileans. He predicted the forces of peace would win eventually. So, he ended his
performance with Venceremos, the song of the Unidad Popular coalition of murdered Chilean
President Salvador Allende.

Next, the African poetess Lennie St. Luce with her strong voice read her poems, in English:
“Freedom will only be there, when killing Black men will be considered as important as killing
White men.” Terrible as the deaths in the WTC were, the building was not a symbol of
democracy, but of capitalist inequality. “Love more! We don’t want another war!”
 
Next came Yvonne Breuk, director of the Humanist Union, saying No war in my name. And
no playing off of people in The Netherlands with different views on religions, against one
another!

Wim Lankamp, of the Dutch Palestine Committee oppposed the “New War”where CNN
wants to lead us to. We must strive for justice. For 53 years, the rights of Palestinians are
denied. The WTC in New York was a crime; so were the massacres in Sabra and Shatila
camps. 

After this, people danced to the African Caribbean drum band 'Brotherhood' from Amsterdam
South East. Then, Imam Hamza Zaid lead a prayer for all victims of violence, New York and
elsewhere, followed by silence to commemorate.

Then, as the band Jamesz played blues music, people lighted candles on the Dam. The peace
movement will continue, with marches in other cities in The Netherlands this week. The very
day the US attacks militarily, demonstrators will go to Museumplein, Amsterdam, 19 h; US
Embassy, The Hague, 19 h; Martini Tower Groningen. They will also hang out white sheets
everywhere out of windows as signs for peace.