Another general strike against the war called in Greece for April 3

Antiwar feelings are running very high in Greece. There has already been a general strike against the war. This took place shortly after the war broke out. And if some people thought this would die down once the war had started they will have to think twice. The workers and youth of Greece are not going to give the imperialists any respite.

Proof of this is the fact that a 24-hour general strike has been called by ADEDI (the Greek Civil Servant's Union) for this coming Thursday, April 3, against the war in Iraq.

There will be a rally at 11am, in Syntagma Square, which will be followed by a march to the US Embassy. The General Union of Greek Workers (GSEE), together with other organisations is also supporting the mobilisation. The Athens and Piraeus Trade Councils, together with the GSEE are calling a 4-hour strike from 11am to 3pm, for private sector workers, so that they can also take part in the demonstration.

It promises to be another big labour movement protest against the war. We will be publishing a report when we have all the information of how the day goes.

April 1, 2003

Antiwar Demonstrations in USA

Biggest anti-war protest in Boston since Viet Nam

Hi Everyone,

I just returned from our anti-war protest in Boston, which began at 11:30 a.m. This was without question the biggest peace action in Boston since the Viet Nam War. Local media estimated the crowd would be at 50,000.Based upon numbers at previous actions in Washington and D.C., I would place the number between 30,000 and 50,000.But you know how those things go. We filled up the Boston Common – an area about the size of 4-6 football fields.

The crowd was absolutely pumped. No quarter was given to anything about the real causes or the execution of the Bush Wars. Police presence was everywhere -this time in black uniforms (a first), pants tied at the ankles, black boots, some in full riot gear. Incidentally, yesterday a Black Hawk Helicopter toured the skies around Boston, "Looking for favorable sites to land to extract Governor Romney, if it becomes necessary", according to evening news. The police were pretty well-behaved and not nearly as aggressive as they were in NYC on February 15.

The protest was peaceful, but loud and full of energy. We had about 2 hours of speakers, music and street theatre in Boston Common before beginning the march out Beacon Street, through Back Bay (wealthiest section of Boston), over to Boylston Street (main artery leading to downtown), ending at the end of Boylston Street at the Common where we began. When we came to the end, tens of thousands of us did a "Die In", lying down on the streets to portray those dying in Iraq. It was moving to lie down in the middle of the street and to imagine those who are being crushed in the street in Iraq. I made what was for me – a very personal decision – to remain as long as necessary, even if it meant being arrested. We lay there in silence with the sounds of the bells chiming from a nearby (activist) church.

One of our ANSWER organizers took our names in the event we were going to be arrested. There were police on the sidewalks along side us and I thought they were going to begin making arrests. But they walked away. How do you arrest 50,000 people? The crowd rose to their feet with a roar that could be heard echoing through downtown. When I left there were still many thousands of people chanting to the sounds of drums, filling Boylston Street. I don't know if – or how many remained behind for another "Die In".

Today, the Boston Phoenix reported similar protests around the world,

"… antiwar demonstrations in London drew an estimated 200,000. Barcelona saw twice that number. Tens of thousands of Australians clogged the streets of Sydney and Melbourne, while at least 11,000 Japanese came out to oppose the war in their own island nation. Protesters have condemned the US invasion of Iraq from Italy and Bangladesh to Mexico and Chile. Throughout the Middle East, angry demonstrators have gathered before US embassies, burned American flags and beat up effigies of President George W. Bush . . .

"and on and on.

This grassroots movement is big and it is definitely growing.

Les Blough
Boston, MA, USA
March 31, 2003

St. Louis

Comrades,

There was a march and rally of over 5,000 today in St. Louis. This makes the largest of any demonstrations here since the drive to war, and the actual war began. Despite all of the crap in the media about a 72% support for the war, the biggest numbers the pro-war people could come up with was 800 a few days ago downtown in Kiener Plaza. The days events started out 2:00 pm with several marches that joined up to rally at the Forest Park Pavillion at 3 pm.

The rally began with some music, then the standard speeches by religious leaders and also an anti-war Republican state representative. There was a Labor march, a Women's march, a High School march, a University march and lastly the Art march. The Labor march consisted largely of Postal workers and teachers, but also several auto workers, bricklayers, a public transit worker (me) and a local president of UNITE as well as a few government employees. There was also a contingent of more Postal workers from Minneapolis who came down on their own. The Labor march went under the US Labor Against The War banner.

We sold out our Socialist Appeals at the last demo, so we made more than 400 leaflets, all of which were handed out and received well. This was a really high-spirited march, and despite the Republican speaker was a great day. Last but not least between 12-15 pro-war people showed up in a really aggressive mood, but once they walked onto the top balcony of the pavillion and saw the crowd I heard one of them say "Oh… Well, nevermind." and they went back to their cars! I thought that was a bit funny.

comradely,
Dave