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With polls showing that the vast majority of Americans support military action against terrorism, organisers of an anti-war rally planned here on Saturday have a difficult task ahead.
The protesters, many of whom had been planning massive demonstrations against World Bank and IMF meetings set for this weekend, shifted their focus when the events were cancelled after the terrorist attacks in New York and at the Pentagon. Several of the organisations regrouped to form a coalition called International ANSWER, or Act Now to Stop War & End Racism.
Noting surveys that indicate nearly 90 per cent of Americans back US military strikes, protest organiser Brian Becker said: “We represent 20 million to '27 million people (who oppose a war) ... and thousands of them will be here on Saturday. We don't base ourselves on polls, but on principle.”
Although the IMF and World Bank protests had been expected to draw thousands to the nation's capital, it was unclear how many would turn out for the anti-war effort.
The noon rally will begin at Lafayette Park near the White House and finish at the Capitol. But given the horror of the September 11 attacks and the loss of more than 6,000 lives on US soil, demonstrators with a take-to-the-streets approach that knocks the Bush administration's war on terrorism run the risk of looking “as if they are against America,” said Steve Hess, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a non-partisan Washington think-tank.
Unlike the Vietnam War protests that gained momentum during the height of combat, coalition members hope this swift antiwar reaction will help curb government actions that could lead to further bloodshed.
From students and lawyers to Catholic and Muslim leaders, the diverse group of ANSWER members at yesterday's news conference offered a unified message: Violence is not the answer to violence. Racial profiling and hate crimes against Arab Americans or Muslims are not acceptable.
Los Angeles Times-Washington' Post
News Service
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