Worldwide protests blossom against US, Iraq war

Up to 400,000 British citizens marched in the UK over the weekend against US war in Iraq in what has been called the largest protest in the country in 30 years.

Compiled by Eamon Martin

Oct. 2 (AGR)— In Britain this weekend, an estimated 350-400,000 people rallied and marched to express their collective outrage and terror over the prospects of war in Iraq. An astonishing attack by London Mayor Ken Livingstone on possible military strikes against Iraq climaxed the biggest anti-war demonstration seen in the UK in at least 30 years.

“Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi children, women and men will be killed or injured if our country and the US attack Iraq,” Livingstone said at a rally in Hyde Park. “We must not let this war happen, with or without UN approval. It is not about removing Saddam Hussein from power. America wants war against Iraq to seize control of the oil fields, the second largest in the Middle East.”

The alarmed throngs of concerned citizens say Washington and London are behaving hypocritically given their previous support of Iraq under Saddam Hussein in the years before the 1991 Gulf War, and are refusing to admit their real economic motives for desire to control Iraqi oil.

“We can’t get involved in this war (and) we can’t consider murdering another 100,000 Iraqis simply to pursue America’s interest in oil and their dominance in the region,” film-director Ken Loach said during the march.

Irial Eno, a 12-year-old girl ,carried a homemade banner, which read: “Iraq is not our enemy, stop Bush.”

Eno explained: “Iraq has already had lots of trouble. I just don’t think that Bush should bomb them. So many people will die just for one man.”

“If we go to war with Iraq, it represents the beginning of the era of American imperialism,” former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter said at the rally.

The massive UK demonstration was but the apex of a rash of international protests against the United States that occurred during the week. While the UK broke national protest records, in Manila, in the Philippines, more than 100 church workers from 22 countries trooped to the US Embassy to urge a halt to what they called “US state terrorism” against Iraq and other targets of the war on terrorism. Nuns and church leaders held up placards reading “No to US invasion of Iraq” and “Justice, not war” as riot police stood by.

The demonstrators issued a statement calling the war on terror “an opportunistic use of violence to consolidate and expand US economic, political, cultural and military hegemony, which amounts to state terrorism.”

The next day, Rome, Italy saw tens of thousands of people marching against a US war on Iraq, shouting anti-war slogans and insisting that any conflict would end up doing more harm than good. Police said about 30,000 protesters showed up, although organizers claimed a turnout of 150,000.

Thousands of miles away, about 1,000 people marched through the heart of Sydney, Australia on Saturday as well, urging the national government not to get involved in a war with Iraq. The next day in Madrid, Spain nearly 3,000 people marched against Bush’s war plans. Protesters carried signs saying “Terror USA!” and photo placards equating Bush with Adolf Hitler.

In numerous cities this past week, people felt provoked to protest the Bush war.

On Tuesday, Sept. 24, more than 300 parishioners of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church rallied with their pastor, Fr. Michael Pfleger, in downtown Chicago, Illinois to condemn the Bush administration’s relentless push for war on Iraq and to call for peace. The group gathered for two hours of spirited singing, preaching and praying to voice resistance to what Rev. Walter “Slim” Coleman likened to the advance of the Christian biblical four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, activists opposed to the Bush Administration’s war policy continue to occupy the offices of US Senators Paul Wellstone (D) and Mark Dayton (D). On Wednesday, however, the office of Representative Betty McCullom (D) had four protesters arrested when they refused to leave at the end of the day. In Seattle, Washington, the same thing happened that day with federal police arresting 11 representatives of local churches and peace organizations for refusing to the leave the offices of US Sens. Maria Cantwell (D) and Patty Murray (D).

The coalition of peace activists, named the Congressional Vigil Against War on Iraq, said their goal was to maintain a presence in the offices until each Senator committed to voting against a war resolution.

Also that day, a crowd of about 500 demonstrators filled the State House patio in Providence, Rhode Island, in a multi-faith protest organized by the Rhode Island State Council of Churches and the Rhode Island Peace Mission.

“We will have to repent in this generation, not for the people who urge war, but for the appalling silence of the good people,” said the Rev. John Holt, executive minister of RISCC.

Many faiths were represented at the rally, from Quaker to Muslim, Jewish and Catholic, Protestant and Buddhist.

On Thursday, in Batavia, Illinois, a rally and sit-in was held against Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert’s office. About 150 people rallied while 10 sit-in participants were dragged out of Hastert’s office by police.

At the same time, police arrested nine anti-war protesters at Rep. Tom Lantos’ office in San Mateo, California after they entered the building and refused to leave. The protesters wanted Lantos to sign a pledge saying he would vote against a preemptive military strike on Iraq and work with the United Nations to prevent any action against the Arab nation. Among 100 others also gathered in protest.

That night in Portland, Maine, police tackled and arrested 14 people during a demonstration in which 150 – 200 people protested against US military action in Iraq. Some protesters tried to pull police off one arrestee, and among those arrested, one person was charged with punching the police chief in the head.

“This is happening because our government will trade our blood for Iraqi oil,” protester Walter Beasley had said during the march, before being tackled to the ground not much later. As police videotaped the crowd, a handful of protesters hid their faces with bandanas and hoods.

Denver, Colorado joined the nation’s growing anti-war movement on Friday when one of the biggest protest crowds the city has seen in years marched against a US attack on Iraq. Approximately 2-4,000 people, chanting “no war for votes,” gathered outside the City and County Building and then marched to the Adam’s Mark Hotel, where Bush had spoken that day.

3,500 gathered in downtown Denver, Colorado to say no to war as President Bush visited on Friday, September 27.

“People are getting sick of this patriotic intimidation,” said Shawn Morris, 34, a professor at Metro State College. “We don’t buy $1,000-a-plate lunches at the Adam’s Mark,” said Howard Greenebaum, 72, of Sedalia. “We’re Americans,” he said, “and we vote.”

Hundreds of people in Phoenix and Flagstaff, Arizona protested Bush’s visit to their state on Friday as well.

In Phoenix, police arrested at least eight people, including Eleanor Eisenberg, the executive director of the Arizona affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She said earlier in the day that she was going as a legal observer.

“She was taking a picture and I don’t think they like that,” said Carolyn Trowbridge, an ACLU vice president who was with Eisenberg.

Joe Herzog, a 51-year-old “former Republican” from Chandler, took the afternoon off work to protest.

“My 401(k) has continued to drop and I want to know what these candidates facing election will do for me, but this war has taken so many important issues off the front page, it’s all I hear about.”

In northern Arizona, about 500 protesters stood outside a George W. Bush fairground appearance. In Phoenix, at least 700 people marched to a fundraising dinner where Bush was raising $1.8 million for the state Republican Party and gubernatorial hopeful Matt Salmon.

“I don’t think we should go into Iraq,” said Brian Maclean, a student at Northern Arizona University who braved the rain to protest in Flagstaff. “Bush is using security as a ploy to get rid of our rights and civil liberties. I’m out here to voice my opinion about that.” Bush was in Flagstaff to raise money for congressional hopeful Rick Renzi.

At both protests, people carried a potpourri of signs, “Bush=Hitler,” “Just say no to Shrub” and “Drop Bush, not bombs.” The groups were diverse, ranging from the Arizona Alliance for Peaceful Justice to Queers 4 Peace, teenagers and senior citizens, anarchists and Democrats.

On Saturday, under rippling banners reading “No War Against Iraq,” 3,000 people rallied and peacefully marched in San Francisco, California. Organizers of the rally called for a boycott of Israel and an end to the annual $3 billion in US aid until Palestinian refugees are allowed to return home.

Finally, on Sunday in Washington, DC, an estimated 4,000 people marched to the residence of Vice President Dick Cheney. Protesters, some holding signs that said “No Blood for Oil,” blamed Cheney for pushing the nation toward war.

Sources: Arizona Daily Star, Arizona Republic, Associated Press, BBC News, Chicago IMC, CNN, Denver Post, Infoshop News, Portland Press Herald, Providence Journal, Reuters, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, Straight Times, Twin Cities Independent Media Center

Hundreds arrested at DC IMF/World Bank protests

By Nicholas Holt, with Rae LeGrone and AGR Staff

Washington, DC, Oct. 2 (AGR)— Thousands gathered in Washington, DC last week to protest and disrupt the joint meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

On the morning of Friday, Sept. 27, several affinity groups took to the streets and moved around the city, some with the intent of disrupting traffic, others simply to make their presence known and their message heard.

A row of police stand guard as nearly 700 protesters are arrested at Pershing Park in downtown Washington, DC on Friday, Sept. 27, 2002.

The Anti-Capitalist Convergence (ACC), a Washington, DC-based group had called for a “day of non-compliance and resistance” in the city and for activists to creatively disrupt the day’s business. Several groups marched through the streets around the city, bicyclists filled streets with a “critical mass” group ride, and tires were set alight on commuter routes into the city, backing up traffic.

Hundreds of police, many of whom had been shipped in from other areas of the country, were present, nearly all dressed in full or partial riot gear. They closely followed the protest groups around the city by foot, motorcycle, bicycle, and car, and tracked them with helicopters.

In one incident, a crowd of about 100 protesters gathered in front of a Citibank branch office. After police began making arrests, two rocks were thrown through windows and the police pepper-sprayed the crowd. Smoke bombs were then thrown at the police. The Washington, DC Independent Media Center (IMC) reported that a protester was thrown against a window by police officer with such force that the window cracked.

Another group of about 30 protesters, who confined their loud march to sidewalks, were detained by a large group of police and had their identification checked and recorded and their bags searched. All members of the group were released shortly after, even those without identification.

Two activists dropped a banner inside the IMF building.

A giant inflatable pig was set up in the middle of one downtown street. Although the blower malfunctioned and the pig did not fully inflate, police treated the battery used to power the blower as a bomb and shut down two blocks for about 90 minutes.

Shortly after 9am, marchers from around the city, as well as participants in the critical mass bicycle action, arrived at downtown Pershing Park. Some of those gathered moved into the streets, but were pushed back by police. Protesters and journalists diffused into the park, where conversations, chants, drumming, and dancing commenced.

At 9:45, without issuing any orders of dispersal, the police on foot, horseback, and bicycle, surrounded the perimeter of the park and refused to let anyone present leave.

Lt. JD Herald of the DC Metro Police advised everyone trapped in the park to “sit down, relax, and do what you were gonna do.”

He then explained that some of the police officers present had been working 16 hours a day for the previous four days and that those being detained in the park might get “a little attitude” from them.

The detainees spent the next hour and a half confined in the park. Broadcast news journalists described the situation live to their listeners, while many of the protesters gathered in small groups to make plans for what appeared to be an inevitable mass arrest.

Those arrests came as police suddenly began moving in on the detainees. Some being held were told they could leave on the opposite side of the park, but instead found themselves trapped on all sides by baton wielding law officers. Metro buses arrived, and police began roughly handcuffing and dragging people away and loading them on the buses.

Across the street more protesters, separated from the park by horse mounted police, loudly chanted “Let them go!” and raised fists in support of those being arrested.

Shortly after, DC Metro Police Chief Charles Ramsey spoke to reporters.

Those arrested, he explained, were being charged with “blocking a sidewalk ... failure to obey a police officer, parading without a permit, those kinds of things.”

The version of events he described bore little resemblance to those experienced by those held in the park.

The protesters “were in the street, they were ordered out, they refused, we got them out ... and now that we got our transport vehicles, we’re taking care of that,” he claimed.

Among those arrested throughout the day were several legal observers, present to document police and protester interaction and police misconduct.

Zachary Wolf, a national vice president of the National Lawyers Guild and a member of the DC-based Partnership for Civil Justice said the legal observation and support team would be “aggressively litigating the false arrest charges.”

Wolf also noted that “There has been a fair amount of police brutality, [police] using their batons without cause against people who are essentially peaceful protesters.”

Police continued loading the arrested onto Metro buses. Arrestees were then taken far from downtown to the DC Police Academy. DC-IMC reported that some buses took as long as 12 hours to reach their destination, and that some were still being processed as late as 3am Saturday morning.

There were also reports of one individual, a man who participated in the critical-mass bicycle ride dressed in drag, being removed from the Metro bus he was being held on to a police van where he was badly beaten.

As of Friday night, police reported 649 arrests, the vast majority of which occurred at the Freedom Park gathering.

At a televised press conference, DC Mayor Anthony Williams praised Chief Ramsey’s work and said that although he and Ramsey, as African-Americans, owed much to the history of civil disobedience in the US, those protesting in DC that day were not part of that tradition.

The ACC released a statement critical of the actions of the police:

“We are disheartened by the violence which was perpetrated today by the police. Hundreds of people were arrested for doing nothing more than expressing their political beliefs using legal, nonviolent forms of protest and civil disobedience. Protesters and onlookers were shoved, beaten, and pepper-sprayed by the police, who seemed determined to prove their ‘control’ of the situation by hurting innocent people.

“We cannot let our freedom to dissent be taken away, and we will not stop speaking out until we live in a world where everyone is free from exploitation and oppression, a world where one’s survival and access to human needs aren’t determined by one’s economic means.”

On Saturday, thousands gathered near the Washington Monument for a rally against the IMF and World Bank coordinated by the Mobilization for Global Justice.

Preceding the rally was a march organized by ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) demanding third-world nations be released from debt and that the funds of the international finance organizations be utilized to fight the spread of AIDS and help those living with it.

The rally featured consumer advocate Ralph Nader, musician Michelle Shocked, and numerous activists from around the world who shared stories of their struggles against corporate domination of their countries.

About a dozen counter-protesters, separated from demonstrators by twice as many police, held signs reading “I love capitalism” and boasting of conservatives’ employment and obedience to law.

That afternoon, marchers walked from the Washington Monument to North Murrow Park, near the IMF and World Bank buildings. They then paused for musical performances. Police in riot gear moved in to block one side of the park, refusing to let anyone move directly across the street, but making an exception for two expensively dressed shoppers who explained they were trying to reach the Starbuck’s coffee house.

With memories of the previous day’s mass arrest still fresh, tensions were high. When an American flag was set alight, many protesters fled in fear of police retaliation, but police reported only about 6 arrests.

Though the IMF and World Bank delegates met without disruption, the Mobilization For Global Justice released a statement expressing satisfaction with the events of the weekend.

“We won. Yes, we really did. How? We, the movement, helped make the meetings of the World Bank and the IMF into a news story where their policies and practices are examined, scrutinized and criticized,” the statement read. “It is one of the few times a year when media in America pay attention to these institutions and as just by speaking truth to power with our message about globalization and corporate greed we help form popular consensus among those who are just learning of this struggle.”

Hatcher sent to solitary for illness

By Elizabeth Allen

Asheville, North Carolina, Oct. 1 (AGR)— After being written up for “refusing to submit to a drug test,” political prisoner Eddie Hatcher has been sentenced to 60 days “disciplinary segregation” this past week. Correction officers came into his cell at 1am on Monday morning for a routine “random” drug test. The previous day, Hatcher, who has AIDS, took a styrofoam cup of what he described as “almost pure blood” to the unit manager after noticing blood in his urine for about a week. The manager then called medical. However, Hatcher says he did not receive treatment that night and was informed the facility was already occupied by someone in lock up.

Eddie Hatcher

Later that night he said the nurse at the medicine window told him it sounded like he had a kidney stone, and to drink lots of water and fill out a sick call.

The condition made him able to urinate, a point he and a nurse from prison say is indicated in the medical documentation from the prison. Nevertheless, after suffering all weekend, he was administered a drug test. “I told the officer I had a health problem and I couldn’t pee if they’d give me parole. He told me to drink 8oz of water, which he gave me and then gave me two hours,” Hatcher recounts. Still physically unable to cooperate, Hatcher was written up.

In a phone conversation with Hatchers Sister, Ginger Ammerman, the nurse said if an inmate is unable to urinate then he is in kidney breakdown.

Ginger Ammerman, Hatcher’s sister, said she believes that he received extra time in the hole because he pleaded not guilty. Inmates are allowed appeal hearings for infractions.

“He has to appeal it himself, and can’t have an attorney. And where is it going to go?” Ammerman commented, reflecting her doubt that prison officials listen unbiased to an inmate’s cases.

In a conversation with Ammerman, Marion Correctional Superintendent Sid Harkleroad reportedly expressed that he and other employees at the prison were angry over the contents of Hatcher’s website, www.eddiehatcher.org. He mentioned that a couple of employees had contacted lawyers and wanted to sue Hatcher, even though the website uses no names and does not specifically incriminate any particular officer.

Hatcher’s website contains a new section specifically about the North Carolina prison system, including prison articles, poetry, and his personal prison dairy.

In this section Hatcher denounces the over 30 prison enterprises operating in NC which make the prisons nearly self-sufficient, leaving 80% of the Department of Correction (DOC) budget for salaries. He emphasizes that nonviolent inmates are treated so harshly that when released they will be ill-adjusted and violent, “releasing all of the pent up psychological torment compliments of the NC Department of Correction.”

“Prisons have become modern day torture chambers with chains attached to cold steel slabs were prisoners may lay naked in their own urine and feces for days and weeks,” said Hatcher on his website.

Currently, Hatcher is serving life without parole for the 1999 drive-by shooting murder of Brian McMillan, a 19-year-old drug dealer in Maxton, NC. A jury convicted Hatcher, after less than 3 hours of deliberation, of shooting into an occupied property and first degree murder. He was acquitted of assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill McMillan’s girlfriend, Amila Chavis, who was shot in the hip during the incident. Forensic reports show that bullets found in McMillan’s body don’t match the rifle Hatcher carries in his truck. There were two types of bullets found on the crime scene. In order for Hatcher to have been able to commit the crime, he would have had to fire two weapons simultaneously while driving a five-speed truck down a country road at night – an impossible feat, considering that his left arm is permanently disabled due to a gunshot wound he received the previous November.

Hatcher’s conviction was partially based on an alleged “confession,” “casually” made to a police officer while the two were alone, seven minutes after the SBI (State Bureau of Investigation) read him his rights and he refused to make a statement, but asked to see an attorney. There is also evidence that the district attorney bribed witnesses, and had previous affiliations with and concealed information about a juror. During the trial Judge Frank Floyd ordered Hatcher to represent himself as a defendant in a capital case.

Prior to the recent jail time, Hatcher served five years after the 1988 takeover of the Robesonian newspaper offices in Lumberton, NC. Hatcher and his friend Timmy Jacobs demanded to speak with Governor Jim Martian to get a guarantee of an investigation into dozens of uninvestigated, unsolved murders in which police were suspected of involvement, the local government corruption concerning the vibrant drug trade coming from I-95, and the death of a young Black man in the county jail. Several hostages were released unharmed after they negotiated with the governor, who, aside from looking into the county jail death, failed to hold up his end of the bargain.

Hatcher and Jacobs were motivated to do the takeover when Hatcher began to fear that he would be killed by law enforcement after they began staking out his apartment.

Hatcher says the police were keeping an eye on him because he was investigating the Robeson County drug trade and had obtained documents which he says implicated the police in trafficking. Hatcher was a member of and served as secretary for Concerned Citizens for Better Government, a group founded in 1986 by members of the Native American and African American communities in reaction to the violence and evidence of police drug dealing in the area.

With the September death of Christopher Wood in Murphy and the approximately 11 other inmate deaths this year due to lack of medical attention, the treatment of inmates with medical problems has gotten a lot of press in recent times. Keith Acree, a public information officer for the NCDOC, asserted that most of the problems concerning lack of medical care that have been in the press occur in the county jails, run by the individual sheriff’s departments. They receive minimal state oversight from the Detention Services Department of the Health and Human Services office, which also regulates fire and safety codes.

Acree said that he felt the prison was capable of treating a prisoner with AIDS, and explained an inmate can be transferred to a different hospital facility within the system if sick call deems it necessary.

Ammerman remains doubtful that all necessary medical treatment has been provided.

“I know one thing for sure and that’s I can’t see him [Hatcher] or talk to him for 60 days, and Eddie might be dead in 60 days,” she said. She also said that a doctor had recommended a kidney sonogram on Hatcher because kidneys are a particular area of concern for AIDS patients.

“Certainty it doesn’t hurt for people to call or email [Marion Correctional Institution] and ask about Eddie and see if he’s doing ok and getting the treatment he needs,” said Ammerman. She also noted Hatcher has lost between 70 and 80 pounds while in prison.

Acree said that the prison policy was to be both “fair and firm with every inmate,” and, “We don’t treat Eddie any differently than we treat any other inmate.”

In reference to the drug test, Acree claims Hatcher’s name just popped up randomly on the computer. and that, “Our medical folks said he was given adequate opportunity to give a sample.”

Acree said they weren’t punishing him for his website because he’s already had it for a number of years.

Superintendent Harkelroad’s secretary said Harkelroad was currently unavailable for comment and was not likely to do so.