Anti-War Protests

At least 8,000 people gathered at Fort Benning, Georgia on the weekend of November 17-18 to demand the closure of the U.S. army's "School of the Americas" (SOA) and an end to the war in Afghanistan. The demonstration exposed the U.S. government's long history of state-sponsored terrorism, especially in Latin America. Similar anti-war protests continue to be organized throughout the world.

Other recent actions include:

• On the weekend of November 9-10, hundreds of thousands of people came out in rallies and protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) which was holding its ministerial meeting in Qatar. These actions had been planned for months but in the current situation, the people focussed on opposing the war against Afghanistan.
  
  
• In London, over 100,000 people gathered on November 18th to call for an end to the war. Huge throngs of demonstrators from a wide cross-section of society converged on Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park and marched to Trafalgar Square.
  
  
• In Rome, more than 50,000 people rallied. Demonstrators marched through the streets waving peace flags and banners calling for an end to the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. When the procession reached the historic Circus Maximus, the crowds left candles on the grass spelling out "No war."
  
  
• In Berlin, several thousand people took to the streets to protest both the war in Afghanistan and the WTO. Similar protests were organized in 25 other towns and cities across Germany. "Stop the terror of the WTO," read a banner, and "Solidarity with the victims of terrorist attacks in New York and Afghanistan," read another.
  
  
• In Geneva, 4,000 people protesting against globalization and the U.S. bombing campaign, marched to the WTO headquarters. They carried banners proclaiming "U.S. politics. Stop the 'Busherie'," a play on the French word for "butchery."
  
  
• In Paris, organizers estimated 4,000 protesters took to the streets on Saturday for an anti-globalization rally, while another 2,000 turned out in the southern French city of Marseille.
  
  
• In New Delhi, India thousands marched through the city on November 9. "Down with the World Trade Organisation. Indian government -- leave the WTO," the protesters shouted. "Down with American imperialism. Stop the bombing in Afghanistan. Take back American forces from Afghanistan," the protesters also shouted as thousands of red-flags waved.
  
  
• In Bangkok, Thailand thousands of farmers, workers and activists staged a peaceful demonstration against the United States and the World Trade Organisation at the US embassy on Friday. The demonstration was organized by a coalition of protest groups called the "People's Campaign Against WTO."

Other mass actions were organized in Britain, South Korea, Tokyo, Australia and elsewhere. In the U.S., thousands joined in anti-war, anti-WTO actions in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago and many other cities.