WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 - After two and a half weeks of heightened security measures, talk of war, and rumors of future terrorist attacks, the dialogue in Washington, DC shifted to peace last weekend.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings scheduled for Sept. 29 and 30 were expected to draw crowds of up-to 100,000 anti-globalization demonstrators. In wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the meetings were cancelled, and protest organizers called off their events. Instead, thousands of people gathered in the capital to talk about equality and peace.
The International Action Center (IAC), a Washington-based advocacy organization, intended to hold several anti-globalization events last weekend. In response to anticipated US military action and hate crimes against Arabs after the attacks, an anti-war coalition called Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) emerged from the IAC. The group organized a rally against war and racism on Saturday in downtown Washington.
Protest organizers announced an attendance figure of 20,000. But the Metropolitan Police Department said only 7,000 people protested.
Sarah Goldman, a senior at Oberlin College, had planned to attend the Latin America Solidarity Conference to protest the IMF meeting. Although the conference was cancelled, Goldman came to Washington to counteract the media's "subtle pressure" in favor of a military response. "The rally is important so that the world community can see that there is an opposition [to military retaliation]," she said.
College students constituted a "vast majority" of the demonstrators, according to IAC's website. IAC and ANSWER organized public transportation from major cities and advertised the event on college campuses to ensure a strong turnout at the rallies. Information about the rally, and other planned events, spread quickly throughout the Washington-area college population.
Goldman said that ANSWER's anti-war-and anti-racism messages were more appealing to college students than the anti-globalization cause. Student groups came from as far away as San Francisco and Houston. Locally, students from Georgetown, George Washington, American, and Howard Universities had a considerable presence.
But not all students felt compelled to participate in the weekend's events. Kata Varga, a Hungarian student studying international environmental issues at American University, did not participate, though she says she supports peace initiatives. "I'm not an activist," she said. "I prefer to do what I can in my local environment."
Other students said the rally organizers should have waited longer after the attacks. "Some people think it's too soon," said Sarah Hull, a protestor from Oberlin College. "We need to respect people whose lives were lost."
Others criticized the protestors' ideology. At a counter-demonstration in front of the Navy Memorial, protestors held signs that read "Traitors" and "Cowards." Police kept the two sides separate.
As has often been noted of anti-globalization protesters, participants at the ANSWER rally voiced a wide variety of concerns. Polly Mann, who co-founded Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) 20 years ago, condemned President George Bush's foreign policy. She and other members of WAMM traveled from St. Paul, MN to attend the rally.
"President Bush is a puppet of corporate globalization," Mann said, taking a break from distributing stickers opposing Plan Columbia. "That includes Wall Street, the IMF, World Bank, and World Trade Organization."
Mann wore a bright red T-shirt with "I Love Jews" written on one side and "I Love Arabs" on the other.
The speakers chosen by IAC and ANSWER were no less diverse than their audience. Representatives from the Kensington (PA) Welfare Rights Association, Women for Afghan Women, the Zapatista Resistance Movement, and countless other organizations concerned with war and racism spoke.
Leslie Feinberg, author of Stone Butch Blues and an activist for transgender rights, called on individuals who have faced oppression to rally behind Arabs and Arab Americans in the face of hate crimes.
Ron Daniels, director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said "we must examine all the root causes of war and violence in the world today."
"It is important to understand the enormity of the tragedy," he said.
As the speakers addressed the eager crowd, demonstrators from an earlier rally entered Freedom Plaza. DC Metropolitan police in riot gear, with pepper spray containers hanging from their belts, moved into the area. They surrounded the plaza and blocked streets leading into the rally location.
Teams of legal observers paid close attention to interactions between police and demonstrators. The police line moved into Freedom Plaza only once, when two groups of protestors clashed over the burning of the American flag. The protestors were subdued, and the flag burning proceeded.
The rally ended at 3 p.m. with a speech by James Creedon, a New York City EMT who responded to the emergency at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Creedon, who was injured in the rescue effort and lost four members of his squad, urged the crowd to oppose retaliatory strikes.
"I am going to stand with the International Action Center and say, 'War will not bring our loved ones back,'" he said.
