Protests on the Streets Offer Hope to Dissenters |
If the United States-led war on Iraq confirms that the world is in the era of the hyperpower, unprecedented global street-level protests hold out hope against feelings of helplessness.
The protests have stretched out across the globe - from Jordan and Yemen to distant Taiwan, to London and New York where thousands have expressed anger and dismay at their governments' murderous belligerence. Anti-war protesters shout during a march in New York vIn Arab countries, the chant of "bil rooh, bil dam, nafdeek ya Iraq" (with our blood, with our souls, we will sacrifice ourselves for you Iraq) reverberates around the streets.
The extent of anger among common people has reached such intensity that in countries like Jordan where unlicensed protests are banned, normally peacable citizens have risked injury to themselves to gather on the streets.
In Yemen, for the 30,000 who gathered outside the US embassy, tear gas and water cannon were no deterrence. The police opened fire killing four demonstrators, including an 11-year-old boy.
In the Arab world's largest city, Cairo, some 50,000 protestors burnt US flags, threw stones and set fire to vehicles - all under the watchful eye of heavily armed police.
The resentment has turned common people into potential fighters overnight. One of them was quoted as saying, "we are going to prepare human bombs against America." Another shouted, "we'll defend Saddam with our blood." The protests, marked by their sheer gut-level anger and spontaneity, have already provoked several commentators into terming them historical and unprecedented. Indonesian Muslim protesters burn an effigy of United States President George W. Bush during an anti-war protest in front of the US embassy in Jakarta
The anti-Vietnam war protests, by way of comparison, pales into insignificance. As the US thinker Noam Chomsky points out in a recent article, the protests are a "remarkable phenomenon". In the case of Vietnam, the protests didn't begin to gather steam until large parts of south Vietnam were being subjected to saturation bombing by B-52s with enormous loss of life.
Protests in Lebanon had an immediate impact. Wary of aggravating public emotions, the Lebanese government refused a US demand to close the Iraqi embassy and freeze the country's assets. The US had asked that Beirut break off all diplomatic relations with Baghdad. Agencies quoted government officials as saying that the US request was an affront to international law.
Virtually, no corner of the globe has been left untouched. In Taiwan's capital Taipei protestors gathered on a road in front of the American institute raising banners saying - "No blood for oil", "Bush is the killer" and "stop Bush". Taiwan is one of the 30 countries backing the US. Though the numbers were small, the intensity of the protest provoked the police into breaking it up provoking clashes.
A group of Taiwanese academics expressed regret that their country had backed America. "Instead of upholding the humanitarian philosophy of resolving differences peacefully, the government has joined the US coalition under the pretense of attacking terrorism. This won't conceal the fact that war is the worst of all human atrocities," they said.
Vietnamese relived in the attack on Iraq their own predicament some 40 years ago when the US carpet bombed their cities. That the anger has never been buried was seen in a spontaneous demonstration by hundreds of students outside the American embassy in the capital Hanoi. They carried banners reading "No war, no bombs, no blood", "War is not the answer", "Stop war, stop Bush, stop killings" and "US Army go away". One of the students was quoted as saying they would protest every day until the US stopped its attack on Iraq.
The real threats have come from the non-Arab Muslim countries of Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh where Islamic groups have said US commercial establishments would be targeted. The first to feel the heat was a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlet in Indonesia where agitators barricaded the premises preventing customers from entering. A group of volatile protestors in Malaysia's eastern Kelantin state yelled "Destroy America" as they made their way through the streets against the war. In Bangladesh's capital Dhaka protestors burnt US flags.
In Pakistan, the President of the Peshawar University Teachers Association, Arbab Khan Afridi, told a rally of teachers and students that "Muslim countries should sever all diplomatic relations with the United States and Britain and Pakistanis should boycott products from the two countries,"
Even if the public protests did not prevent a war, it has helped dilute the official support the US was expecting from nations around the world. For instance, the protests in Pakistan have forced the government, a key US ally in its so-called war on terror, to turn into a severe critic of Washington. Similarly, the Indonesian government too has been publicly forced to decry the US move against Iraq.
The otherwise rigid governments in the Arab world have loosened their security valves to allow demonstrations and protests in order to release public anger against the US. There are fears that the resentment could turn against the Arab governments themselves. Already protestors are criticising the role of Arab leaders and governments which have provided logistical help to the US.
In Syria, demonstrators called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak "an American agent", in protest at his decision to allow US flights to overfly the country. Sections of the Arab media too have warned that leaders in the region will be held responsible for civilian deaths in Iraq.
All in all, it makes for an unenviable situation for governments in the region which are caught between the resentment of their citizens and their friendship with the US.
Al Jazeera
The protests have stretched out across the globe - from Jordan and Yemen to distant Taiwan, to London and New York where thousands have expressed anger and dismay at their governments' murderous belligerence. Anti-war protesters shout during a march in New York vIn Arab countries, the chant of "bil rooh, bil dam, nafdeek ya Iraq" (with our blood, with our souls, we will sacrifice ourselves for you Iraq) reverberates around the streets.
The extent of anger among common people has reached such intensity that in countries like Jordan where unlicensed protests are banned, normally peacable citizens have risked injury to themselves to gather on the streets.
In Yemen, for the 30,000 who gathered outside the US embassy, tear gas and water cannon were no deterrence. The police opened fire killing four demonstrators, including an 11-year-old boy.
In the Arab world's largest city, Cairo, some 50,000 protestors burnt US flags, threw stones and set fire to vehicles - all under the watchful eye of heavily armed police.
The resentment has turned common people into potential fighters overnight. One of them was quoted as saying, "we are going to prepare human bombs against America." Another shouted, "we'll defend Saddam with our blood." The protests, marked by their sheer gut-level anger and spontaneity, have already provoked several commentators into terming them historical and unprecedented. Indonesian Muslim protesters burn an effigy of United States President George W. Bush during an anti-war protest in front of the US embassy in Jakarta
The anti-Vietnam war protests, by way of comparison, pales into insignificance. As the US thinker Noam Chomsky points out in a recent article, the protests are a "remarkable phenomenon". In the case of Vietnam, the protests didn't begin to gather steam until large parts of south Vietnam were being subjected to saturation bombing by B-52s with enormous loss of life.
Protests in Lebanon had an immediate impact. Wary of aggravating public emotions, the Lebanese government refused a US demand to close the Iraqi embassy and freeze the country's assets. The US had asked that Beirut break off all diplomatic relations with Baghdad. Agencies quoted government officials as saying that the US request was an affront to international law.
Virtually, no corner of the globe has been left untouched. In Taiwan's capital Taipei protestors gathered on a road in front of the American institute raising banners saying - "No blood for oil", "Bush is the killer" and "stop Bush". Taiwan is one of the 30 countries backing the US. Though the numbers were small, the intensity of the protest provoked the police into breaking it up provoking clashes.
A group of Taiwanese academics expressed regret that their country had backed America. "Instead of upholding the humanitarian philosophy of resolving differences peacefully, the government has joined the US coalition under the pretense of attacking terrorism. This won't conceal the fact that war is the worst of all human atrocities," they said.
Vietnamese relived in the attack on Iraq their own predicament some 40 years ago when the US carpet bombed their cities. That the anger has never been buried was seen in a spontaneous demonstration by hundreds of students outside the American embassy in the capital Hanoi. They carried banners reading "No war, no bombs, no blood", "War is not the answer", "Stop war, stop Bush, stop killings" and "US Army go away". One of the students was quoted as saying they would protest every day until the US stopped its attack on Iraq.
The real threats have come from the non-Arab Muslim countries of Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh where Islamic groups have said US commercial establishments would be targeted. The first to feel the heat was a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlet in Indonesia where agitators barricaded the premises preventing customers from entering. A group of volatile protestors in Malaysia's eastern Kelantin state yelled "Destroy America" as they made their way through the streets against the war. In Bangladesh's capital Dhaka protestors burnt US flags.
In Pakistan, the President of the Peshawar University Teachers Association, Arbab Khan Afridi, told a rally of teachers and students that "Muslim countries should sever all diplomatic relations with the United States and Britain and Pakistanis should boycott products from the two countries,"
Even if the public protests did not prevent a war, it has helped dilute the official support the US was expecting from nations around the world. For instance, the protests in Pakistan have forced the government, a key US ally in its so-called war on terror, to turn into a severe critic of Washington. Similarly, the Indonesian government too has been publicly forced to decry the US move against Iraq.
The otherwise rigid governments in the Arab world have loosened their security valves to allow demonstrations and protests in order to release public anger against the US. There are fears that the resentment could turn against the Arab governments themselves. Already protestors are criticising the role of Arab leaders and governments which have provided logistical help to the US.
In Syria, demonstrators called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak "an American agent", in protest at his decision to allow US flights to overfly the country. Sections of the Arab media too have warned that leaders in the region will be held responsible for civilian deaths in Iraq.
All in all, it makes for an unenviable situation for governments in the region which are caught between the resentment of their citizens and their friendship with the US.
Al Jazeera