NEW YORK -- "Earth to Bush, no war!" read one of the many posters that hundreds of thousands of protestors carried around Manhattan on Saturday as part of an unprecedented worldwide protest against war in Iraq.
The protest had only been granted a rally permit at the corner of First Ave. and 51st St., where the United Nations headquarters is located. However, due to sheer numbers, the rally effectively became a march.
Protestors gathered as far back as 72nd St. to march toward the rally, unfazed by the fact that without portable radios tuned to a designated FM radio station, they would not be able to hear the speakers, which included Desmond Tutu and Eve Ensler.
The worldwide protest, entitled "The World Says No," is the first globally organized demonstration in history. Thousands of people filled the streets of Athens, London, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Barcelona, Melbourne, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Auckland, Seoul, Tokyo, and Manila in peaceful opposition.
In New York, organizers estimated attendance at 500,000, although the police reported 100,000. Some obstacles stood in the way of the protestors: no marching permit accompanied the rallying permit to protest at the UN.
"The hallmark of the Constitution is Freedom of Speech," said Reed Brody, a New York lawyer and activist who was dissatisfied with the court's refusal to grant a marching permit. "This is the biggest protest in the world, and we can't even express ourselves."
Organizers were told to inform protestors that restaurants and facility-providing shops in the area would be closed for the day for reasons of security. But the thousands who came out anyway found that these businesses were not only open, but thriving on the business of tired, cold, and hungry protestors.
Many college students were among the protestors, including several from Tufts. Senior Carl Jackson, was at the protest with the International ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). Jackson was selling various posters with pictures of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, or the words "Money for Jobs, Not War."
Jackson feels that the impending war goes against the words of Martin Luther King, who preached against America's military involvement in Vietnam and other wars, as well as against Malcolm X's condemnation of American imperialism and colonialism.
"Martin Luther King had many different political venues, one of which was questioning American foreign policy, especially going to war with developing nations," Jackson said. "Here we are completely disobeying international law and our own principles against colonialism and military occupation, all the stuff that belongs in the old world."
Though the demonstrators were largely peaceful, some still riled at what they viewed to be an undemocratic government response to political dissent.
Though the sheer number of protestors effectively stopped traffic, the police force made its presence known by blocking off cross streets and directing protestors to side streets farther from the protest, many of which were also blocked by the time they reached them. But sometimes the crowd just pushed through the barriers. There were relatively few arrests -- 259 -- according to the New York Times.
The police, despite their strict enforcement of the rules, were respectful of the marchers and their cause. One policeman was even said to another, "This is democracy in action," he said. "Who are we to stop it?"
Despite the title of the protest, the anti-pathetic fervor seemed more directed at President George W. Bush than at the war itself. Cheers during the march included, "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, George Bush has got to go." Signs that seemed to particularly amuse protestors made personal attacks on the president with slogans such as "Draft the Bush Twins," "Drop Bush, not Bombs," and "Empty War-head found in White House," featuring a cartoon picture of the President's head dissected to show a hollow inside.
One group of protestors made paper mach?© heads to look like President Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Diverse passions brought protestors together; while most signs protested both Bush and the war, others protested war in general. One group constructed a giant dove with a long white sheet flapping in the wind behind it, held up by passing demonstrators who offered a hand.
Signs bore slogans in Hebrew, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as English. A group of Muslim women, donning burquas and long robes, were among the protestors.
Another group of about twenty young men and women carried an oversized Palestinian flag and yelled "Free Palestine free!" repeatedly. People protested on behalf of Iraq with signs reading, "How did our oil get under Iraqi soil?"
One woman, wearing neon clothing and a smile, stood on the side of the marching protestors with a sign that read: "Smoke pot, not Iraq."
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