[CivilSoc] NIS/CEE Citizens Respond to the Iraq War

[Moderator]

Following is a slightly abridged version of an essay from:
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL (Un)Civil Societies
Vol. 4, No. 5, 20 March 2003
ANTIWAR PROTESTERS LIGHT CANDLES, DRINK TEA, AND HOPE FIGHTING WILL BE OVER
SOON.
As the U.S. prepared to go to war with Iraq, antiwar protesters geared up
around the globe, finding each other on the Internet as well as the street
and using a variety of techniques to get their message across. Their efforts
constitute the first worldwide effort to oppose a major war through new
technology in "cyberspace." In New York City at the United Nations, as news
of the breakdown in diplomacy filtered out of the Security Council building,
Buddhists of different races silently walked in a prayer circle across the
street, carrying portraits of goddesses, one monk slowly ringing a bell as
onlookers snapped digital photos to upload to websites.
Moveon.org, an American group originally founded by two California software
entrepreneurs to resist the attempt to impeach President Bill Clinton, has
snowballed into an international antiwar movement in coalition with Win
Without War and other organizations. They launched a rolling candlelight
vigil Sunday around the globe, reporting 6,873 events in 141 countries,
enlisting enthusiastic if scattered participation from concerned individuals
in such cities as St. Petersburg, Saratov, and Novosibirsk, who typed their
Russian-language notices into website forms in Latin letters.
Citizens of Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Prague, and Bishkek gathered
in public squares or posted messages about the lights placed in windows or
other activities, from lectures and book readings to simply "drinking tea"
to discuss current events. In Budapest, where half-a-dozen events were
announced in Hungarian and English on moveon.org, candle-lighters were
invited for "hot tea at Edina's house" and students at the Central European
University posted a warning to other would-be demonstrators in the dormitory
courtyard that "we may have to move, but only 100 meters."
In Homel, chilled vigil-goers were told to meet "Masha to drink some tea at
the Bistro." A young man in Poland wrote: "I can't organize a public event
alone. But I want to light a peaceful candlelight in Krakow," and soon had
two others to join him. Elsewhere, peace activists hoped to get candles "in
all the windows in Lubin" and urged readers to "please put candles in the
window as a sign of solidarity with all the world." In Bratislava,
interested parties were told, "We will gather on the main square, which is
not that big, so people coming can easily find a group with candles." No
vigils were reported in Romania.
In Tbilisi, the Georgian chapter of War Resisters International protested on
Freedom Square, and a group called International Association Caucasus:
Ethnic Relations, Human Rights, Geopolitics convened other local activists
including the Greens, the Chechen-Caucasian Committee, and the Union of
National Consolidation and Restoration of Justice at Mushtaidi Park to
participate in the international candlelight action about Iraq but also to
call for peace in the war-torn Caucasus.
In Almaty, several hundred people placed candles and flowers in front of the
World Wars Memorial in Panfilov Park on 16 March. Earlier, on 28 February,
600 people of various religious backgrounds gathered at the Kazakh Concert
Music Hall with an overflow crowd of 200 for a program of songs and speeches
against the war in Iraq. In a statement released by the Visitoria Social
Fund, Kazakhstan's role in renouncing nuclear weapons was cited and a call
went out to the few people "who have the power to determine the fate of the
following weeks of the planet" with the wish that "the right words will open
the minds even of those determined for war." Kazakhstan even supplied a few
"naked women in the snow" who joined other protesters around the world who
shed their garments and lay on the ground to form letters or symbols with
their bodies.
About 1,000 people took part in a demonstration in Prague's Old Town Square
and marched to the British and U.S. embassies on 16 March, CTK reported.
More than 100 representatives of Ukrainian organizations including the
Communist Party, the Greens Party, and the Russian Bloc protested in Kyiv on
15 March against the U.S. campaign, burning American flags and calling on
the Verkhovna Rada to reject a resolution adopted by the Ukrainian
government to send an antichemical battalion to the Persian Gulf, ITAR-TASS
and Interfax reported.
Greenpeace activists managed to hang large signs reading "Veto the War" and
"Stop War" opposite the Kremlin in downtown Moscow. On the evening of 13
March, some unidentified young people threw red paint at the McDonald's
restaurant on Pushkin Square, newsru.com reported. On a building adjoining
the restaurant, the slogan "Peace in Iraq, War with McDonald's" appeared in
red paint (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 March 2003).
Robert Fico, chairman of Slovakia's Smer (Direction), on 14 March called on
Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda to explain the disposition of the
Slovak NBC [ed. note: nuclear, biological and chemical] unit deployed in
Kuwait if the UN Security Council did not approve the use of military force
against Iraq, TASR reported. Leaving the unit in the Persian Gulf, he said,
would break international and domestic law and be "an expression of the
deepest servility" toward the U.S. (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 March 2003)...
In the ''Open Letter to President Bush'' published by frontpagemagazine.com
on 17 March, Vladimir Bukovskii and Yelena Bonner, Soviet-era dissidents who
have remained critical of human rights abuses of Russian leaders, said that
military action against the rule of Saddam Hussein in Iraq is long overdue,
and that it would free the Iraqi people from brutal oppression. Rejecting
the logic of many peace marchers, they say their experience "under the
no-less evil regime of the Soviet Union has taught us that freedom is one of
a few things in this world worthy of fighting and dying for."
Yet, write the dissidents, the U.S. did not have much company and
credibility in its efforts. Citing what they felt was a muted U.S. response
to Russian atrocities in Chechnya, they ask: ''Why is the U.S. government
not as smart as its weapons are? Why does it always make it so difficult to
support it, even when it fights for a just and noble cause?" Commenting on
the "realpolitik" partnerships of the U.S., the Russians write: "After all,
was not Osama bin Laden a by-product of similar 'marriage of
convenience'.... Was it not true also in the case of Saddam Hussein...? Will
the United States ever learn this lesson, or will it continue forever to
build up new enemies while fighting present ones?"
(Compiled by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick)
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"RFE/RL (Un)Civil Societies" is prepared by Catherine Fitzpatrick on
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