THE WORLD SAYS NO TO BUSH

By Terrie Albano
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The Bush administration told the world "you are either with us or against us" in the "war on terrorism." The response, by regular people and leaders from around the globe, has been resoundingly negative.

In the wake of Sept. 11, Gallup International conducted polls in 37 countries, and found that the majority of people in 34 of them preferred bringing terrorist suspects to trial rather than a U.S. military reprisal. The three exceptions were the U.S., Israel and India.

Gallup found clear majorities against U.S. military action throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. On Nov. 18, 100,000 people marched in London to protest the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan and Britain's participation in the attacks.

On Dec. 19, 2001, a Pew Research Center poll of opinion leaders from 24 countries found the overwhelming majority were "angry" about U.S. foreign policy because it "contributed to the growing gap between rich and poor, and the growing power of U.S. multinational corporations."

More recently, the U.S. supported Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people have met widespread and vocal opposition. Solidarity actions, boycotts, sit-ins, teach-ins, concerts and sending humanitarian aid to Palestine have become a part of every day life around the world.

There were dozens of marches in Europe protesting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. The largest took place in Rome, where the march started with 20,000 protesters and grew to around 50,000 by the end.

From India to South Africa to Indonesia, thousands took to the streets in protest. Pro-Palestinian marches were also organized in São Paulo, Managua, San Juan and Santiago.

Anger at the U.S. and Israeli policies was strongest in the Arab world. In Jordan, six cabinet ministers joined the demonstration of 80,000 organized by unions and opposition parties. On April 1, an estimated 20,000 marched at Cairo University in Egypt, where protests are generally banned. More than a million demonstrated in Morocco.

In Tel Aviv, more than 60,000 Jews and Arabs marched together on May 11, demanding that the Israeli government withdraw from the occupied territories and immediately resume peace talks.
On April 20, some 70,000 gathered in Washington, D.C. and 20,000 more in San Francisco to condemn the U.S. "war on terrorism" and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
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Terrie Albano is the associate editor of People's Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo (www.pww.org).