Saturday, March 20, 2004

Marcha por La Paz (March for Peace)

Today I participated in a demonstration against the war and supporting peace (along with many other people all around the world). There was probably about 5000-6000 people of all ages- from a few months old to people who needed canes to walk. It has been a year since war was declared, and from the Chilean point of view- "Bush es fascista, es el terrorista" (Bush is a fascist and he is the terrorist). I have been here in Santiago for almost two months now, and almost every Chilean I know agrees with this. I have talked to a lot of people and only one (yes, ONE) person has agreed with the attack on Iraq.

So the march was peaceful, the press was there, along with many parties. What surprised me was the Palestinian prescence. Aparently, Chile has the largest Palestinian population outside of Palestine- about 300,000. There were many chants comparing Bush to Ariel Sharon, alleging responsibility for many deaths and war crimes.

Outside of the United States, there is an obvious strong movement against the "imperialist north" and it is very interesting to be able to see news from all around the world, especially from Spain after the recent bombings and elections. The news is broadcasted directly from Spain and I am receiving everything from primary sources, rather than the US press which has to translate. Even more interesting was the interview that I watched with Fidel Castro (which would never even be on US television) in which he spoke on the imperialist US (of course) and about how Aznar has misled his people.

Right now, I am watching the news clips of all the demonstrations for peace that took place all over the world today- in Seoul, Rome, Tokyo, Sydney, San Francisco, but I didn´t see me in Santiago....darn.

posted by Rebecca @ 3/20/2004 01:19:00 PM