|
Largest Pro-Palestinian Rally in U.S. History Tells Washington, "We Are All Palestinians!"
 |
|
Up
to 75,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators march through the
streets of Washington.
|
By
Ayesha Ahmad, Neveen A. Salem, IOL Washington correspondents
WASHINGTON,
April 21 (IslamOnline) - Over 75,000 pro-Palestinian protestors
converged on Washington D.C. Saturday, April 20, in what is being
reported as "the largest pro-Palestinian rally in U.S.
history." In addition to the protestors in Washington, another
30,000 protesters also held a simultaneous rally in San Francisco,
California.
The
multitude of Palestinian supporters came from all over the U.S., and
included some from other countries, to show their solidarity with the
diverse crowd of Americans who poured onto the streets of the nation's
capital for the long-anticipated rallies.
It
was originally meant to be a gathering of anti-war protestors, but
organizations came together and numbers swelled continually until no
less than four rallies, comprised of tens of thousands of people, took
to the streets Saturday in what organizers and media has said was the
largest pro-Palestinian rally in American history.
One
of the largest rallies began in the morning at the National Ellipse,
the oval-shaped lawn in front of the White House, where the crowd grew
to nearly 50,000 according to organizers; they then marched en masse
at 1:15pm past the White House and to the Department of Justice before
finally ending at the National Mall in front of the Capitol Building.
The National Mall was filled as far back as the Washington monument.
The
Ellipse rally was organized by International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop
War and End Racism), a coalition of hundreds of groups formed in the
days after September 11 to mobilize against the war efforts of the
administration of President George W. Bush. But ANSWER's planned rally
for April 20 shifted its focus to the Palestinian cause after the
recent invasions by the Israeli army into Palestinian towns and
refugee camps, resulting in destruction that the U.N. has called
"horrifying beyond belief."
 |
|
Demonstrators
marching to Capitol Hill to the fourth rally.
|
"The
media in the U.S. has been trying to twist the truth… to hide the
images," a Palestinian woman told the growing crowd early on in
the rally. "But we have seen some of these images… we saw
bodies of murdered civilians in the streets."
The
central theme of ANSWER's rally, however, echoed resoundingly
throughout nearly every speaker's remarks: "We are all
Palestinians!"
Sara
Flounders, co-director of the New York-based International Action
Center, told the audience that, "Palestine represents the
aspirations of the whole world. We are all Palestinians."
Flounders,
who has been active in protesting U.S. policies in Iraq, told the
thronging crowd that the whole world was rising up in support of
oppressed people in Palestine.
"With
all their weapons, the United States and Israel stand alone," she
said. "A great anger is rising against them all over the world…
a roar, you can hear it: Free, Free Palestine!"
Speaking
for the national Muslim Student Association, Washington student Tarek
Elgawhary began by saying, " I don't know about you, but today
I'm feeling Palestinian."
Shaker
El-Sayed, of the Muslim American Society, first declared that
"Allah is greater" than the U.S., Israel and the White
House. "I want to say to Mr. Bush that the Palestinian children
are martyrs, not murderers!" he cried.
But
in line with the show of solidarity the rally was proclaiming, he
said, "To the men and women on the front lines in Palestine, we
say - we are all with you, all the way!"
The
Reverend Graylan Hagler of Washington's Plymouth Congregational Church
told the audience that "We're not only Arabs and Muslims here -
but we're Christians like myself."
"We
are people from all over the world," he said, but "one thing
we have in common is that this day, we are all Palestinians!"
A
speaker representing the people of Vieques, an island of about 9,000
people where the U.S. Navy has been conducting bombing exercises for
years, described his people as "martyr cousins of the Palestinian
struggle."
And
another speaker, representing the struggles of Chiapas, Mexico, echoed
the same cry as others, adding a note in her own language to truly
internationalize the Palestinian cause.
 |
|
Demonstrators
gather on the lawn in front of the U.S. Capitol building
housing the U.S. Congress. |
"Today,
we are all Palestinians!" she said. "Viva Palestina libre!"
Other
speakers took time to urge people to action, stressing the importance
of uniting different groups and globalizing the peace movement.
Carl
Messineo, with ANSWER, said that unifying the people was vital in
supporting the cause. "When government abandon the law, the only
thing the people can do is gather together" like this, he said.
A
representative from the Al-Awda Palestine Right of Return coalition,
Amer Jubran, told the demonstrators that, "I came here today to
bring the Intifada to the steps of the White House. Globalize the
Intifada!"
The
religious and ethnic diversity of the crowd truly came to light when a
contingent of orthodox Jewish rabbis from New York, belonging to the
Neturei Karta group, stood on the stage to express their solidarity
with demonstrators, putting their arms around a Muslim imam. Reverend
Hagler posed a challenge to anyone who would claim that the three
religions could never be at peace with each other.
"Mr.
Bush, look out your window," said program moderator Mahdi Bray,
who serves as the political advisor for the Muslim Public Affairs
Council (MPAC). "This is America! We are America, and we're not
going anywhere."
“We
are not ashamed of who we are,” Bray said, “We are ashamed of what
is being done in our name.”
The
rabbis, who had their statement read out loud by a union worker
because religious beliefs dictate that they cannot utilize an
electrical microphone on the Sabbath, asked the people, "do not
judge our faith and our people on this passing lunacy that is
Zionism."
Another
speaker, Pakistani playwright and author Tariq Ali, brought
"greetings from Britain" to the American crowd, and told the
people to be very clear on their demands from the U.S. government.
"We
are not going to be satisfied until there is a free, independent and
sovereign Palestine," he said to thunderous cheers. "That's
the message that we have to send people."
And
people took that message into the streets as they marched up
Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol, picking up marchers from
other rallies - including one that began in front of the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters - while chanting
pro-Palestinian slogans. Muslim, Christian, Jewish, black, white,
Asian, Native American, Arab all marched united in solidarity with the
Palestinian people.
Nasrin
Kellerman, an Afghan woman visiting Washington from Germany, told
IslamOnline, "I'm not Arab, I'm not Palestinian, but the issue
still matters to me."
Kellerman
worried about the bias in mainstream media, but said that anyway,
"I think it's very helpful… I hope it helps."
Another
protestor, Annie Klein, a student from the University of California at
Berkeley, also worried that the media bias would distort the portrayal
of the protests, but said it would definitely help.
"I
don't know how the media will portray it," she said, but
"anytime when you're able to get that many people together,
people will want to look into the issue themselves and educate
themselves.
"To
me the change will come about slowly in that way, by people becoming
more educated about the issue and then being able to make decisions
for themselves."
Klein,
who was one of 79 Berkeley students arrested last week when they
occupied a campus building in protest of Israeli policies,
participated in a march organized by the Committee in Solidarity with
the Palestinian People (CISPP) which began at the Washington Hilton
and then joined the ANSWER and other marches at the Capitol grounds.
"Overall
it was a very peaceful and high spirited crowd of people," she
told IslamOnline. "I think it was very moving and inspiring to
see that many people come out and speak against Israel's occupation
and also just against the war and racism and all that."
A
Pakistani woman who came with her entire family to show her support
for the Palestinians told IslamOnline that, "from now on when
people ask me what [nationality] I am, I am not going to tell them I
am Pakistani. I am going to tell them I am Palestinian, a Chechen, a
Kashmiri and of any other ethnicity suffering under injustice. Today,
we are all Palestinians."
At
the Capitol grounds, the fourth rallying group, United We March for
Peace and Justice, organized the program. Another round of speakers
addressed the united marchers there, beginning with Georgia
congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, a champion of many Muslim and Arab
concerns in Congress.
McKinney
also spoke to the immense diversity of the demonstrators. "Here
today are representatives of all sections of society… with one thing
in common, a desire to see the restoration of the true ideals of
America."
The
rally on Capitol Hill also brought together speakers from all walks of
life bringing the message of the Palestinians to the Bush
Administration. Speakers included everyone from writers and activists
to Palestinian refugee camp survivors.
Famed
feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi spoke of the injustice of
discrimination and oppression based on religious beliefs while Fadia
Rafidi, a valedictorian from the University of California at Berkley -
famous for her speech slamming fellow graduation speaker former U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for her policies on Iraq -
expressed gratefulness on behalf of the Palestinian people for their
American supporters.
"We,
the Palestinians, salute you from the graves of Sabra and Shatilla and
from the concentration camps masquerading as Israeli prisons,"
she exclaimed to the crowd.
She
told the crowd that the Palestinians know that the oppression imposed
on them by Israel can only be stopped by the American people who speak
out to their elected officials and force them to stop sending
"U.S. blood money that murders and cripples Palestinian
children" to Israel.
"We
have never been more defiant than we are today, and we have never been
more united. We would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.
The flames of resistance will flame [for] generation after generation
until total liberation," Rafidi chanted in Arabic and English as
the swollen crowd chanted after her.
Two
children from the Deheisha refugee camp near Bethlehem relayed in
Arabic their stories of living through Israeli aggressions and thanked
their supporters for coming out to help end the atrocities.
The
rally continued well into the late day and many protestors took the
opportunity to bring to light other injustices being inflicted on
Muslims, including the sanctions and impending war on Iraq.
At least three more pro-Palestinian rallies and
events are scheduled to be held over the next two days; including a
lobby day that will see hundreds of Muslims and Arabs lobbying at
least 70 Congressional representatives in regards to U.S. foreign
policy in regards to the Occupied Territories.
|
