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CounterPunch
February
15, 2003
Report from Amsterdam
"WAR: Do Not Feed!"
by WOUTER HIJINK
When I looked at the thermometer on the wall it
said 1 degree celsius, only one degree above freezing. That wasn't
toO bad in itself were it not for the chill factor of a typical
Dutch 13 knots wind. Before the march started we waited in the
cold for about 2 hours. The chill slowly works its way to the
bones. But this only added to the show of commitment of the protesters;
to have come and to stay at this place despite the cold. I just
got beack from the rally and thought it to be a good idea to
write down what I saw immediately and to post it to counterpunch.
Over the last months the site as several others have proven to
way ahead on the news than the regular channels of mass communication.
This was my change to give something back.
I couldn't tell how many people were
present, but there were a lot. However I can tell you who was
present. It would be easy to accuse the usuals suspects for showing
up, but remarkably I found many first timers around, as I was
myself. The mass was mainly young, but with this I also mean
young as in young families. I saw many children and yound parents
in the march. One child in a baby carriage held a sign saying:
"Don't make war but solve issues in a grown-up manner".
I translated it from Dutch, of course, as I will do in the remainder
of this text. However, I saw old grannies and grandpa's in the
crowd too. One even had a walking rack to aid her in getting
about. Lovely old lady, cumbersome in moving about but high spirited
in comments. Just like my own grandmother she must have in her
late 20's when the war came to our country in 1940. There was
also a remarkable number of normal folk in the march. One middle
aged guy made a perfect statement. He's tied a long flexible
stick to his back and on top he had attached a small signal flag
saying (in small letters) :"I'm scared". Why did it
stand out you may ask ? Because in Holland we all ride bicycles
and it has been very trendy the last few years to fit long flexible
sticks with signal flags to the bicycle of little kids so that
car drivers see them when they play on their bicycle among the
houses and cars. And of course the small print illustrated very
effectively that something a person is better heard when he wispers
than when he shouts. Or at least the content of the message is
then often heard instead of just the emotion that is conveyed
by just shouting.
We had several of the increasingly popular
signs saying "Mad COWboy desease" Then there was the
Loesje statement of "---WAR--- Do Not Feed" analogue
to the signs found in zoo's on the cages of dangerous animals.
Loesje is something special here in the Netherlands. It has been
around for 15 years now and what they do, and nobody really knows
who THEY are, is make one-liner posters and stick them to walls
and sorts in public places. These one-liner are most of the time
heavily reflective on political and cultural events. For 15 years
now they have management to stay away from aligning themselves
from any particular polical party and are trully independent
and open-minded. There is not a single person in the Netherlands
that doesn't have a few favourate one-liners from Loesje. A few
contemporary examples :"Would all nationalists who are ready
to die for their country and people, please perform that act
now ?" or "Remember the time when another Bush on fire
made wholely different comments ?" or "A war on Thruth
requires Wapons of Mass Deception"
Several one-liners of Loesje featured
in the march. But how about this one "WAR ! means to an
end". Or "75 % against, government pro, DEMOCRACY?"
And with this message it became clear
that the protest march isn't solely about a possible invasion
of Iraq. Beyond a doubt large numbers of protested came out today,
for the first time, to put up a fight for our cherished western
values of "democracy, justice and innocent until proven
guilty". When pressured governments cave in to war demands
and effectively suspend all of the above, than what sets us apart
from our darker past. When these ideals are only applicable to
ourselfs and our interests but not to others than what use has
our western system ? Indeed, "75 % against, government pro,
what do you mean by DEMOCRACY ?". The populus will have
been reduced to "applaud cattle" as the Dutch describtion
is literally translated. Much like the applaud cattle that was
seen at speeches made by Stalin and more recently at speeches
made to congress by the current American president. Another punch
line by Loesje :
"If money wins out over friendship"
"If money wins out over compassion"
"If money wins out over justice"
"If money wins out over human values"
"Then please rob me now !"
There is nothing more disgusting than
a bribed politician ready to squander the sincerity of his nation,
of his own people.
With this I think the relevance of the
text :"The Blair witch project 2 in UK theaters now"
will ring through.
I will look at the Dutch news broadcast
tonight to see how many did attend the Amsterdam march, luckily
we can still trust our media to give an accurate number. I'm
confident that the Dutch people did their part in the world wide
sinchronous protest. Both in numbers and in texts. I'm looking
forward to reading actual eyewitness reports from other rallies
and marches on counterpunch.
Latest estimate : 70.000 protesters in
Amsterdam, considering we're only 1/6 the size of say the UK
and have a government that still walks a fine line in the middle,
I think this a good turnout.
Wouter Hijink can
be reached at: wouterhijink@hotmail.com
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February 8
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