Jamaicans protest outside US Embassy
More than 200 Jamaicans and a few visitors joined millions of people around the world yesterday in protest against America’s threatened war on Iraq.
The protesters, carrying anti-war placards, stood outside the United States Embassy’s Consular section on Oxford Road in Kingston for two hours in the second such demonstration last week. The first was staged outside the National Stadium Wednesday evening before Jamaica played a friendly football match against the US national team.
“We believe that every effort should be made to arrive at a peaceful resolution of the crisis,” said Dr Moji Anderson, a member of Jamaicans Against War, the group that organised both protests.
“It (the war) will cause serious economic disruption, initially raising the cost of petroleum products, the worst effects of which will fall on the poorest people around the world,” she said.
The demonstrators included writers, university lecturers, entertainers, school teachers and students. They displayed placards, some of which read: “Jamaica against war”, “The UN between Iraq and a hard place”, “We want no war”, “Bush, Blair are super terrorists”, “Hands off Iraq”, “No blood for oil” and “Stand up for peace”.
Passing motorists honked their horns in apparent support of the protesters who sang Give Peace A Chance, a song made popular in the 1960s at the height of the Vietnam War.
Anderson told the Sunday Observer that although her group has no formal affiliation with any international anti-war organisation, it was important for Jamaica to join the protest as the country was against war.
She explained that the demonstration was the result of spontaneous coming together of people who believed that the war will promote terrorism and harm innocent people.
Like they did on Wednesday, the protesters collected more signatures yesterday for a petition which they intend to send to the United Nations through the foreign ministry.
“We are sending a clear and strong message to the powerbrokers in Washington, Rome and London that we demand that there is no war and the world does not want any bloodshed for oil,” said Michael Williams.
Although the Jamaican Government last week called for a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis, dub poet Mutabaruka yesterday said he wanted the administration to state its position on the impending war,
“Ah want de Patterson Government to declare dem han in dis situation because two men – Bush and Blair – is going to create the biggest devastation on earth since the two last world wars,” he said in an address to the demonstrators.
Third World member Ibo Cooper claimed that the US does not have positive evidence of who destroyed the World Trade Centre in September 2001.
“We are sick and tired of the foolishness of (the) US. We want no war,” Cooper said.