Anti-Gulf War D.C. Protests (1991)
Sat Jan 26, 1991
On this day in 1991, between 75,000 - 250,000 placard-wielding students, veterans, farmers, and feminists marched past the White House in protest of the Gulf War initiated by President George Bush. The march stretched over a mile long, sweeping down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Chants included “Hey, Hey, Uncle Sam, we remember Vietnam” and “No blood for oil!”. Representative Rangel (D-NY) was the only member of Congress among the speakers there, saying “We have no right to have a Clint Eastwood foreign policy”.
- Date: 1991-01-26
- Learn More: www.baltimoresun.com, libcom.org.
- Tags: #Protests.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org
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I suppose I’m no expert on this specific conflict, but wasn’t it to stop the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and ended up being an almost universally acclaimed, highly effective, brief intervention that achieved its clearly defined goals?
I wasn’t old enough to remember the politics at that time, but I do remember George W.'s invasion of Iraq in 2003, and protested in the streets. That conflict seemed to have no plan or goals besides making money for defense contractors. That conflict squandered any goodwill the US had left on the world stage. I still view it as the beginning of the end of American hegemony.
I would say for most of the coalition countries it was to defend their geopolitical and material interests in the region or those of their allies.
Btw, according to this 1991 article linked from the Wikipedia, it was also a highly propagandized war in the USA.
You’re forgetting to ask the question, why was Iraq having a beef with Kuwait. If the US’s motives were so pure why did they and the Saudis have to lie to Congress about dead babies in incubators exactly?
I highly recommend the DW documentary Iraq: Destruction of a Nation
75–250K people who have no respect for their own time. The only countries of note that opposed the Gulf War were Libya and Iraq itself. I get “war bad” but why would you waste your effort showing up to protest a war that was sanctioned by every member of the Security Council and enjoyed almost universal support in the UN itself? If an American-led coalition intervention in the Middle East is more popular among countries that hate the United States than among members of Congress, it might be time to reconsider whether or not you’re pissing into the wind.
Not only 75-250k manifested against this war that caused more that a 200.000 deaths. From the libcom link:
In several countries workers went on strike against the war, or against attacks on their working conditions resulting from the war.
In Bangladesh there was a one day general strike in September 1990 protesting against the despatch of Bangladeshi troops to the Gulf. At least 50 people were injured when police used steel- tipped batons against demonstrators. In Pakistan there was a general strike in February against the US bombing of Iraq. Palestinians in the city of Jericho held a three day strike in mourning for the 300 killed in the US attack on the Baghdad bomb shelter. Militants defied the Israeli imposed curfew to call for action through their megaphones.
In the first week of the war, more than 2 million Spanish workers stopped work for two hours demanding an end to the war and the recall of three Spanish warships. In Germany draft resisters forced to work as hospital orderlies went on strike for three days in opposition to the war, and in Italy, 100,000 workers and 30,000 students stopped work on 22 February.
Students took action in many places. In Turkey, 70% of universities were hit by anti-war boycotts in November 1990. At a school in suburban Berkley (near Detroit), 30 high school students were suspended after staging a sit-in. On 22 January there was an anti-war strike at School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Students there organised against intimidatory security measures and racism against Arab students. One Egyptian student told of how “On the tube a guy looked at me and said ‘Iraqi bastard’. And you get ‘bloody Arab’”.
Dockers and seafarers were often at the forefront of action, perhaps not surprisingly given the key role of ships in moving troops and supplies to the Gulf. The departure of French ground forces for Saudi Arabia was delayed when seafarers on a car-ferry requisitioned to carry troops demanded danger money before agreeing to sail. The ferry left Corsica after this dispute was resolved, but it was held up for another 12 hours on 21 September on the dockside at Toulon, by workers opposed to the war. In February, dockers in Marseilles refused to load containers full of military materials destined for the Gulf.
In Japan, the shipment of supplies to US troops was delayed when seafarers refused to leave port without an additional 30% on base salaries to compensate for the military nature of the voyage. Spanish seafarers stopped a passenger ship from sailing to pick up French troops and take them to the Gulf; they refused to let it sail unless its crew had volunteered and were getting increased wages for sailing into a danger zone. The Spanish government had chartered the ship as part of its support for the war.
So what? That’s irrelevant.
Yeah fuck the million and a half people that died, they definitely don’t deserve a couple hours of people’s time.
Discugusting and vile.
In what way is any figure, real or fake (like 1.5 million), relevant to the thesis of my comment?
Not excusing anyone here, but I’m curious where you got the 1.5million dead from?
Wikipedia seems to suggest that combined total losses from the (edit) first Gulf war and the uprising following to be about 500,000 casualties, from all sides, including civilians and combatants.
And to put into perspective, Saddamn killed/massacred/genocided between ~155,000 and ~480,000, many of whom were killed by the use of chemical weapons during this period. Entire villages of Kurds were genocided.
