\n| <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n The anti-war movement worldwide is gaining traction as
\n a wave of protests swept through sites around the globe, many nominally
\n members of the "Coalition of the Willing" (aka the Sorearm
\n Gang). It is questionable what if any effect foreign protests will have
\n on domestic political developments, as anecdotal evidence suggests that
\n the number of Americans who actually care about what people in other
\n places think is roughly equivalent to the number who would run right
\n out and buy an authentic Davy Crockett Coonskin Hat if there was a protest
\n against them in Paris, effectively cancelling each other out.<\/p>\n Where are the massive public protests and million-man marches (with apologies
\n to the linguistic feminists, but delicious alliteration can prompt up
\n to make use of poetic licence) we saw in this country during the Vietnam
\n war? In part, the answer is that the Iraq war and occupation is only
\n recently a year old, and that massive opposition to the war in Vietnam
\n didn’t really ignite across the country until we were 5 or 6 years into
\n the thing.<\/p>\n In addition, perhaps it is that the baby boomers are older and wiser,
\n or at least more cautions, and it seems unpatriotic to be publicly protesting
\n against the war when there are American soldiers over there just trying
\n to do their jobs and get out alive. The fact that many of these young
\n Americans are the sons and daughters of baby boomers may be a factor
\n as well.<\/p>\n One interesting matter for speculation is what the effect on the election
\n would be of another major blow from the terrorists on American soil.
\n Up until recently, we had assumed that this would be playing into the
\n Republicans hands, the conventional wisdom being that when the country
\n is under attack, Americans back their leader even if they have misgivings
\n about his politics or leadership abilities. However, in light of the
\n erosion of Bush’s "war-time" image under repeated exposure
\n of his superficial smugness and the underlying ineptitude which lies
\n beneath, we are starting to think that another major attack could actually
\n help Kerry. With the right spin, he could make people feel that we AREN’T
\n any safer than we were before, and Bush’s whole approach is a sham.<\/p>\n Obviously, this isn’t the kind of real-world intervention in the political
\n process one can predict or plan for. Still, many knowledgeable observers
\n feel that this race is so close it will be decided on events in the news
\n which cannot be foreseen.<\/p>\n \nSYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Protesters
\n took to the streets worldwide on Saturday to mark the first anniversary
\n of the Iraq war, saying the U.S.-led occupation had incited more
\n terrorism and demanding the withdrawal of troops from the Mideast
\n nation.<\/p>\n Australia kicked off a wave of worldwide rallies. Protests were also
\n held in Japan — where 30,000 people turned out — South Korea, New
\n Zealand,
\n Thailand and Hong Kong. Demonstrators in the Philippines clashed with
\n riot police, but no injuries were reported.<\/p>\n ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/italllp.jpg\") In London,
\n meanwhile, two Greenpeace activists wearing helmets and harnesses scaled
\n the Big Ben clock tower at Parliament and unfurled a banner that
\n read “Time for Truth.” Greenpeace said they were protesting the war.<\/p>\n Thousands more demonstrators were expected to march through central London
\n and other European capitals later Saturday to protest the U.S. military
\n action. The anti-war umbrella group United for Peace and Justice also
\n planned protest rallies in the United States.<\/p>\n Protesters in Sydney held a 5 foot-high effigy of Prime Minister John
\n Howard in a cage, saying it represented Australian terror suspects detained
\n at
\n the U.S. military prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \n Protesters in Rome today (Saturday)<\/em><\/p>\nfrom AP via the New York Times feed<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two Spanish protesters dressed up as U.S. President George Bush and Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar attend a rally commemorating the first anniversary of the U.S.-led war in Iraq in Oviedo in Northern Spain March 20, 2004 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1443],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-esl-links"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |
![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/streetheater.jpg\")
Two Spanish protesters