Editorial

A Broad, New Movement is Taking Shape

Any concerns that the September 11th events threatened to end the days of mass mobilizations have been put to rest by the events of the past few weeks. Even prior to the U.S.-led assaults against Afghanistan, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in cities across Canada, as well as in Washington, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other U.S. cities to oppose the imminent war. Similar marches took place around the world.

Since the U.S.-British bombing campaign began on October 7th, hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated their opposition. On October 13th an estimated 20,000 people marched through central London to protest the bombings. In Germany, 15,000 marched in Berlin and 10,000 in Stuttgart. Tens of thousands more demonstrated in cities throughout Europe, Latin America, Canada and the United States. On October 14th, an estimated 100,000 people marched from Perugia to Assisi in Italy to oppose the war against Afghanistan.

The emergence of this broad, new movement represents the rebirth of an almost spent peace movement and its merging with the movement against neo-liberal globalization. It is a movement which combines opposition to an unjust war of aggression by a huge superpower against a small nation, with opposition to imperialist economic domination, opposition to racism and defence of civil liberties. In a sense, the events following September 11th have broken down the artificial barriers that have existed between these seemingly separate movements and have forced activists to recognize that they face a common problem and that, together, they must find common solutions.

Within this movement there is an important role for those who understand that behind this war stands capitalism, and not just any capitalism, but the most powerful, corrupt and aggressive capitalism the world has ever seen - American capitalism. Such activists have a responsibility to provide the entire movement with the coherence it is so desperately seeking, that coherence which not only explains the world of the present, but also shows the way forward.