Protesters mark third anniversary of Iraq war

Bruce Harpham
The Varsity (University of Toronto)

TORONTO (CUP) — Hundreds of protesters assembled near the American consulate in Toronto on Saturday to condemn military action all over the world. Though ostensibly held to mark the third anniversary of the March 20, 2003 invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and Britain, the protestors addressed a variety of world issues, including Canadian involvement in armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Haiti.

The protestors’ global concerns were epitomized by their repeated chants of “From Iraq to Palestine, occupation is a crime.” At the pre-rally for the student contingent of the protest, held at Dundas Square, an Arab Students’ Collective representative condemned what the group sees as oppression of the people of Palestine. Other speakers talked about Canada’s participation in a coup d’état in Haiti in 2004.

The variety of issues energizing the protesters was considerable: some distributed leftist newspapers, while others carried large Palestinian flags. Most had placards made by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War. The only student group in the march to explicitly identify itself was the Ryerson Student Union, whose members carried a banner.

Canadian military involvement in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan was at the top of the agenda. Some of the protesters focused on the death of Nasrat Ali Hassan, an Afghani who was shot and killed in a taxi this week by Canadian troops.

“It takes more courage to leave a war than fight one,” said sergeant Patrick Hart, a former U.S. sergeant attending the protest who fled to Canada last August rather than be sent back to Iraq. “My enemy is not foreign, it’s domestic,” continued Hart, referring to the U.S. Army oath to protect America from “all enemies foreign and domestic.”

“We can’t slide into George Bush’s wars,” said Toronto NDP MP Peggy Nash in a speech. “We should be declaring war on poverty, not Afghanistan.” The theme that military spending was detracting from more important domestic issues was reinforced by student’s placards which proclaimed, “Books not bombs” and “Healthcare not warfare!”

“I’m against this war of aggression against Muslim countries,” said Ismail Norman, a retired university professor who attended the rally. “I’m also here to support the U.S. war resisters who are trying to stay in Canada.”

Despite the multitude of speeches and placards, the protest was noticeably quiet, attended by only a few hundred people. The roughly 60 police officers present on University Avenue stood at attention throughout the protest, but the demonstration was without incident.