We Are Many Page #5

is so disgusting, so bloody lousy.

It's a war for oil.

I don't think it was

until 15th February 2003,

that we really understood

the enormity of the divide

that existed within the country.

And we came to a halt in Whitehall,

and as it happened,

my family and I were dead opposite

the entrance to Downing Street.

And...

a noise went up

that I've never heard before or since.

A kind of visceral, feral grumble,

roar, rising sound.

I remember coming up to Piccadilly Circus,

and there was this just incredible howl

of, I don't know...

Joy, really, as the two demonstrations

came together.

I always feel like this

when, all of a sudden...

millions of ordinary people,

who are told they can't do this,

suddenly do it.

Everybody in the world has a chance today

to say no, absolutely no to war on Iraq.

And there was this real desire.

"Come on, Tony Blair, listen."

"You have to listen.

You can't ignore this many people."

Blair went up to Scotland

to speak at the Scottish

Labour Party Conference.

His speech is greeted with stony silence,

something that never ever happens.

As you watch your TV pictures

of the march, just ponder this.

If there are 500,000 on that march,

that is still less than the number of people

whose deaths Saddam has been responsible for.

If there are one million...

that is still less than the number of people

that died in the wars that he started.

We are starting something really big,

and our first task is peace in Iraq.

Ridding the world of Saddam

would be an act of humanity.

It is leaving him there that is inhumane.

But we must not stop

until we have achieved the objectives

that bring us all to Hyde Park

this afternoon.

We had a counter at the background

of the stage,

and I remember asking

"Can I make that announcement?"

"Can I please make that announcement?"

We had those who thought

we could never, never pull it together,

and we have one and a half million

people marching in London today!

Then, minute by minute,

the phone calls, the feedback,

getting a call from Egypt,

people watching on Egyptian TV

saying, "What is this? What have you done?"

"This is absolutely miraculous.

How have you done this?"

Everyone was in a state of shock

to find, like, one million Brits

who were willing to take to the streets

to protest against the war.

Everyone was shocked that, you know,

there are three million

in the streets of Madrid.

I mean, everybody was shocked.

We were jealous that this

was happening in the West

and not happening in the Arab world.

Millions of Egyptians and Arabs and Muslims

can watch on the TV screens

those white, whisky-drinking infidels

taking to the streets on their behalf,

while in their own countries, you know,

you cannot mobilize on that scale.

The issue was, if they're doing that there,

we should do at least as much here.

In Egypt it was one

of my most depressing days.

We had tiny turnout

for these calls of protest.

On 15th February, we did

actually organize something small.

And, of course,

we had the huge military police

slash military mobilization of the time.

But we knew it's going to happen

because of the international mobilization.

It was very frustrating.

I give so much credit to the activists here

who didn't give up on the Egyptian people,

because I think I might have given up

on the Egyptian people.

That day, 15th February 2003,

gave us a real mobilization power

to get the message across

that whenever the US and the UK

would start their war against Iraq...

we should be on the streets opposing that.

And then, finally, it came to New York.

# This land is your land

# This land is my land

I heard the noise from the outside.

Being out in the street early on

and as the day was going on,

just watching what had to be

tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands.

It just... People kept coming.

# To the Gulf Stream waters

# I tell ya

I needed some milk and some vegetables,

and I went out, and I realized

what the demonstration was about.

One, two, three, four!

# As I went walking

Five, six, seven, eight!

# Down that...

I felt compelled to fly out on a weekend

while I was on active duty

to attend this protest in New York City

on February 15th 2003.

I do remember getting off the subway

and seeing Grand Central Station

and just seeing the people

that were in there,

and it was overwhelming.

I went outside the doors,

and I just remember seeing

just so many people.

Just people for blocks and blocks

and blocks and blocks.

Who knows where they were to?

And you could almost...

If you could look to 125th,

they may have been as far as 125th.

I'm getting chills right now

just talking about it. Uh...

# They tried to stop me

# They put up a sign that said

# Oh, it said "private property"

I felt touched by it.

I felt this is part of

the political drama that is played out.

- Whose street?

- Our street!

I also had some little fear that maybe

someone would identify me

and hoist me up on a truck

as a mascot or something.

But no one did that.

Streets and parks and cities

across the US and the world

were filled with demonstrators today

protesting a possible

US-Ied war against Iraq.

All told, anti-war demonstrations took place

in at least 150 American cities

from coast to coast.

We were attempting something

on this day that was historic.

There was no way to not take notice.

Surely President Bush must be watching,

and surely Tony Blair must be watching.

You know, the size of a protest,

it's like deciding,

well, I'm gonna decide policy

based upon a focus group.

They can't hold us back!

Bush, you can't hold us back!

You can't hold the people!

You can't keep the people down!

# And this land

# Was made for you and me

The people will be heard!

There will not be a war against Iraq!

There was unbelievable sense

that maybe this could make a difference.

Maybe, for the first time in history,

we could actually stop the bad guys, right,

from doing something horrendous.

People are saying no to war!

And we stand in solidarity,

all the people of the world

who are marching at this very moment.

I remember Harry Belafonte and his

long-time great friend Danny Glover,

the great activist actor,

who said "We stand here

on this threshold of history,

and we say to the world..."

Not in our names, not in our names.

"Not in our name."

And I remember the crowd picked it up,

and it was echoing.

And I remember thinking,

I will never again...

have an opportunity like this,

to be present at a moment

that is changing the world.

And all a sudden I felt elated,

and I felt, "Of course we can stop the war,

because we are so many people,

and there's no leader

in any country in the world

that could go ahead with a war when

they see a global movement saying no."

- What do we want?

- Peace!

- When do we want it?

- Now!

Let you remember

and let your children remember

that on February 15th you were here,

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