About 1500 people filled Toronto’s streets on Saturday to take a stand against the war in Afghanistan.
The peace march, organized by the September 11 Peace Coalition, was one of many taking place across the country. Demonstrators marched from Queen’s Park to the United States consulate and then to Metro Hall.
Speaker Ali Pejwack, from the Afghan Women’s Association, spoke of the terror that is being caused to the Afghan people due to US-led attacks in the country. She debunked the myth that the Northern Alliance would have a better record towards Afghan women than the Taliban, saying “[The Northern Alliance] had its chance and it was they that gave way to the Taliban to take power.”
She also spoke cautiously of the recent successes by the Northern Alliance, explaining that history often repeats itself.
“You see people now cheering for the Northern Alliance just like they cheered for the Taliban in the beginning, because they thought that they would bring peace and stability to the region.”
Second year U of T student Sarah MacNally stated, “I think it’s essential to let the government know there’s a segment of the population that doesn’t agree with what is going on.”
Following Pejwack was McMaster economics professor and advisor to the United Nations Alf Kabessi, who discussed the links between the global economic structure and the acts that took place on September 11.
Kabessi spoke strongly against such actions in the Middle East as sanctions against Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and lambasted the Canadian government’s involvement in the Afghan attacks as well as issues of internal racial profiling.
“We are basically bashing multiculturalism in not only our own country but in the rest of the world.”
Leading member of the Steelworkers Union Carolyn Egan attacked the Canadian government’s priorities, stating, “Our government can come up with money for the war but not for healthcare,” to shouts of “Shame” by the crowd.
NDP MPP Marilyn Churley, representing the “only political party to come out against the war,” also lambasted the government’s spending, particularly in its not re-establishing an anti-racist secretariat at a time when “Muslims, Sikhs, and other Arab looking people” are being pulled off airplanes for no reason.
First year York student Rob Stockman, spoke favourably of the day’s events, stating, “For the most part it was really good, but I’m skeptical when political or religious groups twist the message at these rallies; at York, lots of protests like these are twisted so they are anti-Israel, but that was not the case today.”
