GLOBAL : ENVIRONMENT Sep 28 2003 imc generale ZANZA

Reclaim the Streets Car Free Day Stalls in U.S.

The recent Car-Free Day in Canada was apparently

wide-spread, while European Mobility Week was observed

by 289 participating cities in most of Europe. In the

U.S. some driver knocked over a cyclist. Welcome to the

21st century where the richest, most autoholic nation on

Earth seems oblivious to the threats presented by the

internal combustion engine (an invention of the 19th

century, no less) while the rest of the world tries to

deal with it. But not all industrialized nations are so blind and

apathetic. Organizing for European Car Free Day/Mobility

Week 2003 involved government, NGO's, and activists. The

event was broad-reaching and seemingly effective. Though

some feel more effort needs to be made in Central and

Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic called attention to

the harmfulness of car transport in the city, as well as

supporting public transportation, bicycling, and

walking, and encouraging a more positive relationship

between city dwellers and their environment. Meanwhile,

In parts of Asia efforts are underway to foster

people-centred, equitable and sustainable

transportation. While in Bogota, Colombia Car Free Day

is celebrated in February where it briefly prohibited to

use a private vehicle in Colombia's capital. It seems

obvious many people around the world want to Reclaim the

Streets, stop new roads, and challenge the exportation

of the the auto-plague to developing nations.

Okay, so there were a few Critical Mass bike riders in

Portland, Oregon and a few other cities took their Car

Free Day actions on their anniversary. Did your city or

town have an event? Post it here.

Marchers Worldwide Demand Iraq Pullout indy generale ZANZA by AP 1:54am Mon Sep 29 '03

The protests, the first major demonstrations since

Saddam Hussein was ousted earlier this year, come as the

United States tries to gain international help in

rebuilding Iraq. LONDON - Thousands of protesters demanding an end to the

occupation of Iraq took to the streets Saturday in

London, Athens, Paris and other cities around the world,

chanting slogans against the United States and Britain.

The protests, the first major demonstrations since

Saddam Hussein was ousted earlier this year, come as the

United States tries to gain international help in

rebuilding Iraq. The demonstrations were organized in

each country by local activist groups that have informal

contacts with each other.

Demonstrators march down Piccadilly, London, September

27, 2003. Thousands marched to Trafalgar Square in a

protest against the Allied invasion of Iraq, in a

demonstration organised by the Stop the War Coalition.

London's was the biggest protest, drawing 20,000 people.

Demonstrators turned out in a dozen other countries,

including South Korea and Egypt.

"No more war. No more lies" proclaimed a banner pinned

to the pedestal of Nelson's Column in London's Trafalgar

Square, where demonstrators rallied after a march

through the city. People of all ages, from gray-haired

couples to toddlers in strollers, joined the orderly

stream of protesters marching from Hyde Park.

Some young marchers chanted, "George Bush, Uncle Sam,

Iraq will be your Vietnam!"

"I don't believe the war with Iraq was right and the

proof is we haven't found any weapons of mass

destruction," London protester Emma Loebid, 20, said. "I

think they should hand Iraq back to the Iraqis and get

the troops out."

Demonstrators, including those in London, also added the

Palestinian cause to their campaign.

Some 3,000 people marched in Paris, where a wide banner

read, "American Imperialism: Take your bloody hands off

the Middle East." Others held posters that read "Wanted:

George W. Bush — War Criminal."

In Beirut, thousands of Lebanese and Palestinian

protesters demanded that U.S. forces leave Iraq and that

Israel to stop its attacks in the Palestinian

territories.

Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, addressed the

crowd by phone from his headquarters in the West Bank

city of Ramallah.

"Together with you until victory and together until (we

liberate) Jerusalem," Arafat said, his voice blaring

over loudspeakers.

Outside the U.S. Embassy in Athens, demonstrators hurled

bottles and yogurt at riot police. About 3,000

protesters, chanting "Occupiers Out" and "Freedom for

Palestine," joined the rally.

Protests were also staged in other parts of Greece and

on island of Crete, outside an American naval base at

Souda Bay. The base supports the U.S. 6th Fleet and spy

planes.

In Spain, thousands of people carrying anti-war banners,

banging drums and wearing white smocks marched through

the streets of Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Malaga.

"Oil kills," read a banner in Madrid.

In Seoul, thousands of activists protested a U.S.

request to send South Korean troops to Iraq. Protesters

chanted "No war!" and carried banners saying "End the

occupation in Iraq" and "Oppose a plan to dispatch S.

Korean combat troops to Iraq"

Some 4,000 protesters in the Turkish capital, Ankara,

shouted slogans and unfurled banners to support the

Palestinian cause and demand an end to the U.S.-led

occupation of Iraq. Hundreds more gathered at a similar

rally in Istanbul and burned American and Israeli flags.

In downtown Cairo, about 50 political activists and

journalists staged a peaceful protest against Israeli

attacks and the U.S.-led occupation.

In Warsaw, 100 young people protested the Polish

military presence in Iraq, marching with banners saying

"Down with the global U.S terrorism" and "We don't want

to occupy with Bush."

An estimated 1,200 demonstrated in Brussels, while about

400 people marched through downtown Berlin. In

Stockholm, police said about 250 people staged a

demonstration.

Opposition to the war has always been strong in Britain.

Several large peace protests were held during the war,

though none matched a huge rally on Feb. 15, before the

conflict began, when between 750,000 and 2 million

people marched through central London.

Now, questions about Prime Minister Tony Blair's tactics

in trying to win public support before invading Iraq

have left his government struggling through its worst

crisis. The ruling Labor Party is still well ahead of

the opposition in opinion polls, but the public's faith

in the government and in Blair has eroded.

A new poll taken Sept. 11-16 and published Saturday in

The Financial Times found 50 percent of those questioned

said Blair should step aside. The newspaper did not give

the sample size or margin of error.

The London protest Saturday was timed for the eve of the

governing party's annual conference for "maximum

political impact," said Andrew Burgin, spokesman for

Stop the War Coalition, one of the rally's organizers.

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, another organizer of

Saturday's march, said a big demonstration would send a

strong message to the government that the public did not

condone what it called "lies" used to justify the war.

Twenty-year-old Liban Kahiye, also in London, said, "I

don't believe British and American troops should still

be in Iraq. Everyday you hear stories of innocent people

being killed — that's not justice."