To hear it from organizers of the recent protests against Israel’s offensives against Lebanon and Gaza, there is a familiar feeling in the air. Brian Becker, the national coordinator for the ANSWER Coalition, an antiwar umbrella group, has observed it while leafleting in the street. Leaders of Arab-American organizations such as the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) say it is reflected in the number of phone calls their offices have been receiving of late.
“It’s like the way things were right before the Iraq war,” Becker says. “Before the Iraq war we had huge support, and now we’re getting a similar response at the grassroots level.”
The upcoming nationwide protests against the Lebanon invasion this coming Saturday in D.C., L.A., and S.F. may be sizable and will certainly be noisy and angry. As well they should be. Nether World comments on the militancy of the London march this last Saturday, and I’ve noticed the same at the street corner demos we’ve had at the Israeli consultate. There’s a new edge to these protests. People are pissed off, and are coming together to stop the US/ Israeli war machine. We can do it. We must do it. Before the neocons invade Syria and Iran and create a conflagration in the entire Middle East.