Oct. 15 — Canada out of Afghanistan!
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TORONTO—Despite high winds and cold showers, scores of antiwar activists took to the streets on Saturday, Oct. 15, to demand an end to the 10-year-long war of occupation in Afghanistan. A coalition of 11 organizations united behind the slogan “Canada Out of Afghanistan Now!”
The protest began with a rally of about 70 people at the corner of Yonge Street and Dundas at 1 p.m. Earlier, Dundas Square “security” personnel and Toronto police tried to shoo away the first arriv als, but organizers stood their ground, distributed event flyers, and provided a platform for representatives of the spon soring groups.
Magdalena Diaz chaired the rally, and introduced the speakers, who included: Nicolas Lopez of Barrio Nuevo; Azeem of the Canada South Asian Solidarity As sociation; Tom Reid of the International Bolshevik Tendency; Steve Da Silva of the International League of People’s Struggle-Canada; Elizabeth Byce for the NDP Socialist Caucus; Ming and Chanda for the Proletarian Revolutionary Action Committee; Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action socialiste Federal Secretary Barry Weisleder; and Joe Lombardo, co-chair of the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) in the United States.
Participants then took to the street, travelling down a car traffic lane southbound on Yonge Street until police di rected the parade onto the sidewalk. By the time the march reached King Street, and proceeded eastward to St. James Park, where over 2000 people gathered for the Occupy Toronto encampment, over 150 people had joined the antiwar action. Chants of “Money for Jobs, Not for War,” “Money for Schools, Not for War,” along with the main slogan, echoed through the down town intersections. In the park, hundreds welcomed the marchers and joined an impromptu speak-out featuring antiwar coalition leaders.
The Oct. 15 antiwar protest was a some what bold, and certainly worthwhile ini tiative. It was undertaken by the spon soring organizations chiefly because the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War and the Canadian Peace Alliance declined to do so, despite being asked repeatedly over a five-week period.
It is no mean feat for a range of ideo logically and ethnically diverse bodies to cooperate openly and respectfully, and to carry out a modest but successful action (Left) UNAC Co-chair Joe Lombardo addresses Oct. 15 antiwar rally in Toronto.