Anti-Bush crowd braves cold

2003-07-09 14:52

Cape Town - About 1 500 people braved a blustery winter's day in Cape Town on Wednesday to march to parliament in protest against US President George W Bush's visit to South Africa.

The large crowd spontaneously started a bonfire close to the main entrance of parliament, feeding the fire with posters of Bush's face on them.

Wednesday's crowd was diverse, and included black-garbed anarchists with an effigy of Bush looking like an alien, environmentalists, purda-covered Muslim women and social activists.

Some of the organisations which addressed the spirited crowd included the Islamic Unity Convention (IUC), the Pan Africanist Congress, the New Unity Movement, and the Anti-Eviction Campaign.

In a fiery speech, IUC spokesperson imam Achmat Cassiem railed against the twin evils of imperialism and capitalism as embodied by America and to a lesser extent South Africa, a uniform theme among the speakers.

"It is the duty of African people to remove the present South African government. The ballot box is not the monopoly of the ANC, and the anti-apartheid struggle is not the monopoly of the ANC," he said, exhorting the crowd to "correct issues" at the next election.

Cassiem, referring to "former comrade Mbeki" and the "capitulation" of the government for agreeing to meet with Bush, also mildly rebuked a PAC youth spokesperson for daring to say that Bush be condemned to Robben Island, saying "we don't put pigs on Robben Island".

Anti-War Coalition spokesperson Shaheed Mahomed "denounced" the South African government, saying the ANC was "siding with the side of imperialism... (by) welcoming the brutal and barbaric section" of the American administration".

Earlier a group of American students joined the march at its starting point.

A disillusioned member, 20-year old Brian from Ohio, was seen hastily walking away. He said the group was in the country as part of a peace-building coalition sponsored by the South African Community Fund.

Asked why he was leaving the rest of the group, Brian said their convictions were stronger than his.

"I came here to build peace and break down barriers caused by apartheid. I've come to learn, but this rally is not about peace," he said.

Pressed about his views on the war in Iraq and about Bush, Brian said:

"Bush did good things and bad things, I'm in the middle of the road. But I don't like to see him portrayed as Adolf Hitler," he said in allusion to a poster likening the two leaders.

The marchers delivered a memorandum at the gates of parliament.

The group later gathered in front of the US Consulate's offices, which was surrounded by razor wire, on the wind-swept Foreshore.

PAC provincial secretary Nkosinathi Mahala, speaking from an open-ended truck, told the crowd the PAC was upset that the "revolutionary" government was embracing an imperialist such as George Bush who he said was killing people in Afghanistan and other countries.

"We are angry at President Mbeki for encouraging a terrorist such as Bush," Mahala said to cheers from the crowd.

Coalition spokesperson Shaheed Mohamed said the City of Cape Town had refused them permission to stage a 48-hour picket in front of the US Consulate because of complaints from the consulate, the police and some members of the public.

A delegation was later allowed inside the consulate offices where they handed over a memorandum.

The memorandum said that on the pretext of weapons of mass destruction Bush and his cohorts had invaded Iraq and were occupying that country.

"By all civilised norms Bush and company are war criminals and they are not welcome in South Africa.

"They should be arrested," the memorandum said.

It added that US monopolies showed no respect for the lives of Iraqis nor for the lives of US soldiers.

The memorandum demanded that the Iraqis should be allowed to determine their own destiny.

The group dispersed about 14:30 after boarding specially organised buses to take them back to their destinations.

- SAPA