Historic 4/20 Wash. DC Protest Draws Broad Coalition to Condemn Bush Policies

national | miscellaneous | news report Saturday April 27, 2002 13:12 by Interview by Between The Lines' Scott Harris - © 2002 Between the Lines C/O WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, Connecticut USA. betweenthelines at snet dot net © 2002 Between the Lines C/O WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, Connecticut USA.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with John Cavanagh, executive director of the Institute for Policy Studies who comments on the significance of this large multi-issue protest.

Historic April 20 Washington, D.C. Protest Draws Broad Coalition to Condemn Bush Policies

Interview by Between The Lines' Scott Harris

After the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, public opinion polls indicated that the vast majority of citizens were enthusiastic supporters of President Bush's "war on terrorism." But in the wake of continued conflict and instability in Afghanistan, an explosion of violence between Israelis and Palestinians and a White House plan to launch a new war against Iraq, a growing number of Americans are openly questioning the direction of Mr. Bush's post-Sept. 11th foreign and domestic policy agenda.

After months of planning and coalition building, tens of thousands of protesters converged on Washington, D.C., the weekend of April 20th in a powerful expression of dissatisfaction with a long list of Mr. Bush's policies. During Saturday's main march and rally, the crowd estimated to have numbered 75,000 to 100,000, called attention to a diversity of issue concerns including: U.S. acquiescence during Israel's brutal military assault on Palestinian cities; thousands of civilian casualties resulting from the American bombing of Afghanistan; expanding U.S. involvement in Colombia's decades-long civil war; the imposition of neo-liberal economic policies on developing nations by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and concern over an erosion of civil liberties here at home.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with John Cavanagh, executive director of the Institute for Policy Studies who comments on the significance of this large multi-issue protest and the common themes which connected an unusually diverse set of groups together(A RealAudio Version of this interview may be found at http://www.btlonline.org).

Contact IPS by calling (202) 234-9382 or visit their Web site at www.ips-dc.org

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