On February 15, 2003, in approximately 800 cities and towns in up to sixty countries around the globe, tens of millions of people came together with common purpose, to protest against the imminent invasion of Iraq by the United States.
In London, around 2 million gathered to protest the coming invasion.
In Northern Ireland, 10,000 to 20,000 marched in Belfast.
In Scotland, between 50,000 people and 100,000.
In Ireland, 100,000 to 150,000.
In Italy, the crowd in Rome was estimated at more than 3 million and earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest protest in human history.
In France, protests took place in up to eighty cities.
In Germany, as many as 500,000 marched in Berlin.
In Spain, as many as 2 million took part.
1,000 gathered on the Island of Malta.
60,000 in Budapest, Hungary.
In Athens, Greece, 150,000 people demonstrated.
In Australia, 600,000 demonstrated in cities around the country.
In South Africa, up to 20,000 protested in Johannesburg.
In Antarctica, about 50 scientists and station personnel gathered at McMurdo Station.
...this list is merely a snapshot of events that day.
In the United States, protests took place in 150 cities. Among them, upwards of 300,000 marched in New York, 50,000 in Los Angeles, 4,000 in Colorado Springs and 50,000 in Seattle. There were elaborate costumes, drums, effigies of Bush and Cheney, and signs that read things like, A Better World Is Possible, End Worldwide Aggression, Peace Not Fear, Not In Our Names, What Would Jesus Bomb?, War Is not the Answer, Inspections Not War, Thou Shall Not Kill...
I remember an overwhelming sense of urgency, but also empowerment when my husband and I marched among 200,000 in San Francisco that day. The diversity of people coming together with common purpose was incredible -- grandmothers marched alongside children, veterans and pacifists, and everyday people of all conceivable faiths and backgrounds. I can tell you we all honestly believed on that day, this unprecedented gathering of voices could stop what history may come to know as, The Dumb War.
On March 20, 2003, Baghdad fell.
“Non-Violence is the greatest force at the disposal of Mankind. It is the supreme law. By it alone can mankind be saved.” - Mahatma Gandhi