January 13, 2003 -- LA healthworkers facing layoffs march against Iraq War


Thousands in Los Angeles protest war vs. Iraq

By Rafael Azul World Socialist Web Site, 14 January 2003

On Saturday, 10,000 to 15,000 protesters marched through downtown Los
Angeles demanding the US government stop its war preparations against Iraq.
Demonstrators represented many social layers, including students, health
workers, immigrants and middle class suburban residents, indicating
widespread opposition to Bush's impending war.

The tightly packed protest formed a line 10 blocks long. Hundreds of
demonstrators carried homemade banners denouncing George W. Bush and
opposing a war for oil. Health workers, members of SEIU local 660 who are
facing layoffs from the elimination of health clinics, marched with signs
protesting war and demanding money for health care. Other signs demanded an
end to the detention and deportation of Middle Eastern immigrants.

The march began at the edge of Los Angeles's downtown core, an area of mixed
industrial and commercial use with many shoppers, and ended in a rally in
front of the Federal Building. As the march passed by, workers from
sweatshops in the surrounding buildings waved and cheered the protesters on,
as did many shoppers on the streets. Immigrant workers from the Middle East,
who have been singled out for persecution by the Bush administration, formed
a contingent on the demonstration denouncing the war plans and demanding
democratic rights.

The rally at the Federal Building included rock music from the 1960s and
poetry readings, interspersed with short speeches by actor Martin Sheen,
farmworkers leader Dolores Huerta, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters
and others.

Speakers at the rally represented various liberal, pacifist and religious
views-in general agreeing that the march should be the beginning of a
movement to channel popular opposition to the war to pressure Congress and
the White House to stop it. "You have the power" was a catchphrase on a
number of speakers' lips.

Demonstrations against a war in Iraq are planned for this Saturday, January
18, in San Francisco, Washington DC and other cities across the country.