This article appears in the October 4, 2024 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Demonstrations in Washington and New York Demand U.S. Government Stop Its War Madness
[Print version of this article]
Sept. 29—Two demonstrations to stop the danger of nuclear war took place on Sept. 28 in the United States. “Rage Against the War Machine 2.0” was held in Washington, D.C., on the National Mall. In New York state, a “Peace and Freedom” event brought people out for a rally on the streets in downtown Kingston, in the Hudson Valley. Speakers at both demanded that the U.S. government drop its war policy, now at the point of threatening nuclear holocaust.
The danger of nuclear war was also raised by a few prominent figures among the many speakers at the Sept. 29 “Rescue the Republic” rally, also on the National Mall, which brought some 5,000 people out for a seven-hour stage event. While many, varied “issues” were addressed at this gathering—health, Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Media—the message overall was an expression of the growing outrage in the U.S. against a government which is increasingly committed to war and censoring all opposition, while at the same time impoverishing the American people.
The significance of these stateside displays of opposition to U.S. government policy and the war paradigm, is amplified by peace demonstrations in other nations. For example, in Sweden—the latest nation to join NATO—a national peace rally was held Sept. 28 in Stockholm. More stop-the-war events are set for early October in Germany and other countries.
On Oct. 26 in New York City, an international event will be co-hosted by the campaigns of Diane Sare for U.S. Senate and Jose Vega for Congress (C.D. 15 in The Bronx). Both independent LaRouche candidates spoke at the Sept. 28 Washington, D.C. demonstration.
The Washington rallies were timed to occur during the period of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) General Debate (Sept. 23-30), where representatives from 134 nations were scheduled to speak, and also to attend dozens of side meetings in New York City and Washington, D.C..
On Sept. 27, a new, world initiative, the “Friends of Peace,” was founded at an international meeting aside the UN, hosted by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, his Brazilian counterpart, Maura Vieira, and Celso Amorim, special foreign policy advisor to Brazilian President Lula da Silva. Representatives of 15 nations from the Global South attended and enlisted in the Friends of Peace effort.
The spirit of this new international initiative and that of the weekend U.S. rallies, despite many differences of policies and ideologies, is one and the same: The warfare must stop, the recourse to nuclear weapons must end, and nations must be free to economically develop.
The role of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) in furthering this growing process of a new world leadership is indispensable. Its 69th consecutive weekly online meeting was held Sept. 27. Schiller Institute founder and leader, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, initiated the IPC, which now has grown to include participation from leading individuals in some 50 nations and is steadily increasing its impact. Zepp-LaRouche participated, in China, in the Sept. 21 International Day of Peace, conferring in person with activists across the spectrum of specialties, from economics to law and culture.
The Demonstrations
On Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Washington Monument, the Rage Against the War Machine 2.0 rally drew a modest crowd of under 250, but with a strong focus. The joint sponsors, the Libertarian Party and the People’s Party, described the rally in advance as “a non-partisan event,” to which people were invited to turn out as “the anti-war left and right as we rage against the war machine together.” These same sponsors organized their first joint rally Feb. 19, 2023, at the Lincoln Memorial.
In Kingston, New York, the Occupy Peace & Freedom group held a Peace and Freedom Rally, drawing more than 600. Along with Gerald Celente, founder of the organization in 2015, the speakers were Judge Andrew Napolitano, Joe Lauria, and Scott Ritter.
On Sunday, Sept. 29, the Rescue the Republic demonstration took place in Washington, D.C., featuring a stage roster of 35 presentations, comedy acts, rock music, and statements. The sponsoring group, Rescue the Republic, traces back to predecessor initiatives over the past few years, principally “Defeat the Mandates.” Its invitation stated, “We will NOT COMPLY with tyranny! We will rescue the Republic,” and “rescuing Western values” is a top goal.
Top U.S. Elections ‘Issue’: Stop Nuclear War
Over the course of the rally weekend, numerous speakers made strong calls for a mobilization to wake up Americans about the war danger and make it the key issue of the election. Scott Ritter, a U.S. Marine veteran and former UN weapons inspector, who has made this a focus for months, addressed the audience personally at the New York rally: “We’re going to need your help all through the election.”
Speaking in Washington at the Rage Against the War Machine rally, Diane Sare, who was introduced as key to ridding the U.S. Senate of war-hawk Kirsten Gillibrand, briefed the audience on the strategic crisis, using irony to inspire people to mobilize by thinking on a higher plane. Sare said that it’s not prudent to depend on U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to be rational and keep the nuclear bombs in check.
Jose Vega, congressional candidate from The Bronx, in addition to speaking at the Sept. 28 rally, personally confronted numerous rally participants over the two days of events—on stage and off—on the need to act against the genocide by Israel, and to curb the U.S.-UK-NATO intent for nuclear war through provocation of Russia.
Col. (ret.) Douglas Macgregor, combat veteran, author, and analyst, speaking at the big Sunday rally, painted a picture of the insane massing of U.S. forces in Southwest Asia. He warned against war with Iran. Asserting that war has accomplished nothing positive, he said that the U.S. should have spent that money on infrastructure. He spoke briefly but strongly: “No more wars! Peace, not war! Prosperity, not poverty!”
Tulsi Gabbard, a U.S. Army Reserve officer, former Congresswoman from Hawaii, and former U.S. presidential candidate, said at the Sunday rally, that we are closer to nuclear war than we’ve ever been. She also said that a vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for nuclear war, given how captured her campaign has become by the military-industrial complex. She said this in the course of urging people to “stop the weaponization of government,” and instead, “put ‘We the People’ back in charge.”
Whatever the limitations of these demonstrations, the dynamic of the growing activation now present in the United States is a critical, positive shift, and surely has given the war fanatics reason to worry. Gabbard addressed this, saying that there is “optimism in the power of voices.”
