When Workers World United with Pat Buchanan

An `Antiwar' Rally With An Anti-Islamic Edge  

BY GREG ROSENBERG

WASHINGTON, D.C. - About 60 people gathered here across from the White House in Lafayette Park December 16 for what was billed as a protest against the U.S.-led NATO war drive in Bosnia. The event was marked by a decidedly pro-Belgrade flavor, with a heavy dose of anti-Islamic chauvinism.

The main groups sponsoring the rally were the International Action Center, led by members of the Workers World Party; Women Strike for Peace; Women for Mutual Security; and the National Traditionalist Caucus, a rightist outfit. The crowd was older. About a quarter of those present were born in Yugoslavia.

Rally chairperson Peter Makara said the purpose of the gathering was "to say that American troops should not die in Bosnia, and should not support Muslim fundamentalists in Bosnia." A promotional flyer for the protest, signed by the "Coalition Against Military Intervention," said that instead of introducing troops "we should go back to the UN and demand more negotiations until an agreement is reached that satisfies all the ethnic groups."

Signs planted around the stage declared: "Why arm Islamic fundamentalists in Bosnia" and "We need jobs and health care, not war in Bosnia - International Action Center."

"Victory to the Serbs! Defeat Amerikkka's fascist alliance in Eastern Europe," said another sign. This placard, identified with the Coalition Against Western Intervention in the Former Yugoslavia, depicted an equal sign between the fascist swastika and the words "U.S. & Germany & Croatia & Bosnia."

"American youth have always rushed to the defense of their country and to rescue others from aggression when there was a clear call to do so," proclaimed the chairman of the National Traditionalist Caucus (NTC), Don Rosenberg. "To send them into harm's way when there is no national strategic or security interest is criminally irresponsible."

Rosenberg, who identified himself as a supporter of the presidential campaign of Patrick Buchanan, the ultrarightist Republican contender, was accompanied by a couple of young NTC cohorts. One sported half a dozen "Buchanan for president" buttons on his bomber jacket and a hat from the National Rifle Association.

The NTC chairman declared from the stage, "the United States can't say it is neutral when it bombs the Serbs and helps the Muslims." Moreover, he said, Washington was opposing the Serbs, "who rescued American flyers during World War II." This brought one of the biggest rounds of applause. The Buchanan supporter said that Clinton was "now in alignment with militant Islam," adding that the Bosnia intervention would represent "colonization by the IMF [International Monetary Fund], World Bank, and the secret councils that govern this country."

Other speakers included representatives of the International Action Center, Women Strike for Peace, and two professors. No speaker objected to Rosenberg's strident anti- Islamic proclamations.

An International Action Center leaflet distributed at the rally stated, "The civil war in the Balkans was not started by internal divisions. It was the result of external Big Power intervention....This illegal tearing apart of Yugoslavia by the Big Powers is now used as a legal justification for attacking the Serbs who've resisted the breakup of their country."

Sean Gervasi, who teaches at universities in Paris and Belgrade, said, "The U.S. has intervened in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina to defeat the Serb population, which has lived there for 500 years."

A similar action called by the International Action Center took place in New York the day before.

 https://themilitant.com/1996/601/601_13.html