The peaceful superpower: The movement against war in Iraq

Abstract

On February 15, 2003 in hundreds of cities across the world an estimated 10 million people demonstrated against the looming U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. It was the largest single day of antiwar protest in human history. More than a million people jammed Hyde Park and the center of London in the largest demonstration ever held in that city. More than a million marched in Rome, and huge throngs paraded in Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Sydney, and dozens of other cities. An estimated 400,000 braved bitter cold in New York, and tens of thousands demonstrated in San Francisco.1 The people of the globe spoke out as never before in one unified voice against the planned attack against Iraq. “The world says no to war," was the slogan and the reality.