The New York Times recently commented that in the aftermath of
the massive anti-war demonstrations across the world on Feb. 15,
“there may still be two superpowers on the planet: the United
States and world public opinion.”
The demonstrations represented the opinions of the vast majority
of people in the world, who in poll after poll have registered
their overwhelming opposition to the potential war in Iraq. Indeed
even in our own country, despite the massive propaganda campaign
unleashed by the administration and its friends in the corporate
world, U.S. public opinion is quite skeptical of the current plans
for war in Iraq.
Such overwhelming opposition is unprecedented, particularly when
bearing in mind that the war has not even begun. Protests similar
in size and scale, such as those that took place in response to the
Vietnam War, only developed after years of war, after millions of
Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians had already been massacred and
after thousands of American soldiers had come home in body
bags.
What is perhaps even more remarkable than this wide-ranging
resistance is the Bush administration’s and its allies’
utter contempt for the resistance. President George W. Bush has
referred to the billions of people across the world who oppose his
policies as mere “focus groups.” British Prime Minister
Tony Blair has dismissed them as “appeasers.” Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., has called them “foolish.”
In addition to the name calling, the administration and its
allies have tried to assuage some of the critics, insisting that
this is not a unilateral war sponsored by oil and arms industries,
but that it is a war that is backed by a number of countries in
what has been referred to as a “coalition of the
willing.”
A cursory look at this so-called “coalition” gives
some further insight into what the administration thinks of
democracy. For instance, in Britain, Spain, Italy, Denmark and
Eastern Europe, there is strong support among the governments for
the Bush policy toward Iraq. But opposition among the people of
those countries to the Bush policy ranges from 70 percent to 90
percent. Maybe that is one of the reasons why two-thirds of those
surveyed in a global poll sponsored by the World Economic Forum say
that their countries are not “governed by the will of the
people.”
Instead of setting aside all dissent as
“anti-American,” the administration might want to try
and listen to the people here and abroad that are resisting the
Bush plan that is going to slaughter thousands of innocent Iraqis
and subject ordinary Americans to the vicious revenge that is bound
to follow. But that, of course, would mean following a basic
principle of democracy: paying attention to the will of the
people.
Considering that this is an administration that came to power by
disenfranchising thousands of blacks in Florida, I am afraid to say
that this scenario is highly unlikely.