BY DEIRDRE GRISWOLD
LOS ANGELES — US President George Bush flew into California on June 27 to raise millions of dollars from wealthy Republicans. He got the money, but he also got booed by thousands of protesters in Los Angeles and in Burlingame, near San Francisco.
In LA, some 10,000 angry demonstrators massed in front of the Century Plaza Hotel where Bush was milking the crowd at a campaign fund- raising dinner. On a stage flanked with Palestinian flags and banners that read "Palestine will be free", "US out Of Iraq" and "Jobs not war", the International Act Now to Stop War and Racism (ANSWER) coalition held a militant, three-hour rally punctuated by thunderous chants of "Impeach Bush" and "Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation's got to go!".
For US$2000 a plate, Bush's rich Republican buddies had the opportunity to thank their benefactor for huge tax cuts, the racist colonisation of Iraq and his war on social spending and on unions.
It's not surprising that so many turned out in Los Angeles to shame Bush. Bush can find the money for a ruthless occupation. He can find billions for a few mega-corporations to "rebuild" Iraq. He can give billions in military aid to vicious regimes in Israel, Colombia and elsewhere. But the wealthiest nation in the history of the world cannot provide for the most basic needs of its people.
Because of Bush's war on the public sector, Los Angeles can't find the money to keep hospitals open, pay its teachers decent wages or fund education. California's 2004 budget will result in hospital and clinic closures in the poorest neighbourhoods. Public school teachers are taking pay cuts and giving back part of last year's pay in order to keep their jobs. Unemployment is soaring for the general population. And in a city with an enormous immigrant population, immigrant poverty is at 23%.
Later, it took Bush an hour to land at San Francisco International Airport, be whisked to the closest hotel and shake down corporate fat cats and Republican Party loyalists for $2000 apiece. Then he was back in the air like a thief in the night.
Bush made no mention of the mounting list of US soldiers killed in Iraq, or of the national crisis in education, housing, and health and human services. This stopover was all about money.
Across the street from the hotel, the ANSWER coalition, armed with banners and a sound system, held its ground even as Secret Service agents said they would have to move down the street out of "security concerns".
As buses from San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco began to arrive, the protest grew to 2000 people, even though police had closed freeway exits and not allowed hundreds of people coming from the Millbrae BART station to cross the overpass to the site of the protest.
Chants of "Bush lied, Iraqi people and GIs die" could be heard inside where Bush was speaking.
The protest, initiated by ANSWER, was endorsed by the San Francisco and San Mateo Central Labor Councils and the California Labor Federation, plus many other groups.
In Philadelphia on July 4, 5000 people marched demanding that the US get out of Iraq and let the troops come home. They also demanded that former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on death row for 20 years despite abundant evidence of his innocence.
[From the US socialist newspaper, Workers World. John Beacham in Los Angeles and Bill Hackwell in San Francisco contributed to this article. Visit <http://www.workers.org>.]
From Green Left Weekly, July 23, 2003.
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