A group of US lawmakers wrote to the Trump administration asking for more information about a potential sale of smart bombs ‒ aka precision-guided munitions ‒ to Saudi Arabia. They also expressed concern over widespread civilian casualties in Yemen. CODEPINK founder Medea Benjamin joins RT America’s Simone Del Rosario from a protest outside the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC.
SOT, Protester (French): “I came here because what is happening in the USA is also happening here in Belgium: racism, xenophobia, discrimination and sexism are arriving, and it is symbolised not only by Trump but also in Europe by Marine Le Pen and [Belgian right-wing minister] Francken, and people like that. And therefore I would like to tell you, the people who think like that, that you are not welcome here and we will fight so that your ideas don’t win here.”
SOT, Protester (French): “I am demonstrating against the politics of war, anti-feminist policies, sexism, negation of the problem of climate change, the military supremacy of the western world, the position of military policy of the US and Europe, [INAUDIBLE], it is very global situation.”
SOT, Protester (French): “Therefore, absolutely yes the summit which is taking place tomorrow, so it is the time to protest against western imperialism and we must, as left and progressive and internationalists [do what we can] to denounce it.”
Thousands march to protest Donald Trump’s arrival in Brussels
Protesters, ranging from rights activists to students, professionals and even teens, marched a 4km route on May 24, after U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Brussels. An activist camp has been in place in Brussels since 21 May, as protesters slam Trump over his so-called Muslim ban and the planned Mexican wall. Trump is in the country to meet with NATO members and EU leaders, before heading to a G7 summit in Sicily.
This 24 May 2017 Voice of America video says about itself:
This 24 May 2017 video is called Brussels protest, stop Trump.
This 23 May 2017 video says about itself:
US expats stage anti-Trump protest in Rome
United States expats staged a protest in Rome on Tuesday, demonstrating against President Trump‘s visit to the Italian capital. Report by Hettie Maylam.
After my latest blog post on the big demonstration against Donald Trump and NATO militarism, now this blog post on the last part of the march.
The many flags proceeded. On this photo flags of the Belgian ‘Hart boven hard’ (Heart above hardness) anti-austerity movement. And, on the left, the rainbow flag of the LGBTQ branch of the leftist Belgian PVDA party. Between the PVDA flags, also on the left of the photo, the Greenpeace ‘Make peace great again’ banner. Not on the photo, but present, an anarchist flag.
There was a lively group of Redfox, the PVDA young people’s organisation, with their spoof ‘Donald Trump’ on his vehicle.
And, of course, more pussyhats.
The demonstration arrived at the Brussels stock exchange building. It had been adorned with a banner with the slogan ‘Make peace great again’.
When people came closer, they could read the small print on the ‘Make peace great again’ banner. On top, five CND peace signs. At the bottom: Invest in peace. StopNATO2017.org. #Resist. Greenpeace.
As the demonstration continued, it turned out that there were not just banners on the stock exchange building. People, eg, had hung banners like this one from their homes. It said: ‘Fight Trump and his billionaire friends. They have the money. We have the people.’
Also, many people, at their windows and on their balconies, applauded and cheered for the demonstration.
The march continued. With, of course, yet more pussyhats.
The trees showed us we were almost back at where the march had begun. One more slogan: ‘Change the system to save our planet‘.
We arrived back, at the square and pond near Brussels North railway station.
After the march was finished, Belgian band Jaune Toujours made music. I did not hear or see much of them, as our bus had to go back. So, just this video.
This short music video from Brussels is called Jaune Toujours live @ Trump not welcome… 24 May 2017.
There will be more about this demonstration on this blog, especially videos.
In an earlier blog post, I mentioned that the big 24 May rally against Donald Trump and NATO militarism near the northern railway station in Brussels, Belgium, was over and the march of over 12,000 demonstrators through the city center had started, to the sound of a drum band.
Yet another sign said: ‘Invest in peace, not in war’. It was not far from a parody ‘Donald Trump’ and, again, pussyhats.
Lots of pussyhats.
People shouted slogans, like ‘1,2, 3,4, we don’t want your fucking war! 5,6, 7,8, that is why we demonstrate!’ And: ‘The people united will never be divided’, derived from a famous Chilean song.
There were people in green t-shirts of the Christian trade union federation.
A sign said: ‘War Unite to save our planet’.
And another one: ‘Pro America. Anti Trump’.
Various signs parodied Trump’s slogan ‘Make America Great Again‘. Like this big one: ‘Make the struggle great again’.
And this big Greenpeace banner: ‘Make peace great again’.
Refugees and their supporters were present as well. Slogans were shouted like ‘Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here’.
Above the demonstrators, flags like of the Dutch Socialist Party with their tomato and star pictures.
Slowly at first, because of the relatively narrow crowded street, the demonstrators, including the mock ‘Donald Trump’ on his vehicle, and the Greenpeace banner, proceeded.
So did the many flags.
There will be more on this march on this blog. Stay tuned!
There were flags of the Dutch Socialist Party. And of the leftist Workers Party of Belgium. I saw one flag of the ‘center left’ SP.a party; a sister party of British Labour, German SPD, Dutch PvdA, Greek PASOK, etc. A Workers Party of Belgium member, dressed up like a parody Donald Trump, told me that the Belgian SP.a were ‘little copies of [Dutch Blairite Eurogroup boss] Dijsselbloem‘.
There were also people in jackets of the FTGB trade union federation. And Kurdish flags as well. And flags of the Walloon green party Ecolo and the Flemish green party Groen.
The Young Friends of the Earth were present as well, with their banner.
A Dutch language Belgian speaker spoke about solidarity with people in the USA, to whom bad things happen, like the ‘Trumpcare’ health ‘reform’.
A French language Belgian speaker spoke about Trump’s anti-women policies. Which this sign criticized as well. The other sign ‘Grab ’em by the facts’ was also inspired by Trump’s misogyny; and alluded to the Trump administration’s preference for ‘alternative facts’ over facts.
Then came a woman speaker from the USA: Colonel Ann Wright. A former United States soldier, then a diplomat, now a peace activist. To loud applause, she denounced the militarism of Donald Trump and NATO.
There was a sign in her audience, saying: ‘You say NATO/I say potato/Let’s call the whole thing off’. A parody of a song by George and Ira Gershwin, from 1937: “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off“.
Another sign, in German compared NATO to a dinosaur. With a picture of a dinosaur on a tank ‘caterpillar’, firing bullets from its mouth, with the caption ‘NATO-saurus. Too much armour (or: too many tanks), not enough brains. Wanted: extinction‘.
There were people of the German left party Die Linke present as well.
A bit further were Latin American participants in the demonstration. Cubans with Cuban flags (in the center of the photo), Venezuelans, Colombians, Chileans with Chilean flags (on the left of the photo). The banners on the ground were calling for the closing of US American military bases in Colombia, and for stopping United States Trump administration interference in Venezuela.
The rally was over. The march through Brussels city center started. Stay tuned for more reports about that on this blog!
The Flemish broadcaster VRTreports that all protesters who blocked the road were detained and led away by police.
The protesters of the pacifist movement Agir pour la paix had been near the NATO building since the beginning of the afternoon. According to a spokesperson, NATO is an “unnecessary war machine”.
That video is one of various videos on that big demonstration in Brussels. There will be more videos, and photos in my blog posts to come on the Brussels demonstration.
However, before arriving there, we had to travel by bus on that 24 May.
In the bus to the anti-Trump demonstration were people from various parts of the Netherlands, from, eg, the peace movement Oorlog is geen Oplossing (war is not a solution), who have a report and photos on their blog, and the Socialist Party. There was Socialist Party MP Ms Sadet Karabulut, the daughter of Kurdish Turkish immigrant workers. There was a refugee from Somalia, now chairman of the Deventer branch of the Socialist Party. He said this demonstration was important, as wars don’t bring solutions. Eg, in his native Somalia, where the United States armed forces invaded in 1993, proclaiming good intentions; but the results were a chain reaction of bloodbaths in Somalia. He said Bernie Sanders should have won the presidential elections in the USA.
There was a member of the Socialist Party’s young people’s organisation from Zeist town. There was a Socialist Party man from Oldeberkoop village in Friesland province. And two women from Sneek town, also in Friesland. There was someone with a T shirt, saying ‘Stop arming Saudi Arabia‘.
The bus crossed the Lek river bridge. At 12:35, it crossed the Maas river bridge.
We made a a woolly colourful ‘spider’s web‘ across the access road to the base, blocking the gate.
This photo shows the woolly spider’s web, with a sign saying ‘Make peace! No war!’, and banners saying ‘Take these nuclear weapons away’ and ‘War is no solution’.
Police was present, but did not arrest anyone.
We also hung the banner saying ‘Take these nuclear weapons away’ and other pro-peace banners on the base’s fences.
A women with a Trump face mask on held a spoof ‘Trump‘ speech.
Our bus rode on. Near Eindhoven city there was graffiti about local football club PSV on viaducts. Near Antwerp in Belgium was graffiti depicting ladybugs on viaducts. And also a big traffic jam.
Finally south of Antwerp, we passed Breendonk, during World War II a nazi concentration camp.
We arrived at Brussel Noord railway station, where the demonstration would start. Stay tuned!
BRUSSELS — Omer Mommerts grasped his wife’s hand as he marched down a sidewalk. A sticker reading “Trump Not Welcome” was neatly pinned to his black overcoat. Though Mommerts is 84-years-old and hard of hearing, he wasn’t going to miss the “Trump Not Welcome” protest in Brussels on Wednesday.
“I see young people and that’s why I’m happy,” he said. “It’s not one generation or one group. It’s inter-generational, inter-cultural. All kinds of people.”
I myself was at this big demonstration; and will have a blog post with my own report as soon as the many photos will be sorted out.
Mommerts and around 9,000 others — according to police estimates — gathered to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s arrival in Brussels where he is scheduled to attend the NATO Summit Thursday as part of his nine-day international tour.
Eggermont said she wanted to show Trump that his political ideas are not welcome in Belgium — and she wanted to send a message to her country’s leaders not to follow the president’s lead.
“We’re protesting — not against him as a person, but … a certain political ideology,” said Eggermont. “It’s against militarism, against sexism, racism, discrimination.”
Sigrid Dufraimont, a 33-year-old Belgian native, took a train from Ghent to participate in the protest.
The protest began at 5 p.m. outside the Brussels-North railway station. Various activists spoke from a stage set up near the train station.
After an hour of speeches and performances, the protesters began a march through the city. Some carried rainbow flags, some held anti-NATO signs, and others wore the pink “pussyhats” popularized during the Women’s March.
“I’m proud to be here with so many people,” 21-year-old Lauren Van Rouwendaal said.
Despite his dislike of Trump, Mommerts, a Belgian native, said he felt optimistic about the future. The 84-year-old was delighted by the demonstration’s turnout and the show of solidarity.
“I can be hopeful if there is a struggle,” he said. “Without struggle, there is no hope.”
Dear Kitty. Some blog 