|
The February 15, 2003 anti-war protest was a coordinated day of protests across the world in which people in more than 600 cities expressed opposition to the imminent Iraq War.〔Verhulst, Joris (2010): February 15, 2003: The World Says No to War. In: Stefaan Walgrave & Dieter Rucht (Eds.): The world says no to war: Demonstrations against the War on Iraq. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press, pp. 1–19. p.1〕 It was part of a series of protests and political events that had begun in 2002 and continued as the war took place. Social movement researchers have described the 15 February protest as "the largest protest event in human history."〔Walgrave, Stefaan & Rucht, Dieter (2010): Introduction. In: Stefaan Walgrave & Dieter Rucht (Eds.): The world says no to war: Demonstrations against the War on Iraq. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press, pp. xiii–xxvi. p. xiii〕 Sources vary in their estimations of the number of participants involved. According to BBC News, between six and eleven million people took part in protests in up to sixty countries over the weekend of the 15th and 16th; other estimates range from eight million to thirty million.〔 Some of the largest protests took place in Europe. The protest in Rome involved around three million people, and is listed in the 2004 ''Guinness Book of World Records'' as the largest anti-war rally in history.〔 (Largest anti-war rally ), Guinness Book of world records, 2004〕 Madrid hosted the second largest rally with more than 1½ million people protesting the invasion of Iraq; Mainland China was the only major region not to see any protests on that day, but small demonstrations, attended mainly by foreign students, were seen later.〔() China Daily report on 31st of March protests〕 ==Background== In 2002, the United States government began to argue for the necessity of invading Iraq. This formally began with a speech by U.S President George W. Bush to the United Nations General Assembly on September 12, 2002 which argued that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein was violating UN resolutions, primarily on weapons of mass destruction, and that this necessitated invasion.〔(President Bush's address to the United Nations ), CNN, September 12, 2002〕 The proposed war was controversial with many people questioning the motives of the U.S. government and its rationale.〔(), Robert Fisk, January 18, 2003, ''The Independent''〕 One poll which covered 41 countries claimed that less than 10% would support an invasion of Iraq without UN sanction and that half would not support an invasion under any circumstances.〔(Iraq Poll 2003 ), Gallup international〕 Anti-war groups worldwide organised public protests. According to the French academic Dominique Reynié between the January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 anti-war protests, the demonstrations on February 15, 2003 being the largest and most prolific.〔(Anti-war protests do make a difference ) , Alex Callinicos, ''Socialist Worker'', March 19, 2005.〕 The invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「February 15, 2003 anti-war protest」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|