The March for Our Lives

By Wanusa Pereira Dos Santos

Around 600 demonstrators took part in the March for Lives on February

8th in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The demonstration took place at the

same time as the Winter Olympic Games of 2002. The protest was aimed

against the U.S. government, which had invested 3 billion dollars in the

games while they continue to reduce social spending. According to Cheri

Honkala, director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, "the march is

for our lives and the strength to overcome the invisibility of poor

people in the United States as well as in the entire world. Each day

they deny the economic human rights of millions of Americans. These are

the rights to health care, food, housing and a dignified job. The

struggle to ensure these rights must be our priority."

The March for Our Lives was an activity of the Poor People's Economic

Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC), which involves various social movements

in the U.S. at a national level and counts on the participation of

representatives of the MST/Brasil and of the Association of Rural

Communities for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES). The moment was

opportune because the Utah state assembly is trying to approve a law

that any non-violent activities of civil disobedience undertaken by

citizens, are considered terrorist acts and that the people involved are

considered lawbreakers and can be sentenced to one year in prison.

Such legislation would be a strong blow to the movement of poor people.

In the name of the fight against terrorism, the U.S. government is

taking away rights of individual and collective free expression that are

assured in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This march shows that only the people organized will be able to stop the

U.S. government from utilizing the terrorist attacks to consolidate its

power. It will be with marches, protests, and the carrying out of

organized movements that we will build a better world.

Let's globalize the struggle! Let's globalize hope!