2003 San Francisco Anti-Iraq War Protests

The buildup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq saw massive worldwide protests. February 15th, 2003 was the largest coordinated world-wide day of protest ever seen. The San Francisco Bay Area was one of many locations that took part in this and other actions against the war.

In October 2002 around 50,000 people took part in a rally and march through downtown San Francisco expressing their opposition to the war. At that time the Al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001 were still fresh in the public minds and few anti-war voices to be heard anywhere in the media. Instead, there was a uniform chorus of patriotism, nationalism and pro-war propaganda. The media and government were attempting to link Iraq to the attacks of September 11th, though there were no such links.

By January 2003 another large march was organized, this time over 150,000 people marched. This was followed by a smaller breakaway march were several thousand protesters vandalized institutions of war and capital, such as military recruiting centers and banks. In February another mass march took place, with 200,000 participants and another breakaway march with thousands of black bloc activists taking over the streets.

During this period a wide range of activists formed a coalition to oppose the war. Under the name Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW), they held regular meetings planning a reaction if the invasion of Iraq took place. Organized along the lines of a general assembly, where different affinity groups sent representatives, DASW decided upon a strategy of diversity of tactics. Affinity groups would create actions as militant or as tame as they were comfortable with, and each group would respect the level of actions of the other groups. This diversity of tactics was largely influenced by the anti neoliberalism protests which were taking place in the early 2000s. Along with this was the idea of having actions decentralized and throughout the financial district of San Francisco. Rather than holding a single rally or march, participants would scatter through the city and create simultaneous actions in many different locations. Maps of suggested locations were created.

The invasion of Iraq began on the evening of the 19th of March. Thousands of people were marching through the streets that evening in anticipation, and when the morning of the 20th came, downtown San Francisco shutdown. Diverse protests took place throughout the financial center. Each location had a different level of militancy. Some locations were nothing more than people holding signs. Others had people chaining themselves to doors and barricading entrances to institutions which promote war. Bankers, lawyers, federal employees, stock brokers and the like were prevented from getting to work. Thousands were arrested. The actions were decentralized and autonomous. These protests were an example of how public sentiment in the anti-war Bay Area differed to much of the country during that time.

Through the following days, weeks, months and years various anti-war protests took place throughout the Bay Area. This was and is part of the larger anti-militarist and pacifist traditions which exist in the region.

The documentary film We Interrupt This Empire focuses on the anti-war protests of 2003 in San Francisco.