WORLDWIDE PEACE DEMONSTRATIONS
by Michelle Bienias
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix
Where were you February 15th?
We’ve all read and seen photos of the recent peace demonstrations but how many have really seen them? This is another instance where VR panoramas give a much better sense of the scope and mood than the traditional photograph.
Marches were held throughout the world demonstrating against the impending war against Iraq. In New York, 400,000 gathered, in London 1 million, Berlin had 500,000, 200,000 in Sydney, 150,000 in San Francisco and about 25,000 in Seattle. One of the largest protest marches was in Rome, where over 1 million people hit the streets.
It’s estimated that up to 30 million people demonstrated worldwide, including 6 million in Europe. The sultanate of Oman even had 200 women protesters in the country’s first all-female demonstration. Smaller demonstrations were also held in Cape Town, Dhaka, Havana and Bangkok, to name just a few.
Hans Nyberg’s site panoramas.dk featured a collection of full-screen peace demonstrations from all over the world a few weeks ago. Their popularity grew as the link was posted on various weblogs. In his full screen Rome panorama, by Fulvio Massini you can also see the Palazzo Venezia, where Mussolini once addressed the crowds from the balcony. In the background lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Hans also has VRs of the marches in Sydney, San Francisco, London and Seattle. You can also check out Charles Evans' VR of Seattle and John Charalambous' VR of London at their respective websites.
If you’d like to express your anti-war sentiments to the rest of the world, the website Wake The World is providing copyright free anti-war posters.
Update: On Saturday, March 15, 2003, more peace demonstrations were held around the world.
We've added a VR from Spain by Kim Jones. The event was called the Manifestación Contra la Guerra en la Plaza de Pillar and was held on Saturday March 15 at 8pm, in the Plaza de Pillar in Zaragoza, Spain. Kim says "the participants arrived in groups from various directions... For the last 2 months or so signs have been posted throughout the city reading ¨no, a la Guerra¨. A stage was set up at the southeast end of the Plaza for music and speakers."
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