Normally, protests are like the old guy with his sandwich boards infront of Old City Hall, screaming about some lawyer he hates. He wasthere on Saturday, too. But he’s there every day. I don’t even knowwhy he’s angry, because he’s become part of the scenery. That’s whatmost protests are like. They’re part of the background noise.

I joined at least 15,000 others in Toronto on Saturday for apre-emptive protest against U.S. President George Bush’s pre-emptive war on Iraq. Afriend of mine, who believes I criticize everything because I enjoybeing critical, said I should write that “I wish it had sucked.” It’strue that I don’t enjoy protests. I find them an ordeal. I hatethe chants. The cookie-cutter slogans and signs and the oftentedious piety turn me off.

Not this protest. It inspired me.

In bitter cold, across Canada, nearly 100,000 Canadians came out tovoice their opposition to war against Iraq — 25,000 in Montreal, 20,000 in Vancouver, 5,000 in Quebec City, 3500 in Ottawa, 2000 in Halifax, and many more in communities across the country. It’s remarkable. This war hasn’t started yet, and alreadythere is a mass movement against it.

In Toronto, the spirit of the protesters was friendly, happy and vital, erupting into boisterous laughter and chanting at the closingindoor rally where the day ended with music. The amazing crowd wentbeyond the usual suspects — the hard left and die-hard peaceniks whocan be counted on for almost any protest. There was a group ofveterans against the war, including a bagpiper; there were familiesand many first-time protesters. There were people of every major worldfaith. There were native youth against the war. There was a strongcontingent of labour union activists.

It was the biggest anti-war demonstration in Toronto since the VietnamWar era — and the movement against the Vietnam War took years tobuild. Saturday’s protest may even have been the biggest anti-wardemonstration ever in Toronto.

Ahead of the protest, some predicted that it would be boring andunimaginative. True enough, in a way it was. Here and there wereattempts at creativity — like the Uncle Sam with a magic wand whoturned war into oil (and back again). Mostly, though, the people whocame were ordinary people taking time out of their busy lives becausethe war they hope won’t happen offends deeply-held principles. Weweren’t there for the speeches, and even if it had been a carnival ofcreativity, we wouldn’t have been there for the show. Sometimes aprotest is just a protest, and what’s needed is just for people to bethere. Numbers are important. The power of the protest is feeling thatyou are together with so many others, in spite of the cold, in spiteof the speeches, sometimes in spite of yourself.

In the last few months, getting people out has been hard. AfterSeptember 11, 2001, the anti-globalization movement in Europe morphedseamlessly into an anti-war movement, with huge rallies in Europeancapital cities drawing hundreds of thousands of people each. But herein North America, the global justice protests dissipated, unable toresolve their internal tensions, unable to clarify their politics, andtoo weak to challenge the naked opportunism of the Bush administrationin the wake of the attacks.

The Bush Administration’s bloody-minded fixation on war against Iraqhas changed that. While pandering to countries that admit to having orwanting “weapons of mass destruction,” like North Korea, the Bushregime clamours for war on Iraq because it seeks to obtain weapons ofmass destruction. We’re to believe that Iraq is a threat to the world,yet Iraq has not shot down a single American plane during over tenyears of British and American bombing. Why? Because it has beenpowerless to resist this bombing. The Bush administration says thatwar on Iraq is part of the “war on terror.” Yet there is no evidencethat Iraq sponsors any Islamist terror group.

By pressing for this self-serving war, the Bush Administration hassquandered the goodwill it won after the September 11 attacks. It has educatedpeople all over the world in the real nature and purpose of Americanpower. This act of aggression attacks the very myth of America as abenevolent power. And this myth is itself a significant source ofAmerica’s power.

The U.S. obsession with war on Iraq makes clear the nature of Americanpower, but also the power we will need to build to challenge it.Opposition to the war is broad-based in Canada: only fifteen per cent of Canadians support awar led by the U.S. alone, according to a poll released by The Globe andMail on Saturday. All major Canadian churches are opposed to thewar. The United Church has encouraged its faithful to attend thedemonstrations; the Anglican Primate is expected to make anannouncement this week. In Montreal, the Catholic Archdiocese has beenactive in anti-war organizing. Major media outlets have been generousto the protests, giving them extensive advance coverage and favourablereports.

Already, there have been minor victories. After meeting with U.S.officials, Defence Minister John McCallum floated a trial balloon,suggesting that Canada might join the U.S. war even without U.N.support. Last week, Prime Minister Chrétien backtracked on the idea. A weekend ofsuccessful protests and favourable media attention will ratchet up thepressure on Chrétien and other U.S. allies.

On Saturday, we witnessed the rebirth of two movements: the peacemovement, so long quiescent, and the North American anti-globalizationmovement. With the experience of anti-Vietnam war protesters, theenergy and drive of the young global justice movement, the credibility and moral power of organized religion and the resources of organizedlabour, we may be able to stop this war. It’s possible again to thefeel the heady optimism of Seattle. It feels like the dawn, after along, dark, winter night.