1-18-07, 9:11 am
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 17, 2007 CONTACT: Hany Khalil, 212-868-5545, 718-637-7351 mobile
MASSIVE ANTI-WAR MARCH PLANNED FOR JAN. 27 IN D.C.; PROTESTERS WILL URGE CONGRESS TO STAND UP TO BUSH
Peace March Expected to be Among Largest Since War Began
MoveOn.org, National Organization for Women, Labor Unions Mobilize Members Buses and vans coming from 30 states and 111 Cities
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jr., Members of Congress, Military Families, and Soldiers to Speak
NEW YORK, NY -- Americans angered by Bush's plans to escalate the Iraq war will flood the streets of Washington on Saturday, January 27, in a massive national peace march organized by United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ). Marchers will call on Congress to listen to the voters, not Bush, by using its power to end Bush's war and bring the troops home. The last three national marches organized by UFPJ each attracted between 300,000 and 500,000 people.
MoveOn.org has called upon its 3.2 million members to join UFPJ, describing the march as potentially a 'turning point for the war' comparable to how 'Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington in 1963 was a turning point in the fight for equality and civil rights.' The National Organization for Women (N.O.W.) is mobilizing its chapters to participate. Local antiwar groups in cities and towns across the nation are mobilizing.
On Monday, United for Peace and Justice's website received more than 700,000 hits. District Council 37 in NYC, A.F.S.C.M.E.'s largest district council, and New York's United Federation of Teachers, the largest teachers union local in the country, are sending busloads of their members to Washington. Car caravans and peace trains are heading to Washington, DC, from all over the East Coast, Midwest and Southeast. Buses and vans are coming from more than 30 states and 111 cities, including from as far away as Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Judith LeBlanc, UFPJ Co-Chairperson, said, 'Bush's announcement of plans to escalate the war has backfired. Every day people call or send email to say they will be marching in Washington with United for Peace and Justice on January 27th to call for an end to this war. They are demanding that Congress stand up to Bush. There is no doubt: This is the right action at the right time.'
Among those slated to speak at the pre-march rally are Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, who last year led an antiwar march of thousands, the largest protest in Salt Lake City history; Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jr.; Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH); Rep.Maxine Waters (D-CA); Bob Watada, father of Lt. Watada, the first military officer to refuse deployment to Iraq and currently facing court-martial; and active-duty service people.
On Monday, January 29th, UFPJ is sponsoring a Grassroots Lobby Day, in which hundreds will press the case for withdrawal from Iraq directly with their Congressional Representatives and Senators. The weekend's activities will include a Saturday morning interfaith peace service and organizing workshops on Sunday.
On Thursday, January 11, United for Peace and Justice member groups and allies staged more than 1,000 local protests of Bush's escalation of the Iraq war. UFPJ's March on Washington is the next step in the antiwar movement's national surge of opposition to Bush's escalation of the war.
For more information on the January 27th march on Washington and the January 29th Congressional Lobby Day, visit . For interviews with United for Peace and Justice spokespeople or local or national organizations mobilizing for the march, contact Hany Khalil at 212-868-5545 or 718-637-7351,
WHAT: Massive peace march in Washington, D.C.
WHEN: Saturday, January 27, 2007. Rally begins at 11:00 am. March to kick off 1:00 pm.
WHERE: Rally on National Mall at 3rd Street. UFPJ has applied for a permit for a march route that goes east on Constitution, south on 1st, west on Independence and returning to the Mall to end.
Media professionals planning to cover the march should register for press credentials at www.unitedforpeace.org.
With more than 1,400 member groups under its umbrella, United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) is the nation's largest grassroots peace and justice coalition. Since its founding in October 2002, UFPJ has spurred hundreds of protests and rallies around the country, including the two largest marches against the Iraq war.
