March and Rally for Peace in the Middle East -- A Call for Peace in the Middle East and to Bring US Troops Home

Event: March and Rally for Peace in the Middle East: Bring the Troops Home!
Date: Sunday, September 21st, 2003
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Place: Terry Schrunk Plaza, S.W. 4th & Madison, downtown Portland


Today, Sunday, September 21, 2003, the peace and justice communities of Oregon and Southwest Washington come together to rally and march for peace.
The theme for this mobilization against foreign wars and occupations is "March and Rally for Peace in the Middle East: Bring the Troops Home!". The rally and march will take place today, Sunday, September 21st, at 2:00 p.m., starting off at Terry Schrunk Plaza at S.W. 4th and Madison in downtown Portland. Four additional themes will be addressed at the rally and march:

� Aid for Iraq and Afghanistan - End US military and corporate occupations
� End US support for Israel�s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza
� Protect Civil Liberties at Home and Abroad
� No more preemptive wars

"Only this morning three more US soldiers were reported killed in Iraq, two in a mortar attack, and one more from a road-side bomb explosion,"1 said Mikel Clayhold, an organizer for today�s rally and march. "While George Bush rewards his friends at Haliburton and Bechtel with no-bid contracts for billions of tax-dollars, America�s sons and daughters are paying the real cost of his failed policies with their lives and blood." Clayhold said that today�s rally and march is also in solidarity with the people of Iraq who have suffered thousands of casualties since the US invaded their country. "Conservative estimates are that at least 10,000 Iraqi civilians have been gunned down since the US toppled Saddam Hussein in April,"2 said Clayhold. "These deaths are a direct result of the US occupation�s failure to provide security for the Iraqi people, and that failure is just one of the many reasons that our soldiers are not welcome in their country."

Cosponsors of today�s rally and march include Peace & Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group (503-236-3065), American Friends Service Committee, Portland Peaceful Response Coalition (503-471-1535, www.pprc-news.org), Peace Action Group of the First Unitarian Church, East Timor Action Network/Portland (503-235-4986), War Resisters League-Portland (503-238-0605), Living Earth, Women in Black, Portland Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Palestine Action Group, Oregon PeaceWorks (503-585-2767-Salem), Peace Justice and Environment Committee of the Portland Mennonite Church, Victims of Child Abuse by Churches Against the War, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, Jews for Global Justice (503-299-4772), Augustana Lutheran Church, Northwest Ethnic Voice/Palestinian Children's Welfare Fund, Bridge City Preparative Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Cascadia Magical Activists, Black Monday Committee, St. Andrews Catholic Church, Rainbow Coalition of Portland-Oregon, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Concerned Parishioners at Vermont Hills United Methodist Church, Multnomah Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Peace and Social Justice Center of Southwest Washington, Reedwood Friends Church, East Side Democratic Club, Columbia River Fellowship for Peace, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Islamic Center of Portland - Masjed As-Saber (503-293-6554), Oregon National Organization for Women (NOW), Portland Solidarity, Love Makes a Family, Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE), Sisters of the Road Cafe, SisterSpirit, and others.

Endorsers include PSU Progressive Student Union, Friends of Sabeel - North America, PSU Green Party, Northwest Veterans for Peace, In Other Words-Women's Books and Resources, Freedom Socialist Party, Radical Women, PCCM - Ecumenical Campus Ministry at Portland State University, Green Party of Clark County, Christ the Healer - United Church of Christ, Pride at Work, Yamhill Valley PeaceMakers, Socialist Party-USA, Bridgeport United Church of Christ, Hollywood Neighbors for Peace ([email protected]), International Socialist Organization, Salem-Palestine Solidarity for Peace and Justice, Adelante Mujeres, Sisters of the Holy Names-Forest Grove, Portland Labor for Peace and Justice, Vancouver For Peace, Central Coast Patriots for Peace, Portland Jobs with Justice (503-236-5573, [email protected]), Linn Benton Chapter of the Pacific Green Party, Metanoia Peace Community, Rural Organizing Project, School of the Americas Watch Oregon (SOA Watch), National Lawyers Guild - Portland, Portland Alliance (media endorser), and others.

1. "Attacks Kill 3 U.S. Soldiers in Iraq", by Reuters, New York Times, September 21, 2003 2. "Another day in the bloody death of Iraq", By Robert Fisk, Independent (UK), 21 September 2003

Back to PPRC-news home