March for Peace, Justice & Democracy Launches April 4 in New York City

March 31, 2006

On the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death, a coalition of progressive groups will start the countdown to a mass action in New York City. The March for Peace, Justice and Democracy will take place on April 29 in midtown Manhattan, uniting leaders and activists from labor, peace, environmental, women's, civil rights, veterans, youth/student and other social justice and community-based movements. The April 4 press conference launching the march will be held at Riverside Church, the site of King's historic speech against the Vietnam War.

"George Bush is on the run as he attempts to defend his war based on lies, a war that never should have happened," said Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), one of the initiating groups. "On April 29th tens of thousands of people from all walks of life will march together in a unified call to end the war in Iraq and bring all our troops home now. We will march to demand new priorities for this nation; it's time to turn things around."

The March for Peace, Justice and Democracy was initiated by nine groups: UFPJ, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, National Organization for Women (NOW), Friends of the Earth, U.S. Labor Against the War, Climate Crisis Coalition, People's Hurricane Relief Fund, National Youth and Student Peace Coalition and Veterans For Peace. Since then, nearly 1,000 organizations and individuals have endorsed.

NOW President Kim Gandy said: "The Bush administration has turned an ill-begotten war into a disaster with global costs, and women are suffering. The so-called fight against terrorism has only ensured that more women abroad will be drawn into a cycle of violence, war and destruction. Enough is enough."

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., founder and president of Rainbow/PUSH, is urging a massive turnout on April 29. "Too much is too wrong in this country. Illegal, warrantless spying, government corruption and the subversion of our civil liberties and civil rights are threatening our democracy. We have a foreign policy that is foreign to our core values and domestic policies wreaking havoc at home. The times are urgent and we must act."

The March for Peace, Justice and Democracy will advance from midtown down Broadway, concluding with a Peace and Justice Festival in a downtown park.

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