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Saturday March 20th, beginning with feeder marches at 10:45 am.
Downtown Ann Arbor and University of Michigan Diag.
On Saturday March 20, the Ann Arbor Area Committee for Peace (AAACP), together with U-M Anti-War Action! and Veterans for Peace, will hold a peace march and rally titled "The World STILL Says No To War." Demonstrations with the same message will be held throughout the world on that date.
The event will send the message that the war in Iraq has been a tragic mistake and that the doctrine of pre-emptive war is flawed and should be abandoned. Participants will reflect upon the loss of life of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians and contrast those deaths with the handy profits being reaped by Washington insiders Halliburton and Bechtel. There will also be a message of hope for a peaceful future and for a re-alignment of government priorities from war to human and environmental needs.
The day's events will begin at 11:30 am, when demonstrators will form "feeder" marches at four Ann Arbor locations. Those mini-marches will converge at the Federal Building for a brief rally at noon. All participants will then proceed through downtown streets. The march will be led by armed forces veterans, a children's/stroller brigade, the Raging Grannies (musical/social change group of grandmothers from the Detroit area), and contingents from various organizations and schools. The procession will end at the U-M Diag, where marchers will walk through "Arlington Midwest" -- a mock cemetery erected by the Veterans for Peace with markers for each fallen U.S. serviceperson -- and past an Iraqi Memorial Wall created by Artists for Peace. Marchers will then form a human "No War" sign on the Diag, which will be photographed from above. Next, a rally with speeches and music, including a performance by John Sinclair and Detroit roots-rock band The Brakemen, will begin.
Schedule of events:
* 11:30 am, Feeder marches
-People's Food Co-op, 216 N. Fourth Ave.
Join drumleader Lori Fithian and make some noise!
-Michigan Union, S. State at S. University
Led by U-M Anti-War Action!
-S. Main Market, 609 S. Main
-Wildwood Families, Linwood & Arbana (west side of Ann Arbor). Starts at 11:15 a.m.
* 12 noon, Gathering and brief rally at the Federal Building
Followed by a march through downtown streets.
* 12:30 pm, Arrive at U-M Central Campus Diag
Marchers will form a human "No War" sign, affix nameplates to grave markers, and view the Iraqi Memorial Wall. Spirituals will be sung from the stage.
* 12:45, Rally begins
Rally speakers/musicians:
-Rev. Laverne Gill, Webster United Church of Christ (emcee).
-Statement by Ann Arbor City Council members.
-Raging Grannies, song.
-Pioneer High School student Laurel Perkins, brief statement.
-The Brakemen (Detroit roots-rock band) with guest John Sinclair.
-Eric Van De Vort, representing Veterans for Peace and Artists for Peace.
-Anti-War Action speaker.
-Chris Buhalis, singer/songwriter.
-Teresa al-Saraji, mother of member of U.S. armed forces serving in Iraq.
-Dr. Ismat Hamid, Iraqi-American with relatives in Baghdad.
-Concluding musical set by The Brakemen and John Sinclair.
* 7 pm, Sundown Ceremony, Arlington Midwest, Diag
Sponsored by Veterans for Peace. There will be a reading of the names of U.S. armed forces members who have died in the Iraq War, playing of "Taps," and lighting of a candle at the base of each marker.
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