> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Lauren Weiner <Weiner at americansunitedforchange.org>
>> Date: December 15, 2011 2:25:45 PM CST
>> To: Lauren Weiner <Weiner at americansunitedforchange.org>
>> Subject: FYI: Activists From Across the Nation to Gather in
>> Chicago--Friday, 12/16 10:30 am
>>
>>
>> NEWS ALERT: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>>
>> Contact:
>> Marilyn Katz
>> MK Communications
>> 312-822-0505
>> 312-953-1225
>> mkatz at mkcpr.com
>>
>>
>> Activists From Across the Nation to Gather in Chicago at
>> 2002 Rally Site to Mark Iraq War End
>> “Determination of a few can change the world”
>>
>> (CHICAGO) Nine years and two months after the first large protest
>> against the then impending war in Iraq, organizers of the now-
>> famous rally will return there with anti-war leaders from
>> throughout the nation to mark the end of what they predicted to be
>> and has turned out to be an ill-conceived and costly war.
>>
>> “On October 2, 2002,” said Marilyn Katz, “to the surprise of
>> themselves and a nation still reeling from the events of 9/11,
>> thousands of people gathered in Federal Plaza to voice our
>> opposition to an impending war that we felt was built on lies and
>> would cost both the people of Iraq and America thousands of lives
>> and billions of dollars. Among the speakers that day was a
>> relatively unknown state senator – Barack Obama, who added a strong
>> voice in opposition when it was not yet a popular position.
>>
>> “What began as a few thousand people in Federal Plaza and places
>> like it grew to a movement of millions who opposed a war and became
>> a critical force in electing a president who promised to end the
>> war he had long opposed. That movement has continued. The promise
>> has been kept. We return to Federal Plaza to mourn the losses all
>> have endured and to celebrate the difference that citizen action
>> can make in creating and changing history – and to honor those
>> whose word is their promise.”
>>
>> Among those joining Among those joining Bettylu Saltzman, Marilyn
>> Katz and others who founded Chicagoans Against War and Injustice
>> (CAWI), the group that called the demonstration, will be Cook
>> County Board President Toni Preckwinkle; Alderman Joe Moore,
>> president of Cities for Peace; labor leader Tom Balanoff, SEIU;
>> anti-war stalwart Tom Hayden, Progressive Democrats of America;
>> Chuy Garcia, commissioner, Cook County Board; Bill Zimmerman, media
>> consultant to MoveOn.org and author of Troublemaker, a memoir of
>> the Vietnam antiwar movement; Ryan Canney, Move On.org; Juan
>> Andrade, United States Hispanic Leadership Institute; Julie Hamos,
>> director, state of Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family
>> Services; David Cortright, Win Without War; Bill MacInary, Lynda
>> Deforge, William McNary, Citizen Action; Carl Davidson, Progressive
>> Democrats for America; Adele Simmons, former president the John D.
>> and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; representatives from
>> VetVotes; and Ilya Sheyman, candidate for U.S. Congress.
>>
>>
>> ###