KENNEBUNKPORT, MAINE - AUGUST 16 - Up to 10,000 activists and ordinary citizens will converge at Kennebunkport Saturday, August 25, at 10 a.m. to call for an immediate withdraw of United States troops from Iraq. The Kennebunks Peace Department?s August 25 Rally and March for Peace will feature speakers from across the country including Cindy Sheehan, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Congresswoman Cynthia McKenney, Melida & Carlos Arredondo, and a dozen others. Music will be provided by nine groups including the Indigo Girls, Inanna, David Rovics, and Pat Scanlon & Band. ?We will gather in Kennebunkport to send a strong message to Congress that it is time to end this war,? said Jamilla El-Shafei, the co-founder of the Kennebunks Peace Department and co-coordinator of the event. ?Our August 25 Rally and March for Peace is drawing a convergence of anti-war, environmental, labor, and social justice activists along with concerned citizens. To break the cycle of endless war we need to draw attention to America's need for systemic change. Let us start a ?revolution of values.? ? This demonstration has been scheduled in anticipation of General David H. Petraeus? September report to Congress on the status of the war in Iraq, El-Shafei said. It has been endorsed by over 50 national and regional peace and justice organizations including National Peace Action, Veterans For Peace, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and the Southern Maine Labor Council AFL-CIO. ?If President Bush is vacationing in Kennebunkport at this time, then we will be there to remind him that he cannot escape the consequences of his decisions,? El-Shafei said. ?If not, we will be sending a strong message to the country and the world that ordinary citizens as well as activists from across the social justice spectrum want an end to the war.? The August 25 Rally and March will feature appearances by Cindy Sheehan, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Liam Madden, Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, Eugene Puryear, Retired Col. Ann Wright, Melida & Carlos Arredondo, Helga and Augustin Aguayo, Ashley Smith, Charlie Clements, Sally Breen, and George Paz Martin for a Rally and March for Peace Saturday, August 25, in Kennebunkport, Maine. The musicians appearing are David Rovics, Pat Scanlon & Band, The Leftist Marching Band, Bojah and the Insurrection, Emma?s Revolution, the Raging Grannies, and Son of Nun. Protesters will gather in the park outside the Kennebunkport Consolidated School on School Street at 10 a.m. for a morning of speeches and music. Then the group will march to the Bush family compound on Walker?s Point. The march will be followed by another speaking and music program. Kennebunks Peace Department ? Page 2 ?One of my objectives in organizing this event is to bring together activists from different organizations to encourage people to network and build bridges,? El-Shafei said. ?It is for our collective survival that we transcend our differences, even those within the peace movement. We need to unite to stop the war so that we can get on with the important business of addressing systemic change which in needed in America for our survival on the environmental, economic, and social level to make a lasting peace.? Groups represented include Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, Connecticut Chapter, AfterDowningStreet.org, Cape Codders for Peace and Justice, Cindy Sheehan and Camp Casey Peace Institute, Central Vermont Peace and Justice, Democrats.com, Democratic Committee of Kennebunk, Democratic Committee of Kennebunkport, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition, Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, International Action Center/Boston, International Socialist Organization, Kennebunks Peace Department, Maine Green Independent Party, MaineImpeach.org, Merrimack Valley People for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Maine Chapter and Military Families Speak Out, Massachusetts Chapter. Also National Immigrant Solidarity Network, National Peace Action, National Priorities Project, New Hampshire Peace Action, New York State Peace Action, Northampton Committee to Stop the War in Iraq, Pax Christi Maine, Palestine Education Network, Peace Action Maine, Peace Action West, Peace & Justice Center of Vermont, PeaceVermont, People United 4 Peace, Rhode Island Community Coalition for Peace, Seacoast Peace Response, Southern Maine Labor Council AFL-CIO, and Surfers For Peace, Maine Chapter. Also The World Can?t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime!, Troops Out Now Coalition, Boston Chapter, United for Peace and Justice, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, United for Justice With Peace, Veterans For Peace, Veterans For Peace, Maine Chapter, Veterans For Peace, Greater Bangor Chapter, Veterans For Peace, A.J. Mustic Chapter of New Hampshire, Veterans For Peace, Danbury, Connecticut Chapter, Veterans For Peace, Smedley D. Butler Brigade, Massachusetts, Veterans For Peace, Wes Miller Chapter of Northern Vermont Veterans For Peace, Cape Cod Chapter. Western Massachusetts Code Pink, Western New York Peace Center and York County Democratic Committee The Kennebunks Peace Department will hold a fund-raising Concert For Peace the evening before, on Friday, August 24, at 8 p.m. at the Kennebunk Town Hall, corner of Main Street and Elm Street. This event will feature Keenan Beaudette, a Kennebunk 10-year-old who wrote his war protest song, ?Does It Bother You??, after attending the Kennebunks Peace Department?s July 1, 2007 Citizen Summit with his father. The July 1 Citizen Summit and March was organized by the Kennebunks Peace Department to mark Russian President Vladmir Putin?s historic visit in Kennebunkport with President George W. Bush and drew over 2,000 anti-war protesters. For further information and an up-to-date schedule of the event please see the Kennebunks Peace Department website: www.kportprotest.org.
