The Declaration of Peace

Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition/Atlanta
www.georgiapeace.org ; 404-522-4500

Friday, September 15, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Gloria Tatum: 404-374-4098 (c); 404-315-6950 (h);
Bob Goodman: 404-378-5424;

ATLANTA – High school and college students and other metro Atlantans will rally in support of a “Declaration of Peace” from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday, September 21, at the intersection of Scott Boulevard and North Decatur Road, Decatur. Simultaneous events in dozens of American cities will kick off a week of activities demanding an end to funding for the Iraq war and occupation and the withdrawal of all US troops and bases. (www.declarationofpeace.org)

“Every campus should have an antiwar group,” said Brooke Campbell of Emory Students Against the War, whose brother Army Sgt. Ryan M. Campbell was killed in action in Baghdad in April 2004. “Student protests made all the difference with Vietnam, and they can make all the difference with Iraq. How many more have to die? How many more families destroyed?”

Kirstin Williams, 17, a Decatur High School senior and organizer of the Student Political Action Club, supports the vigil because “this is my way of being heard. Most people think my generation is self-centered and egotistical. But when people see 50 teenagers on the corner standing up for our rights and our future, they’ll begin to take us seriously,” she said.

[For interviews with Campbell, Williams or student organizers from any of the schools mentioned below, call or email one of the contacts listed above.]

Nationwide events Sept. 21-28 were initiated by a call from United for Peace and Justice. Other organizers of the Decatur vigil include Grady High School Social Action Club, Georgia State University Students for Peace and Justice, and the Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition/Atlanta.

Events will also take place in Brunswick, Georgia; and Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Oneonta and Fairhope, Alabama. Other activities will include call-in days to Congress; actions in Washington, DC; and nonviolent civil disobedience in various cities.

On September 21st, GlynnPeace members joined with millions of others around the world in the annual United Nations-sponsored “International Day of Peace.”

As they have in the past, GlynnPeace gathered at the Federal Building on Gloucester Street, which is the office of U.S. Congressman Jack Kingston. Part of the ceremony was the continued public sidewalk petitioning of Kingston who is being asked to reverse his current support of the Iraq War and to work instead for the quick withdrawal of U.S. forces from that country.

A bell ringing and calling out of towns by Eileen Hutchinson and Bill Freeling of St. Simons Island was done to honor and remember the 81 Georgians who have died in the Iraq War.

In unity with those around the globe a minute of silence was held at Noon.

Cathy Browning said GlynnPeace has gone from a few members in the spring to around 130. “As the word spreads, more folks are turning to our group to find a way to help end this war.” She said that just this week the Glynn County Democratic Party had endorsed their Resolution that includes a withdrawal of U.S. troops.