Capital District for Justice and Peace


Contacts: 
Yunus Fiske 	(518) 273-0167
Joe Seeman	(518) 583-4326


Media Advisory (UPDATED)
For immediate release
PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES

Musicians, giant colorful "Peace Doves" To 
Join Hundreds in Albany Peace March & Rally;
5 Busloads heading to Washington DC Rally 


(ALBANY) On Friday, October 25th local bands and musicians supportive
of the Anti-War Movement will entertain Peace Rally participants.
Hundreds of people from the Capital Region are expected to gather at
4:30 PM at Townsend Park, at the junction of Henry Johnson Blvd and
Central Ave, to say "Stop the War on Iraq Before it Starts", following
a 4 PM march from the State Capital Building, featuring giant colorful
"Peace Doves" made by local artists.

Musicians and bands on the agenda to perform as of this date are:

- Ruth Pelham, in her 1st local performance since the Music Mobile
  25th Anniversary concert
- Jolly Roger,  "jam band" from Bethlehem High School 
- Paddy Kilrain, nationally known folk guitarist and singer
- Rockets and Blue Lights, local rock band
- The Solidarity Singers, Union and folk protest group

In addition to Friday's rally, hundreds of local residents are
scheduled to ride buses to Washington DC on Saturday for a National
Anti-War rally.

Leslie Gabriel, Executive Director of the Center for Community
Renaissance, in Hudson, NY, has been working hard to organize the DC
trip and states that buses are filling up fast.

Mr. Gabriel observes that the ... "new and improved peace movement is
drawing tons of interest from people who have never associated with
pacifist goals.  We are attracting vets, teachers, businesspeople,
doctors, lawyers, republicans, contractors -- everybody."

When asked why so many from the Capital Region are making this trip,
Gabriel explains, "Peace isn't just for pacifists anymore.  People
know when they are being lied to and there is a general sense among
the mainstream that something just doesn't seem to fit." (Leslie
Gabriel can be reached by phone at: 518 325 9318 or e-mail
laszlo@taconic.net)

Meanwhile, local activists are currently distributing fliers and
talking with unions, faith based communities, schools and other
organizations to generate interest in this demonstration of local
anti-war sentiment.

"We are rallying on Friday to ask the people of the Capital District
one basic question: Is it worth spending hundreds of billions of
dollars and killing tens of thousands of people to feed our ever
increasing appetite for Middle East oil?" states Peter Jellett, an
organizer of Friday's rally.

(Peter Jellett can be reached for additional comments at: 273-7161 or
by e-mail at: livemusicpete@hotmail.com )

Speakers at the rally include but are not limited to:
- Erin O'Brien - of the Women's Building
- John Carl - of the Independent Media Center,
- Petra Marar and Emma Gordon, Bethlehem High School Students Opposed
  to War on Iraq,
- Vittorio Reyes and Ian Van Heusen, street poets from the Ironweed
  Collective activist community
- Dan Wilcox - Veteran's for Peace
- Shokriea Yahgi - local Palestinian woman
- Dina Renfi - Center for Women in Government 
- Doug Bullock - Solidarity Committee of the Capital District

Marchers will be carrying giant colorful "Peace Doves" made by local artists.

Photo opportunities will be available at the Townsend Park rally on
Friday, October 25; speakers and performers will be available for
interviews.

More information about the "Stop the War on Iraq Before it Starts"
March on Washington can be found at www.iacenter.org