Youth-Organized Peace March and Street Theater On the Sixth Anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq

For Immediate Release
March 18, 2009

Contact: Anne Miller, NH Peace Action (603) 520-0839

Youth-Organized Peace March and Street Theater On the Sixth Anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq

Concord, NEW HAMPSHIRE – On Saturday, March 21 at 1:30 pm, there will be a youth-led peace march to mark the 6th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The march will start at the Lowes/Market Basket parking lot and proceed to the Concord State House Plaza, where there will be street theatre and speakers, including Iraq War Veteran Will Hopkins.

Anne Miller, director of New Hampshire Peace Action, says “It is more important than ever to call for an end to the occupation of Iraq. We are greatly concerned that most Americans think President Obama is planning to withdraw from Iraq despite his plan to leave 35,000 to 50,000 ‘residual forces’ until the end of 2011. All U.S. forces, contractors and bases must be withdrawn as soon as possible, and the U.S. must help re-build Iraq and provide aid for millions of Iraqi refugees.”

Street theater at the State House plaza is entirely youth-organized. It involves bodies lying prone on the sidewalk and on raised tables to symbolize some of the human costs of war – the dead, the injured, and the forever changed. Liza Richardson, a student from Concord organizing the event, says “what our government has done to Iraqi civilians – people who never hurt Americans – is a tragedy beyond comprehension. We are asking people to meditate on the reality of war and its human costs.”

Manar El-Helawe, an Iraqi refugee now living in Concord, will open the march with comments about life in Baghdad under occupation.

The march will be preceded by a peace and nonviolence conference at Hopkinton High School. For more information, visit www.nhpeaceaction.org.

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