FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Protest Demands "Shut It Down; Stop the War Machine!" in Memorial Day Weekend Rally for Peace at the Gates of MacDill AFB, U.S. Central Command

What: Peace Rally and Non-Violent Civil Disobedience
When: Sunday, May 26th, 12:00pm
Where: MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida
Media Contacts: Katy Robinson (954) 723-0877 or Sandy Thompson (727) 698-3092 or email media-AT-macdillpeacerally.org

On Sunday, May 26th, 2002, the Florida Alliance for Peace and Social Justice will hold a Peace Rally beginning at 12pm at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. MacDill is the Central Command Headquarters for U.S. military operations throughout Central Asia and the Middle East. The protest will include non-violent civil disobedience designed to disrupt the war effort.

Rally organizers are calling for an immediate end to U.S. military aggression throughout the wo
rld. They denounce attacks on civil liberties, charging that recent anti-democratic legislative actions are designed to prevent dissent and political opposition to U.S. foreign and domestic policies.

The MacDill AFB action takes place in conjunction with others throughout the world that will denounce American war fervor on Memorial Day Weekend. Protesters in California will go to the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday, May 25th (see www.takeittothebridge.org ), while American citizens living in Paris, France will hold an anti-war rally on Sunday, May 26th.

The Memorial Day Weekend Peace Rally follows on the Florida Alliance's first MacDill protest in January, which included the participation of over 500 people from throughout the state, according to local news reports. Organizers expect hundreds more at May's rally. The Florida Alliance for Peace and Social Justice is distinguished in it
s composition for its inclusion of a diverse representation of black community leaders, Native American activists, religious and peace activists, students and seniors. Speakers at the Tampa rally will include Pam Africa of the international campaign to free Mumia Abu Jamal, Vernon Bellecourt of the American Indian Movement, Dorothy Lewis of the National Organization of Blacks for Reparations in America and Omali Yeshitela of the Uhuru Movement.

"The current U.S. war is an aggression that violates every principle of international law and mutual respect among countries and peoples", says Helen Hooley, Quaker and peace activist. "We are calling on all freedom and peace loving people from throughout the U.S. to join us in demanding peace and social justice for all."

According to Phil Champon of the Broward County Anti-War Coalition, "Bush's recent threat to use nuclear weapons against the people of the Middle East and Asia imposes nuclear ter
ror on the world. We demand that Bush adhere to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and honor his promise to drastically reduce existing nuclear warheads."

"The Patriot Act threatens the very foundation of American democracy", warns Attorney Mark Kamleiter, member of the ACLU and the Green Party. "We must stand up now against this attack on our civil liberties and constitutional protections that are being dismantled under the guise of fighting terrorism."

"The African community in the U.S. and around the world adamantly opposes George W. Bush's war on the struggling and oppressed peoples of the world," declared Omali Yeshitela, leader of the Uhuru Movement. "He took the presidency by denying African people our right to vote and does not represent us. We stand with the people of Palestine, the Philippines, Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the indigenous peoples of North America in our resistance t
o U.S. terror, oppression and exploitation."

Endorsers and participants in the May 26th Peace Rally at MacDill AFB include Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Umbrella for Justice (Palm Beach County), Reality News Network, Broward Anti-War Coalition, Student/Farmworkers Alliance, Alaska Action Center, American Indian Movement (Florida), Campus Greens at USF, Citizens United for Shared Prosperity (St. Petersburg, FL), Collier Anti-War Coalition, Community Coalition Against War and Terrorism (Gainesville), Food Not Bombs (Tampa, FL), Green Party of Pinellas County, Green Party of Dallas County, International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, Pax Christi (Naples, FL), Peace 1st of North Carolina, Peace Action Group, Queers for Racial & Economic Justice, Sarasota County Green Party, Students for International Peace and Justice, Inc., The Florida Left List, Transitions Church & Support Group, Tampa Bay Area Coalition for Peace and Social Justic
e, Why War?, and members of the Quakers, Women in Black, Soulforce and the National Coalition Building Institute.

Participants will convene at Gadsden Park in Tampa and march to the gates of MacDill AFB on Dale Mabry Ave. For more information, call (727) 826-6960, email info-AT-macdillpeacerally.org or visit www.macdillpeacerally.org