Monday, April 30, 2007
For Immediate Release

ANTI-WAR HUNGER FAST AND DEMONSTRATION ORIGINATES AT UMBC AND SPREADS
NATIONWIDE;

Five-Day "Hungry for Peace" Fast Spreads to Students Across the Country

Contact:
Jonathan Williams, University of Maryland Baltimore County 443.474.8919
Randy Wilson, Student Peace Action Network Coordinator 301.565.4050. x 322

BALTIMORE…From Monday, April 30th to Friday, May 4th, students, faculty, and
staff from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) will be
engaging in a five-day hunger fast and sit-out protesting the U.S.
occupation of Iraq.

The week of events, aptly named "Hungry for Peace," began at UMBC in a
meeting of the school's political-activism group Solidarity Coalition.
Working with the Student Peace Action Network, UMBC's "Hungry for Peace" has
become a national week of action, with over 20 campuses across the nation
hosting similar demonstrations calling for an end to the war.

"We barely had to do any outreach," says UMBC organizer Sine Jensen. "As
soon as the word got out about our fast, schools from California to New York
just started sending us e-mails asking how they could participate. Students
everywhere are demanding an end to this war."

"Our Congressional representatives claim to be against the war but they
continue to vote in favor of funding it," says UMBC organizer Jonathan
Williams. "After years of calling and writing letters to our allegedly
'anti-war' representatives, the war still goes on. At UMBC, we decided it
was time to escalate our tactics and put our bodies on the line to show our
opposition."

The week of events includes a lecture series on the war, with different
speakers each day of the week including veterans, military family members,
and Iraqi civilians. Guests include UMBC's own Iraq war veteran Thomas
Gregg; Iraqi civilian Raed Jarrar; Marine mother Tina Richards from Military
Families Speak Out and Grassroots4America; Adam Kokesh from Iraq Veterans
Against the War; active-duty soldier Tassi McKee from Appeal for Redress,
and more.

Last month marked the beginning of the fifth year since the initial invasion
of Iraq, when a number of campuses across the country took action to show
their opposition. This week of action is building off that momentum and
keeping the focus on Congress's power to end the war but refusal to act,
while also strengthening both the local and national student networks
organizing for peace.

"It is our responsibility as citizens to tell our politicians what our
priorities are. As part of the youth movement, I feel that if we all direct
our energy toward peace and social justice I think that real change can
happen," explains Emily Slagle, student at the College of St. Scholastica
and co-organizer of "Hungry for Peace" in Duluth, MN, on why they are taking
action.

For more information on "Hungry for Peace" at UMBC, visit
www.umbcsoco.org/wiki/HungryForPeace

For more information on events going on across the country, visit
www.StudentPeaceAction.org/hungryforpeace.html