Date: Tuesday, April 2

Time: 7:00 pm
Place: St. Aloyisius Church, North Capitol and I St., NW (Union Station Metro, Red Line)

Are you interested in working with the Peace Center to build an activist base that can respond to the current crisis? We will be organizing a DC contingent at the April 20 event along
with other groups, participating in youth and community outreach, holding a series of educational forums and continuing to serve as a clearinghouse and information source for local
activists. Want to plug in and join us?

Here are some of the items on our agenda:

* April 19-22 -- A Weekend of Political Action!
The weekend of April 19-22 is promising to be a big one for activists. The weekend kicks off on Friday, April 19th, with a day of lobbying and workshops on the "war on terrorism" and
on the war in Colombia. Then, on Saturday, April 20th, there is a major peace march and rally in response to the "war on terrorism", initiated by a national student/labor coalition
(www.a20stopthewar.org). Then, on Sunday, April 21st, there will be an all-day conference on the war in Colombia, sponsored by a coalition called the Columbia Mobilization
(www.soaw.org/ colombiaMobilization.html). This will be followed on the morning of Monday, April 22nd, with nonviolent direct action and a solidarity march related to Colombia.
We will be helping to organize a DC/Peace Center contingent of DC-area activists who will be going to the Saturday demonstration, along with other local groups. We also will be getting
Peace Center representatives to the Colombia conference and to identify how to keep these issues alive in the DC area after the April actions are over.

* US to Nuke Iraq?
The Peace Center is seriously concerned about a Los Angeles Times report on March 9, 2002, that the Bush administration has told the Defense Department to prepare, on a contingency
basis, plans to use nuclear weapons against at least seven countries. The countries named in the secret report provided to Congress on January 8 were China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea,
Iran, Libya and Syria. The military was also directed to build smaller nuclear weapons for use in certain battlefield situations.

The Peace Center was instrumental last fall in mobilizing DC activists in calling for a peaceful response to the tragedies of September 11th. Although we were effective in gathering 3,000
people together some 3 weeks after the terrorist events, we need to be prepared to respond before this administration initiates nuclear attacks or other crimes against humanity. We will
be developing a rapid response network that would function to alert activists to emergency protests and other actions for human rights.

* Ongoing Campaigns at the Peace Center
The Peace Center has several ongoing campaigns that need follow-up and expansion. They include:

1) an educational series that will examine various aspects of the expanded permanent war economy, drawing on the organizing experiences of veteran activists from past anti-war and civil
rights campaigns;
2) our Youth Outreach Committee that facilitates workshops at local high schools on the curtailment of civil liberties and peaceful alternatives to current U.S. foreign policy in the Middle
East in the aftermath of September 11th;
3) town meetings with members of the Progressive Caucus to encourage Congressional opposition to an escalation of the war;
4) our Partners for Peace campaign with DC-area churches and community groups to expand our volunteer base and impact.

We will discuss these, and other, important peace issues. Please email us at <wpc@igc.org> if you will be able to attend. Call for more details (202) 234-2000.