March of the Dead to Greet Congress on Tuesday

WHAT: A long column of figures dressed all in black with white death masks and bearing the names of those killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine. The march will be followed by a dramatic nonviolent action intended to awaken Congress to the need to end the wars.

WHEN: March from noon to 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. Additional dramatic action 2:15 p.m.

WHERE: The march will approach the U.S. Capitol on Pennsylvania Ave. SE and turn north on 1st Street to pass between the Capitol and the Supreme Court, turn west on Constitution Ave. to pass the Senate office buildings, turn south to pass the west front of the Capitol, and turn east on Independence Ave. to pass the House office buildings. Members of the media wanting to cover the additional nonviolent action should meet representatives of the March of the Dead in front of the Supreme Court at 2 p.m.

WHY: "We will be conducting the March of the Dead as the 111th Congress is being sworn in," said Laurie Arbeiter of the Activist Response Team, creators of the march. "We demand that this Congress end the terror of war, get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, stay out of Iran, Pakistan, and Syria and stop all support of Israeli foreign and military policy that results in massacres like the current one in Gaza."

"The power to begin and end wars rests with Congress," said David Swanson of AfterDowningStreet.org, "and the responsibility of Congress is to represent the American people. We have now for the second time elected a Congress to end the occupation of Iraq, and this time we will insist that it be ended. A treaty unratified by the Senate cannot legalize three more years of war. And the human impact of long-distance slaughter cannot be kept from the eyes of Congress members if we make up our minds that they will see it."