Oakland, California (May 15, 2006) -- 100 people marched this afternoon from Oakland City Center to the nearby military recruiting station to celebrate GI resistance to immoral war and occupation. Behind a colorful banner for “International Conscientious Objector Day”, and under a giant peace dove, drummers led the procession of high school students, senior citizens, musicians, artists, and community members north on Broadway. At the recruiting station, large posters were unrolled and pasted over the station’s windows to better inform potential recruits of the realities of military service.

Earlier in the day a delegation of Bay Area community members met with a representative of the Canadian consulate to press the case for safe haven for the scores of US military service members now in Canada resisting the ongoing Iraq War.

The initial march and rally was organized by Courage to Resist and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, with the help of Not in Our Name, Grandmothers Against the War, CodePink, International Capoeira Angola Foundation Oakland, Not Your Soldier, Act Against Torture, and the Heads Up Collective.