Sunday, March 20th, more than 2,500 in San Jose California, joined the Peninsula/South Bay Peace Council (a coalition of 44 peace and justice groups) to march and rally under the banners:

"Bring the Troops Home Now!"
"Money for Human Needs Not War".

They joined over 800 communities and cities across the nation, and more than a thousand around the world, this weekend to protest this illegal, immoral war and demand peace and an immediate end to the war on Iraq.

It was under the pouring rain in downtown San Jose that everyone shouted, "It can rain, it can pour, but we want an end to this bloody war."

Dennis Kyne, a veteran of Gulf War I, started off the event by singing anti-war songs at the San Jose Diridon Train Station. The march began after over 1,000 people from all over the bay area arrived via the Peace Train at the train station. As they arrived, over a large contingent of young people, organized by Bayan, shouted energetic chants to get everyone fired up.

When we arrived at the War Memorial, more than 2,500 people listened to keynote speaker Nadia McCaffrey, who lost her son in the war in June 2003 (her only child). She said, "I am on a mission and I will not stop until we end this war."

At Cesar Chavez Plaza, Richard Becker from ANSWER, Hatem Bazian from Univ. of California, Lenny Siegel from Mountain View Voices for Peace, Samina Faheem from American Muslim Voice, Troy from Silicon Valley Debug, Roshan Pour Abdullah from Iranians for Human Rights, and many others gave powerful speeches.

And we thank Paul George from Peninsula Peace and Justice Center and Amie from San Jose State Univ Greens who both did a fantastic job as MCs throughout the rally.

Thank you all for being there in spite of the weather. Thanks to all for making peace shine through in downtown San Jose on Sunday, March 20th.

Please send your pictures to us so we can put them on the March 20th web site.

Also the event received coverage on at least two local TV stations and newspaper coverage on the front page of the "local" section in the San Jose Mercury News on Monday March 21.

See you all this Thursday, March 24th at 5pm in front of the Fairmont Hotel at CC plaza in downtown San Jose to protest Schwarzenegger's plan for California and let him know that California is not for sale!