CHICAGO, March 15 -- In the run-up to Thursday's planned peace march marking the 7th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war, peace protesters will meet on Monday, March 15 at 10:30 AM in front of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's Office, on the 5th floor of City hall, at 121 N. LaSalle Street, to urge him to take concrete steps to oppose the war.

Specifically, peace activists will ask Daley to meet two key demands. First, peace activists want Daley to demilitarize the upcoming Thursday anniversary march, which has historically been policed by hundreds of cops in full riot gear, including law enforcement imported from other jurisdictions that include Illinois and India State police and the Cook County Sheriff, at considerable cost to taxpayers.

Peace activists also want Daley to demilitarize Chicago's public school system, the third largest in the nation and widely viewed as the most militarized in the U.S.. Besides allowing military recruiters in-school access to students across the city, Chicago public schools house half a dozen military academies, none of which made "adequate yearly progress" last year under basic academic standards, according to USA Today. Chicago's high schools, including the military academies, serve as aggressive military recruiting grounds at a time when the military has often struggled to meet recruiting goals, particularly as national support for U.S. wars in Iraq and elsewhere have waned.

Peace activists argue that Daley should put his money where his mouth is in terms of his newly minted public pronouncement of opposition to the Iraq war and his support of the anti-war movement, a reference to his widely publicized remarks last month at the 16th Annual Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards, where the mayor bemoaned the funds spent for war instead of public needs and wondered where the 'anti-war people' were.

"Antiwar people" who will speak on Monday will include the parents of two dead soldiers, Juan Torres, whose son John was killed in Afghanistan in 2004, and Gloria Barrios, whose daughter Blanca Luna was killed in 2008. Luna was recruited into the Air Force by military recruiters at Curie Metro High School in 1997. Both parents are members of CAMI, or Comite Anti-Militarization. Speakers will also include a representative of Public Workers United, which is urging a shift in funding from spending for war to spending on human needs, an area military veteran, and peace activists who've been arrested by Daley's police force at previous peaceful protests.

All speakers will raise concerns that U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue under the current administration, while U.S. military action in places that include Yemen and Colombia are expanding at the same time that the Obama administration has stepped up its rhetoric against nations that range from Iran to Somalia and Venezuela, raising the prospect of U.S war against those nations, as well.

Groups across the nation are marking the 7th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq this week, including a coalition of more than 80 groups in Chicago -- the largest coalition of local groups in recent years -- which is organizing a protest on March 18 at Federal Plaza beginning at 5:30 pm, to be followed by a march down Michigan Ave. When that march was first staged seven years ago, Chicago police arrested hundreds of peaceful protesters after preventing them from dispersing from Chicago's Gold Coast after marching on Lake Shore Drive -- where police had waved them to march hours earlier.

For more information about Monday's press conference, contact members of the Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism at 773-251-8360 or 773-209-1187, or reach CCAWR by email at ccawr[at]aol[dot]com or noborders7[at]yahoo[dot]com. For information about Thursday's march and the 80+ community, political and religious groups organizing for this go to www.chicagomassaction.org.