Keynote speaker will be BRUCE DIXON of Black Agenda Report, one of the most trenchant progressive critics of President Obama and America's continuing war in Iraq, and the escalation of the wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Speakers addressing international issues include:

** IFTI NASIM, Midwest Editor for the Weekly News Pakistan and the published Urdu language openly gay poet in the world, who will discuss the mess that U.S. and Pakistani rulers have made of his native country.

** AWAD HAMDAN, Director of American Muslims for Palestine, who will address the phony "peace talks" currently hosted by President Obama, at which most Palestinians in the territories and in exile abroad have no representative at the table.

** MARIA PIZARRO, Chilean refugee and activist, addressing "The Other 9-11" – the bloody September 11, 1973 U.S.-sponsored coup d'etat which murdered democratically elected Chilean President Salvador Allende and more than 10,000 of his countrymen.

and,

** ALEXY LANZA, of La Voz de los de Abajo, a native Honduran and frequent reporter on and visitor to the country, will address the growth of "death squad democracy" following a U.S.-supported coup, a development very reminiscent of the U.S.-sponsored Central American "dirty wars" of the 1980s.

And addressing issues from veterans' perspectives will be:

** LORI PERDUE, a veteran and organizer for Indianapolis CodePINK;

** MIKE FERNER, National President of Veterans for Peace and author of Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq,” (Praeger/Greenwood), based on his two trips to Iraq, before and after the U.S. invasion. He served in the Navy Hospital Corps during Viet Nam, discharged as a conscientious objector, and later was elected twice to Toledo City Council.

and,

** MARTY WEBSTER, of the Cincinnati chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

Addressing the "war at home" will be:

** NOREEN GUTEKANST, Officer with the Chicago Teachers Union, part of the team that led a successful grassroots insurgent campaign to throw out the corrupt old leadership of their union which had collaborated in the privatization of huge parts of the public school system.

** JR FLEMING of STOP (Southside Together Organizing for Power), a group which played a leading role in nixing the Chicago business elite's drive to profit off of a 2016 Olympics boondoogle.

** MONICA HEFFNER of Chicago ADAPT, a militant disability rights organization which has frequently organized sit-ins and marches in direct action for their rights

and,

** MICK KELLY, a leading anti-war organizer in the Twin Cities and one of the targets of the September 24th FBI raids on anti-war and international solidarity activists.

Rounding out the program will be RICH WHITNEY,, a long time activist and the Green Party Illinois gubernatorial candidate, LAUREN FLEEZER,, an LGBT rights activist with the International Socialist Organization, and JOHN BEACHAM, long-time anti-war activist and lead organizer of the ANSWER-Chicago chapter.

Endorsers of Saturday's demonstration include:

8th Day Center for Justice
Albany Park, Mayfair, North Park Neighbors for Peace & Justice
American Muslims for Palestine
ANSWER Coalition
AWARE (Anti-War, Anti-Racism Effort─Champaign, IL)
Bloomington-Normal Citizens for Peace and Justice
Chicago Area CodePINK
Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism
Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights
Chicago Committee to Free the Cuban Five
Chicago Single-Payer Action Network
Chicago Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Chicago World Can't Wait
Comité Anti-Militarización (CAMI)
Cook County Green Party
Dan La Botz Socialist campaign for U.S. Senate in Ohio
DuPage County Green Party
Episcopal Veterans Fellowship
Faith on the Front Line
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Four M's Company
Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice
Gay Liberation Network
Industrial Workers of the World─Chicago
International Socialist Organization
International Solidarity Movement─Chicago
Jewish Voice For Peace─Chicago
La Voz de los de Abajo
Labor Beat / Labor Express
Logan Square Neighbors for Justice and Peace
National Lawyers Guild, Michigan/Detroit Chapter
Near West Citizens for Peace & Justice (NWCPJ)
Neighbors for Peace
News and Letters Committees
Nicaragua Solidarity Network
North Shore Coalition for Peace Justice and the Environment
Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition
Northwest Suburban Peace & Education Project
Palestine Solidarity Group─Chicago
People Who Care About Peace
Peoria Area Peace Network
Sangat
Socialist Organizer /El Organizador
Socialist Workers Party
St. Clement's Church Peace Committee
Students for a Democratic Society─Wilbur Wright College
Students for Justice in Palestine — Northeastern Illinois University
Veterans for Peace
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Weekly News Pakistan
Workers World Party

For more information on the protest, visit www.ChicagoMassAction.org