IMPORTANT PRESS RELEASE FROM "New Yorkers for a Dept of Peace" -- New Yorkers Poised to Transform September 11 into a Message of Hope and Healing

New York City, NY, August 21, 2006 – For New Yorkers and everyone hoping for global peace, September 11, 2006 has a special significance. It marks 100 years to the day that Mohandas K. Gandhi launched the modern nonviolent movement. To honor the extraordinary link between both dates, New Yorkers for a Department of Peace (NY-DOP), in partnership with the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, has organized nationwide screenings of the movie Gandhi including the theatrical re-release of the 1982 Academy Award winning movie to be shown at the Regal Cinema in New York City near the World Trade Center site (102 North End Ave., NYC). A press conference is scheduled for September 11, 2006 at 10:00 am in the theater auditorium prior to the day’s screenings.

Press conference participants will include: Kamran Elahian, founder of the Gandhi Project (part of the Clinton Global Initiative); representatives of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows; Monica Willard, co-chair of the United Nations International Day of Peace; Marie G. Ukeye, Rwandan genocide survivor and U.S. Congressional Representative, Jerrold Nadler. Guest celebrities will be announced. A short film featuring Arun Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi’s grandson, will be debuted at the press conference and copies distributed exclusively to those media in attendance. The film will reveal the power of nonviolence and dispel common myths. Members of the press who are unable to attend may learn more about the 100-year anniversary by visiting www.nyc-dop.com/gandhi.

All proceeds for the Gandhi screenings and other 100-year anniversary activities will go to NY-DOP. NY-DOP is part of a national citizen organization working to establish a cabinet-level, federally-funded, United States Department of Peace that would promote nonviolent conflict resolution including: prevention, education and training both domestically and internationally.

Visit the NY-DOP web site at www.nyc-dop.com OR contact Norma Loeb at 516-857-8293

[Duchess Note - I am a proud supporter, volunteer and member of the "New Yorkers for a Dept of Peace" campaign. Join us today and support this worthy, important legislation in both the House and Senate. Call your congressperson or senator today and urge them to co-sponsor the Bill. Peace is the only way. . . . .]