Ralph Nader and Patti Smith Come to Buffalo to Work for "Peace on Earth Week"

Buffalo is the fourteenth stop of Nader’s nationwide tour beginning in 2001 in Portland, Oregon, and has since packed venues from San Francisco to Cleveland and Wall St. to Tampa.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 14, 2003
7:10 AM
CONTACT: Democracy Rising
Matthew Zawisky (716) 854-2900 matt@democracyrising.org

Ralph Nader and Patti Smith Come to Buffalo to Work for "Peace on Earth Week"

BUFFALO, NY - April 14 - On Friday April 25, 2003. Ralph Nader's "People Have The Power" tour will bring to Western New York a unique blend of community activism and world-class entertainment. Acknowledging the historic bond between social movements and music, Nader has woven the two together into a series of events that is expanding civic activism and grassroots organizing -- addressing such timely and critical issues as the human, social, economic and political costs associated with the war in Iraq, the corporate business of war, the fragile state of our civil liberties and how citizens must stay vigilant to protect their environment and social services, such as education and health care.

Internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter Patti Smith and her band will join Mr. Nader and perform in Buffalo for the first time in twenty-five years. Community leaders working for progressive social change will speak as well, and encourage the audience to connect with local campaigns.

“The purpose of these events this year is to bring people together in cities across America, which is especially critical now,” said Nader, America’s leading consumer activist. “Progressive people and organizations in Western New York must work together. Civil liberties, our nation’s security and the nation’s major social priorities, are at risk in the Executive Branch and Congress. All major peace and social justice successes in our history have started with a mobilization of the citizenry. We must further this tradition and strive to ensure that the values of democracy, law enforcement, respect for human rights and the protection of all innocent people prevail here both at home and around the world.”

Buffalo is the fourteenth stop of Nader’s nationwide tour beginning in 2001 in Portland, Oregon, and has since packed venues from San Francisco to Cleveland and Wall St. to Tampa. Nader likened this current tour to the “Super Rallies” he headlined during his bid for the Presidency in 2000. Those rallies filled ten major arenas, from Portland’s Memorial Coliseum to New York’s Madison Square Garden, with turnouts far larger than those of the 2000 major party candidates. This event is being sponsored by Nader's newest organization, Democracy Rising, which seeks to unify people “in the cause of freeing American politics from the grip of corporate interests,” Nader said.

The rally will be held at the Koessler Center at Canisius College, 2001 Main St. Buffalo, NY. The official program begins at [5:30] p.m. (doors, live music, and community group tabling at 5:30 p.m). An array of Western New York community organizations will have information tables to distribute literature and solicit signatures for a variety of progressive causes. General admission tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Children 12 and under are free.

###