In an era characterized by SUVs plastered with American flags and jingoist political posturing, it’s easy to forget that there are lots of Americans who don’t think carpet-bombing is the only foreign-policy tool in the box. If you’re tired of being surrounded by war-mongering reactionaries and Ashcroft apologists, here’s a chance to be heard and learn you’re not alone. On Saturday, April 20, demonstrators from across the country will rally in Washington in favor of "global peace through social and economic justice."

The April 20 Mobilization, organized by what Joseph Gerson of the Quaker-based American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) office in Cambridge calls "a coalition of coalitions" (including the AFSC, the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, the National Coalition for Peace and Justice, the 9-11 Emergency National Network, and NYC Labor Against War) will kick off with an 11 a.m. rally at the Sylvan Theater (on the southwest side of the Washington Monument). At 1 p.m., the demonstration will march to the Capitol for a 3 p.m. rally on the Mall (on Third Street, facing the Capitol). Scheduled rally speakers include the Reverend Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, activist and former priest Philip Berrigan, 2000 California Green Party Senate candidate Medea Benjamin, Amber Amundson (widow of Army Specialist Craig Amundson, who died at the Pentagon on September 11), human-rights lawyer Michael Ratner, African-American feminist Erica Smiley, and more.

The nonviolent demonstration (participants are cautioned: no property damage, no drugs, no weapons), is supported by a wide-ranging assortment of activist groups, some with more specific agendas than others. But the thrust of the protest is aimed at everything worth complaining about in America since September 11: war, economic aggression, the repression of domestic civil liberties, ethnic violence and bigotry, the diversion of resources away from health and education in favor of military spending, our foreign-policy makers’ reluctance to address the root causes of international conflicts, and neglect of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Flights to Washington are reportedly difficult to book that weekend, and chartered buses to the demonstration from Boston — call the AFSC at (617) 661-6130 — had, as of April 9, roughly 40 seats left. Organizers are maintaining a ride bulletin board at www.riseup.net/april2002/ride.php, as well as a housing board at www.riseup.net/april2002/housing.php.

April 20 solidarity marches will be held throughout the US and around the world — in Amsterdam, London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. In Boston, there will be a noon rally at Copley Square, followed by a 1 p.m. March to the South End’s Blackstone Park for an art-and-music Celebration of Justice and Peace.

For more information, visit the following Web sites: www.a20stopthewar.org (April 20 Mobilization); www.justicewithpeace.org (United for Justice with Peace); www.afsc.org (American Friends Service Committee); and www.ncpj.net (National Coalition for Peace and Justice).