On Monday, October 4th seven human rights activists will stand trial for criminal trespass and resisting arrest after they were detained at Boeing Corporation’s World Headquarters in downtown Chicago on March 13, 2003. The defendants were protesting the imminent loss of human lives, only days before the “Shock and Awe” campaign was commenced by the United States military against Iraq.

Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate is flying to Chicago to speak at the trial of ‘the Boeing 7′ on 4 October. Kevin Cassidy of the Peace People Executive will accompany her. This is in response to a request from the group who believe that Mairead’s presence and witness will help their defence. They feel that her actions in 1976 in Belfast precipitated the emergence of the Peace People movement, a movement which contributed dramatically to a decrease in violence and the number of deaths and injuries and which sowed the seeds of non-violence as the way forward. It also contributed to building an ethos and culture for dialogue and peaceful conflict resolution which contributed towards the current Peace Process.

The case arose out of a peaceful ’sit-in’ demonstration, which was staged in the headquarters lobby of the Boeing Corporation in Chicago. Boeing is one of the biggest American weapons manufacturers. It was staged by a group of people, mostly young, but some older hands early in March 2003 just a few days before the unleashing of ’shock & awe’ against Iraq.