Peace activists from across Maine will fill cars and board buses Friday to take part in this weekend’s National Rally of Peace and Justice in Washington.

Once in the capital, the Maine contingent will gather with thousands of others for a kick-off rally Saturday in front of the Washington Monument. The rally will be led by Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio’s “Democracy Now” program.

Following the rally, there will be a march from the monument to Freedom Plaza.

The National Rally for Peace and Justice will take place that afternoon at the National Mall across from the west steps of the Capitol. There also will be panel discussions and seminars throughout the day conducted by various groups.

One of those planning to attend the rally is former Brooks Fire Chief Peter Baldwin. A veteran activist, Baldwin is a recognizable figure at many Maine parades and festivals where he marches with a oversize bass drum mounted on a trailer.

Baldwin described the event as a “multi-issue demonstration,” aimed at bringing attention to free trade issues, the war on terrorism, corporate globalization, the Israeli-Arab conflict and the drug war in Colombia.

“Corporate structure inevitably pools, in its organic process, large amounts of capital and power in the hands of a few larger entities,” Baldwin said Monday. “It’s like the eye on the pyramid on the back of the dollar bill. Everyone is on the bottom and the few are on the top.”

Baldwin said Americans are a just people but are viewed by many in the world as the source of problems. He cited the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, which he argues were designed to give corporate goals priority over human interests.

He also accused the Bush administration of “taking advantage of the grief of this country over [Sept. 11] to funnel power to their corporate friends.”

“We are supplying the means for unrest all over the world. What supports our economy is blood. There is blood on our hands because of all the arms we are selling,” he said. “That does not represent who we are as a people. This has gotten away from us and how we are and it’s being fueled by the organic corporate process of filling their needs. They make profits on the backs of people and the environment.”

Among those expected to speak at the gathering are Martin Luther King III, Media Benjamin of Global Exchange, Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness, Philip Berrigan of Jonah House, Ron Daniels and Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Amber Amundson of Peaceful Tomorrows and Erica Smiley of the Black Radical Congress Youth Caucus.

There will be music from folk singers David Rovics and Pat Humphries and political hip-hop artists Division X. Pacifica Radio will produce the nationwide broadcast of the event.

The buses will begin rolling from the University of Southern Maine on Friday evening and return to Portland on Sunday morning. For bus information, call 773-8382 or e-mail karenddl@clinic.net.