[Reader-list] Code Pink : Womens's Pre-Emptive Strike For Peace

[Harsh Kapoor]

http://www.codepink4peace.org/codepink.html
Code Pink : Womens's Pre-Emptive Strike For Peace

We call on women around the world to rise up and oppose the war in 
Iraq. We call on mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters, on 
workers, students, teachers, healers, artists, writers, singers, 
poets, and every ordinary outraged woman willing to be outrageous for 
peace. 

Women have been the guardians of life-not because we are better or 
purer or more innately nurturing than men, but because the men have 
busied themselves making war. Because of our responsibility to the 
next generation, because of our own love for our families and 
communities and this country that we are a part of, we understand the 
love of a mother in Iraq for her children, and the driving desire of 
that child for life.

Our leaders tell us we that we can easily afford hundreds of billions 
of dollars for this war. But in the United States of America, many of 
our elders who have worked hard all their lives now must choose 
whether to buy their prescription drugs, or food. Our children's 
education is eroded. The air they breathe and the water they drink 
are polluted. Vast numbers of women and children live in poverty.

If we cannot afford health care, quality education and quality of 
life, how can we afford to squander our resources in attacking a 
country that is no proven immediate threat to us? We face real 
threats every day: the illness or ordinary accident that could plunge 
us into poverty, the violence on our own streets, the corporate 
corruption that can result in the loss of our jobs, our pensions, and 
our security.

In Iraq today, a child with cancer cannot get pain relief or 
medication because of sanctions. Childhood diarrhea has again become 
a major killer. 500,000 children have already died from inadequate 
health care, water and food supplies due to sanctions. How many more 
will die if bombs fall on Baghdad, or a ground war begins?

We cannot morally consent to war while paths of peace and negotiation 
have not been pursued to their fullest. We who cherish children will 
not consent to their murder. Nor do we consent to the murder of their 
mothers, grandmothers, fathers, grandfathers, or to the deaths of our 
own sons and daughters in a war for oil.

We love our country, but we will never wrap ourselves in red, white 
and blue. Instead, we announce a Code Pink alert: signifying extreme 
danger to all the values of nurturing, caring, and compassion that 
women and loving men have held. We choose pink, the color of roses, 
the beauty that like bread is food for life, the color of the dawn of 
a new era when cooperation and negotiation prevail over force.

We call on all outraged women to join us in taking a stand, now. And 
we call upon our brothers to join with us and support us. These 
actions will be initiated by women, but not limited to women. Stand 
in the streets and marketplaces of your towns with banners and signs 
of dissent, and talk to your neighbors. Stand before your elected 
representatives: and if they will not listen, sit in their offices, 
refusing to leave until they do. Withdraw consent from the 
warmongers. Engage in outrageous acts of dissent. We encourage all 
actions, from public education and free speech to nonviolent civil 
disobedience that can disrupt the progress toward war.

CONTACTS:
Jodie Evans <thebadbabes at aol.com>
Medea Benjamin < http://www.globalexchange.org/
Starhawk http://www.starhawk.org/

o o o

Women United Against War Petition:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/waw2002/petition.html


[ See related News Report]

The Washington Post
Monday, November 18, 2002; Page B05

Antiwar Activists Plan to Stay The Course
Women Settling In For Four-Month Vigil

Women -- and some men -- march near the White House in a protest of 
any U.S. strike against Iraq. Some are planning to camp out in 
Lafayette Square until March 8. (Photos Sarah L. Voisin -- The 
Washington Post)

By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer

Women from the Washington area and across the country gathered in 
front of the White House yesterday to kick off a four-month, 24-hour 
vigil to protest the possible war with Iraq.

"We feel that this is a time when our country is in great danger," 
said organizer Medea Benjamin, 50, of San Francisco. "The Bush 
administration has begun a course of militarism and violence that 
will beget more violence."

At least 30 women and a few men attended the rally, which started at 
Lafayette Square and moved along Pennsylvania Avenue NW -- a small 
presence compared with the tens of thousands who converged upon 
Washington last month to protest any military action against Iraq.

But yesterday's crowd said that what it lacked in numbers it would 
make up for in persistence.

At least six will stay in the park in four-day shifts until March 8, 
resting on the ground in sleeping bags or on benches, organizers 
said. Some said they will fast for days or even weeks. Many of the 
women wore pink jackets and buttons that read "Code Pink -- Women for 
Peace."

"Bush says Code Red; we say Code Pink!" they shouted. "Women united 
-- We'll never be divided!"

Many were members of human rights or women's groups, such as the 
National Organization for Women. Others were simply mothers or 
grandmothers who wanted to let President Bush know that they don't 
want another war. They want money to go toward health care, education 
and other social services instead, they said.

"We are the mothers and wives and sisters of those who will be killed 
for oil," said Anise Jenkins, 53, a D.C. activist who works as a 
secretary.

Loree Murray, 81, sported a button that said "Hail to the Thief" 
above a picture of Bush. "The women, we're trying to teach peace. 
We're trying to teach the president something," the D.C. resident 
said.

The protest was peaceful, with a few police officers on hand to 
monitor activities. There were no counter-protesters, except for one 
man who walked past the group and shouted, "War will be declared on 
us even if we don't do anything."

Diane Wilson, 54, traveled from a small town in Bush's home state of 
Texas to participate in the vigil. A commercial fisherman who last 
year earned $12,000, she said she wants the Bush administration to 
spend more money on health care than war. She has never had health 
insurance. She plans to fast for 40 days and had her last meal -- 
several slices of pizza -- Saturday night.

"I want to tell Bush and Congress exactly how we feel in small-town 
America," she said.

Kristi Laughlin, a human rights activist from San Francisco, visited 
Afghanistan in June to see for herself the aftermath of the U.S. 
bombing of Afghanistan. She said Kabul looked like the site of an 
archaeological dig.

"To see where our money goes and the end result of our production of 
weapons and distribution of weapons, to me it was a sobering 
reality," she said.

Laughlin, 33, said that too often the Bush administration relies on 
aggression rather than negotiation. The money spent on military 
campaigns is needed elsewhere, she said, to help women and children.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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