Code Pink Journals CodePINK Journals

Work 4 Peace,Hold All Life Sacred,Eliminate Violence! I am on my mobile version of the door-to-door, going town-to-town holding readings/gatherings/discussions of my book "But What Can I Do?" This is my often neglected blog mostly about my travels since 9/11 as I engage in dialogue and actions. It is steaming with my opinions, insights, analyses toward that end of holding all life sacred, dismantling the empire and eliminating violence while creating the society we want ALL to thrive in

Saturday, January 15, 2005

WAND - women's action for new directions

i've met another fabulous group of activist wimmin - WAND - an organization founded by our hero helen caldicott way back in the 70's to fight nuclear proliferation. at that time they were women's action for nuclear disarmament until the end of the cold war when they transistioned to new directions. atlanta boasts one of the largest chapters of WAND in the country.
i went to a scribe meeting, where wimmin write letters to the editor of the local papers or write their congress people or the president - or whomever needs a letter written to them. last wednesday our topic was urging the paper to cover the man-made disaster in iraq that has claimed the lives of over 100,000 iraqis, more than half wimmin & children, on the front page with as much compassion, detail, and sensitivity as they were covering the natural disaster of the tsunami. this week we wrote about social security and how we could not believe or trust bush.
WAND also vigils for peace every friday from noon to 1:00 downtown atlanta at colony square which is a major intersection in the middle of downtown. it was hella cold, maybe 41 degrees and yet at least 15 people showed up to hold signs & stand for peace. most responses were positive altho there seemed to be lots of wealthy looking white tourist types walking by (there's a museum close by) that responded negatively, altho no one was very vocal -= except the positive responses, especially from bikers and cars passing by.
WAND put out a list of 10 resolutions for the new year - codepink is going to also put one out because it is such a great idea! peace, sam