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, May 20, 2006

No war against Iran protest


We are ecstatic! Not only have several of us stood up individually and testified about never bombing Iran, but also numerous women  were able to begin cleaning the committee hearing & singing “we don’t want your dirty war machine” for many minutes as the police were unable to remove everyone at once!

On top of this, Rumsfeld testified at the appropriations committee – Nancy heard & rushed down to another room in the same building, slipped into the proceedings just before Rumsfeld was finished talking. She was able to yell “Liar” at his retreating back and better yet, she was able to hold up the peace sign to the row of press as the police escorted her past their cameras.

We regroup in the cafeteria at Rayburn, everyone talking excitedly about the experience. We are proud of ourselves, especially those of us who have never done this before, and we feel like we are accomplishing our mission, preventing the next war as we end this one.

As we are talking, Hillary gets a call from the house – the landlord is there demanding that we remove our beautiful pink banners from the front of the building. We are devastated. Sooooo many people in the neighborhood have told us how much they love and appreciate our house. The landlord is saying neighbors are complaining. Hillary is troubled. She has a $2000 deposit that she doesn’t want threatened by our boldness.

The women at the house have agreed to remove the banners. The landlord is not stopping with that. He is insisting that I remove the truck. Hillary wants me to comply. I want to negotiate.

I call Gael and get the name and number of our lawyer & leave a message for her. I decide to return to the house & figure out what the landlord is doing.

Bring me home

Today we are going to do the Real Faces of War action along with the "Bring me Home" Toy Soldier. We have several large color pictures of the real face of war; and we have attached hot pink ribbons to miniature toy soldiers that read "bring me home" on one side, and "codepink:women for peace" on the other side.

We dress in black this time, & bring the list of names of the killed soldiers and Iraqis. Marie will be our wailer. We sit in a large circle with the four pictures facing inward. We place the soldiers on the steps, in cracks in the wall, on tree branches & benches, leaving a trail of soldiers wherever we go.

Toby begins playing the drum & reading off the names of the dead. Marie begins wailing for her children, her dead children, screaming 'why, why, why'? Everyone is weeping, including the young people who have gathered around to witness our action. We get up and move to the next museum.