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

Monday, January 29, 2007

Peace-In Lobby tips 101

We are reminding these Congress people to heed the Mandate for Peace the voters of their district, and all over this country, gave our representatives this past November to END WAR. They have a choice: they can represent us the people, or they can represent the Bush war machine.

We are not allowing the Bush war machine to define 'support the troops' as voting for money to continuing war. We are telling Congress people they have a choice: either they voting for money to bring our troops home safely and promptly; or they are voting for money to continue war. We demand they vote money to bring the troops home NOW!

We want them to follow the women leaders of California: Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Lynn Woolsey and sign on to HR508 which is the most comprehensive bill that covers all the major points of most the other resolutions.

CodePINKers from all over the nation are in Washington D.C. until February 20th engaging in daily actions to end war. If you’d like to coordinate and do simultaneous actions in D.C. while you’re doing them in your home town, let us know! 202-758-2795.

brief report back - to be continued

Hi folks!

Awesome, exhilarating, intense, tragic, determined, and totally CodePINK!!! was our action today 12:30p.m. at the Hart Senate Building in D.C.!

We entered the building from every direction, met in the center. For those of you who have never been to the Hart Building, it is an huge, 6 story structure that is built around an atrium – so that the center of the building is empty to the ceiling, and the offices are built around the 4 walls of the building with balconies forming borders and opening onto the atrium.

Medea began taking shoes out of the suitcases and putting them onto the floor. People read the names of the children and women killed in Iraq –first individually, then almost as a chorus – their voices, the names of the dead, rising and reverberating through-out the whole atrium into the offices on each floor.

I was on the second floor balcony with a CodePINK bannering virgin, Maureen. We crouched down behind the cement balcony, I pulled it out from my shirt, and we unfurled it over the edge of the balcony.

People below cheered, cameras flashed, TV filmed! Then I looked to my left, to my right, up every floor, and down – there were a ZILLION banners on each floor, each cranny, each balcony!

The police came quickly, ordering us to pull off the banner – and they pulled it off. I tried to negotiate, slow them down a moment. Then we pulled it off and suddenly, a huge pink slip banner starts unfurling from above and passes over our floor! Our two police officers who were hassling us moved in quickly.

Maureen and I moved quicker and began helping the banner unfurl and reach the next level – we were fighting with the police officers – as they tried to pull it up, we pulled it out.

Medea was on the ground floor and grabbed the bottom with some other cp’ers – the cops were pulling so hard they actually lifted her off the floor!

It seemed as soon as the police pulled one banner up, another banner was unfurled on another floor, another side, another corner. It looked choreographed, it was so beautiful, pink, anti-war and pro-peace.

When medea wasn’t holding onto the edges of a giant pink slip, she was leading the hundreds of people on the ground floor around in a snake dance, weaving around the shoes, the installations, and other people – chanting, singing the whole time.

Soon every balcony was filled with people with more pink banners and huge slips being dropped and re-dropped. After awhile, all the banners were either confiscated or slipped back into their places.

Everyone joined the cp’ers on the first floor – walking now around in a huge circle chanting “defund the war”. Staffers, tourists, lobbyists come out of their offices & lined the balconies.

Police surrounded us, attempting us the final warning. Medea negotiated thru the first 2 warnings. People in the balconies began shouting “NO WAR” “NO WAR” – we took up the chant until Medea signaled us to end the demo.

We broke the circle and began picking up the shoes, putting them back into the suitcases. Someone started singing “we shall overcome” – I’m sure they heard us into the next building and out onto the street.

I heard the police say “but you’re still demonstrating” – we kept moving and singing until all the shoes had been picked up.

Once the shoes were picked up, we milled over toward Boxer’s office to thank her so much for signing on to Feingold’s bill!

Iran: Pretend you are willing to spend the next three weeks in Washington D.C.

..... in the power center of our nation….

Take a moment, sit or stand quietly. Breathe deeply, fold your hands, close your eyes. Let your life-style fall away from you. Put your job aside, put away the neighborhood you are able to live in and your mortgage or rent payment; put the things you are able to buy because of your job – the car, the bike, the DVD player, the cell phone, the computer, lattes, everything – put them on the shelf; put your education, the schools you are able to send your child to, the classes you are able to take, put them all on hold.

Pretend you are going to spend the next three weeks of your life in Washington D.C. engaging in actions to end war. Think about what you are willing to do.

Now think about the 4th week, when the bombing will likely start against Iran. Think about the 100-or so-thousand human beings whose lives are going to be vaporized. Think about the 10’s of 100,000’s of human beings whose lives will be in grave danger, the pain and the suffering of nuclear burns.

Think about the millions of human beings whose lifestyles will be radically altered in Iran, the entire middle east – and around the world.

Think about just one of those lives that will be destroyed – the infant just born, the mother of adolescent twins, the grown daughter of the elder who can no longer care for herself. Pretend she is someone you love fiercely and passionately.

Now think about what actions you are willing to take in Washington D.C. to prevent the destruction of this one life.

Pretend you are protecting your LIFE and not your LIFE STYLE.

Brainstorm the actions you would take and email me!