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, February 17, 2007

Come to D.C. she says MARCH!

Do not doubt for one second the huge impact of CodePINK on the hill this past month – Joan says the results of our hot pink presence is palpable.

We have been in Congresspeople and Senators offices; we have been to hearings on the Senate side and the House side. We have been in the gallery of the Senate, and of the House. We’ve been to meetings, to conferences, to hotels, to speakings, to breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

We have been in the halls, the elevators, the sidewalks, the streets. We have been all over this town and back again.

Strangers approach us, in the Capitol buildings and on the streets, some soft and shy, others boisterous and bold, all with the same message: “Thank you for what you do”. Young girls pass us in the hallway and pluckily shout “CodePINK”. Staffers approach us after hearings and thank us for having their backs; several intercede with the police on our behalf so we do not get kicked out of the hearing nor arrested.

Men in suits and women dressed to the nines tell us to keep up the good work! Some follow us into the bathroom to huddle and quietly tell us we have no idea how much support we have behind our backs!

Thai restaurant workers exclaim “pink code wimmin – never stop until war is over!” Garbage collectors and construction workers leave their jobs to rush over, take pictures with us and bellow disparaging epithets about Bush as they tell us how righteous we are!

Even the police were hi-fivin’, fist in the air, and peace-symbolin’ us the day of the House vote! And press folks were saying “great work ladies” as if we would be pleased taking credit for getting the house to pass a non-binding resolution. We didn’t set them straight.

And several Republican Congressmen dolefully mentioned our colorful anti-war presence when speaking about opposing Bush’s escalation in Iraq.

And about 6 out of the 20 or so Progressive Caucus members we’ve been able to go see & lobby at least once have since signed on to HR508!!!

I can’t tell you enough how very vital our DAILY, HOURLY hot pink presence is here in D.C. The cops, the people, the representatives think we are hordes of wimmin everywhere. Of course we are and we represent.

And we need you to come to D.C. in March. March will be such a crucial month – there are several life or death decisions our Congress will be making in March. It is up to us the people to make sure Congress continues to hear us and to act with the courage to do the right thing – courage they seem to be so deficient in.

But we have to have courage too – courage to put our daily lives on hold; courage to believe that no matter what we will be able to survive when we return home if we decide to spend two weeks or a month or a week in D.C. working to end war.

We will NOT be able to survive if we stand by and watch as our country allows Bush to escalate war not only against Iraq but also against Iran. We must do everything in our power to prevent this.

Come to D.C. she says March!