Spotlight On Grassroots Movements For Change--CODEPINK

As many of you know, we at the Ebb & Flow Institute have taken it upon ourselves to stop not knowing jack about grassroots movements for change. Today we take a look at CODEPINK, an anti-war group that will be protesting the inauguration of George Bush.

Who are they? CODEPINK is a women initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement that seeks positive social change through proactive, creative protest and non-violent direct action.

Founders include Jodie Evans of Bad Babes, Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange and Gael Murphy.

What do they want? 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”.

Did they leave any women out? I would hate to think they left anyone out.

What is up with the super clever name? The name CODEPINK plays on the Bush Administration’s color-coded homeland security advisory system that signals terrorist threats. While Bush’s color coded alerts are based on fear, the CODEPINK alert is based on compassion and is a feisty call for women and men to “wage peace.”

What else do they do besides grassroots organizing? Besides grassroots organizing Stateside, CODEPINK women have traveled to Iraq where they helped to establish the Occupation Watch Center.

Website Highlights

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.

They seem to have gone out of their way here to prove the point that grammar education has eroded.

Activist Training Camp Point by point informaition{sic} on creating your own training camp.

Rally tools Songs & chants, sign ideas.
I really like the 12 days of fascism and the CODEPINK rap.

CODEPINK Songbook!

Anti-Hummer Campaign Learn how you can get Hummers off the road, and promote fuel efficiency.

PINK Links
I may have to check out Baring Witness - women baring it all for peace, all around the world. This organization was founded by Donna Ohm Sheehan and Paul Reffell, authors of Redefining Seduction: Women Initiating Courtship and Partnership.

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As usual when I shine the spotlight on a grassroots movement for change I send them a few questions I would like to have answered. If I receive a response, I will share them in another post.

Hi,

My name is Pile and I am writing about grassroots movements for change, you seem to have a good one. It would be helpful for my research if you would answer a few questions.

What do you feel is the biggest impediment to succussful organization of a grassroots movement?

You are protesting the inauguration of George Bush, does this mean you are opposed to democracy, or do you feel the outcome of the election was fraudulent?

Do you think the Iraqi citizens would have been better off in the long run if the US had not invaded and they continued to live under the rule of Saddam Hussein?

Do you like pudding?