Code Pink
Encyclopedia
Code Pink: Women for Peace is an anti-war group that is mainly composed of women
Woman
A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...

. It has regional offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, and Washington, D.C., and many more chapters in the U.S. as well as several in other countries. Code Pink describes itself as "a women-initiated grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...

 peace and social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...

 movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...

, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities."

With members wearing the group's signature pink
Pink
Pink is a mixture of red and white. Commonly used for Valentine's Day and Easter, pink is sometimes referred to as "the color of love." The use of the word for the color known today as pink was first recorded in the late 17th century....

 color, Code Pink has conducted march
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...

es, protest
Protest
A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...

s, and high-visibility publicity stunt
Publicity stunt
A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized or set up by amateurs...

s in order to promote its goals. Although women initiated and lead the group, Code Pink allows men to participate in its activities.

History

Code Pink was founded on November 17, 2002 by Jodie Evans
Jodie Evans
Jodie Evans is a political activist, author, and documentary film producer. She characterizes her activism as working for peace and justice, environmental causes and women’s rights...

, Medea Benjamin
Medea Benjamin
Medea Benjamin is an American political activist, best known for co-founding Code Pink and, along with her husband, activist and author Kevin Danaher, fair trade advocacy group Global Exchange...

 and other activists. The group's name is a play on the United States Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...

's color-coded alert system
Homeland Security Advisory System
In the United States, the Homeland Security Advisory System was a color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale. The different levels trigger specific actions by federal agencies and state and local governments, and they affect the level of security at some airports and other public facilities. It...

 in which, for example, Code Orange and Code Red signify the highest levels of danger.

In February 2003, just weeks before the invasion of Iraq, Code Pink organized its first trip to that nation, and subsequently led five delegations there. These delegations included parents who had lost their children in Iraq, and parents of active soldiers. Additionally, they brought six Iraqi women on a tour of the United States, and published a report about how the US occupation affected the status of Iraqi women.

On its official website, Code Pink lists allegations of US war crimes, and states that thousands of civilians were killed in Fallujah
Fallujah
Fallujah is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries....

 in 2004 due to the actions of the US military. Along with other groups, they gave over $600,000 worth of humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...

 to refugees of Fallujah in 2004.

Activities

  • November, 2002: Code Pink launched a four-month vigil in front of the White House, culminating on March 8, 2002 International Women's Day
    International Women's Day
    International Women's Day , originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and...

    , with a 10,000-person march.

  • January 20, 2005: Code Pink protesters attended President G.W. Bush's second inaugural address, unfurling banners and heckling the president during his speech. The group reportedly received VIP passes from unidentified members of Congress, and were eventually escorted out of the area by police.

  • September 21, 2006: Code Pink staged a peace march that blocked traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge
    Golden Gate Bridge
    The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...

    . Code Pink received permits allowing them to march after the morning commute hours at 10:00am. Instead, the group began an illegal walk toward the center of the span at 7:30am. They left by 10:00am.

  • March 20, 2007: a Code Pink protester interrupted a Hillary Rodham Clinton
    Hillary Rodham Clinton
    Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...

     fundraiser in Washington DC and was removed by security. This was one of a series of Code Pink protests against Senator Clinton; a week later, five Code Pink members heckled her at the legislative-political conference of the Communications Workers of America
    Communications Workers of America
    Communications Workers of America is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States representing about 550,000 members in both the private and public sectors. The union has 27 locals in Canada via CWA-SCA Canada representing about 8,000 members...

    .

  • March 22, 2007: several Code Pink protestors were arrested outside the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
    Nancy Pelosi
    Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...

     after announcing their intent to take over her office. Code Pink was protesting that the majority Democratic Party
    Democratic Party (United States)
    The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

     had not stopped war funding.

  • September 10, 2007: Code Pink protested at General David Petraeus
    David Petraeus
    David Howell Petraeus is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander...

    ' Congressional testimony, interrupting the general's testimony. Committee Chairman Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO) banged his gavel, attempted to restore order, and informed the protesters of possible legal ramifications of their actions. The protestors were subsequently removed from the hearing

  • September 2007 onward: Code Pink began holding weekly "counter-recruitment" protests in front of the United States Marine Corps
    United States Marine Corps
    The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

     Officer Selection Office located in Berkeley, California
    Berkeley, California
    Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

    . These protests escalated into the broader Berkeley Marine Corps Recruiting Center controversy
    Berkeley Marine Corps Recruiting Center controversy
    The Berkeley Marine Corps Recruiting Center protests began in September 2007 when a small group of protesters from Code Pink began periodically protesting in front of a United States Marine Corps Officer Selection Office located in Downtown Berkeley, California at 64 Shattuck Avenue by standing in...

    .

  • October 24, 2007: Desiree Ali-Fairooz approached Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
    Condoleezza Rice
    Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...

     with red paint on her hands and shouted "The blood of millions of Iraqis is on your hands!" She was immediately arrested.

  • September 4, 2008: At the 2008 Republican National Convention, a Code Pink activist attempted to heckle nominee John McCain
    John McCain
    John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

     onstage while he was giving his acceptance speech. Secret Service
    United States Secret Service
    The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...

     stopped the activist before she reached the stage.

  • December 12, 2008: Code Pink announced its plans to invest in Iranian wind energy in hopes to defy sanctions
    United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929
    United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929, adopted on 9 June 2010, after recalling resolutions 1696 , 1737 , 1747 , 1803 , 1835 and 1887 concerning the topics of Iran and non-proliferation, the Council noted that Iran had failed to comply with previous Security Council resolutions...

     and build peaceful relations with the government of Iran.

  • June 3, 2009: Code Pink flew a banner that said "End the siege of Gaza
    Gaza
    Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

    " at President Obama
    Barack Obama
    Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

    's Muslim-outreach speech at Cairo University
    Cairo University
    Cairo University is a public university located in Giza, Egypt.The university was founded on December 21, 1908, as the result of an effort to establish a national center for educational thought...

    .

  • December 31, 2009: Code Pink was one of the organizers of the Gaza Freedom March on December 31, 2009, which brought over 1,300 people from more than 43 countries to join Gaza Palestinians in a non-violent, mass march to the Israeli border.

  • May 11, 2010: Code Pink attempted to arrest Karl Rove at a book signing.

  • June 8, 2010: Code Pink heckled House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over lack of funding for states.

  • March 2011: Code Pink members demonstrate outside of the FBI headquarters in support of suspected Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning.

  • May 23-24, 2011: Code Pink members disrupted Israel
    Israel
    The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

    i Prime Minister
    Prime minister
    A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

    , Benjamin Netanyahu
    Benjamin Netanyahu
    Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...

    's speaking engagements, both at a policy convention and at the United States Congress
    United States Congress
    The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

    . Code Pink member Rae Abileah was arrested and charged with disrupting Congress.

  • September 11, 2011: Code Pink activists marched across the Golden Gate Bridge
    Golden Gate Bridge
    The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...

     while calling for troops to leave Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ongoing protest rallies

Code Pink often uses political street theater to publicize its positions. Favored methods include the use of puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....

s, effigies, over-sized heads, and fake blood, according to John J. Tierney in a publication of the conservative think tank, Capital Research Center
Capital Research Center
Capital Research Center is a conservative non-profit organization located in Washington, DC. It was founded in 1984 by Willa Johnson "to study non-profit organizations, with a special focus on reviving the American traditions of charity, philanthropy, and voluntarism." The group opposes the growth...

.

Code Pink organizes annual rallies on Mothers Day and St. Valentine's Day. On Mother's Day 2006, Code Pink organized a 24-hour gathering in Lafayette Park
President's Park
President's Park, located in Washington, D.C., encompasses the White House, a visitor center, Lafayette Square, and The Ellipse. President's Park was the original name of Lafayette Square. The current President's Park is administered by the National Park Service.-White House:Washington, D.C...

, across the street from the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

, which was attended and supported by Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan is an American anti-war activist whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended anti-war protest at a makeshift camp outside President...

, Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...

 and Patch Adams
Patch Adams
Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams, M.D. is an American physician, social activist, citizen diplomat and author. He founded the Gesundheit! Institute in 1971...

. For Valentine's Day they organize kiss-ins in which members are encouraged to assemble outside military recruitment centers and kiss, as well as hold up banners with slogans such as "Make out, not war!" and "Love the troops, Hate the War." Members are also asked to hand out flyer
Flyer (pamphlet)
__notoc__A flyer or flier, also called a circular, handbill or leaflet, is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in public place....

s that according to the Code Pink website, "...claim that recruiters tell potential recruits their chance of being sent to a combat zone is slim" and that "almost all recruits will be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

."

Co-founder Medea Benjamin writes in the Huffington Post that the United States never had any "justification for invading Iraq", that there is no "justification for continuing the war in Afghanistan", and that in Pakistan, the US "drone attacks are only fueling the violence and creating more Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...

s." Regarding the killing of bin Laden, she says "Let us not sink into a false sense of triumphalism in the wake of Bin Laden's passing."

Demonstrations at Walter Reed Medical Center

Code Pink has also organized vigils at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, DC. The group has been criticized for actions at the vigils: the criticism has centered on tactics such as displaying coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...

s and chanting aggressive slogans. Speaking about the display of coffins, Kevin Pannell, an amputee and former patient at the hospital, said it "was probably the most distasteful thing I had ever seen. Ever. We went by there one day and I drove by and [the anti-war protesters] had a bunch of flag-draped coffins laid out on the sidewalk. You know that 95 percent of the guys in the hospital bed lost guys whenever they got hurt and survivors' guilt is the worst thing you can deal with." To those that faulted aggressive chants and signs, Code Pink responded that certain of the disruptive protesters were not part of their group and that they have asked these protesters to be respectful. Code Pink says that the purpose of the vigils is to highlight the lack of care for veterans and claims that the vigils have helped spur improvements in that care.

Protest during Plame hearing

In March 2007, there were US Senate hearings about the disclosure of the classified role of Valerie Plame Wilson. During the hearings, a Code Pink activist, Midge Potts
Midge Potts
Midgelle Regina Potts - known as Midge Potts - is a transgender peace activist and Navy veteran who ran as a Progressive Party candidate in the 2010 Missouri Senate election...

, constantly maneuvered to be in the camera views of the witness. Potts wore a pink T-shirt emblazoned "Impeach Bush". She said she was in the Judiciary Committee hearing room not to add anything to the proceedings there, but "...I switched it to the impeach during the Valerie Plame hearing mainly because it seems like that the Democrats or -- are going to push the supplemental through."

Halloween 2009 White House protest

On October 31st, 2009, Code Pink organized a protest rally outside the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 to coincide with President and Mrs. Obama's official Halloween party. As many of the guests were family members of military members, the Code Pink press release encouraged attendees to dress as "zombie soldiers".

Book

Code Pink also published a book called Stop the Next War Now, which included essays by Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.- Personal life :...

, Barbara Lee
Barbara Lee
Barbara Jean Lee is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1998. She is a member of the Democratic Party. She is the first woman to represent that district. Lee was the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and was the Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus...

, Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington is a Greek American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known as co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted more liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s...

, Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to circulate regularly within New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.-Early...

, Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...

, Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American author and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese immigrants living in the United...

, Jody Williams
Jody Williams
Jody Williams is an American teacher and aid worker who received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the campaign she worked for, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines...

, Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.-Family:...

, Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....

, Helen Thomas
Helen Thomas
Helen Thomas is an American author and former news service reporter, member of the White House Press Corps and opinion columnist. She worked for the United Press and post-1958 successor United Press International for 57 years, first as a correspondent, and later as White House bureau manager...

, Julia Butterfly Hill
Julia Butterfly Hill
Julia Butterfly Hill is an American activist and environmentalist. Hill is best known for living in a -tall, roughly 1500-year-old California Redwood tree for 738 days between December 10, 1997 and December 18, 1999...

, Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman is an American progressive broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author. Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, an independent global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the internet.-Early life:Goodman was born in Bay Shore, New York...

, Doris Haddock, Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia Ann McKinney is a former US Congresswoman and a member of the Green Party since 2007. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 2008, the Green Party nominated McKinney for President of the United States...

, Gael Murphy
Gael Murphy
Gael Murphy, a resident of Washington, D.C., is an anti-war activist with Code Pink who has planned or participated in many of its high profile protests and activities against the Iraq war....

and others.

External links

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