Mother's Day Week of Actions!

By Rae Abileah

Whew! The CODEPINK DC house has been a whirlwind of action this week! Women from all over the country--Wyoming, California, Arizona, Texas, New York, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, and more!--are here for actions with CODEPINK in Congress and around our nation's capital! So far we've had incredibly powerful actions, time to bond and connect, great singing all the time, and we've made quite an impact! Here are some photos and highlights from the past several days in DC. There are so many stories to tell, and I've been mostly behind the scenes this week supporting local actions around the country, so stay tuned for the full backstories from the women who have been going to these actions!

Click here to see a slideshow of photos from the past several days!

Thursday, May 10

Thursday morning CODEPINK activists attended hearings in Congress--see Midge's posts below this one to read more and see youtubes about that. Lori and Gael were arrested after the hearing ended and had to spend the night in jail. Thursday afternoon we held a Congressional Tea at the Mott House. Robert Greenwald spoke with us, we heard action stories from all the myriad of different things CODEPINKers have been doing over the week, we screened Greenwald's new film, and we saw a live performance of A Single Woman, a play and forthcoming documentary about Janette Rankin, the first US Congresswoman, who voted against WWI and WWII. The room was gorgeously decorated in pink and we even had pink lemonade and refreshments. At night we held a fundraiser at Bus Boys and Poets, our favorite progressive spot in DC. The fundraiser included an outstanding performance by Emma's Revolution and an auction led by Iraq Veteran Against the War Geoff Millard, featuring hot items such as a pair of pink heels signed by Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda, a Stop the Next War Now book autographed by Alice Walker, and a pink sequined dress worn to Bush's inaugural ball and glamorously modeled by Dana. The dance party continued late into the night!

Dana, Sonia, and Geoff present the CODEPINK Auction at Bus Boys and Poets.

Friday, May 11

Today CODEPINK activists visited the offices of the 59 democrats who voted against McGovern's bill to bring the troops home and gave these reps the "what for." These reps need to be held accountable to their constituents, who voted them in last November so they could end the war! We were especially surprised to see that Re. McNerney from California, who beat incumbent Richard Pombo (R) last November, largely on an anti-war platform, did not support McGovern's bill.

We held a luncheon with women reporters and media activists. In the afternoon we held a media training at the CODEPINK house, facilitated by CODEPINK's communications coordinator, Dana, and cofounder Medea.

In the evening we had the DC House premier screening of CODEPINK's newest film, Iraqi and American Women Speak Out in the Peace Room. It was amazing how our banner making and meeting room was transformed into a comfortable and pink movie theater, projector, couches, pink screen, and all!

Saturday, May 12

Today we had a house potluck and held a Women's Congress in the great tradition of Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation. We had a big group discussion and then broke into smaller groups focusing on these topics: Supporting our troops and working with veterans and military families; Direct Action and Civil Disobedience; Troops Home by the Holidays: Putting Pressure on our Congresspeople to end the war; Saying Yes to Peace; and creating visuals for the actions tomorrow. In the afternoon we were visited by the Topsy Turvy bus, check it out below! We also had a CODEPINK Choir rehearsal in the front yard! At night we screened films in the Peace Room.

Caroling outside the CODEPINK House!

The Topsy Turvy Bus visits the CODEPINK House. It says that the US budget is "topsy turvy"--too much $$ going towards the Pentagon, and too little going to all the social services.

Sunday, May 13
Today CODEPINKers are at a "Public Service" fair that is happening on the Mall. There is tons of military junk there--humvees, tanks, big army trucks, and even a simulation tent where you can pretend to be in combat. Women are outside holding a banner that says "Remembering Women in Wartime" with photos of the female soldiers who have been killed in combat, and women are inside too!

This afternoon we'll have our Peace Festival in Lafayette Park in front of the White House. I'm sure we'll have tons of photos to post from this exciting family event!

Photos on this post by Zach and Rae.