Live Blooging from Code Pink House

By Susan O.

Hi there from Code Pink house in Washington DC! I arrived yesterday, and this place is great. It is well set up for socializing, and an even better set up for activism. The hallway has white boards with events listed every day, and another white board for all those staying at the house and how to contact them. There are bumper stickers and materials stacked along the wall. The house has a wireless router, and it is common to see a half dozen women with laptops typing away in the living room. There is a common dining area and kitchen, and the basement has space for a large meeting or to work on banners or other projects.

The upstairs has bedrooms, where 3 to 5 can sleep per room. There was an article today in the Washington Post on the CODE PINK HOUSE and the activists that live there:

Protesting for Peace with a Vivid Hue and Cry

Medea Benjamin, one of the founders of the women's peace group Code Pink, wears pink every single day, and sleeps in it, too. Her shoulder bag, her wallet and her cellphone are all pink. When she visits Washington from San Francisco to lobby Congress against the war in Iraq, she stays in Code Pink's new group house on Capitol Hill, where nearly everyone wears pink, where her bedspread and her pillow and her bedroom curtains are pink, as are the drinking cups in the kitchen and the flowers that grow out back.

……..The rent, $2,200 a month, is paid by member contributions. The chairs are donated, the forks are donated. The women come for a week or months at a time, and when the house is crowded, they sleep three or four to a room, many in bunk beds.

In the basement, where the group holds strategy meetings and pink fabric swathes the exposed pipes, there are rules posted in the perfect handwriting of a former schoolteacher. They include "Come on time!" and "If you hear 'Pink,' listen." During one meeting of about 20 people, Elizabeth Barger, 71, who wears pink and purple ribbons in her long gray braids, stretches out her bare feet. Another woman wears a pink police officer costume, complete with cap and badge. Soft guitar music wafts in, perhaps from the front lawn.

The above is a picture of Desiree, the house-mama, and Ena, who is one of the interns here this summer. Desiree did the house orientation, and Ena happens to be my room mate. She also happens to be a good cook. Dinner was great!

What I really like about this house is the “activism at your fingertips” feel to the place. I feel awful about what this country has been doing for the past six years (well, longer, but I have felt much worse since cheney started running things into the ground) and the best way for me to feel better fast is to DO SOMETHING.

Already, I have done a blog post on Iraq Today (the wireless works great) and posted on my personal blog the letter I will be handing out to the Dems that caved on Monday. I arranged an interview on the local low power FM station with myself and Medea Benjamin, and we did that at 9 this morning. That will be broadcast on WPVM on the show “Making Progress” on Monday evening, and again on Tuesday at 1 PM.

And this afternoon, I am headed to the Rally and March to end the occupation of Palestine and to find a just peace in the Middle East. AND, there is something you can do to support this from your home. All you need is a telephone. This came from the Progressive Democrats of America emails:

Lobby Day for Israeli/Palestinian Peace and End to Occupation

The Iraq War is only one piece of the violent puzzle in the Middle East. We believe the road to peace in the Middle East must include Israel and Palestine. As long as unrest continues there, peace throughout the region will elude us. On June 10 and 11, people around the world are joining together in a Day of Action to mark the 40th year of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Please support the national lobby day on June 11.

Tens of thousands will march in Washington D.C. on June 10, and hundreds of activists will be lobbying Congress on June 11. Add your voice to theirs! Call your representative in support of H. Res 143, in support of a special US envoy for Middle East Peace. To reach the Capitol switchboard dial 1-202-224-3121 or CALL TOLL FREE: 1-888-597-0909. This is the best way to show support for the Arab League’s recent peace proposal, which the US and Israel have been slow to endorse.

And from a Code Pink email:

On June 10 and 11, people around the world are joining together in a global Day of Action as " The World Says No to Israeli Occupation " to mark the 40th year of Israel's illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Tens of thousands will march in Washington D.C. on June 10 -- hundreds will stay to lobby Congress on June11.

If you can't join us in Washington, please call in!

Participate in a National Call-in day on June 11. Hundreds of activists will lobby Congress on June 11, please add your voice to theirs. Call your representative and two senators. To reach the Capital switchboard dial 1-202-224-3121 or CALL TOLL FREE: 1-888-597-0909.

Tomorrow, I will be meeting with dole, burr and Shuler – and stopping by some more US Representatives offices. I will be blogging on further actions that will be taken this week, mainly on my own blog but also on the Code Pink Blog.

Please join me in being active, and consider coming to Code Pink House this summer to pursue more action to stop war and violence and injustice everywhere.

Web site for Code Pink

Web site for End the Occupation

Update of photos from the rally on my blog, Dancewater.