August 18, 2004
JOIN CODEPINK AT THE
WOMEN'S PEACE RALLY AND MARCH, Madison Square Park, 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue, NY
Sunday, AUGUST 29, 10:00 AM
Join us for a vibrant women's peace rally and a loud and colorful march that will become the "women's contingent" in the massive United for Peace and Justice anti-war march. Bring signs and other creative gear, and wear pink!
Code Pink to Protest at the RNC
from CodePink4Peace
August 18,
2004
What do the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News, Los Angeles Times and the New York Post have in common? They all covered CODEPINK's exciting action in New York City yesterday, just one of many that are in the works for the Republican National Convention!
Just as New York Mayor Bloomberg and former NY Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins were announcing a program to "welcome" RNC protesters by offering them discounts at restaurants and museums, our CODEPINK team attempted to give Mayor Bloomberg one of our "pink slips" by hanging a huge pink banner out a window of the Sheraton Hotel, across the street from the press conference. The banner read: "They Say Welcome, We Say Where? 8/29 Central Park?" to point out the hypocrisy in "welcoming" the RNC protesters while refusing to give them a rally permit for the huge event on August 29.
Even more ironic, as they were "welcoming" us, we were being arrested as we peacefully tried to unfurl our banner. As Colleen Galbraith, one of the four CODEPINK activists who was arrested said, "I find it the height of hypocrisy that the Mayor is unveiling an NYC welcome mat to protestors, at the same moment the city is authorizing the arrest of four peaceful women trying to oppose New York's egregious censorship of free speech. New York City has denied not only the United for Peace and Justice Central Park rally permit, but has systematically made it virtually impossible for activists to speak out in public space, print media, and public art."
To read the press release and news on the action, go to http://www.codepinkalert.org/
Although we never got the banner fully unfurled, and although they are making it very difficult for us to speak out against the Bush agenda in New York City, we certainly got our message out today in hundreds of media outlets around the world: CODEPINK does not need discounts at Applebee's; we need our First Amendment rights!
We also need an administration that sets a course for peace, not a group of war mongers running our government! Which is why it is so very important that you try to join us in New York, to upstage the Republican National Convention with a peace and justice message that cannot be ignored. The eyes of the nation and the world will be upon us during the RNC, and we will have a rare opportunity to shape public opinion about the Iraq war and other crucial issues going into the November election.
LET US KNOW IF YOU'RE COMING TO NEW YORK
We'd love to know how many CODEPINK activists are coming to New York to protest during the RNC and how we can get in touch with you. If you are coming to New York, please register to let us know: http://www.codepink.kintera.org/RNC
IF YOU CAN'T MAKE IT, PLEASE ORGANIZE LOCAL ANTI-WAR ACTIONS ON AUGUST 29
If you cannot make it to New York City for the RNC, we join United for Peace and Justice in urging you to organize local August 29 actions of any and all sorts. It will be very powerful to have hundreds of local actions to amplify our demand to bring the troops home now and reject the entire Bush Agenda.
Target the local Bush/Cheney campaign headquarters, the Republican Party offices or whatever venue works best in your town. Hold marches, demonstrations, vigils or teach ins. Fill the local airwaves with antiwar messages. We already know of actions being planned in Chicago, IL; San Luis Obispo, CA; Santa Fe, NM; and Detroit Lakes, MN &endash; but how about we aim for actions in every single state!
With the country and the people of the world watching, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make our voices heard!
Please post your event at http://www.unitedforpeace.org and email us at info@codepinkalert.org so the whole world will know of your participation.
In peace,
Andrea, Bonnie, Claire, Colleen, Danielle, Gael, Jodie, Lora, Medea,Tiffany http://www.codepinkalert.org/
P.S. We still need your donations to support this critical work. Please help out if you can: http://www.donate.kintera.org/codepink