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 Dear CODEPINKer,
What
a time for celebration! We
have a new House of Representatives! Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi,
hailing from one of the most anti-war districts in the country,
is the new Speaker of the House. Most likely the Senate has also
changed hands. AND, best of all, Donald Rumsfeld
is out. The liars, manipulators, and warmongers are starting
to lose their grip on this country. And much of this tidal wave
of change is due to you and to all of us in the peace movement,
so let's take a moment to thank each other.
In our CODEPINK family, we want to
thank the dozens of local groups who gathered hundreds of shoes
representing Iraqis who have died, and brought them to key
races throughout the country to say "Walk
in their Shoes: Vote for a Change of Course."
 We
want to thank the over
1,000 peacemakers who stood outside churches, movie theaters,
shopping malls, farmers markets and concerts collecting pledges
for Give Peace a Vote.
Kudos to those who held house parties showing the films Iraq for
Sale and Ground Truth as a way to educate and motivate their friends
to take action.
Of
course, many of you have been working to educate and motivate Americans
to oppose this war for the past four years! We want to thank those
of you who came out again and again to the peace rallies and vigils,
who lobbied their congressional offices, who did sit-ins and risked
arrest to show the depth of your convictions. Think of all those
times we stood out in the cold, in the rain, in the broiling heat,
often in small numbers, feeling insignificant and marginalized.
Your persistence--our
persistence--is starting to pay off.
 We
also want to thank the soldiers turned war resisters, the military
families speaking out against the war, and the whistleblowers inside
the government. They inspire us with their courage and deep
sense of patriotism. We want to thank the
Iraqi women who took the risk of coming to the United States
on our Listen to Iraqi Women speaking tour, traveling from city
to city to tell their heart-wrenching stories of life in Iraq today
and why they want our troops to leave. All these efforts have moved
the American public from passively accepting this war to vigorously
demanding a new policy.
Sure, we've got LOTS more to do. The
Democrats will be reluctant to call for the troops to come home
and to cut off funds for further war making. The new Secretary of
Defense will pretend there is truly a strategy for "victory"
in Iraq, rather than a strategy for ending the occupation and promoting
an Iraqi reconciliation plan. But the tide is turning, and we must
pause to celebrate what we have accomplished.
 So
in this month of Thanksgiving, why not take a moment this week to
thank someone in your community who has worked for peace? Perhaps
it's a person new to activism who needs some encouragement, or an
old-timer who serves as a role model to you. Perhaps it's a local
member of the press who has truly helped educate the public, or
maybe a family member who has supported you in YOUR
activism. Just look around and you'll see someone deserving of a
nice call or note, some flowers or chocolate-whatever way you want
to say thanks.
And
please accept our thanks and gratitude for your love and support,
Andrea, Anedra, Dana, Farida, Gael, Gayle,
Jodie, Laura, Liz, Medea, Nancy, Patricia, Rae, Samantha, and Sonia
P.S.
Don't forget to forward this message and thank the person!
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