Did your Congressperson vote for the "Out of Iraq" McGovern bill? If not, call your Congressperson NOW and demand to know why s/he is not supporting a peace strategy. Call your Congressperson today at: (800) 828-0498

Photo by JoFreeman.com

May 15, 2007

Dear CODEPINKer,

This past week, CODEPINK reclaimed Mother's Day with powerful actions in Congress, a Women's Congress at our DC Activist House, and a beautiful Peace Festival with hundreds of families and kids of all ages in front of the White House. One mom told us her experience in DC "served as kindling...it generated a fire and marks the beginning of my involvement in the peace movement in a more active sense."

Over 50 cities, from Casper, Wyoming to New York City, NY joined our call to action with peace vigils, pink flix house parties, picnics, parades, and more! See local action reports, read our blog and check out our latest photos. Thousands signed our Mother's Day Pledge and we delivered it to Congress last Friday. We're still receiving dozens of envelopes with pledge signatures daily--keep 'em coming! Julia Ward Howe would be proud of our Mother's Day actions and the inspiration and nurturing we bring to our communities!

Last week also marked another crucial turning point in our anti-war work. Congress had a chance to reflect the overwhelming public sentiment against the war in Iraq by voting on a bill that calls for troops to begin withdrawal in 90 days and complete it in 180 days. We were delighted to see 171 members of Congress vote for the bill, including the vast majority of Democrats and two Republicans. This is a victory for the anti-war movement--these votes were cast due to our non-stop pressure in the halls of Congress and districts around the country! To our great dismay, 59 Democrats refused to vote for an orderly redeployment of troops from Iraq. Six out of ten Americans want a timetable for withdrawal; among Democrats, that figure rises to over 90%. Moreover, a majority of the Iraqi Parliament just voted on a resolution for a timetable for withdrawal of US troops.

We are calling on these 59 Democrats to listen to their constituents, change their positions and support a speedy withdrawal of our troops by the end of 2007. Join us in calling for the troops to come home by the holidays!

Did your representative vote for McGovern's bill? If so, call to thank her or him for voting Yes!

If not, hold your elected official responsible today by calling, faxing, and making an appointment to visit the office with the message that this No vote is unacceptable! After you've made your outreach, let us know their response so that we can better address their resistance to bring the troops home: reportback@codepinkalert.org.

Call your Congressperson today at (800) 828-0498.

Our representatives work for us; let's hold them accountable! Together, we can keep the pressure on Congress to bring our troops home by the holidays.

As Gloria Steinem wrote to CODEPINK on Mother's Day, "To mother is to care about the welfare of another person as much as one's own… So perhaps what Julia Ward Howe had in mind when she created this day in 1870 - a day of opposing war and uniting for peace - was not so much a Mother's Day as a Mothering Day; a day that reminds us all, whether we are young or old, male or female, of the possibilities within us. I thank Julia and I thank each of you. Forever more, we will be reminded that peace is not just the absence of war, but the presence and possibility of mothering." (Read full letter here)

Mothering for peace,
Dana, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jodie, Lori, Medea, Melissa, Midge, Nancy, Patricia, Rae, Samantha, and Sonia

P.S. Bring your message directly to your rep in DC! Join us for a week this summer as we swarm Congress, and stay at the DC Activist House! Click here for details.