FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    CONTACT  Medea Benjamin, 415-235-6517
                                                                  Joan Stallard, 202-422-6275

CODEPINK brings peace message to Military Arms Exhibit on Washington Mall
Celebrates Mothers Day with an “Arms are for hugging” message and peace fair

WHAT: CODEPINK brings peace message to US Armed Services exhibit on Washington Mall
WHEN: Saturday, May 8. Rally first from 2-3pm at Peace Festival (the entire festival is from 1-5p) , 3:30pm media event at military exhibit
WHERE: CODEPINK will leave from their Peace Festival--John Marshall Place Park, 4th St. & Pennsylvania Ave. NW and head to the Military Arms Exhibit-- Jefferson Drive NW. between 4th and 7th (center of Mall) GOOD VISUALS and AUDIO*

WASHINGTON – This Mother's Day weekend, the U.S. Armed Forces is hosting its annual weapons exhibit on the Washington Mall, encouraging parents to bring their children to play with the weapons.

CODEPINK women, bringing the energy from their peace festival with comedian Roseanne Barr at John Marshall Place Park, will move at 3pm to the military fair, calling for a celebration of life and peace, not weapons and warfare.

“It saddens us that every year the military holds a war machine exhibit on Mother's Day. This is a slap in the face to all peace-loving mothers around the world who work to shield their children from the tragic effects of war,” says CODEPINK Cofounder Medea Benjamin. “It violates the original intent of Mother's Day, which was a call for peace, a call to disarm and build a world without violence.”

Roseanne Barr will be joining the group and performing her One Taxpaying Mothers Manifesto at the John Marshall Park. “The solutions that I will offer, free of charge,” she says, “if implemented immediately can save hundreds of thousands of people from the complete and utter doom that is encircling and expanding over the earth right now. All of my solutions to end war, hunger and disease can be paid for with just one month of America and Israel's combined military budgets."

The women will hand out “Arms are for hugging” stickers in and around the Military Arms Exhibit. They will carry their 150-foot banner created out of 6,000 knitted squares, knitted by women around the world, that takes an excerpt from the original 1870 Mothers Day Proclamation, "We will not raise our children to kill another mother's child." There will also be singing and dancing to counter the message of war with the message of joy.

For more details, please contact Medea Benjamin at 415-235-6517 or medea@globalexchange.org