A Press Conference will be held at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, to allow our community's many peace-minded groups to offer prepared statements in response to the Saturday Safeway Massacre targeting Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Representatives from CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Physicians for Social Responsibility, AZ4NORML, the Tikkun Community & Jewish Voice for Peace, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee-Tucson Chapter, Middle East Justice Now!, the independent producer of Access TV's Lovolution Village, Women's International League of Peace and Freedom, Tucson's Raging Grannies, and a growing list of other Tucson peace activists will be on hand to offer statements and answer questions. Read CODEPINK Tuscon's statement here.

WHEN:  12:00 Noon, Tuesday, January 11, 2011
WHERE: University Medical Center, 1501 North Campbell Ave., Tucson, AZ  85724

Background: CODEPINK was born out of the 9/11 terror attacks.  When the twin towers fell, the Department of Homeland Security responded by adopting a color code to alert air travels of the degree of danger – air travelers hear it is a “Code Orange” or “Code Yellow” day while awaiting their pat-downs down.

But our administration forgot to include a color for peace.  So Code Pink: Women for Peace was born in 2002 with the mission to use creative ways to call for peace to replace terror in our lives.

CODEPINK's goal is to redirect military spending into life-affirming endeavors; consider for a moment whether spending $1,121,000,000,000 that Congress has approved for military operations, base security, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans' health care since the 9/11 attacks[1] has benefitted our people.  The Washington Post reported in 1993 there were 500 Taliban fighters, but in 2010 there were 25,000[2], or a 50 fold increase in less than a decade.  Our massive military spending has not made us safer.

CODEPINK invites all those who are interested in working locally to promote peaceful alternatives to join together to alleviate the grief and to supplant violence with more sustainable alternatives.

[1] Congressional Research Service http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf
[2] Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/06/AR2011010602522.html