At White House and then Congress, CODEPINK Deflates the Pentagon Budget: |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE When: November 14, 2012
9 am In
front of the White House, meeting at the northwest gate at Pennsylvania
and Jackson (across the street from the Blair House).
12 noon
At Congress in front of the Cannon House Office Building at 200 New
Jersey Ave SE, at the corner of New Jersey and Independence.
Visuals: Giant Pentagon that gets downsized, demonstration with pots and pans
On November 14th at 9:00 am, CODEPINK will be at the White House gates holding a pots and pans casserole demonstration to “wake up” our newly elected officials to the need to downsize the Pentagon budget so we can fund critical social programs and reverse global warming. There will be an 8 foot by 8 foot Pentagon, bloated with balloons, that will be deflated to a sustainable size by cutting wars, waste, overseas bases and worthless weapons. Afterwards, there will be a press conference on a People's Peace and Justice Agenda featuring speakers from different ally groups. The People's Peace and Justice Platform includes pushing for a more swift withdrawal from Afghanistan, reversing the dangerous drone attacks that have proliferated under Obama's first term, averting a war with Iran and upholding Palestinian rights. CODEPINK calls on President Obama to redirect the billions of dollars in the bloated military budget into life-affirming activities, such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, green jobs and more. In
the wake of President Obama's reelection, the peace group CODEPINK
offers a critical analysis of the president's first four years and lays
out serious demands for his next four. Marking its 10-year anniversary,
CODEPINK has been in the streets, in front of the White House, and the
halls of Congress during both the Bush and Obama administrations. The
peace group vows to persist until the agenda of the global movement for
peace and justice becomes a meaningful part of this nation's policies.
“If
we sit around and wait for Obama to get us out of these wars, it will
never happen because there is such a strong pro-war corporate lobby,”
says CODEPINK cofounder Jodie Evans. “That's why CODEPINK will be out in
front of the White House and Congress—with our pots and pans—starting
next week. In this austerity age where people all over the country are
becoming economically disenfranchised, we literally cannot afford such
an enormously expensive military apparatus."
CODEPINK
had been building strong opposition to Obama's drone wars, including a
recent delegation to Pakistan, a national speaking tour, and an
international summit in DC. “The President has significantly ramped up
covert drone attacks around the world, which has resulted in the spread
of anti-Americanism and proved detrimental to our national security,”
says Medea Benjamin, author of Drone Warfare. “We have plans to
ramp up our protests and make a significant reversal in Obama's lethal
drone policy that has killed and terrorized so many innocent people in
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, and is now planning to move
into north Africa.”
The
demonstration will be followed by visits to offices of Congresspeople
most responsible for the ongoing militarization of our foreign policy.
For a listing of CODEPINK actions responding to the election and celebrating the group's 10 year anniversary, please visit www.codepink.org/
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