Remind Congress of the Mandate for Peace - Contact Your Congressional Representatives

The people spoke out through the 2006 mid-term election: we want peace! By voting out pro-war candidates and changing control over Congress, we issued a mandate for new policies that promote peace and international cooperation. Now we want action. Call your Representatives and Senators (202-224-3121), email them, schedule meetings with them, and lobby them in Washington, DC. Urge them to take action in their earliest days in office to pass legislation requiring the prompt removal of all US troops from Iraq and discontinue funding for military purposes in Iraq, except the safe withdrawal of all US forces.

Get Out On the Street in Washington, DC! Join the CODEPINK anti-war mobilization on Jan. 27-29

Although the voters spoke out loud and clear during the mid-term election, there's reason to be concerned that Congress is not listening. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi did not include Iraq among the items that Congress will address immediately in its first 100 hours in office; she also said that the idea of ending funding for this endless war is off the table. Senator John McCain advocates sending yet more troops to Iraq, and it looks like this is just what George Bush is going to do. Apparently, the only thing some people in Washington DC will understand is hundreds of thousands of people in the streets and the halls of Congress. Join us as we bring the Mandate for Peace to Washington, DC with a march on Saturday, January 27th and lobby day on Monday, January 29th. Spread the word!

Get the Media's Attention for the Peace Movement

The majority of Americans are telling pollsters they want the troops to come home from Iraq immediately or within the year. But you would never know that from the media coverage of the war. Even after the Iraq Study Group recommended only a partial withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq by 2008, most sources interviewed to analyze the ISG report insisted that a troop withdrawal timeline was out of the question. We need to press the media to include the voices of people who want an end to the war in their coverage. Here's what you can do: write letters to the editor in response to articles in Iraq. Whenever an article describes the destruction in chaos in Iraq, you can point out in your letter that this is one of the reasons why a majority of Americans want the troops to come home now. You can also call in to talk radio shows when Iraq is being discussed and remind listeners of the basic facts: more than 3,000 US soldiers have been killed, some 650,000 Iraqis have been killed, and Iraq is a mess. It's not hard to get on the air to tell listeners that not only a majority of Americans but also a vast majority of Iraqis say they want the US troops to leave Iraq.

Get Out on the Streets in Your Local Community - Organize a Protest to Mark the 4-Year Anniversary of the War on March 17-19

Has it really been four years of war? Yes, it has. And here are the other numbers: 3,000+ US troops killed; more than 22,000 US troops injured; approximately 650,000 Iraqis killed; nearly $380 billion dollars spent on war and destruction instead of programs that would support the basic human needs of people in the US and Iraq. The war has lasted longer than World War II and has cost more than the Vietnam War. Four years is way too long. Start organizing now for a rally, march, vigil, civil disobedience, or other event in your local community to mark the four-year anniversary of this tragedy. Hundreds of local communities are expected to participate on March 17-19th. Visit our website soon for more information and ideas.

Increase the Visibility of the Peace Message

Some people are walking billboards for companies like Nike and the Gap. Why not be a walking billboard for the peace movement instead? We have anti-war t-shirts and buttons you can purchase online Put a "bring the troops home now" bumper sticker on your car or bicycle. Or a sign in the window of your home or business. You can also do high-visibility actions that require help from just a few friends or family members. Hang a banner off of a freeway overpass or out the window of a building, hold posters up at street corners, or create a real human billboard (each person holds one letter on posterboard so that everyone standing side-by-side forms a slogan like "Congress: End the War NOW." Other visual events include displaying flag-draped coffins representing the number of soldiers from your state who've been killed in the war, or displaying shoes that represent Iraqi victims of the war (see our Walk in Their Shoes exhibition). Download and post our web buttons and banners on your website and blog: CODEPINK buttons, Mandate for Peace buttons, Give Peace a Vote buttons, Listen Hillary buttons.

Donate to Your Favorite Peace Group: CODEPINK!

If there was ever a time that we need your support, it's now. We need to take the momentum from the mid-term election and turn it into a real policy change in Iraq. We need to constantly be organizing people to rally, lobby and otherwise insist on action from Congress. CodePink does creative, high-profile actions like banner hangs and interruptions of speeches by war hawks; brings the voices of Iraqis into the US; raise the voices of anti-war Iraq veterans; and organizes anti-war voters. If you are a local CODEPINK chapter, don't forget to check out our fundraising tips here.

Connect the Issues

While we focus our energy and creativity on ending the Iraq war, we must broaden our thinking to consider the policies related to the war on terrorism that are harming people inside and outside Iraq as well as the policies that led us into the war in the first place. Issues related to the Iraq war include the conflict in Israel and Palestine, which has inflamed anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East and all over the world; the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay and other prisons; and the US addiction to foreign oil, among others. In 2007, educate yourself on these related issues and take some action - however small - to remedy these wrongs as well as the wrong of the Iraq war. Upcoming possibilities for action in these areas include the January 11th international day of action to shut down Guantanamo and the June 5th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which is often an international day of protest. (See www.endtheoccupation.org for more information.) To find out what you can do to help the US declare independence from oil, click here.

Educate, Educate, Educate

As recently as July 2006, a Harris Interactive poll showed that sixty-four percent of respondents said Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al Qaeda, and 50 percent of respondents said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the US invaded. Clearly there is massive educational work to be done. Aside from reaching people through the media, there are dozens of other ways to educate people about the Iraq war. Here are just a few of them: hand out flyers - outside grocery stores, at bus stops, outside concerts and at any other locations where large numbers of people congregate. You can make your own flyer or download one of these: Mandate for Peace Flyers, CODEPINK Mission Accomplished Flyers, CODEPINK Book Study Guide and Flyers, CODEPINK Counter Recruitment Flyers, CODEPINK Listen Hillary Flyers, CODEPINK Downing Street Memogate Flyers, Global Exchange It's Time To End the military Occupation of Iraq flyer, Peace Action It's Time to End the War on Iraq flyer, Institute for Policy Studies Iraq Cost of War Fact Sheet Updated, War Times Iraq: "Stay the Course" or Get Out Now? And Be All You Can Be: Don't Enlist flyers. The next step after flyering is tabling - set up a table at a community event (street fair, music concert, lobby of a movie theater) and offer various anti-war flyers, posters, petitions, and other materials. Another great way to educate people is by organizing an event. Invite a military family member, Iraq war veteran, Iraqi human rights activist or peace activist to speak in your community. Check out Global Exchange's Speakers Bureau for a list of speakers.

Counter the Military Recruiters; Recruit for Peace

Military recruiters are in almost every school in the United States, encouraging young people to join the armed services. Recruiters particularly target campuses in low-income communities and communities of color, where they offer young people economic incentives to join the military without disclosing the truth about the reality of war. They promise money for education and exciting jobs, a message that appeals to young people with limited opportunities. We have a right to be in the schools too! Ask to be able to make a presentation about alternatives to war on the same day that military recruiters are going to make their presentation. Hand out flyers at schools telling students what's left out of the recruiters' talks. Tell parents that they can instruct the school not to give their child's home contact information to military recruiters. For more information, see CODEPINK's list of groups and resources on military recruitment or the American Friends Service Committee's Youth and Militarism website.

Take Your Commitment to the Next Level: Join Occupation Project!

Whether you've been opposing the war since it started or you decided recently that no number of additional troops or funds will bring peace to Iraq, it's time to take your commitment to the next level. If we don't put more time, energy and effort into bringing this war to an end, it's just going to continue. If you've donated money to peace groups before and sent emails to your Congressional representatives, now is the time for you to organize a house party to raise more money for peace groups from all your friends and co-workers or to schedule a visit with someone in your Congressional representative's office. If you've been to dozens of protests, then now is the time to consider civil disobedience - maybe instead of just protesting outside of your Congress member's office, you should sit in and refuse to leave until he/she listens to the will of the voters and votes to end funding for the war. (Check out the Occupation Project.) And if all you've ever done before is read articles and emails criticizing the war, now is the time for you to take some kind of action - make a phone call to your Congressperson, write a letter to the editor, donate to your favorite peace group: CODEPINK! But four years into this war, it's time to do something - in fact, it's time to do as much as you can afford to do on a personal, financial and spiritual level.