CODEPINK
Rocked the Parties by Bringing the Peace
Message to the Election Race 2008
Conventions
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As
John McCain made his acceptance speech at
the RNC, two CODEPINK
women-Liz Hourican and Nancy Mancias interrupted
his speech by calling for an
end to the occupation of Iraq. The previous
evening, CODEPINK
co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans
were dragged
from the Republican National Convention
after disrupting Sarah Palin's speech.
Both CODEPINK teams were shocked by the
magnitude of sheer, raw, hatred channeled
in their direction. Even before they stood
up to say "Palin
is Not a Woman's Choice", they
felt great animosity emanating from the
hall; they felt it in the delegates' chanting
of "Drill, Baby Drill"
from the floor, and in the vicious
rhetoric of the speeches on stage.
And of course all of us in St. Paul felt
the threat of brutality on the streets as
we faced row upon row of police in full
riot gear and watched police raid non-violent
peace gatherings. Four CODEPINKers
were arrested at the RNC, as were hundreds
of other protestors, many of whom are still
in custody (or whose belongings have not
been returned upon release.)
Please
support those arrested by contacting the
Mayor of Minneapolis, R.T. Rybak, by phone
(612-673-2100)
or email (c/o helen.simrill@ci.minneoplis.mnuf)
and the Mayor of St. Paul, Chris Coleman
(651-266-8510)
to demand the release of detained protestors
and their belongings, and the dismissal
of all charges against peaceful protesters.
The
Republican Party may tout itself as "Pro-Life",
but it clearly promotes violence against
both people and nature. How can you call
yourself Pro-Life when you destroy our natural
resources and send our children off to die
in an unjust, illegal war? How can you speak
about being Pro-Life when a US-led air strike
killed dozens of innocent children in Afghanistan
during the week of the conventions?
All
over the RNC, we worked to reclaim the phrase
"pro-life" and bring our message of peaceMedea
Benjamin even disrupted a Phyllis Schlafly
"Life of the Party" talk with a sign reading
"Be Pro-Life--Stop
War!"
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