we interrupt this message
Four years ago, at the Democratic and Republican Conventions, CODEPINK broke through the “national security state” by making our way onto the convention floors with our anti-war message. After four more years of perfecting this national security state, the security measures are as hollow as ever. On the third day of the Republican convention, when Sarah Palin was speaking, Jodie Evans and I made our way towards the podium–so close that we stood right next to the woman who was doing the signing for the hearing impaired. We stripped down to our “Palin: Not a Women’s Choice” pink slips and called out “We need a Peace Vice President” before being hauled off.
The word was out that because of our interruption, there would be a much tighter security set-up for the following night when John McCain would be giving his acceptance speech. But CODEPINK members Nancy Mancias and Liz Hourican, plus Iraq veteran Adam Kokesh, were able to slip in easily. Adam stood boldly with his sign that said “You can’t win an occupation” on one side and “McCain votes against Vets” on the other. Nancy and Liz ran up the aisle with their McCain=More War banners and pink slips, creating such a scene that McCain was forced to stop and tell the audience to ignore the “ground noise and static.” So much for the national security state. If they can’t even secure a convention with millions and millions of taxdollars, how can they secure our nation?
At CODEPINK we believe in bringing the peace message to all venues, and we did quite a job of that at the conventions. In Denver, we upset quite a few Democratic women when we interrupted Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking why she didn’t stop funding the war and why she didn’t support impeaching George Bush. In St. Paul we upset quite a lot of Republican women when we jumped on the stage during a “Pro-Life” rally sponsored by Eagle Forum’s Phyllis Schlafly to hand Schlafly a poster saying “Be Pro-Life, Stop War.”
After over 5 years of war, with thousands and thousands of dead, we are beyond politeness. In fact, our motto has moved from “Silence is complicity” to “Politeness is Complicity.” We’re sorry if we make some people uncomfortable, but tell that to the mothers–here, in Iraq, in Afghanistan–who have lost their children. We’ll stop interrupting this message once the message has changed from one of war and hate to peace and love…
Medea
September 6th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Medea, if you and your friends have taught me nothing over the last two weeks, you have taught me how my mother felt when I bought that motorcycle. Ever since Alicia took that hit in Denver I’ve had white knuckles everytime I see a new blog entry. I look forward to seeing you all safe and sound at next week’s potluck.
PS-Any word on Kathryn Milholland?
September 6th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
taking back the words pro-life is brillant. you are right, politeness is complicity.
im proud of you all.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:30 am
For shame! The mainstream media, (even Jon Stewart & Steven Colbert), never reported on the preemptive arrests in private homes; the horrendous use of force by all kinds of police and security brigades: tasers, tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, baton beatings, handcuffed in face-grinding positions for hours, detained and harassed for 36 hours or more, charged with felonies when videos show that they were innocent, etc. etc.
Only our dear, fearless, wonder women seem to get through to the millions. I am humbled by your CODEPINK courage, and creativity. Pink light protection to us all!
September 7th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I’m sure this won’t make the comments list but some of us would like to hear you respond to this allegation:
http://www.foundingbloggers.com/wordpress/2008/09/audio-with-indiana-delegate-who-was-victim-of-code-pink-identity-theft/
Did you do the same thing the next night?
If you stole the badge, how can you criticize security? And if you had been pressured to prove you were who your badge said would you now be up in arms over a loss of your “civil liberties”?
September 7th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Thanks for all of this. Peace.
September 7th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Woo Haa! Great post and great work to those who got in and got their voices heard. This pic was on the front page of Digg with lots of votes and views. http://tinyurl.com/64bhh7 Thanks for not bein too polite.
September 8th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Dear Structured Ramblings,
The photo of Jodie Evans with the badge of Annie Eckrich was NOT from the RNC it was from an event earlier that day with Phyllis Schlafly at her “Life of the Party” party.
The badges for the Xcel Center were not simple sticker labels but plastic neck badges (if they had been, there likely would have been more interruptions). Annie Eckrich notes in a post on the People’s Press Collective that she had her badges with her the entire time and that would be correctly stated, as no one from CODEPINK stole her badge to infiltrate Palin’s or McCain’s speech. We find (not too) surprising that Annie Eckrich was hunted down for comment but as far as we know no one has tried to contact Jodie Evans about how she came upon the badge.
CODEPINK contact info is located on our site at http://www.codepinkalert.org/contactus.php
September 9th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
That explains where the stolen name tag was photographed but not what means were used to get in or if the name tag was worn at the RNC. Stolen?
How about faked?
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/2041291/posts
My question still stands. If you fake passes are honestly you criticizing security for not catching it? I noticed someone complaining that anyone wearing pink was subjected to more intense searching. You create the problem and then dare complain about it?
September 10th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Medea,
When i was watching the Republican Convention I saw the banner that Adam showed us. I could not believe what I saw when the camera focused on it and I cheered. Then the camera scanned the banner once again, and then a third time. You could not get any better exposure by CNN.
Liz was involved with the commotion that took place while McCain was trying to talk. PERFECT..WTG, Liz.
Love you Code Pinkers!!!
Deb
September 13th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
When Nancy made it almost to the podium you could here my wife and I
screaming a block away. Hats off to you. Watching you go into the Heart of the Beast helped firm up my resolve to stop this war machine at any cost. Also some good new for those of you who were at the RNC. Tom Heffelfinger has been appointed to head up an independant investigation of the police at the RNC. He is a very honest man who was US attorney who resigned rather than play along with Bushco. This over the top security was put in place to suppress first amendment rights. I have talked with many people who were scared off, and some that suffered from police brutality for no reason other than intimidation. Also the main stream media coverage was horendous-but I expected that.
September 15th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Hi all,
I wanted to remind you of one clause of our comment policy:
“We will not tolerate cruel, degrading, disgusting or abusive language about any one, so don’t bother wasting your time because it will not be posted.”
In other words, any misogynistic, homophobic, racist, or plain name-calling comments will not be posted. This is a similar policy to other major well-respected Web sites, including NYTimes.com and CNN.com. Thanks!