Peace is Pink

Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans, and Diane Wilson were worried. They were a bit alarmed by the new Department of Homeland Security's terror-threat warning system, with it's red, orange, yellow alerts. These were the colors of fear for children today. What color would peace be? Pink!

About 100 women gathered and formed a new peace organization: CODEPINK. The group's first action was to organize a march for peace and a vigil at the White House on November 17, 2002. They continued to hold the vigil until International Women's Day, March 8, 2003. Since then, they have become "a worldwide network of women and men committed to working for peace and social justice," according their website ( www.codepink4peace.org ).

"There are over 80 active CODEPINK communities," the web site says. "Some groups have 10 participants, others have over 100. Each groups acts autonomously of CODEPINK Central." CODEPINK Central links the local groups to each other and to other peacebuilding organizations. It sends out action alerts (e-mail messages that tell subscribers about ways to work for peace) and publicizes protests and vigils around the country.

Members of CODEPINK are particularly alarmed at the amount of money spent on war as opposed to the amount of money spent on keeping people healthy. "Our leaders tell us we that we can easily afford hundreds of billions of dollars for this war," the group's manifesto reads. "But in the United States of America, many of our elders who have worked hard all their lives now must choose whether to buy their prescription drugs or food. Our children's education is eroded. The air they breathe and the water they drink are polluted. Vast numbers of women and children live in poverty."

The CODEPINK website asks the question, "If we cannot afford health care, quality education and quality of life, how can we afford to squander our resources in attacking another country? We face real threats every day: the illness or ordinary accident that could plunge us into poverty, the violence on our own streets, the corporate corruption that can result in the loss of our jobs, our pensions, and our security."

The big current project being planned is a march for peace on March 19, 2005, a Worldwide Day of Action. It's the second anniversary of the beginning of the current war in Iraq. For more information, go to www.codepink4peace.org .

Catholic Connections

"Peacemaking is not an optional commitment. It is a requirement of our faith. We are called to be peacemakers, not by some movement of the moment, but by our Lord Jesus. The content and context of our peacemaking is set, not by some political agenda or ideological program, but by the teaching of his Church."
-- The United States Bishops, The Challenge of Peace, #333

Reflection Questions

Why do you think that governments all over the world have departments of war/defense but not departments of peace?

Join us in our Forum to discuss these questions!