Yesterday afternoon, a Republican friend of CODEPINK bequeathed upon Jodie Evans one ticket to Sarah Palin's acceptance speech last night at the Republican National Convention. This small act of generosity and support for the group's message -- come on, if you invite CODEPINK somewhere they will eventually be escorted out -- has inserted some sanity into the discussion of the McCain Palin ticket. "Sarah Palin is not a woman's choice," the phrase, is still echoing around the Xcel Center, the CNN Newsroom, the streets of St. Paul, and the breakfast tables of America.
Evans "dressed up" last night -- temporarily covered up her pink outfit with black, put her trademark red hair in a bun on the top of her head, and went off to the event accompanied by another cofounder of the group, Medea Benjamin. (The day before, Benjamin had interrupted Phyllis Schafly appearance at a pro-life event hilariously called Life of the Party, and the mid-50s albeit not terribly tall blonde woman was referred to as "young," by the press.) The two entered the hall shortly before Palin's speech began, stripped off their outer layers, and revealed their message:
Women say no to war. Palin is not a woman's choice. Women need a peace vice president.
Palin -- beautiful, composed, mother of five -- was momentarily distracted from her speech, which veiled her promise to turn the blind support of women voters into continued wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, heightened aggression with Pakistan and Iran, general support for the NRA, and a continued stripping away of our ever-dwindling reproductive rights. She presents a violent vision for our future, that will affect our lives on an international, national, and very individual, scope. Delivered in a pretty, palatable package.
'Course, Evans and Benjamin make a pretty package of their own. (More photos here and here and here and here.) As we looked at the photos from the action last night, we joked that they looked like Activist Midge and Activist Skipper. Composed, strong, and flashing the peace sign even as their mouths are covered by Secret Service and they're manhandled out the door.
It's not the only action the group undertook yesterday that ended in clashes with officials. Four other seasoned activists with CODEPINK were arrested during a peaceful protest committing deliberate acts of civil disobedience. Nancy Mancias was among them, a brilliant, composed, fearless activist I admire. She's been doing this work for a long time. I wasn't aware that morning that the group of four had planned on the arrests, but -- well, these are women that know where the line is.
I took a moment to chat with Mancias on the long ride back to CPHQ after our exhausting day yesterday. I asked her, "When did you decide to commit an act that, a few days earlier, had gotten four Veterans For Peace activists arrested in the exact same location?"
"After my nap," she responded. Mancias is an olive-skinned woman with wild curly hair, often wearing a slip with the succinct message, "Love Not War." She's been a popular media target, photographed making puppets, shouting into megaphones, and waltzing along the street with her pretty pink peace parasol.
She'd decided to "cross the line" during her month-long stay in Minnesota, when she watched a city she lived in a decade ago slowly overtaken by corporate and conservative interests in the run-up to the RNC. But earlier yesterday in the same march, she'd had an opportunity for arrest--meaning, both media and police were closely watching her actions--but it "didn't feel right." The CODEPINK contingent traveled back to the convention center fence where the VFP activists had been arrested, and without voicing a plan, began tying ribbons to it, singing, and then skedaddling under it.
And although the arrest was efficient, the officers polite, and the four were processed and out the door again in time for dinner (unusually humane treatment here at the hands of the police--could it be that they're deliberately targeting anarchists?), the four created a symbol: A clear, pinked-up visual message that certain individuals aren't welcome in this republic.
And many of them are women.
As a postscript to the action of last night, however, there have been repercussions. The Republican's small act of generosity was punished when s/he had all passes revoked for tonight's event. (They are marked with the intended user's name, presumably to respond to incidents like this.) S/he had 200 tickets for tonight, intended for a Republican youth group. So 200 young supporters are no longer able to participate either. It must cause us to question if this is a system that works for almost anyone involved.
But here, as Gloria Steinem writes this in this morning's LA Times, is "the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president."
It's going to take some smart, headstrong activist models to remind us, though, that this is not enough: we also need strong international and domestic policies that support diplomacy and democracy. And we need to allow input on these from all arenas: be they anarchists or pink-clad ladies. Until these are images as accessible as those of our beauty-queen VP candidate, we won't be able to claim access to choices for women.
Watch me tonight on Free Speech TV punditing the McCain acceptance speech -- if you can call open-mouthed gaping "punditing."
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I'm really glad these women are stepping up and speaking out against Palin. She'll rip apart our rights as females.
During the RNC coverage on WNET NY 13 was fantastic. They showed a woman being escorted out of the arena. I was pretty shocked and happy to see the coverage.
Again, many thanks to these women who are making their voices heard in a peaceful manner.
I'm really glad these women are stepping up and speaking out against Palin. She'll rip apart our rights as females.
The RNC coverage on WNET NY 13 was fantastic. They showed a woman being escorted out of the arena. I was pretty shocked and happy to see the coverage.
Again, many thanks to these women who are making their voices heard in a peaceful manner.
It's not everyday a drug felon gets this kind of media attention. I wonder if she would have gotten the publicity and coverage had her son not gotten the governor of Alaska's daughter pregnant. Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin's daughter, got pregnant earlier this year before Sarah's nomination for the Republican Vice Presidency. Poor Sarah, she has come under quite a lot of bedroom furniture scrutiny lately but I think she has done a good job rolling with the punches and will roll with this one too.
God CodePink is awesome.
I was watching MSNBC, hoping to hear Rachel Maddow's take on the speeches, and they barely showed one of them being escorted out, but not her dress or anything. Mainstream news sucks.
go away, Sarah Palin. God, she's so repulsive.
I *LOVE* Jodie and Medea
There are great great video links of the whole thing up at http://codepink4peace.org/blog or codepinkalert.org. They are pretty great, and show in some detail one secret security man's immediate response—to cover Medea's mouth with his hand.
This entry actually just made me go look up my local CodePink; I'm going to an event on Saturday.
These women are my heroes.
These men are quite happy about Sarah Palin being chosen. In fact, they're praying for McCain's death so that she can become president.
No, seriously.
Hmmm, yes, a lot of dudes over on the CP blog PINKtank seem to believe that voting for her may net them and their wives threeways forever.
More RNC commentary from The Daily Show. It really put's anti-choicer's on the spot. Also rather show's how GOP supporters are stuck in the 1950's with regard to women's rights.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184097&title=bristol-palins-choice
I hope people caught Code Pink's interruption during McCain's speech too! Two nights in a row they made it inside - that's incredible.
I forget which channel I was watching it on (CNN maybe), but the camera cut to the activist MULTIPLE times, and her rough treatment by security was plain to see. McCain's speech was interrupted by nearly a full minute.
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/20080904_MCCAIN_SPEECH.html
Eight minutes in, or so.
These are both absolutely tremendous efforts by the women from Code Pink and my partner and I were literally cheering when we saw them last night.
Keeping the baby is s better solution of the Sarah Palin's daughter pregnancy. From the recent news, it seems that Bristol dragged their family name to another controversy when her mother-in-law Sherry Johnston, got arrested for drug possession in her pursuit of earning a little extra cash. It's not everyday a drug felon gets this kind of media attention. I wonder if she would have gotten the publicity and coverage had her son not gotten the governor of Alaska's daughter pregnant. Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin's daughter, got pregnant earlier this year before Sarah's nomination for the Republican Vice Presidency. Poor Sarah, she has come under quite a lot of scrutiny lately but I think she has done a good job rolling with the punches and will roll with this one too. She may have to take in her daughter's fiancé Levi however, now that his mom Sherry is in jail. It will be interesting to see how all this works out. It's got to be tough for Sarah now that she is in the spotlight of the national media. I was suspecting that she might front the extra cash to bail her daughter's finance's mother out of jail but it seems she is staying out of this one and it is smart to do so. You can read more in the article posted on the payday loan blog at personalmoneystore.com.