Dear John,

Last weekend, we promised to get the anti-war movement together in Washington, DC with our partners –  we did just that. In front of the White House and around the country, thousands rallied against the war in Ukraine and all acts of warfare. I want to share with you the power and beauty that was present during our mass demonstrations on March 18th and show  how we are leveraging this  momentum to keep taking on the war machine. 

Coinciding with the 20th anniversary weekend of the criminal U.S.-invasion of Iraq, we joined thousands in front of the White House demanding peace in Ukraine and no war with China! 

CODEPINK Co-Founder Medea Benjamin gave a powerful speech at the convergence saying, "I want to know why my government is sabotaging negotiations and why Biden can't pick up the goddamn phone and call Putin!"

If you missed it, you can watch Medea's speech and all other speeches here!

After we rallied, we marched! We ended the day in Washington with a teach-in to further build and educate the peace movement. CODEPINKers like Ann Wright and our campaigners Olivia and Teddy gave inspiring talks on the climate and more. We even had partners come from Guam and Hawai'i!

In the Midwest, we rallied in Chicago, Detroit, and more. I had  the pleasure of speaking at the Chicago rally downtown, where I called out the bought-off politicians that run our country and the weapons makers who profit off war. Also, humble brag: it was about fifteen degrees outside – our hands went numb for peace! 

We invited everyone in attendance to a debrief with our friends at the PSL, ANSWER coalition, and Black Alliance for Peace to discuss what rebuilding the anti-war movement in Chicago looks like.

We also had rallies in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Costa Rica, and more! In Los Angeles, both our amazing Peace in Ukraine coalition coordinator Marcy Winograd and China is Not Our Enemy campaigner Wei Yu spoke to the crowd about the importance of diplomacy and cooperation. In San Francisco, our long-time CODEPINKer Cynthia Papermaster walked with a giant balloon saying China is Not Our Enemy! We had these balloons at the demonstrations in LA and DC, and they were a huge hit!

You can find additional  images and read more about the events here. Converging with all of our partners from 2003 to now  was a beautiful way to mark our history as a movement — and  a powerful way to forge a way forward. In Chicago, a peace movement elder shared with our debrief group her optimism for the peace movement, and I want to share it with you all too:

She reminded us that war is unpopular with the masses. As the war economy pushes more and more people to the sidelines, we have more people on our side than ever. We have a moment to take, if we want to.

And we do want to. Join CODEPINK on Earth Day to say War is Not Green, and  invite people in your life to do the same. 

Build the movement today by signing our letter to Biden asking him to support China's peace plan and sharing it with five friends and encourage them to follow suit! 

Towards Peace,
Danaka and the entire CODEPINK team 

P.S. SAVE THE DATE: Latin America and Caribbean Policy Forum April 28 & 29 and see what we did Last Week at CODEPINK!