Police arrest a Code Pink demonstrator for protesting in front of the US Capitol in Washington in November 2023 (French)
"Code Pink" is a feminist movement that began in America in the fall of 2002 in rejection of the decision of the administration of former President George W. Bush to invade Iraq. It works to end American colonialism, which is based on igniting and supporting wars. It also supports initiatives to promote human rights and peace around the world, redirect financial sources that support wars to the health care and education system, and accelerate the green transition in jobs and raise the standard of living.
Origin and establishment
The moment of the birth of “Code Pink” dates back to November 17, 2002, when political activists Medea Benjamin and Judy Evans began a sit-in with the participation of more than a hundred other women against the US administration’s intention to invade Iraq. The protest movement continued for more than 4 months, during which thousands of women and dozens participated. Public figures and more than 25 feminist initiatives and movements.
Although the protest movement ended with Benjamin's arrest after leading a protest demonstration to the gates of the White House in March 2003 following the military invasion of Baghdad, the movement succeeded in spreading its ideas and laying popular foundations for it, becoming a global feminist network that inspires links between feminist movements and anti-feminist movements. Wars.
The name “Code Pink” goes back to the American warning coding system against terrorist attacks, which was created by the Department of Homeland Security. It is a system through which it is easy to identify the terrorist threat and then confront it in the best possible way.
The warning levels were divided into 5 stages, each of which is symbolized by a specific color, starting with green, which is the lowest danger, then blue, which represents the natural threat from terrorist movements, then yellow, which indicates a prominent danger, then orange, which represents a strong warning, then red, which warns that an attack will occur. A terrorist is almost certain.
Quoting from the coding system, the movement seeking peace in times of war was named. On the one hand, Al-Wardi expresses feminist power, and on the other hand, it does not in any way embody situations of war.
Although the Department of Homeland Security changed the coding system in 2011, the movement still retained the color pink as its symbol.
Code Pink activists in front of the Israeli embassy in California following the suicide of an American soldier to protest the genocide in Gaza (Anatolia)
A feminist movement that welcomes men
Although Code Pink defines itself as a feminist movement that seeks to spread peace and pressure the US administration to promote a state of peace instead of contributing to fueling conflicts, at the same time it welcomes men to join it, and its board of directors even includes a man, as well as dozens of others. Male.
However, the participation of men in the movement did not change its orientation or name, or its greater dependence on women.
Perhaps the conceptual difference regarding feminism plays a major role in the small number of men in “Code Pink,” as the feminist political vision, according to its founding discourse, stems from calling on women around the world to rise up against the war in Iraq.
The founding speech stated, “We call on mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and daughters. We call on female workers, students, teachers, therapists, artists, writers, singers, and poets, all angry for the sake of achieving peace. Women are the guardians of life, not because they are better or purer, or natural shepherds, but because men are busy making Wars.”
Thought and ideology
With the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip after the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack on October 7, 2023, the popularity of “Code Pink” increased among the Arab public, especially with the widespread demonstrations that the movement launched in the American capital, and the large protest movements that were not limited to city squares. And its streets, but it also sought to express its position on the war in the corridors of the House of Representatives, by boycotting the discussion sessions on financing the Israeli army militarily, and the discussion on financing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), and finally pressing for holding dialogues and press interviews with American decision-makers.
A "Code Pink" demonstration in front of the CIA director's house in 2015 in solidarity with Guantanamo detainees (Getty)
Supporting the humanitarian situation in Gaza is not a passing position, but rather expresses a political principle in this movement, which fully believes in the Palestinian cause and the right of the Palestinian people to the land.
Since its founding, the movement has sought to consolidate peace as a solution to global problems, and believes that instead of fueling conflict, American policy can play an effective role in resolving the conflict and promoting peace, as peace cannot be achieved through violence, but rather war seeks to settle the roots of conflict in the future and across generations. different.
The protest movement against the invasion of Iraq was launched after the Security Council threatened that Iraq should allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to send its inspectors to monitor what it said were activities to manufacture weapons of mass destruction, and to ensure that Saddam Hussein’s regime did not possess any of them. This step was the only thread that the administration stuck to. America provided justification for the military invasion, a step that the Pink Code institutions were also aware of.
Basic principles and positions
The movement seeks peace globally through a network of male and female activists inspired by the movement’s vision through several basic principles that form the backbone of the movement, the most important of which are:
Renouncing violence: It continuously and non-negotiably calls for all forms of peaceful protest, and does not support any degree of violence from its members, no matter how lofty the goals for that may seem.
Working with clear goals for all different campaigns and activities that advance the main mission of the movement.
Participatory work within the movement.
Adopting a long-term vision for ending conflict situations that the movement believes are part of the causes of American policies.
Beginning with supporting Iraq against the American occupation, Pink Code adopted several anti-war positions, most notably:
Its position on the Palestinian issue over the first two decades of the 21st century.
Its opposition to the American rivalry with Iran.
Its opposition to the Russian war on Ukraine.
Its opposition to the war in Yemen.
I called for the closure of Guantanamo Bay.
I called on it to end the rivalry with China as well as North Korea.
Benjamin outside the National Press Building during a press conference by the commander of the coalition forces in Iraq in 2007 (European)
The roots of violence and the path to peace
During her talk about the Russian war on Ukraine, Medea Benjamin confirms that this war did not begin in February 2022 with the Russian forces invading the Ukrainian border, but rather the roots of the conflict go back years dating back to the history of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and stems from the necessity of understanding the roots of the conflict. To achieve a deeper degree of peace in a real way, and stresses that negotiation between the parties is the ideal solution.
The movement believes that the causes of the war are due to the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in winning political and military alliances, although the main goal of the alliance was to deter any military attack from the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and with the fall of the Union it was more likely that the alliance would be dissolved or Not to rely on it fundamentally.
From this standpoint, it can be seen that the movement is moving towards the peace process, and is not a protest movement with unilateral demands, but rather believes in an agenda that emphasizes that war fuels conflict, and calls for the priority of spending on health care, housing, and education instead of participating in wars.
The movement's activities support this narrative with protest, intellectual, and cultural activities, and by putting pressure on public figures and decision-makers. Based on this, the campaign sees the necessity of dealing better with the historical opponents of American policy, Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea.
Source: websites