Code Pink Female Acivists Washington DC

Code Pink Washington DC Women Activists

“Kill them with kindness is the Code Pink way.”

“Our congress has let us down,” spoke a pink clad woman who goes by the name of Miss Liz Hourican. Her blond hair was cut short and she spoke with almost obsessive excitement about the mission of the female activist group known as Code Pink. She would flash the peace sign at well-worn intervals and occasionally jump up off of the couch on which she sat to make a big point. It was obvious to me that she was a woman who meant what she said, and would go to any length to make a demonstration.

The women that make up Code Pink are an aggressive activist organization that have made a home for themselves amongst the powerful of Washington DC. When there are important issues flying on Capitol Hill, this group of women in bright pink clothes are sure to be there to mess it all up and get their message in the news.

“This is where all the power is,” Liz explained as she told me a little about what Code Pink does in Washington DC. In point, she said that they yell slogans at politicians, disrupt congress, ask political leaders tough questions in the face of the media, and do everything they can to blockade the process of what they deem to be unjust legislation and get on TV.

Code Pink is a highly visible organization and use highly visible tactics to draw attention to themselves and whatever cause they are trying to inform the public about. They wear bright pink clothes, hold bright pink banners, and do a lot of kicking and screaming in the face of global power. They are anti-war, anti-sexism, and anti- everything that does not conform with their pro-liberal agenda. The color pink was chosen as a theme to mock the Department of Homeland Security’s policy of color designations to represent the level of terrorism risks on any particular day. So there is now Code Pink to add to days of code orange, yellow, and red.

“I want to sit right behind Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Rumsfeld,” Liz told me as she began a tale about how she disrupted a congressional hearing by running in front of the news cameras with “stop the war” written on her undershirt. She then proudly stated that this action made John McCain address the congregation by saying: “Don’t be diverted by the ground noise and static.” This action was aired on national TV and Liz was able to parade her anti-war message in front of the news camera’s for an unexpectedly long period of time.

After hearing about this and many other tales of these types of actions, I felt the need to ask her if she has seen Code Pink have any real social or political impact. She answered very realistically by saying, “As far as inspiring women, yes, as far as affecting policy change, no.” But she was quick to add that, “My congress man use to call me ‘crazy,’ now he calls me ‘lady.’ I see that as progress.”

Very well.

“Women have a different sensibility. We raise the children of the world, and we don’t bring them up to go to war,” Liz continued as she stressed the importance of Code Pink’s anti-war stance, “Men don’t quite see it as we do as mothers.”

Liz became politically active after the September 11th fiasco. In her own words, she “bought a bag of candy and a Viva Mexico shirt and walked the river bottoms.” Her intent was to talk with the poor and disenfranchised people of the nation by knocking on doors of New Mexico and asking Hispanics what their concerns were. She gave out free candy.

“Then I found Code Pink, and it was a puzzle piece in my life,” she said, “before, I was just doing all of this stuff on my own.” Liz joined Code Pink around a year and a half ago, and has been studying political news channels and newspapers ever since. She says that she knows many of the representatives of the US government by face and name and that she goes out and tries to interact with them.

Liz warns that, “Everything that you became use to in the USA, you and your children will soon be deprived of” and reminds me that “war is not green.”

I take heed of her warnings and admire – as well as nearly fear – her almost fanatical dedication to her cause. Miss Liz Hourican is a person who stands on the pillar of her own righteousness and faith in her politics. Liz is sure to carry on getting arrested for the TV New and ranting and raving her dissent into the public record.

She summed up our meeting with, “Everyone is Code Pink on the inside.”

‘Tis curious that we only believe as deeply as we live. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I don’t never have any trouble in regulating my own conduct, but to keep other folks’ straight is what bothers me. ~Josh Billings
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Videos of Code Pink in Action:

Related Pages:

• Two Vagabonds Lobby the US Congress
• How to Lobby Congress
• Vagabond Goes to Washington
  Code Pink Homepage

Links to previous travelogue entries:

• Travel Questions
• Taliban in Ecuador
• Travelogue Directory Updated

Code Pink Washington DC Women Activists
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