Code Pink

Code Pink: Women for Peace (often stylized as CODEPINK) is a pacifist, anti-war organization registered in the United States as a 501(c)(3) organization. It focuses on issues such as drone strikes, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Palestinian statehood, the Iran nuclear deal, human rights in Saudi Arabia, and peace on the Korean Peninsula. The organization has regional offices in Los Angeles, California, and Washington, D.C., and several chapters in the U.S. and abroad. With members wearing the group's signature pink color, Code Pink has conducted marches, protests, and other activist action in order to promote its goals. The organization describes itself as female-initiated, but it encourages men to participate in its activities. The organization's political positions, especially those regarding China and Venezuela, and funding have created controversy and drawn congressional scrutiny. Since 2017, roughly 25% of the organization's funding has come from groups connected to Neville Roy Singham, the husband of Code Pink's co-founder Jodie Evans.

Code Pink: Women for Peace (often stylized as CODEPINK) is a pacifist, anti-war organization registered in the United States as a 501(c)(3) organization. It focuses on issues such as drone strikes, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Palestinian statehood, the Iran nuclear deal, human rights in Saudi Arabia, and peace on the Korean Peninsula. The organization has regional offices in Los Angeles, California, and Washington, D.C., and several chapters in the U.S. and abroad. With members wearing the group's signature pink color, Code Pink has conducted marches, protests, and other activist action in order to promote its goals. The organization describes itself as female-initiated, but it encourages men to participate in its activities. The organization's political positions, especially those regarding China and Venezuela, and funding have created controversy and drawn congressional scrutiny. Since 2017, roughly 25% of the organization's funding has come from groups connected to Neville Roy Singham, the husband of Code Pink's co-founder Jodie Evans. ==History== , December 2017.]] Code Pink was founded on November 17, 2002, by a group of American anti-war activists, including Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin, in the lead-up to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq (which the organization opposed). The group's name is a play on the United States Department of Homeland Security's color-coded alert system in which, for example, Code Orange and Code Red signify the highest levels of danger. Code Pink's founding statement calls for In February 2003, shortly before the invasion of Iraq, Code Pink organized its first trip to the country; it subsequently led five delegations there. These delegations included parents of American soldiers killed in combat in Iraq, as well as parents of active soldiers. Additionally, they brought six Iraqi women on a tour of the United States, and published a report about how the U.S. occupation affected the status of Iraqi women. On its website, Code Pink lists allegations of U.S. war crimes, and states that thousands of civilians were killed in Fallujah in 2004 due to the actions of the U.S. military. Along with other groups, they gave over $600,000-worth of humanitarian aid to refugees of Fallujah in 2004. In 2014, Code Pink was awarded the US Peace Prize by the US Peace Memorial Foundation "in recognition of inspirational anti-war leadership and creative grassroots activism". ===Venezuela=== During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, the U.S. broke relations with the Nicolás Maduro administration and recognized Juan Guaidó as the acting president of Venezuela. On 10 April 2019, after the Maduro administration retired its diplomats from the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, US activists from Code Pink received keycards from the diplomats, moved into the building, and secured all entrances with chains and locks as Carlos Vecchio, Guaidó's ambassador appointed to the US, tried to gain access to the building. The US government considered the embassy as property of Guaidó's interim government. Clashes in May 2019 between US activists and pro-Guaidó Venezuelan demonstrators resulted in arrests on both sides. US authorities issued an eviction notice on the group on May 14. The last four activists were removed from the embassy by agents from the US State Department's Diplomatic Security Service and the US Secret Service on May 16. At the end of July 2019, some members of Code Pink that occupied the embassy visited Venezuela during the Foro de São Paulo. Maduro posed for pictures with the group and rewarded them with gifts, including a book on Simón Bolívar and a replica of Bolívar's sword. In October 2022 Code Pink collected signatures for a petition asking the U.S. Department of Justice to drop the charges against Colombian businessman Alex Saab. Saab was extradited to the U.S. from Cape Verde in 2020, charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with money laundering and pushing over $350 million through U.S. accounts. Code Pink described Saab as a political prisoner, who worked as a diplomat as part of Venezuela's Gran Misión Vivienda and CLAP food box distribution network. The organization has been criticized for its support of the Venezuelan government. ===Israel and Palestine=== Code Pink has organized more than seven delegations to Gaza, some of them at the invitation of the United Nations. Code Pink was criticized by Joshua Block, president and CEO of the Israel Project, for arranging a peace delegation to Iran in January 2019. Prior to the Gaza Freedom March, Code Pink endorsed the "Cairo Declaration to End Israeli Apartheid", which calls for comprehensive boycott of Israel. During the march, Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin coordinated the organization's stay with Hamas. Members resided in the Commodore, a Hamas-owned hotel in Gaza City. Hamas security officials accompanied activists as they visited Palestinian homes and Gaza-based NGOs. Prior to the march, Benjamin said the Hamas government had "pledged to ensure our safety". However, Code Pink leaders claimed Hamas had hijacked the initiative from the onset after imposing prohibitions on the organization's movements around Gaza. Amira Hass referred to the event as "an opportunity for Hamas cabinet ministers to get decent media coverage in the company of Western demonstrators". Code Pink helped to organize an International Women's Day Delegation to Gaza in March 2014. Upon arrival at the Cairo airport on March 3, 2014, Benjamin was detained and assaulted by Egyptian authorities. She was deported to Turkey after the authorities had dislocated her shoulder. Other members of the international delegation, including American, French, Belgian, and British citizens, who arrived the next day were also deported. Some members made it into Cairo, although no one from the delegation made it to Gaza. Code Pink opposed Israel's operation in Gaza following the October 7 attacks. It repeatedly disrupted Secretary of State Antony Blinken's October 31, 2023 testimony to a Senate hearing on Israel aid from the United States, with protesters calling for a ceasefire during the hearing. Several peace activists were arrested, including David Barrows and retired colonel and diplomat, Ann Wright. ===Iran=== In March 2019, while visiting Iran, Code Pink representatives voiced support at a press conference held by Fars News for Iran's right to use missile defense systems, and met with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. ===Iraq=== Following the January 2020 assassination of Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, and of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, leader of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces by a US drone attack at Baghdad airport, Code Pink together with a number of other civil society groups called for a "national day of action" in 30 large U.S. cities to request the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Thousands marched in over 80 cities across the country to protest against a possible war against Iran. ===Russian invasion of Ukraine=== In 2022, at protests in Oakland and San Francisco, Code Pink criticized the United States for sending arms to Ukraine after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In February 2023, Code Pink activists confronted United States President Joe Biden in a Washington, D.C. restaurant, "call[ing] for Biden to seek peace and an end to the war rather than escalation before being asked to leave by the establishment's staff". During the Washington, D.C. protest, Code Pink also called for Cuba to be removed from the United States state sponsors of terrorism list. Writing in The Nation, Ukrainian Solidarity Network Co-founder Bill Fletcher Jr. describes Code Pink's position as "ambivalent" stating that the organization has criticized the Russian invasion but not supported Ukrainian resistance. In October 2023, Steven Strauss of the Freedom Socialist Party alleged that he and another supporter were removed from a Washington, D.C., event hosted by Code Pink after the pair handed out flyers supporting Ukraine's right to defend itself. On October 4, 2023, 11 protestors from Code Pink occupied the Dirksen Senate Office Building office of Senator Bernie Sanders. The protestors called for Ukrainian, Russian, and U.S. leadership to negotiate an end to the war. Code Pink's press release quoted a protestor's statement, "Yes, Bernie should condemn the Russian invasion, but he should also be calling for a negotiated end to this brutal war". Capitol police arrested the 11 protestors based on a provision of the District of Columbia Code that prohibits crowding, obstructing or incommoding. Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene praised the protesters, writing, "We don't agree on most things, but we do agree Congress should STOP fueling the war in Ukraine!" ===Cuba=== Code Pink opposes the United States embargo against Cuba and supports warmer Cuba–United States relations. In 2026, amidst the 2026 Cuban crisis caused by the US blockade, Code Pink organized a delegation in collaboration with Progressive International to Cuba which delivered 6,300 pounds of medical supplies. Some in the Cuban dissident movement expressed concerns that the Cuban government would commandeer the aid delivered by the convoy. In 2026, it was reported by multiple outlets that Code Pink was under investigation by the State, Justice and Treasury Department for assisting a State Sponsor of Terror because of their delegation to Cuba. ==References== ==External links==

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1375717089 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.