Campus CodePink for Peace Actions

Ongoing:
Letters for Our Heroes 

Share the love for our soldiers with Campus CodePink!

We are excited to announce that we have adopted a platoon, Charlie Company, that will directly benefit from your efforts! Keep an eye out for (suggestion: email us to join our listserve!) our next tabling events of the semester and write a letter or make a card for a soldier! We will be accepting donations as well as $$ donations for the postage of the package of letters & goodies! So feel free to donate $$$, letters, or comfort items like books, comics, snack foods, etc! See the bookmark flyer with donation suggestions below!Also, stop by our table for information about becoming a pen-pal with a soldier & keep an eye out for more of our Letters for Our Heroes events, we will be selling more plants for just $1 as we get them!!

**Please keep in mind that you can contact us to schedule a time & place for us to pick-up donations! Thank you so much for your kindness!**
Picture

The Peace Ribbon was displayed at the University of Florida at the Plaza of the Americas - Tuesday, Nov. 30th
from 10:30 am to 3 pm!

A FREE Peace Ribbon Workshop was also held that Tuesday evening in Reitz Union Room B60 (Basement level)
from 5:30 pm to 8 pm.

Participants made their own Peace Ribbon Panel to honor the soldiers and civilians who've died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

UF students added their creative vision of peace to the Peace Ribbon Display that has traveled all over the country since 2005.



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September 11th 2010

Campus CodePINK marched in protest of intolerance, hatred & Islamophobia

Along with many others, CodePINK marched in protest of the kind of thinking that lead to Pastor Terry Jones' call to celebrating 9/11 as "Burn a Qur'an Day". Unfortunately, because of the media it seems in the public's eye to be that, if given enough air time, the some of a group does represent the whole. (As we see with Islamophobia). We all know that the some hardly ever does represent the whole. That was what the 300+ people marched that day knew and hoped to represent; that Gainesville is tolerant and that the voice given to Pastor Jones and his church by the media is not the voice of Gainesville. Although this small church's rights are respected, this protest's core message was that Dove Outreach's actions are not going to be complacently accepted by the Gainesville community. Campus CodePINK stands against these actions of hate; that encourage intolerant, unequal treatment of others; that put our troops and citizens in greater danger, and that attempts, through fear, to gain power in unrelated matters that are clearly discriminatory.
If you'd like to read an article about the march you can check it out here.

*March 21st 2009
The Backbone Campaign's Procession to the Future in Gainesville!!

Campus CodePink at UF co-sponsored, helped organize, as well as participated in their workshops and the amazing parade!! It was tons of fun and a lo of great connections were made. The only thing that could've have made it any better is if more people--students & citizens of Gainesville--were involved and impacted! We are always trying to reach more people and that will continue to be a goal of ours! Thank you to everyone who made this possible and enjoyed this fabulous opportunity and event of an amazing tour! Also, there was a blog written on The Gainesville Sun's website, a picture published in The Independent Florida Alligator from a preview-mini-parade to promote for the "real deal", and there is also a blog written by one of the Backbone Campaign coordinator/volunteer, Caitilin Perry; all links are provided below! And furthermore, enjoy the photos in the slideshows by Citizen Swaine (from Flickr) and I!

Peace!
Veronica

*Feb 20th '09
Campus CodePINK for Peace marched with Equality Is Gainesville's Business in oppostition of Charter Amendment 1! Against discrimination!

Campus CODEPINK marched with the group Equality is Gainesville's Business and Students for Change, among other students from across campus, from Turlington Plaza to Tigert Hall (the University's administration building near Little Hall) where we presented a representative of the University Administration with a letter affirming the student body's opposition to the discriminatory Charter Amendment 1 and urging for the University to do the same. The charter would basically prevent the Gainesville Commission from protecting sexual preference, gender identity, students and veterans from discrimination. For example, this means apartment complexes could discriminate against undergrad students with rent among many other things. It's stupid and overall could prevent progress, so we showed our support for voting NO on March 24th.Check out the pics in our Photo Gallery and here's the article in the Gainesville Sun:Students march against amendment
By Tyler Francischine
Correspondent

Published: Saturday, February 21, 2009 at 6:01 a.m. 
Last Modified: Friday, February 20, 2009 at 7:34 p.m.
About 75 University of Florida students, faculty and members of the group Equality is Gainesville's Business marched to Tigert Hall Friday afternoon in opposition to Gainesville Charter Amendment 1.

The charter amendment will come up for a vote in the March 24 city election.

The march started with a short speech in Turlington Plaza and then made its way down Union Road, making a short detour into the Plaza of the Americas.

Garrett Garner, UF campus coordinator for Equality is Gainesville's Business, rallied the crowd against the amendment with repeated shouts of, "How are you going to vote?" to which the crowd responded with a resounding "No!"

Marchers chanted, "Hey hey, ho ho. Amendment 1 has got to go," as members of the University of Florida Police Department rode by on bicycles.

If passed, Charter Amendment 1 would force the city to recast its anti-discrimination ordinance to mirror the Florida civil rights act, which does not protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Currently the Florida civil rights act protects against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap and marital status in the areas of employment, housing, credit and public accommodation.

Members of Equality is Gainesville's Business say they're concerned that Charter Amendment 1 will strip both the LBGT (lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender) community and veterans of their current civil rights.

"Charter Amendment 1 would allow discrimination of gays in a workplace or renting an apartment," said Jacob Smith, a freshman political science major and a member of Equality is Gainesville's Business. "This would affect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students at UF."

Equality is Gainesville's Business is a political action committee made up of UF students and members of the Gainesville community with the goal of raising awareness about the amendment's potential impact. Garner said his organization's objective is to "get the facts out."

Meantime, others favor the charter amendment.

A.J. Hall, college leader and administrative assistant to Gainesville's Victory Church, said he will vote "yes" on the amendment to avoid potential "negative consequences" of Gainesville's Gender Identity Ordinance of 2008.

Hall said the ordinance's definition of gender identity, especially relating to transgender individuals, is too vague.

Gender identity, as defined by the ordinance, refers to "an inner sense of being a specific gender, or the expression of a gender identity by verbal statement, appearance or mannerisms ... with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth."

"There has to be some kind of better assessment for what constitutes a transgender, something more substantial than a simple verbal affirmation," Hall said.

*Feb 14th '09
Campus CodePINK and Gainesville CodePINK held a Kiss-In at the National Guard Recruiting office! Check out the pics too! Let's bring our FLA Guard home!

                               (We made the paper! The Gainesville Sun!)
Code Pink protests war, urges love instead
By Charly Hillman
Correspondent

Published: Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 6:01 a.m. 
Last Modified: Saturday, February 14, 2009 at 11:22 p.m.While many spent Valentine's Day with a loved one, members of Code Pink for Peace and numerous volunteers made a broader gesture than flowers and chocolates.

With a banner that read, "Don't enlist, stay and kiss, that way everyone makes out," it was hard to miss the activists outside the National Guard recruiting office at 319 NW 13th St. on Saturday afternoon.

Michelle Harris, 20, president of Campus Code Pink for Peace, said she and other volunteers were picketing at recruiting offices as part of a nationwide protest.

"We call on motherly compassion and empathy to end the war and bring our soldiers home safely," Harris said. "This is our way of creatively sharing the love."

Some women who are part of Code Pink for Peace have children currently enlisted or who were war casualties, Harris said.

Code Pink for Peace also gets much support from veterans who have endorsed the cause, Harris said. Iraq Veterans Against the War, also known as IVAW, is an influential supporter, she said.

Jorge Alvarez, 24, is a veteran and represented IVAW at the protest. He enlisted when he was 18 years old and has been out of the service now for a year and nine months.

"I was based out of California and went to Iraq twice," Alvarez said. "I have been involved with IVAW since."

Standing next to a sign that read, "Honk if you love soldiers and hate war," Jacque Betz, local coordinator for Code Pink, got a number of honks from cars that drove by.

"There is no legal standing for our guard to fight a war on foreign soil," Betz said. "We want to bring our Florida guard home."

Michael Heaney, assistant UF professor in political science and one of those participating on Saturday, said has been involved with the anti-war movement since 2002.

"I think Code Pink is the most important anti-war organization in America," Heaney said. "They are a brave group of people to stand up to the government, to stick up for peace, and I want to be a part of that."