CODEPINK WOMEN’S PEACE VIGIL
(202) 393-5016
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/women/www.codepink4peace.org

ALICE WALKER, AMY GOODMAN, MAXINE HONG KINGSTON,OTHER NOTABLE
WOMEN ARRESTED PROTESTING AGAINST THE WAR WITH IRAQ

Washington, DC—Twenty three women, including nationally
recognized award-winning authors Alice Walker and Maxine Hong
Kingston, Pacifica Radio's Amy Goodman were arrested in front of the White House on International Women’s Day, protesting against the Bush Administration’s proposed war on Iraq. They had marched from Malcolm X Park in Washington, DC, leading more than 5,000 peace activists associated with Code Pink, Women for Peace, to the White House. As thousands of anti-war activists peacefully encircled the White House holding hands, Walker, Kingston and 21 other women registered their opposition to war by singing on the sidewalk in front of the White House, which the police had blockaded. The police arrested them at 5 PM.

“The White House refuses to listen to the people of the world who are trying to stop this immoral and unnecessary war from happening, and won’t even let peaceful protesters get near them to express our dissent. I’m not surprised that these women spontaneously decided to make a stand for peace--women know how devastating a war will be
for Iraqi women and children and how much it will endanger our
families here at home,” said Jodie Evans, a co-founder of CodePink,
the women’s anti-war group that organized the International Women’s
Day Peace event.

The women arrested were from all over the United States and included
Pacifica Radio's host of Deamocracy Now! Amy Goodman, Publisher Nina Utne, Authors
Terry Tempest Williams and Susan Griffin, CodePink Co-founder
Medea Benjamin, Reverend Patricia Ackerman, and Musician Rachel
Bagby, among others.

Earlier in the day, these women and others spoke at the CodePink
International Women’s Day Anti-War rally. It was one of dozens of
women’s anti-war events that were scheduled for March 8, International
Women’s Day, in cities from Pheonix, Arizona to Laramie, Wyoming to
Nashville, Tennessee.

Women have played a key role in the burgeoning U.S. anti-war
movement, and recent polls on Iraq reveal a gender divide in support
for a war. A February 2003 New York Times/CBS poll revealed that 12
percent more women than men support a diplomatic solution with Iraq.
A recent Zogby International poll showed that while 45 percent of men
said they would strongly support a war against Iraq, only 21 percent of
women did.