Dear John,

Well… I’m not banned yet, but Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said she asked Speaker Johnson to look into getting CODEPINK banned from being in the halls of Congress. Can you believe it? We are to the point where random Republicans are making up lies about us — saying we are funded by foreign governments when in reality, we are funded by tens of thousands of small donors who support the work we do for peace.

Banning CODEPINK from the “people’s house” would set a dangerous precedent. It would set the tone that a member of Congress can limit the free speech of groups they don’t agree with. We can’t let that happen.

CODEPINK IS UNDER ATTACK.

This isn’t the first time that members of Congress have attacked CODEPINK, repeating the same blatant lies. We receive no money from foreign governments or foreign political parties: We are funded by the people because we spend every day uplifting the demands of working-class people all over the U.S. A majority of Americans want peace. A majority of the world wants peace. We don’t have to be paid off by foreign interests to have these opinions — we have our morals! We don’t support genocide or warmongering.

Reps like Anna Paulina Luna can’t say the same though. She received thousands of dollars from AIPAC, a lobbyist group that represents Israel. She posed with the genocide-in-chief Netanyahu when he visited Washington. If someone is close with a foreign entity, it sure isn’t us! These lies about CODEPINK seek to silence the movement and marginalize our voices. But we won’t let that happen. We will remain in the halls of Congress for as long as we can, but we need your support now more than ever.

One goal of this slander is to get us to shut up. But the other goal is to distract people from what these politicians are greenlighting in the the Middle East: genocide in Gaza and escalatory attacks on Iran. Make no mistake: we are being attacked because we stand unapologetically with the Palestinian people and against Israel stoking a greater regional war. They can’t stand it. 

So, yes, the attacks can be scary and threatening, but we are focused primarily on the suffering of the people of Gaza and stopping the US from engaging in a full-scale war against Iran. 

What would piss off these liars even more? Taking action for Palestine!

You can write to Maersk, one of the world's biggest shipping companies, and tell them directly to their inbox to stop shipping fighter jet parts to Israel! Around the same time Israel launched its criminal attacks on Tehran, they also cut off Gaza's internet access so they could continue the genocide in the dark. Israel can't commit these attacks in Gaza or Iran without the weapons parts Maersk delivers to them!

We are also so proud of the thousands of people from all over the world, from Tunisia and Morocco to the United States, who are on the Global March to Gaza. CODEPINK has our own contingent on the March that are attempting to break the blockade. The Egyptian government has stopped them! Write urgently to the embassy to tell them to allow the safe passage of these amazing activists! And here are all the ways you can uplift them.

All in all, don’t worry about me and CODEPINK. We’ve survived slander like this before. And knowing you all have our backs means the world to us!

Onwards to a free Palestine,
Medea and the whole CODEPINK team