By
Chauncey Bailey
It’s
Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. A group of women with picket
anti-war signs have again gathered in front of a
military recruiting office on Broadway near 21st
Street in Oakland.
Across the bay in San Francisco,
another group of women gather for a similar protest
on Market Street. They are opposed to the war in
Iraq and want the troops home. The women stage hourlong
vigils every Wednesday at both Bay Area sites.
“This war is all about oil and it’s
wrong,” said Aimee Allison, an Oakland community
activist who ran unsuccessfully for the Oakland
City Council. Recently she was at City Hall with
other Code Pink members who convinced the Oakland
City Council to pass a resolution that says the
Bush administration should send home all California
National Guard troops from Iraq.
Similar measures have already
passed in Berkeley, San Francisco and Santa Cruz.
“Oakland is currently engaged
in a disaster preparedness assessment,” said
a statement from Code Pink members.
“In the wake of Hurricane
Katrina, cities are realizing the impact of the
deployment of up to 45 percent of states’
National Guard and Reservists. They are needed in
California to fight fires or earthquakes, and the
hurricane showed us we need them home for emergencies,
and not for war.”
Code Pink actions are being supported
by Congresswomen Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey; 22
California assembly members and state senators;
Gold Star Families For Peace; clergy members; and
other pro-peace groups.
“There are now 100 Code
Pink chapters in the country,” said Allison.
“We have redefined pink as a color of power
and action.”
Code Pink leaders say that since
the beginning of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some
346,000 reserve troops and National Guard soldiers
have been called up for military duty and are serving
tours that can run as long as 20 months.
Studies show that between 30
and 40 percent of these enlisted persons earn a
lower salary when they leave civilian employment
for military deployment. Army Emergency Relief has
reported that requests from military families for
food stamps and subsidized meals increased several
hundred percent between 2002 and 2003.
President Bush drafted the National
Guard into the military when he sent more than 37,000
National Guard soldiers to Iraq in late 2003 to
replace those on the ground. It was the largest
mobilization of the National Guard since the Korean
War.
Unlike regular Army soldiers
who serve full time and are stationed on military
bases, the National Guard members only serve on
weekends and live at home until they are called
for duty by a governor or president for an emergency.
About 210 National Guard troops
have already died in Iraq, more than double the
amount that died during the Vietnam War.
