Skip navigation
CODEPINK
    • ACTION ALERT: Episode 299: Breaking the Siege & Busting the Israel Lobby
    • ACTION ALERT: Check out our activities for the Week of May 5, 2025
  • Codepink Store
  • Donate
  • Get Involved
  • Events
  • Act Now
    Take Action Now Action Alerts Get News Updates! Donate to CODEPINK
  • Organize Locally
    Become an Organizer for Peace! Join the Peace Collective Local Organizing Resources CODEPINK Store
  • Learn
    CODEPINK Summer School 2025 PINK Tank ~ Blog CODEPINK Webinars CODEPINK Congress CODEPINK Radio CODEPINK's Speakers Bureau The Feminist Foreign Policy Project
  • Issues & Campaigns
  • News (current)
    Press Releases CODEPINK Substack In the News Action Alerts Last Week at CODEPINK
  • About
    What is CODEPINK Founders, Staff & Community CODEPINK Advisory Board Jobs and Internships Our Allies In Memory Privacy policy Contact Us
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • LinkedIn
  1. HOME
  2. PRESS RELEASES
LATIN AMERICA CUBA CHINA PALESTINE2022 PEACE IN UKRAINE

“Blinken, be a diplomat not a war hawk!”


 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

March 22, 2023

Media Contact: Melissa Garriga | [email protected]

CODEPINK Calls Out Blinken for Being a War Hawk During Senate Hearing 

“Blinken, be a DIPLOMAT not a WAR HAWK!” 

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, CODEPINK activists interrupted Anthony Blinken at the Foreign Relations Committee Senate Hearing “American Diplomacy and Global Leadership: Review of The FY24 State Department Budget Request.” CODEPINK showed up with signs and messages reminding the committee members and Blinken that the United States should actually start practicing diplomacy before they discuss how to fund it. 

One by one the group stood up holding signs and referenced key areas where Blinken is failing as a diplomat. The signs read:

Ukraine: Peace Talks Now!

China is Not Our Enemy

Free Palestine

No $$$ to Israeli Apartheid

Cuba Off the Terrorist List

Lift Sanctions of Venezuela and Cuba

No War!

As soon as each CODEPINK member stood and delivered their message, police moved in and removed them from the room and immediately arrested them. 

The messages delivered:

“Blinken! Cut the $3.8 billion to Israel’s apartheid! Stop funding Palestinian oppression and Ben Gvir’s army. Send Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court. You met with Palestinian civil society yourself. Who will protect the Palestinians?” - Maya Garner

“Why are you following the Trump administration’s inhumane policy and not the Obama/ Biden administration’s policy of normalizations and cooperation? Cuba does not deserve to be on the terrorist list and president Biden has the power to take it off with a stroke of his pen. We need to be cooperating with our neighbors, not subjecting them to our interests.” - Samantha Wherry 

“We need peace talks now to end the war in Ukraine. There is a stalemate and too many people are dying. Sec. Blinken, you are supposed to be our top diplomat. Start negotiating.” - Medea Benjamin 

“You are not engaging in diplomacy with Cuba and Venezuela. You are starving the most vulnerable in these countries with brutal US sanctions! Shame on you! Venezuelan and Cuban sanctions violate the UN charter and the OAS charter!” Gregory Wilpert 

“China is not our enemy! China is an economic competitor, not a national security threat to the United States. I live in Hawaii and you’ve made a target out of Hawaii and Guam & the western Pacific. Be a diplomat, not a warmonger.” - former State Department official and retired Army Colonel, Ann Wright. 

CODEPINK plans to continue to disrupt power as long as the United States pursues a war economy over a peace economy. People want a better world where we resolve issues through diplomacy and dialogue, not through war and destruction. A world where diplomats actually practice diplomacy and where the people’s money actually funds the people’s needs. 

###



Continue Reading

CODEPINK Portland to Bring Nakba Day Message to Weekly Peace March
14 May 2025

CODEPINK Statement: Maikelys Is Back!
14 May 2025

CODEPINK, Artists Against Apartheid & Entertainment Labor 4 Palestine Launch #ViolenceDetox Campaign with Teach-In at CNN in LA
13 May 2025

San Pedro CODEPINK to Rally for Press Freedom on Nakba Day
13 May 2025

Show all posts

CODEPINK - Women for Peace
seach
  • EVENTS
  • PROTEST ANTI-PALESTINE LAWMAKERS CONGRESSMEMBER JULIA BROWNLEY & ASSEMBLYMEMBER JACQUI IRWIN!
  • NAKBA DAY 2025 - SAN PEDRO
  • YOUTH VS. FASCISM ZINE INTEREST MEETING
  • MOTHER'S DAY + NAKBA DAY MEET & GREET + RALLY + PORTLAND
  • WEEKLY FREE PALESTINE RALLY: SAN PEDRO, CA
  • ALL EVENTS
  • ACT NOW
  • TAKE ACTION NOW
  • ACTION ALERTS
  • GET NEWS UPDATES!
  • DONATE TO CODEPINK
  • ORGANIZE LOCALLY
  • BECOME AN ORGANIZER FOR PEACE!
  • JOIN THE PEACE COLLECTIVE
  • LOCAL ORGANIZING RESOURCES
  • CODEPINK STORE
  • LEARN
  • CODEPINK SUMMER SCHOOL 2025
  • PINK TANK ~ BLOG
  • CODEPINK WEBINARS
  • CODEPINK CONGRESS
  • CODEPINK RADIO
  • CODEPINK'S SPEAKERS BUREAU
  • THE FEMINIST FOREIGN POLICY PROJECT
  • ISSUES & CAMPAIGNS
  • DIVEST FROM THE WAR MACHINE
  • PALESTINE
  • IRAN
  • YEMEN
  • LATIN AMERICA
  • CUT THE PENTAGON
© 2025 CODEPINK | All Rights Reserved | Created by Code Nation on NationBuilder

CODEPINK is a non-profit charity with 501(c)(3) tax exempt status in the United States. Our Tax Identification Number is 26-2823386.