FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 7, 2023

Say NO to War on International Women’s Day Demand Activists

CODEPINK raises up negotiations leading up to International Women’s Day in Chicago 

CHICAGO – The day before International Women’s Day, CODEPINK, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Chicago Area Peace Action dropped a banner over the Chicago river that read: Feminists Say No to War with accompanying signs demanding negotiations in Ukraine and cooperation with China. 

In September of 2022, the UN came out with a policy report that highlighted the war in Ukraine’s impact on both the women of Ukraine and around the globe. The report showed that food price hikes that occurred after the war broke out widened the gender gap in regards to food insecurity. Fuel shortages led to homes using less clean energy sources, leading to increased pollution that kills mostly women and children. 37% of women-headed households in Ukraine were likely to be food insecure compared to 20% of households headed by men. Women are also seeing ever-increasing rates of sexual exploitation and violence, as occurs with wars all over the world. 

“As an anti-war organization, we find it critical to raise up negotiations and cooperation on International Women’s Day. Twenty years ago, we stood against the US war on terror on IWD, and this year we are standing against further escalation in Ukraine and warmongering towards China. We will not let our feminist values be co-opted by the war hawks. War and escalation doesn’t save women and their children: it kills them,” said Danaka Katovich, CODEPINK’s National Co-Director. 

The group's emphasis on cooperation with China comes as the US continues stoking war with the world’s most populous country. In recent weeks, the Pentagon has shot down a Chinese weather balloon and Congress has begun a committee examining the “threat” posed by China. This is after the US has spent years militarizing the Asia-Pacific, just recently building a live fire training range on ancestral burial grounds in Guam and gaining access to numerous additional military bases in the Philippines, both to great local opposition. Last year, after Former Speaker Pelosi traveled to Taiwan against the clear warnings of Chinese officials, climate talks between the US and China stalled. CODEPINK highlights the need to collaborate with China to solve the most pressing issue of our time: the climate crisis. 

###