Oh When CODEPINK Came Marching In (To New Orleans On Eve's V-Day)

Oh When CODEPINK Came Marching In (To New Orleans On Eve's V-Day)

By Linda Milazzo

Created Apr 19 2008 - 4:39am

For my entire life - years before Hurricane Katrina - I fantasized about New

Orleans. I dreamed of being decadent in the French Quarter in clubs where my

music heroes played. I dreamed of tasting the food, studying the

architecture, hearing the accents, and being cradled in the arms of the

city - in the cream, black, brown and white blended arms of the city. I

wanted to earn my beads at Mardi Gras, search the bayous for magic, and be

transformed beyond the boundaries of my physical world. But the rigors of my

life quashed my momentum and I didn't visit the one American city I'd always

longed to see -- until just last weekend -- nearly three years AFTER the

hurricane.

Thanks to the brilliant Eve Ensler, and our intrepid CODEPINK cofounder,

Jodie Evans, my dream of seeing New Orleans finally came true. On April 11th

& 12th, Eve Ensler created "V To The Tenth" -- the tenth anniversary

celebration of V-Day (Ensler's global movement to end violence against women

and girls). Not surprisingly, Jodie Evans, a longtime friend of Eve, and

proponent of women's rights, was a sponsor of the V-Day event. As a result,

an international call went out to CODEPINKers to travel to NOLA to celebrate

V-Day. Over one hundred men and women signed on. This time I HAD TO GO!!

What I experienced in New Orleans (mainly in New Orleans city proper),

surpassed my expectations. The music is really that great. The cuisine is

really that great. The people are really that great. And the architecture is

that picturesque -- WHERE IT STILL STANDS! Because in areas like the Lower

Ninth Ward, where no cab driver wanted to take me, very few houses still

stand. The devastation is surreal. There is much much work to be done!

There have been many heroes since Hurricane Katrina who've battled to

rebuild New Orleans. Harry Shearer, Harry Connick, Jr., Wynton Marsalis and

Brad Pitt come to mind. But now, another hero has submersed herself within

the folds of New Orleans - the brilliantly talented Eve Ensler. What better

match than Eve Ensler and New Orleans? Each is inspired. Each is inimitable.

Each avant-garde. Each one pushes the limits.

Come to think of it, CODEPINK's just like that, too! It's a trifecta!!

For the past year, in preparation for her "V-Day" anniversary, Ensler, the

Obie Award winning playwright and performer of the "Vagina Monologues," laid

the groundwork for a NOLA event like no other - a two day love fest

transforming the once infamous Superdome into the mega-pink "Love Dome."

Ensler succeeded on all counts. Her herculian effort, with co-producer,

Carol Bebelle, provided activism training, health education, and specialized

services to the residents of NOLA, for whom she also premiered "Swimming

Upstream" (The Katrina Monologues) - a powerful and beautifully performed

amalgam of music and monologues which portray the intimacy and emotion of

Hurricane Katrina, much as the Vagina Monologues (performed the following

evening), portray the intimacy and emotion of womanhood. The V-Day

anniversary, in its mission to nurture, educate, empower, protect and

transform, was tailor-made for New Orleans, and tailor-made for CODEPINK.

Thank you, Jodie, for signing us on.

Like Eve Ensler, CODEPINK has been deeply immersed in New Orleans. Shortly

after Hurricane Katrina, CODEPINK members traveled to New Orleans and

aligned with the grassroots collective, Common Ground, to provide food and

supplies to hurricane survivors. Because of this V-Day call to action,

several CODEPINKers returned to the city. Others, like myself, visited for

the very first time. By Thursday, around sixty CODEPINKers had trekked to

New Orleans. By Sunday, HUNDREDS of new CODEPINKers were trekking back home.

It's an ever growing movement -- a vital movement that nurtures

interconnectedness and deepens its roots wherever it goes. So it was

fitting, with CODEPINK's commitment to sow the seeds that grow community,

that it plant a garden in NOLA. Fortunately, Sarah Rath, a core CODEPINKer

who moved to NOLA two years ago, was up to the task. She coordinated with

Common Ground and laid the groundwork for a beautiful garden in the Lower

Ninth Ward. CODEPINKers who arrived in NOLA on Thursday were immediately put

to work. By the end of the day a beautiful garden was planted and a New

Orleans-style barbeque was held. Giant drums of incredible food were

prepared like I'd never seen before. There's just no way to adequately

describe it.

On Saturday morning we marched through the streets to the "Love Dome,"

accompanied by a raucous brass band. CODEPINK carried its giant pink slip,

reading "Lead Us Out Of Iraq." Unlike marches in other cities, there wasn't

a single antagonist on the route. Not a war-monger in sight. There wasn't

one single person who didn't understand. There was no one who believed we

were wrong and war was right. They all got the message. Their experience

with poverty, victimization and fragility has taught them lessons other

Americans haven't learned. In NOLA they understand that if there's no war,

there could be rebuilding. They understand that if there's no war, there

could be better healthcare and operational hospitals - not just in NOLA -

but EVERYWHERE.

In New Orleans, where the great Eve Ensler brought "Swimming Upstream" to

life, the pain has been deep for nearly three years - even longer for

Katrina's more impoverished victims. As the broken economy caused by greedy

corporations and Bush's illegal war claim the homes of good people as

Katrina did in New Orleans, more converts will realize that the marchers

they once jeered should have really been cheered. It's not too late to join

in.

In New Orleans and the rest of America there is much much work to be done.

Eve Ensler has raised 60 million dollars to help women across the world.

CODEPINK has nearly singlehandedly carried the people's message to Congress.

Still New Orleans is not rebuilt, America remains at war, and Congress

defies the will of the people. Please do something. Pick an issue and do

something.

Thank you Eve Ensler, for being the force that you are. Thank you for your

work in New Orleans, in Africa, and throughout the world, and for using

art - the universal language - to benefit our planet. And thank you, Jodie,

for shining CODEPINK's light back on New Orleans.

To view photos from the V-Day Anniversary in New Orleans, please visit:

http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=4120 [1]

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their

spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their

government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are

suffering deeply in spirit,

and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public

debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have

patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning

back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at

stake."

-Thomas Jefferson