What Are They Not Telling Us? Local Peace Economy Gathering 8.5.2026

I want to thanks Maria. I want to start with a poem and because today is about let's remember given you know the attacks on good right now. Let's remember that we live you know in a world that spouse lies and avoids and conceals. Let's just start, you know, with the right to dream. I love Eduardo Galliano. He's one of my very favorite poets. He's a revolutionary and deeply human and is, you know, speaks from this the place of the people. And I just found this poem that was written 30 years ago. And it's I think it's funny that it starts out with la last year. Um, so it's it was written 30 years from last year. So 31 years ago. Who knows how the world will be in 2025. But one thing is certain. If we are still here, we will all be people of the last century. We cannot guess how the world will be, but we can imagine the world we would like. The right to dream is not one of the United Nations 30 human rights from 1948. But if we didn't have the right to dream or the water it gives us to drink and the other rights the other rights would die of thirst. And I think we've witnessed that. Sorry to interrupt a poem. Let me invent the future here. The upside down world turns the right way up. In the streets, dogs will run over cars. There will be no pollution in the air. And the only poison will be from human fear and human passions. The television will stop being the most important member of the family. People will use it like the ironing board or the washing machine. The boys who don't want to do military service will not be arrested. The boys who want to do military service will be arrested. People who work to live. People will work to live, not live to work. No illness will be called mortal because life is mortal. Economists will not confuse the standard of living and how much people buy. And they will not confuse the quality of life with the quantity of things. Historians will not believe that countries enjoy it when other countries invade them. Politicians will not believe that the poor enjoy eating very bad food. Cooks will not believe that lobsters are happy when people eat them alive. No one will treat street kids badly because there won't be street kids. No one will treat rich kids with money because there won't be rich kids. Education will be only for the people. Education will not be only for the people who can pay for it. Police control will not be only for people who cannot buy it. There will be no difference between legal and natural children because all are natural. A black woman will be the president of Brazil and another black woman will be the president of the United States. An Indian woman will govern Guatemala. Another will govern Peru. In Argentina, the crazy women of the Plaza Deayo will be wonderful examples of mental health because they did not forget when everyone else was forgetting. The church will correct a few of God's mistakes. The sixth commandment, which says people may not enjoy sex, will say celebrate the body. The ninth commandment will say desire. The ninth commandment, which says desire is bad, will say desire is sacred. The church will also say there is an 11th commandment which God forgot. You will love nature because you belong to it. The passionate man will not be a champion and the passionate woman will not be a prostitute because no one in the world will be turned off. What are we rooted in and what are we living from? What is a slippery slope we cannot see? Oh, sorry. So, um think about him writing this 30 years ago. Before there was the internet, before there were screens, it was the television. And you know, I thought what was so cool about the um the crazy women of the Plaza Deio is partly what I want to talk about is, you know, the women that still raged for their children that were killed. um wonderful examples of mental health because did they not forget when everyone else was forgetting? So I feel like his dreaming is from a space 30 years ago and I think that when we feel into this we can even feel things we've lost, right? We can even feel relationships to realities that we've lost and things that we're not even dreaming for. And so I start today with this place of um what are we rooted in and how are we living from it? What is the slippery slope we can't see? And why does community save us? So, you know, we know and like how do we understand that we're both rational and not rational people, all of us. How do we understand that we're all human and that what the psychopaths do affect all of us and no one is immune immune from psychopathy. So if we can accept that and we look out, I want to use this moment of the attack on Code Pink to talk about that slippery slope, to talk about how we get through it, to talk about all the feelings it brings up and how that relates to the war economy and the peace economy and our work to move off the war economy onto the peace economy and why it is so essential. Before I move forward, I want to see is there anybody here that's new that wants to introduce themselves. >> Okay. >> I'm I've never been to a code pink meeting. >> Hi Katie. >> Um welcome. Where are you from? >> Uh Boston. >> Oh cool. >> Yeah. >> Fabulous. Welcome. Welcome. >> Thanks. So, um yeah, if you um I hope that after I talk a little bit that you might ask some questions because questions always help us all learn. So, um feel free to ask questions because I launch into the middle using everything but being relational to the moment which is where all you know teaching it works is in the moment. So um uh uh and welcome Marcella. Thank you for joining us. H I'm from Brazil. Yes. Thank you. Uh we love Brazil. Do you know the MST? Yes. Okay. So, back to what we're going to talk about today. Um, so I I want to use today is this constant reminder of we've got this war economy. It's big. It's luminous. It draws us in all the time. and the peace economy that we're building and why having these strong grounds, why having community is so essential and why it becomes more essential every day. I'm going to bring you all up to speed. For those of you that didn't see, Stephen Bannon um uh got the president to sign a presidential do declaration that uh he gets to call whoever's left a terrorist and all the polices that the government has control over and funds are going to be, you know, put to work to arrest uh to defund, debank, de you know, criminal you know, like like a whole list of things it's going to do to us. Um, you know, Steve, not Steve Bannon, Steve, Steven Miller. Then at the same time, next day, um, Marco Rubio does a 100page report on Cuba, lists about 147 terrorists that are, you know, the greatest threat to the US, even though the US is the greatest threat to the people of Cuba. um you know the the upside down world that Galliona says the may the upside down world be put up right so the upside down world of the terrorist that is Stephen Miller calling other people terrorists and then deciding everybody you know violating all the uh constitution and the laws etc etc so this happens some people see it some people don't but the people that see it I'm like lots of messages how are you how are you I'm like I'm fine. That wasn't targeting me. That was targeting you. So the confusion is that they make boogeymen, right? And they target them to target the people to make the people afraid. What was weapons of mass destruction? It was to make people afraid so they would do anything because oh my god, something was going to come at them. So you you know like understanding what's happening and that I can't even tell you how many people are frightened by that now that is what it's meant to do. So let's be in the complexity of this. Managing complexity, not solving problems, local peace economy, right? Always arrive at the complexity. Ah yes, these people have power. We've seen what they can do with it. We've seen what they can do with it in Gaza. We've seen what happening in the West Bank. We see what's um happened in our cities with ICE. It's very real. And if we are silent, if we are frightened by it, it wins. And you know, people are naming what's happening here McCarthyism, which it is. Not only that, I mean, if you look, if you listened to both Steven Miller and Rubio's talks, there is an exactly the same one out of McCarthy and there's an exactly the same one out of Hitler. So they're listening to what they're mimicking and because why? Because it's a spell. It's hypnotizing. It's real. It didn't fail. It succeeded. So they are taking something that worked and using it. But the thing that worked was the silencing of the people that allowed a violence. And the place we are now is another place. We know history. We've watched history. And the question is, can we behave differently knowing something that happened? We know what happens when you're silent. So let's just say as we know at Code Pink, wars start with the media. The war on Iraq started with weapons of mass destruction. And the color-coded alerts, orange, red, and yellow that had nothing to do with anything were always in the news. And they were meant to frighten the American people into letting power do whatever they wanted. So, it's like that's where it starts. And when everyone's silent because oh my god, what ifs have a lot of power? What ifs um then and it's why we called code pink for peace, you know? let's like not believe the lies. But if you're silent and you don't speak up and there's nothing in the way of uh just remind everybody $22 trillion was spent destroying the earth and five million people are dead in 22 years of the war on terror. So yeah, something very real happened and we talk about it a little abstractly. So I want to bring in um not uh Germany before the Nazis was seen globally as the most educated country on the planet. May not be your kind of education but that's how they're seen. When I talked about the rational mind, um I just want to say what I don't know what that means but it's a mind but mind not connected to heart mind not connected to empathy is a very dangerous thing which smarter people than me have said um including Einstein. Uh so let's you know what we've been unpacking for I think a couple of months here is this what are you connected to? What are you rooted in? And I think when they do these spells of taking you into fear and into away from humanity and into the like I don't know the limbic brain or the whatever part of the brain that is so DNA based of like run from the tiger or die that place. So they're hooking you into the run from the tiger or die with no exit because you don't have an exit because it's a lie. So if it's hooking you into your survival mechanism, but there's no place for you to find reality, then you're in a hamster wheel trying to find reality being used by them. Now, I want to say, as you know, I'm always saying, please have compassion for everyone because everyone is miseducated all day long in this structure that we live in. um they are able to use you in the space of where they can catch you in your the tiger is coming and I'm going to die. Now what needs to happen is your rational mind to say where's the tiger right but if there's really no if the lie is already happening but it's linked into some place that doesn't that's supposed to do something it creates a chaos inside of you and um that's how they win that's how the Nazis won that's how McCarthyism won for a long time and I want to say we have to constantly remember What happened when the silencing happened? Not just in Germany and Austria and France, you know, like what happens when the silencing happens? It opens the space for barbarism. What happens when the world does not say it is not okay to kill babies in incubators? You know, that was a test. If you can kill babies in incubators, you can get away with anything. And we failed. We failed. So here we are. It's like we are in the witness of the same playbook both for McCarthyism and for the Nazis playing out in front of us. So what do we do? We get to feel it. What do you feel when that happens? Like you're part of pink, you know, like oh my god, am I going to be one of the people? are are they gonna put all the police after me? You know, like you have to like look at it and review it and go, "Wow, that sounds crazy." Um, and when you start to go, "That sounds crazy." Then you have distanced yourself from it and you can start to have a more distanced relationship with it. But if you're not in a community and you're not talking it out with friends and you're not having the conversation, you're kind of stuck in the what the hell place of, you know, like I talked about a couple weeks ago or a month ago, the limbo space that is one of the most uncomfortable spaces in our psychology. So at Code Pink, the team, we're used to this. It has happened ever since we started Code Pink. Um, we started Code Pink. In the face of it, Code Pink is DNA is to respond to the the fear threat with no, it's, you know, they're lying. No, that's not the truth. Don't get used by them. You know, that's the that's the code pink message. But it's happened. You know, we were what are we uh Saddam apologists? We worked for the Iranian government. We worked for the Cuban government. We work for the Venezuelan government. We work for the CPC. Like, you know, like the whole that's how they we're going to we're going to create you as um not reliable. We're going to put mud all over you and make you not reliable so nobody will listen to you because peace is not the message we want out there. And so once you know the playbook, you can look at it and go, "Oh, that's the playbook." And and I would say that's how I started China is not our enemy. It was like all of a sudden I'm looking at the media and there's just like all this crazy in the media about China. But it's the exact same thing across every media with one voice. Only one voice, no pictures and no other stories and no stories from the place that's happening. I'm like, "Oh, those are weapons of mass destruction. That looks just like Iraq all over again." So once you see um uh yes, thank you very much for bringing up how deeply this can go Nicole and um and maybe sometimes where we learn the patterning um and uh definitely it's westernly embedded on in us. So, um, it's just the reminder of like when you're rooted deeply, when you understand the patterns, when you're in community and not relying on the war economy in any way for any truth, for any relationship to anything that's happening, you're relying on the people that you trust, on the places that you trust, and where you are rooted in your own values, you will better get through this. Um, but my girlfriend just made a a movie about um, psychopaths. And the really cool thing about the movie is that in the movie, everybody gets caught by the psychopath. Every single person that watched the movie gets caught by the psychopath. So, it's the reminder that we're all human and that they have these techniques that they have developed. The CIA has developed these techniques. What is Rubio and Steven Miller doing? They're going back to where it worked and using the same technology. It's technology. Um so, uh it is a technology that you want to be. If you're not in it, it can't affect you. That's a technology about stories out here that I don't rely on. So, this is kind of a um a reminder I I've talked about this for a long time of the the flossing of our brains of the war economy and and being able to witness when you get caught. When you get caught up in it and why and what happens when all of a sudden you said, "Oh, I read it in the New York Times." But like how many lies have you read in the New York Times? You know, like when did the New York Times make you react? And then did you think, oh, but why am I relying on the New York Times? Who are they speaking for? What are they intending? And where do I look for the truth? What can I trust? That takes space. the space we talk about in the peace economy of not being reactive of being exploratory of researching of you know and during you know now with AI which is economy on steroids it's that it's the space of where we can look at it as the gift the gift of space the gift of I have to breathe into this there's not there's no tiger chasing me I have time to explore I have time to feel I have time to talk to my community. Um, letting space happen, letting listening happen, letting time have a different space. And so, you know, in and after this, if we want to go back to the book or go back to the website and look at both of these places because sometimes we I call it I get barnacles on myself, but it's like we forget the lesson and I'm like go back to the lessons. often myself I like oh I forgot to listen um because we're still human and we're indoctrinated in other ways of behaving but if we're going to keep like the daily practice of how do I get myself off the war economy how do I get myself off the war economy um it's the practice of being present it's the practice of that breath we start with like breathing there and just like oh this is you know this place of wholeness of settled of not anxiety of just breath just this moment moment is where we all need to be coming from and we're all coming from so much anxiety and um so I want to stop there because I wanted this to be a conversation but I want to get you know what are you feeling um in the space of information in the space of the lies how does it catch you and I think in the conversation we help each other like find ways not to get caught by it because there is a way it catches us where we think we have power but we don't you know and it's like where we have power is in growing the future in the space of the Galliano poem in the creating like letting our minds go into what do I want to create instead of looking at this horrible space that is here and going okay that's there what do I want to dream out of it and be creating and moving our energy from the catch into the creation into the flow of life. So does anybody and it you know can be about anything that's happening right now and how you feel caught by it where you want to be liberated from it or any ways that you can share with folks here how you do that. Well, Jody, I I can start, I guess. But >> thanks for >> uh just this isn't a real great answer. It's just a collection of ideas, bots. Um first of all, my husband is a pacifist and he always looked at the news, uh you know, from a framework of a lot of that is just propaganda. And I mean, from the time he was young, and I wasn't. I grew up in a ca Catholic, you know, Republican household where, you know, whatever the CIA said, that was true. And um so he he helps me a lot stay grounded. Um but I I do want to tell a story um shortly that for my husband teaches still at the little public school across the street from our house, prek through 12. and four of the uh seniors, the 12th graders came over to our house. They start school tomorrow. Came over to our house yesterday and to say, "Are you going to help us with algebra again this year?" And he said, "Yeah." And uh we want to play on the chess team that my husband is the coach. But they also said, you know, you were right about, and I won't name names, but they used to march behind him in the hallway of the school and just kind of under their breath mention a certain politician's name that was very popular, you know, >> and it didn't really bother my husband much. He gets along with them pretty well. But, uh, they they said yesterday when I was here, they said, "You were right about that." So that that gives me great hope. Um and I'm proud of my husband, you know, and and uh I I do speak out, you know, when I have a chance. And he's not allowed to speak out at school, you know, unless they ask him. But the one boy does ask him and then they all listen to what he says. So, okay, that's it. >> Oh, Virginia, that's really great. and and just also a reminder which I keep reminding of the patience with people where they are not their fault and so by modeling you're talking about like by modeling something different and offering like there he is the g the he is the local piece economy right he's the giving by being the giving you open the door of trust and the open the door for listening because nobody's going to get there except on their own and and I think that's one of the ways we get out of the whole individualism thing, it's like there is only to be it. Um, as any parent knows, you don't teach a kid how to be, you be and the kid learns. Um, so that's what how we are with each other. And, uh, I find sometimes we try to hammer people into believing or being how we want them to be and it's so so, you know, not very effective. Um, at Copic we, you know, from the very beginning, no, we don't. This is the playing field of the war economy. If you try to meet it here, you're on their playing field. We're creating another playing field. You know that that, you know, obviously irritates them, but it's not their playing field. I think part of what they're angry at is we won't fight with them. We're just doing our thing. You know, why are they mad at us? Because we're taking aid the Cuban people that they're trying to starve to death. Well, you know, that's a hard thing to argue with other people's like they're horrible. They're feeding the Cuban people. They're terrorists. You know, it's like where you force them to articulate. If you went at them like this, you're not teaching anybody anything. But if you do what you know, they're keeping from happening. If you're feeding life instead of you expose them, destroying life and you just become a way for other people that you don't even know >> to see it. And and that way more is communicated than you can actually commun, you know, than you could teach. Um so people become aware. Virginia, thank you so much. Love your husband. >> Me, too. >> Well, you know, teachers are the best. All right, Nicole. >> Um, yeah, sorry, Jody. It's me um using I'm just at a friend. >> Oh, cat. Hi, Cat. >> And I just Hi. I just could you um kind of just repeat the sort of like question so I make sure that I >> answer it directly. >> Sure. Like where do you So we all get snagged in for whatever reasons we are triggered by the war economy's messaging right however it comes at us you know and rightly so we should be triggered by some of it but um we can get caught in it and think it's real and and all of a sudden like things you know like the fact that you think that Stephen B you know Stephen Miller is saying we're going to come out good pink with all the military force You know, some people think that's real and get really afraid. And so, how does how do you find and C, I know you do this. Um, and you also I know you also get snagged. Um, how do you find ways to not to recognize that when you give power power you've given over your agency? How do you take your agency back and pivot away from it realizing there is nothing I can do for it? There's not going to listen to me. They give they don't care what I think or say. How do I take this moment, feel my agitation and what I would like to have happen and create that somewhere else? So I I wasn't prepared in this um you know like with what's been going on over like these last decades um that you know I I can't help it like I studied the family system and child abuse from like the ' 70s you know since and so that understanding that dynamic and that abusive dysfunctional system gave me an unbelievable foundation for understanding what's been happening um you know decades at the macro level. So I'm always saying you know micro and macro and if like you know one thing that was kind of clear decades ago uh that was you know authority you know was you know people used to kind of like to bail them out make excuses for them and frame because this is what the the family system like a dysfunctional abusive family system functions like the innocent and vulnerable are literally framed as guilty while those so those in authority can you know get away with it. And I just see this macro system as literally like functioning the same exact way. Uh you know authority was always you know by people around like in the community excused and enabled and it was kind of made normal for the vulnerable to sort of uh you know uh bail out and and kind of fund their abuser essentially. And um so I you know I have that sort of experiences um you know previously to all this stuff going on. And so like I'm kind of aware that if something is going wrong or there's like a fear and they're trying to say okay like oh poor you know code pink like you're the demon like because I know that that the the ones in so-called authority they are the real abusers always looking to project their criminality and guilt on to other people. So, I mean, all you have to do is look at who has most of the leverage. They're the criminals then. >> Well, so Kat, this is really good. So, I'm wondering if you could give everybody here like because you're grounded in Exactly. Right. Because all of this is the mi the the local visi what we say is the micro is the macro, right? When you live in the micro, you're going to know the macro better. So you're showing us that because I understand the micro, I understand the patterning. And you're exactly right. You're exact. The the patterning is a family patterning. The families, you know, it's a control mechanism. It's an authority mechanism that we're all programmed into. So what you're saying is I understand that mechanism. I'm very clear about it. So it's not using me, right? Is there anything you can share with your community here? Like one little tool that helps you see um anything? >> Well, um I mean I I I couldn't help it again like in the late 70s into the 80s you're you know you're just a healthy and fit young person. So your body, you know, like going back to the fight or flight, your, you know, your body just knows what to do and did it and and fought and exposed the illegitimate people in authority. But the the downfall of that was uh you know again um your your your healthy functioning by other people around was was kind of made a pathology like people try to make your healthy like fightor-flight response and standing up against an abuser like it's a pathology or a crime or something and like there's something wrong with you or you were born >> right. So, you're you're talking about the from the poem, the women in the square who are still healthy, but is there um is there something >> is there a way that you've learned to under like >> to not be used by it that you could share with the group here and and we can come back to you if you want to sit with the question for a minute. >> Never believe the official narrative, you know. >> Okay, there we go. Never. Thank you. you know, I mean, follow nature, follow health, and always be on the side of the vulnerable or, you know, the downtrodden, >> right? So, there we go into thank you because that's the what is this information serving? So, I think that's an important thing. What does this information serve? And Kat, thank you. It serve is this serving those that are most vulnerable or is this serving power? And just that question helps you um be in the relationship with it. Katie, >> uh sorry, I need to gather my thoughts. I think um some ways that I get caught into the narrative is uh just going along with whatever the Democrats are doing in order to beat the Republicans is definitely one thing you have I have to guard against. um even though in Massachusetts most many of our politicians are, you know, war criminals and um and then speaking out cuz you get ostracized. You're afraid like what if my colleagues see me out here petitioning against war? Uh and there's like the social pressure of not pushing back on the system. And I think in this moment it's easier to do that because I it really seems like people are have gaining a different perspective. >> Um, right. And um, and so I think that's a good one to think about and feel into uh because I think it has to do with belonging and that's a lot what we're talking about. You know, the local peace economy and the war economy. It's like if you aren't I mean why do they attack good pink? It's like you're not belonging. You're not doing the status quo. You're not doing the zeitgeist. You're by being different, you uh cause people to ask questions and that's dangerous. So it's like thinking is dangerous. So when we were talking about being educated and what you know what is rational uh if you if you are educated but you can't think um what does education even mean? And so I think for that it's it's a it's the work that we're all doing because we've we live in a country that's full of lies. It's started on lies. It started on lies and violence. And so in unpacking it where to unpack it is with yourself. And you know that's why the practices are so important because it's even questioning like well who do when I like who am I wanting to be in relationship with? What is my community? Is it the people that don't want to rock the boat or is it the people that want to live out of a set of values and that's going to be a little messy and it's going to make other people uncomfortable and you know so it's really like making new decisions about where you want to live your life from, how you want to root, what your your your community looks like, who do you rely on. And you know, welcome by the way, because that's the work and we're all at different levels of the work. But what happens is that you your agency gets stronger, your capacity to understand truth gets stronger. It's just a process um that happens here. And when they catch you out here, when everything's out here, nothing you can affect or do anything about, but it's always grabbing you. There's not the development of the what is truth? What am I related to? What are my values? Why am I worried about what they think about me? And there's nothing more liberating than um doing something true and having your community get mad at you. I would say that's one of the more liberating things. Um, you know, uh whenever it happens to me, I'm just like, wow. You know, it's just like that was nothing. That didn't mean anything. And now I know who they are and I don't really care about them anymore because what are their values and what are they living from? and I don't care what they think about me, you know? So, it's like it's an illumination and I find that whenever I step out of my comfort zone into because and then you just get where you can't help yourself but tell the truth like I'm I'm probably an irritant in every every room I go in. Um but what I know is that the people it serves, they're so grateful and I have a life full of people who are just like, "Oh, truth. Finally, man, there's a ground out there that I can stand on." Um and then they start to build their own ground. So um and discomfort, yes, cat is very healthy. And I, for some reason, we've decided we don't like this discomfort and there's nothing healthier because that um instability, that space of like finding stability is how we grow. Uh Eve, lovely to see you. >> Yes. Uh okay. So basically I think um I mean right now we are facing uh a lot of problems you know um that uh we haven't uh confronted you know before and uh I mean it's not really easy to uh deal with them but I think uh the first thing is to be educated is to learn how to uh solve these problems and uh I mean there are different ways there are legal ways um to solve them there are also uh collective way Uh there are personal ways in terms of finding within our consciousness uh how to solve uh uh some problems and even you know spiritual ways you know uh to to solve some problems because you know the thing is uh I mean We uh I mean we have like a great power you know above us and uh I think we have to use you know this uh I mean people call it supreme power and you know they call it like energy field you know that uh surround surround us that surround us. So, um, but I think we create that energy field and I think that's, uh, one of the things that I think cultivating a local peace economy does is create exactly what you're saying, an energy field that has a different set of values, a different uh, texture, a different grounding than what we're living inside of. And that's when we can rec create that people are attracted because it's life because it's truth because it has integrity. Um where it's, you know, where it's a thing that's missing in everything and the in the uh and the barbarism and the irrationality. It's like when you can find something that is solid and good that is a force that we create together. And um I don't you know we we say in the local beast economy instead of solving problems managing complexities because they're not problems they're complexities. Um they're you know it's like everything you know isn't a nail that needs a hammer. It's life. It's that same discomfort space. It's uh being able to be in need and relationship. And when you go into calling things a problem, you've already lost your way in that um it's like not you know like understanding where people are. It's just like what is what is what needs to be healed, what needs to be seen, what needs to be listened to. It's way beyond like it's a problem and what we know. So the thing right now is like we can see the war economy it's you know it's going to collapse itself. What are we building that is there when it does that? And what does it look like? And what are we dreaming? And what are we missing? And what do we see in the moment like in the Galliano poem that we want to see in a different way? and have the humor and the and the creativity to see it in the the beautiful ways of like the dogs are running on, you know, running over cars instead of the cars running over dogs, you know, to to really be flipping the world back right side up. >> I I see what you mean. Uh but there's another thing, you know, that I want to to say. It's like right now uh in the Haitian community there's um there's about there are about you know three uh 350,000 you know of people who are facing you know deportation. It has been, you know, a long, you know, battle uh going to the courts uh up uh uh all the way to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court, you know, granted, you know, the Trump administration, you know, to uh deport those people even though, you know, those peoples, you know, who have been under TPS, you know, have the right, you know, to renew, you know, dispatch it because you, you know, Haiti, you know, is not safe, you know, to to to to to leave even you know the government you know you know put you know level four you know for you know anyone who wants you know to go to Haiti because it's not safe and you know now they want you know to deport them you know there and today was what what happened is like you know uh uh judge you know re you know um officially you know leave you know the state you know against the quotation which mean that you know the government you know is free to deport you know these people but there is a bill you know on the senate and uh it has been passed if I if I believe correctly uh you know on the house and this bills is like uh going to uh uh I mean have a law uh so that you know these people can stay uh like for three years, you know, under the TPS. Yes. But uh it means, you know, uh uh uh some senators, you know, on on the Senate, you know, in order to vote and eventually to vote, you know, for this law to be passed. And there have been, you know, a campaign, you know, in Massachusetts, uh, where, you know, people, you know, try to call, you know, their symptoms, you know. >> So, Eve, I'm going to I'm going to, um, say something here. Um, this is horrible and you're speaking exactly to what I've been saying. >> Power is real. And I and you're saying what I said at the very beginning. It is very real and very horrible and it is violating the rights of many people. A bill right now going through Congress until Trump is out doesn't matter because he can he has to sign any bill and any bill he doesn't have to sign has to get 65% of the Congress. So the question is how do we take care of the patients in our communities? How do we um because see the lawyers we're nobody hears a lawyer nobody hears a lawyer that's helping the Haitians but we are people who live in communities and what we should do listening to you is seeing where the Haitians are in our community and how do we take care of them because a bill going through Congress is going to get to Trump's desk and he will not sign it. Mhm. >> So, but what can we do? We're not lawyers. We're not legislators to be bringing our communities into awareness of what is happening. And I think that's where it's we, you know, we leave those who do this work to do this work. Nobody, if somebody's doing this work, they're not on this call. They're very busy doing that work. I can tell you if you're a lawyer right now working with Asians, you're working 24/7 for the last two years. I know many of them. They haven't slept. So, but that's not who we are together. We are together. I want us all to take in your story because I wish I would have had it at the beginning to share of power is real and it has real effects. And how do we stand up in the face of it? And you answer. It's like how do we stand up in the moment of this no they cannot go back and be the person that stands up and says no they're not going back in our communities. >> So that's what we can do for the next two years is be that person in our community that doesn't let it happen with our bodies with our hearts and that's a place where we get to say um you know actually stand up and be be in the face of it and I really appreciate you bringing that up. Thank you so much, Eve, because that is the reality we're dealing with. And you know, when I when people say, "Oh, poor COD pink." And it's like, "Not poor Code Pink. We're fine. >> The Haitians aren't fine in America. The Haitians aren't fine in Haiti because of what America's done to them." So, I think it's like being able to pivot where the real struggle is and where we belong, where our voices belong. um they belong in our community taking care of the humans. Um so thank you so much for that and a reminder to everyone here. Uh here's a local task. Where are the Haitians in your community? So I'm going to give it to Leah because we're almost at the end of time and we we didn't do breakouts this time. We're we're having a a joint conversation. So Leah, >> um your original question was like how how are we yeah where do we get caught that we're getting used and how do we like get out of that and of course like my gratitude for this community that that you bring so much nourishment to Jod and inspiration and McGregor too. I see Greg is on the call and like so I've been um I've been wondering if I'm being used in the in the activism that I'm being called to to show up for that it's just like naturally happening with the things that I've been watching with the Coastal Commission um hearings SpaceX launches at Vandenberg and the um nuclear delivery test ICBM launches out of Vandenberg and going to those hearings things with the colonel from Vandenberg. Um I was dressed like a fairy, you know, and at the end of I did not for the hearing but for the protest beforehand and then um and then at the hearing like I spoke in a way that reached their humanity. It did because afterwards like some of the staff of the Vandenberg crew came up to me and you know was asking if I was okay and I said no I'm not you know because of the effects of your rockets on pregnant women who are miscarriaging you know like and and really speaking with my heart. So >> there you were being the woman in the in the square in Argentina screaming you were the healthy one right? >> Yes. Yes. And I I was feeling depressed after that. I had written two op-eds that bookended that hearing and it was really hard for me to write the second one because I had to like I only had 250 words. And so looking at the imbalance of power that the corporations have that they can launch space junk to cover our planet, hurt our grandchildren's generations ozone layer and I have 250 words. I'm not getting paid for this. You know, I'm like going into debt. I have not been able to work. This is my higher calling. But anyway, um and uh like to see that and to so I've been nourishing myself by understanding like a little bit more about the corporate law and also what happened in the Iraq war when when like and you know understanding because I was in New York City as a college student in 9/11 and I didn't really have the political awakening until um until the pandemic when I started studying economy and with McGregor was met in a book club uh with Christian Sorenson in the business of war. So anyway, I just want to um to say also that I live across the street from an active oil rig. So I've been active at city council and organizing my community um to to help our neighboring community also with their oil rig to shut it down. And so I've been speaking a lot of truth to power um in the city hall, you know, in the hearings. And uh I was just following the SpaceX issue. So I it's dizzying. It makes me nauseous to see like the you know their plans for all this sick war tech and trying turning wanting to turn the central coast into the space port. Um, and I started to feel dizzy like because following that at the coastal commission agenda now there's also fracking off the co coast of Ventura is being proposed because Trump is trying to turn back you know these environment and the environmental protection act and the other law CZMA I don't remember what it stands for coastal zoning management act. So he they basically I was at a surf writer webinar yesterday. >> Okay, you're getting into details. Um so I want to stay with the overview for the team here. >> Okay. So I was getting dizzy with the details and >> I'm trying to keep you from getting us dizzy too. >> Yeah. Yeah. Good. Good. And uh so yeah, I don't know I don't know quite the answer other than connecting with nature and and having some humor. So this is my um my emotional support service animal and I want to put together like a little clown educate about the big scary nuclear, you know, weapons program and to defeat the 1.5 trillion Pentagon budget um as you inspire us. So thank you. >> Thank you, Leah. And that's very inspiring. Thank you so much and Greg for being such a great partner to Leah. So Leah, your answer is to everyone. I just engage in what I need to do locally to teach to what I say educate, inspire and activate and all the work is local and you are doing it. The one thing is to take care of yourself because it's a long to the thing I always remind people who decide to take on the monster is to take it on with humor and to take it on knowing that everything I do every day is making a difference. And it may not be making a difference to them, but it's showing up matters and it's making a difference to everyone who's listening to me. So, it's making a difference um to those in the room. It's making a difference when I organize and I talk to people. People are learning. So always like, you know, with the piece economy, remember who your audience is. Don't think it's that I'm going to change power. Think of it as I'm building power with the people. So that gets uh wears you out less. It lets you decide where to be and what to do and how to do it. And humor for sure is always necessary. So beautiful sharing. Thank you, Leah. And thanks for all you do. And please take care of yourself. And yeah, a couple of forest bathing. Forest bathing is always a good idea. But laughter is always always that is so good. Pink Rosalyn um I I have some really good news. I don't know um if anybody has been following closely um because as always news also by omission is not about like what's reported but what is not reported or like intentionally blackout. Um that is something about framing. Um if you go to common censored there's a journalist named Elanar Goldfield give a shout out Mickey Huff and people like that who talk a lot about media literacy. Um but I was doing a tangent because I wanted to get back to the good news that my friend Adam who was imprisoned for protesting the Iran war and Israeli policies in in Gaza um has been released on bail. He was held from March 6 until uh the 1st of July. Um and I just found out after I was quite frightened because that's another thing. It's just um first of all like you know it he is an American and it shouldn't be like oh he's a white male but it is a privilege in the sense like this is happening to people who are American citizens and are white males who are who are usually very protected and if it's happening to that we can imagine like Haitians and refugees how much worse they have it because he was held for like 90 days they didn't even um like charge him because that's the law. You can be held without charge for 90 days and the prosecutor stalled like held him in jail for 90 days in in Georgia. And then after that um finally he was able to get out on um bond, but still the prosecution is going forward. There's still discovery of the evidence. He's still awaiting trial and psychologically it's being very tough. Um but pretty much you know um I I think there's prudence and enders the law right one could say being provocative I'm in you know talking about comedy I write satire habibi on my blog. Yeah. So, I I really do benefit from having very strong freedom of speech and and protection as an artist and a creative and many people here do too, especially when we're challenging power. Um, but the reality is regardless of whether you think something's wise or prudent, like you know, it's really concerning that the government is really authoritarian that somebody can be held in jail. And going back to what I started off earlier is the fact that it was very much a media blackout. I was hoping there might be some local uh reporting in like Atlanta metro area, but he didn't share with me any articles or anything that uh independent journalists have done. So I started a letterw writing campaign. Now he's out of jail. But if you want to get in touch, you can go to my blog on my Substack and I've listed his mother's email address. I can also copy and paste it. >> What's your blog, Rosalyn? Can you put it in there? >> Yes. Um it's called Evangeline Press on subse let me just like that and pretty much um his mom is a really good point of contact um for any encouragement >> and yeah so that's um an update and then also another point um is talking about a holistic ethic of protecting life like I I heard a story out of um Palestine sign of a woman whose ambulance was blocked going in and then um her child. >> Yeah. Um >> we're launching a whole campaign on that right now. >> Yeah. And and >> it's really another thing that is under reportported and um for me like to really value all human life you have to value life in the womb and then you have to be consistent and value life outside of the womb because you know a human's a human no matter how small. I think that's a line from Dr. Seuss. So we can finish with that. Thank you for that. And um by the way, we are launching that new campaign um that uh we'll be having a webinar on in a couple of weeks, exactly two weeks on yesterday um where we're taking um on the American feminists that are not talking about this. Where are they um while this is happening? As you say, a life is a life. and um it the all that what's happening to Palestinian women is not being addressed by the uh US feminists. So, thank you Roslin for all your offerings, Ronald. And then I think we probably have to go because it's we're over time. >> Oh, yes. Um, I just wanted to uh say that um I mean I I have found I'm retired but I found things to do and um I'm actually quite busy now and there's so much information out there to combat the lies and sometimes it's overwhelming and what I do is I I've been meditating for many years now. And when I get overwhelmed with anxiety, I just take a break and I breathe. Breathe in and breathe out. And sometimes I I'll meditate for 15 minutes. And I just want everybody to know that um if you're feel feeling over overwhelmed, take a break, meditate, and then get back to work. Oh my god, Ronald, that was like the best way to end this call. I mean, like that was awesome because we all have agency and we like we we pretend we don't and we don't we we think it's going to be more complicated and that is awesome. And Ronald, if you want to, you know, uh, share any of your favorites where people can go just as an offering, but that is it. It it is that it catches us and taking a breath and stepping back and just breathing and being present uh is the way we get out of their clutches. So remembering that we are the people, we are the power, they, you know, even though they can do some really shitty things, that together we are building a future and it is going to be so freaking beautiful. Um, but it only happens if we do it and we engage as us with what we have to offer in the beautiful ways we have to offer it. like Leah and her awesome puppet and and Greg with her awesome t-shirt. You know, we're just I just want to say you're all beautiful humans. Thank you for all you do with your giant hearts and your huge, you know, capacity for creativity and love. May we all continue and we'll see you in Oh, by the way, in two weeks we're joining the summer of peace and love teachings. So, we're going to invite more people to join us in two weeks um as a summer peace summer peace and love teaching for the the bigger community. So, there might be more of us here. Uh it's just so that um so you all know we have the summer peace and love. I know we've been talking about it. um that there's ways to engage locally and if you're doing anything locally, please let Marie know and we'll get it up on the the coalition website uh to remind everybody what peace looks like um so they can be joining with us to say no to heath $1.5 trillion war budget which we will stop but only if we all we bring everyone with us and it's why we're doing the Palestine campaign to go after the feminists just like with wing our wars our green campaign. We go after the environmentalist movement. And if I could tell you the people we're pulling in that I never believed would be at our side, you would be very inspired. So, people don't know what to do or where to go. They're all lost. And we know where we're going. And guess what? They want somebody to bring them forward. So, uh, know that you are needed right now at the Vanguard of Peace. And I am so grateful for all of you. So, see you in a couple weeks.