Do you know where your money spends the night?  Wall Street banks are trashing our economy and our environment in the name of their own profits—do you buy into their corruption and greed?

It’s time to Pink Slip Big Banks and invest in a more peaceful and just future by moving your money!  How?

Here are some great resources:

•    Tool: Find a Bank or a Credit Union near you


•    Print: Download and print out our PINK SLIP BIG BANKS statement to hand into your bank when you close your account

•    Checklist: 7 Simple Steps To Move Your Checking Account

•    Make socially responsible investments as an alternative to bank CDs or money market accounts

•    Share your banking story with us! Upload a video to our website, submit a photo, or email us your story.

Moving our money is one of the powerful ongoing direct actions that has come out of the growing Occupy movement.  Join an Occupy action near you today and put your money and your body where your values are.  And meet us online at www.womenoccupy.org.

The Divine Feminine at OWS

The evolutionary advantages of bonobo lifestyle, well-known among primatologists, served as an introduction to our first Divine Feminine discussion at Occupy Wall Street. Tired of male-dominated spaces and conversations, female occupiers were insisting on the importance of coming together simply for the sake of, well, coming together. Unlike WOW (Women Occupying Wall Street), there was no agenda, no actions being planned. The purpose was solely to meet and share what was on our minds without men present.

To be perfectly honest, I entered my first Divine Feminine discussion out of duty rather than desire. I had more than enough commitments, caucuses and events competing for my time – meeting for meeting’s sake was not a priority. I was also a bit put off by the group’s name, with its whiff of gender essentialism. I was more interested in dismantling gender binaries than discussing estrogen with a bunch of earth mothers.

But I have also experienced my share of sexism at Occupy Wall Street. I have watched too many women shrink from sharing their ideas, too many temperate voices shouted out of conversations, and too many important issues squeezed off of the agenda. I have heard too many terrible stories testifying to the very real violence and dangers plaguing female occupiers as night falls. And after over a month of pushing aside the things that are most important to me – family, friends, physical health – in the name of building a better world, the idea of taking time to nurture human relationships, bonding, and conversation, hit a nerve. So I figured I would make a show of solidarity, get in touch with my Divine Femininity for a few minutes, and then get back to work.

It turned out I was not alone. Perching just outside the circle to signify their non-commitment, several attendees announced at the outset that they could only stay ten minutes, just came to check things out, “what is Divine Feminine anyway?” That’s when my friend Ketchup shared the story about the bonobos, explaining that when women spend time together, all of society benefits; when we isolate ourselves, society suffers. By the time she reached this simple conclusion, everyone had drawn in closer.

Ten minutes came and went and nobody left, except to run to a bathroom or grab a hot chocolate from the nearby falafel cart. One woman returned triumphantly wielding a large pizza and proudly announced that she had used her “Divine Feminine powers” to procure it from the OWS kitchen team. Over the course of the night it became clear to me that the value of the group, what set it apart from the 60-odd other groups operating at Occupy Wall Street, had nothing to do with biology. Rather, what kept us there was a testament to how, as one woman put it, “the feminine act of listening is beautiful and radical.”

Wendelin shares her story during our "Ambiguous Upsparkles" story session with Eve Ensler

In the past weeks I’ve experienced numerous bonobo-style communities emerge from the radical, beautiful, and sometimes challenging, act of listening at OWS. Last week after a Safer Spaces sleep-out, as we drank our coffee and rolled up our sleeping bags, the person I slept next to suggested everyone play a game. I was about to skip it when, realizing I hadn’t even learned my fellow safe-spacer’s name, I checked myself and decided to stick around. After five minutes of the silly exercise – depicting our hairstyle evolution on pieces of cardboard – it was clear that we would no longer need a pink flag to demarcate the safe space we had created among one another. Just the day before the sleepout, two people I had never met separately, mysteriously, showed up to lend support as I was facilitating a meeting that threatened to be disrupted. I later learned they were friends of someone with whom I had locked tear-filled eyes during a particularly moving moment of the story-sharing session I help coordinate. After the session we had bonded over the experience, and when I briefly mentioned the meeting, she silently enlisted everyone she knew to attend. Like bonobos, they showed up to protect the group’s ideas against violence and possible “infanticide.”

Haircut evolution: post sleep-out games with Safer Spaces

Which brings me back to evolution. In the early days of Occupy Wall Street, before Divine Feminine and WOW were formed, I found my home in the Speak-Easy Caucus. Like WOW, Speak-Easy originated as a safe space for voices and ideas that were being pushed out of the larger conversation of the General Assembly. Originally open to anyone who did not identify as 100% male, Speak-Easy later evolved to include a spectrum of individuals, from female-bodied people identifying as women to male-bodied people who did not identify as traditionally masculine. Although it made sense for Speak-Easy to include a diversity of people, including men, who had difficulty having their voices heard, many women felt it was also important to maintain a safe space exclusively for women and non-males – and thus, WOW was born. Speak-Easy itself would later disband as many of its members became active in the Queer Caucus.

This week the entire structure of the General Assembly and Occupy Wall Street will evolve to adopt the spokes council model passed by the General Assembly on Friday. The spokes council model is meant to improve coordination, accessibility and transparency at Occupy Wall Street and to better empower marginalized voices in groups such as WOW, the Queer Caucus and the People of Color Working Group to communicate their needs and be involved in decision-making. The model is not without its critics – it has undergone countless revisions, been the subject of daily teach-ins, and was presented to the General Assembly on four occasions before finally achieving approval by a 9/10 consensus on Friday. The adopted proposal is itself a living document, and was accepted with the understanding that it would continue to evolve in response to the many concerns raised by members of the OWS community.

It’s no surprise that Occupy Wall Street is far from perfect. But what I have witnessed in the evolution of Occupy Wall Street, what differentiates us from dominant society and makes this movement worth fighting for, is a genuine willingness to confront our problems and create a community where all voices can be truly equal. We have a lot working against us, not the least of which is centuries of practice doing things the other way – building hierarchies based on race, class and gender, protecting systems of privilege and rewarding the loudest and most dominant voices. But slowly, together, we are learning how to listen.

I’ve heard people poke fun at the emphasis we put on “Process” at Occupy Wall Street. To me, the beautiful and radical act of listening is not about feminine or masculine, but simply about respect – respect for each other and, yes, for our agreed-upon (and ever-evolving) processes of communicating and interacting. When process breaks down – when groups operate without consensus, people and ideas are attacked, voices are silenced – there is no criteria of inclusion that can enforce a “safe space.”

Without respect for each other, we are nothing but chimpanzees. In order to survive, we must learn to live like bonobos. And the more we continue to evolve together, the better the chances that evolution will one day lead to revolution.

A: Action(s) – Take part in a daily or weekly action at your local “Occupy.” March, stand in vigil with a sign, speak out in a rally, etc. Don’t forget to make it fun: sing, dance, start a rhythmic chant at a march, as Molly Ivins urged us to.

B: Bring Our War $$ Home – Take the anti-war message to your local occupation, it’s going to take all of us to end the US wars and occupations.

C: Consensus – The occupy movement operates on a consensus model that emphasizes participation and inclusion. Watch this video to learn how the consensus process works to become an active participant in your occupy community.

D: Donations – they are vital to keeping this street-based movement going. Melanie Butler, our OWS organizer, strongly suggests donating flashlights and walkie-talkies for women’s security at night. You can also check the website and/or Facebook page of your local “occupation” for what is needed.

E: Economics is key to this populist movement. Move your money to a local credit union or a small community bank to help change the corrupt banking system. Make it fun, take your friends and do it as an action, talk it up, share it on Facebook, tweet about it or post it on your blog.

F: Facebook – share information and news, post your photos and help promote events and speakers of interest at your local occupation.

G: General Assemblies – GAs, gathering where issues are discussed and proposals are voted on, are the heart of the Occupy movement. Some use “the people’s mic”, some a megaphone, and some a combination. Listen, speak out, express yourself using hand signals, pay attention to who is NOT speaking up (often women), encourage quiet people to speak up, and learn, as C.J. Minster to facilitate a GA.

H: Hand gestures –they are an essential part of GAs

I: Inspire! Tell your friends, family, and anyone you meet why you’re involved in the movement and encourage them to join you next time you visit your local occupation.

J: Join a working group, such as direct action or facilitation, to share and build your skills, and get to know people on a deeper level. You can also help create safe spaces for marginalized groups, such as discussion groups and meetings, and places for sleeping and using the bathroom.

K: Know your rights! Educate yourself with this resource guide for understanding your rights as a demonstrator before, during, and after you take action

L: Learn something new every time you go to an “occupation” – 10 new names, a new slogan, song lyrics, etc.

M: Make____Not War photos are a fun activity and a great way to meet folks and help them express themselves! Directions to participate in this artistic response to war.

N: Nonviolence is a shared ethic of the Occupy movement. Donate books or pamphlets on nonviolence history, theory and practice, including CODEPINK’s “Stop the Next War Now”. Have a conversation about what nonviolence means to you; practice and train others in non-violent ways of de-escalating potentially hostile situations.

O: Observe closely. What do you appreciate, and what could be improved? Share your observations in emails, posts to your Facebook wall and/or blog, tweets, personal conversations with other codepinkers.

P: Pies are a treat; make one using a recipe from “Peace Never Tasted So Sweet” and bring it to the “occupation”, or have a pie-baking party with your local group and then bring down a bunch of pies.

Q: Questions, especially open-ended ones, are a great way to start a conversation with “occupiers.” What brings you here? Which of the issues is the most urgent to you? What have you been doing today? And of course, be ready to answer questions as well.

R: Record your experiences – write a blogpost , a local action report & post photos on our flickr page.

S: “Step Up, Step Back”: Encourage those who talk a lot to say less, and those who don’t talk much to speak up. If you tend to dominate the conversation, consider stepping back to let others have the floor; if you tend to shy away from participating in discussions, step up to take the floor.

T: Tweet your thoughts and photos. Use @occupywallst, @womenows, @occupy[yourcity] & #ows, #globalrevolution.

U: Umbrellas are going to be needed more and more as we go into the winter. Take up a “collection” from friends, decorate them with slogans, and donate them.

V: Videotape women and girls at your local “occupation” asking them the simple question, “Why are you here?” Upload your video(s) to youtube and include them in your local action report. Lisa Savage got some really interesting answers, watch her video here and here.

W: Women’s presence and voices are needed in the Occupy movement! Encourage women you know to join the conversation and participate in a Women’s group or start one. Call out sexism as necessary, and bring your womanly wisdom to the movement.

X: Xerox/photocopy flyers or other materials for your local Occupy folks.

Y: Youth – this movement is by you and for you. Encourage all the young people you know to join and lead in occupations, they are our future!

Z: Zero waste is what we are striving toward, help set up, and/or use the compost and recycle buckets.

Note: This list is based on actions that CODEPINKers from Augusta, Maine to Los Angeles, California have done or are doing!

Of course, I agree with their desire for legal protection for pregnant women. (Heck, it’s something I’ve started thinking about personally.) And I agree that all citizens should vote like their life depends on it.

But when I think about the idea of women’s equality in this country, I really can’t find the energy to believe in the celebration. I get that Bella Abzug wanted us to use the day to call “attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality.”

Here’s my problem: what does it mean to work towards women’s equality in a society dedicated to denigrating the lives of all workers, regardless of gender? In a country that cares more about corporate profits than human needs, how can I focus solely on women’s rights?

To be clear, I am a feminist. I believe that only through women’s equal participation in decision-making processes can we find real solutions to the world’s problems. I know that many of the problems this country faces are due to the lack of women in positions of power, including our woefully inadequate representation in the Congress, not to mention the fact that there’s never been a female president. My belief in the need for equal representation for women does not diminish my understanding of the need to make space for transgender people in our cisgender world.

But I’m that odd duck in feminist circles. I’ve always done my activism through women’s organizations (before joining the staff of CODEPINK, I was a leader of  Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, an organization whose origins are deeply tied to the suffragist movement). Yet, I find it difficult to focus solely on American women’s issues. After all, we’re all being screwed by the war profiteers, corporatocracy, and unrepresentative politicians. It’s not like my health and economic rights are being diminished at a faster rater than the man next to me.

So tonight, as I welcome in the Shabbos bride, I’ll raise a glass to women’s equality. But my focus will remain engaging all people, regardless of gender identity, in developing cultural responses to a decade of war and fear through CODEPINK’s Create, Not Hate project.

Will you join me in building the movement to create a new world?

Beyond the hoopla of robust growth rates and hype about the world’s largest democracy, India is beset by major revolts and rebellions over a vast area. Some, like the one in Kashmir, are for independence. Others, like the multiple uprisings in what the media call the “Red Corridor” are for the overthrow of the government. These various movements are in response to serious economic and social problems and the racism of Hindu nationalism. The seizure of land, water, and minerals by corporations chaperoned and sanctioned by the state has caused the poorest of the poor to say: No More. They are pushing back. Washington ignores India’s internal realities. Instead it sees New Delhi as a hot destination for investment, a bazaar for arms sales, and as a strategic linchpin in its planned anti-China alliance.

Release Date: 8/12/2011      Article Source: Deep Dish TV

Larysa Kondracki, the director and co-writer of the film spent two years researching the reality of peace-keeping operations in Bosnia before writing the script. Weiscz plays Kathyryn Balkovac, a Nebraskan cop who goes to Bosnia as a Dyncorp employee, part of the international police task force. Like many people, she chose to work overseas because of the high pay without taxes.

C.J. met director Larysa Kondracki at a special screening of The Whistleblower on Wednesday, August 3.

The first time I saw the film, I was overwhelmed with horror. It was more difficult to watch than any film on a battlefield, because the war in this movie takes place on the bodies of enslaved women. Years ago, I heard that there were more slaves in the world today than at any point in human history. I thought that was hyperbole until the cold truth was dramatized for me.

Even more shocking is that the drama is true.

Everything that is portrayed in the film actually happened. It did not necessarily happen to those characters, but it happened. The sadness and the tragedy is that not enough was done. –Madeleine Rees, former Head of Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Ms. Rees is portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave in the film. Though it may be unclear from simply watching the drama, she was instrumental in shining light on the situation in Bosnia. So much so that she was pushed out of the UN and filed a discrimination lawsuit. While Rees was able to find employment after leaving the UN (she is currently the Secretary General of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom), Balkovac is struggling to find meaningful employment, though she did publish a memoir of her experience.

If you see the film, consider taking copies of our War Criminal Accountability flyer. This is the type of movie that will leave people demanding a way to make change and CODEPINK believes in the prosecution of all war criminals.

Rees explains how human rights has framed her work and what she’s doing now to challenge the idea that immunity equals impunity: