The victory came through the hard work of millions within the progressive peace and justice movement within the past six years, bolstered by a values shift among the majority of Americans and their growing demand and faith in change — including an end to war.  It is a victory for the movement and inspiration for further change!

“Americans have stood up to say they know the cost of war in lives, dignity and money,” said Jodie Evans, CODEPINK cofounder. “Being against war is the winning decision. They are ready for change. War is so over.”

This victory will make it much harder for politicians to submit to the greed of Wall Street and the war machine, bending their own morals, by supporting war — as they have for the past six years.

But CODEPINK’s work is not nearly over. CODEPINK members will be in the halls of Congress and in city halls nationwide, using playful, disarming methods to remind politicians of the change their constituents demand and shine a pink light on any absurdities and abuses of power. They will urge them to end the occupation of Iraq and provide reparations for its people, to refuse to send troops to another losing war in Afghanistan, to create a diplomatic solution to the conflict with Iran, to restore our civil liberties and protect our environment, to bail out homeowners in foreclosure because of predatory lenders, and to create a NEW New Deal for America: jobs, housing, universal health care, education, roads and public transportation.

“We can’t stop now,” said Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK cofounder. “An Obama administration will need our help to live up to its promises.”

The Shock and Awe Campaign at the St. Paul RNC continues unabated, and eyewitness reports are flooding all the technology I got, including good, old-fashioned, hang-out-in the-coffeeshop-and-say-hi-to-people v.1.0. Eyewitnesses at the Mears Park gathering of yesterday afternoon, at which tear gas, “impact rounds” and physical threats ended in the arrests of at least 284 people have the city concerned, regrouping, and cautious. However, passersby at my CPHQ locale, the Black Dog Café a few blocks away, witnessed little to no violence being perpetrated by the black-clad young people targeted in the incident. Although videos now online do show blockades proceeding as originally planned, and one assault against an officer intended to intercede on a particularly rough arrest, I have yet to meet an eyewitness able to confirm the window-smashing or tire fires that supposedly brought out the National Guard.

Eyewitness accounts do, however, relay numerous tales of officers intimidating young people, refusing one woman who was suffering from heatstroke water (in fact, pouring a full bottle of it out in front of her face), violently threatening activists, and gleefully exclaiming with joy after impact rounds harm those standing by. Cops at other detainments have outright lied about the potential dangers of their weapons or actions (one told a detainee that tasers aren’t lethal in any circumstances.) Nine detainees are rumored to have been hospitalized this morning after constant calls that they receive the medical attention they require; no confirmation nor locale of hospitalization has yet been reported.

One CPer, Kathryn Milholland, was detained alongside the nearly 300 other activists in St. Paul last night. She has now been charged with felony conspiracy with intent to incite riot. (Processing however, is proceeding unusually slowly, with only two arrestees completing the process by noon today.) Milholland, 20, also on leadership council on UCF, and very active with the ACLU, had been traveling with a group of 10 other students from the Orlando area, some of whom were also detained. Her medical allergies are concerning given reports that detainees are not being given proper medical care. Milholland had made very clear in advance that she had no interest in being arrested.

The number of arrests from last night does not necessarily reflect the numbers of arrestees whose identifications have not yet been verified—the list of whom was “hundreds long” according to the receptionist at the Ramsey County Jail I spoke with this morning about Milholland. (Cold Snap Legal Collective notes that although some reports of activists’ detainment are coming in, women detainees remain largely unaccounted for.) Clearly marked legal observers, medics, journalists and other support teams are among those arrested or missing. Other experiences of police harassment and threats continue to pour in.

In another incident last night, approximately 170 riot police and 30 mounted officers surrounded and threatened ten singing CODEPINK activists with arrest and physical violence. Video is available here.

“It was police state stuff, and it was scary,” said one seasoned CODEPINK activist caught in the incident—a usually fearless one. “They were posturing for violence and we were not.”

Cold Snap Legal Collective, the organization advocating for protestor’s rights, has now had their phone calls blocked by the Ramsey County Jail. Concerned readers are urged to call the jail at 651-266-9350 and demand that they allow detainees free calls to their hotline number: 651-356-8635. More information and action guidelines here.

Also feel free to check in with CODEPINK’s blog PINKtank for updates as the day proceeds: I’m collecting eyewitness accounts as I can find them.

The intimidation, harassment, violence and oppression is unbearable here in St. Paul. (And I thought it was bad when I was a young girl punk growing up in the Midwest!)

One of my most favorite moments was on Thursday, as we parading about town, building, taking down and rebuilding our “CODEPINK Peace Platform.” People would gather around as we put it together, and would repeat after us–with great approval–our planks such as ALL TROOPS OUT OF THE IRAQ NOW! TALKS WITH IRAN! UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE, GLOBAL DISARMAMENT, GREEN ENERGY, FAIR TRADE NOT FREE TRADE, RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS/CLOSE GITMO, etc. We had a fantastic prop that Tighe and his “construction crew” made in record time, and it was great to be on the streets with a message of what we are FOR.

We had great interactions with the delegates all week long. While overzealous hotel security was so afraid of CODEPINK that they would try to kick us out of the lobbies, we still  managed to get in and talk to the delegates about the need for the Dems to do more to end the Iraq war, stop a new one, and de-escalate the conflict in Afghanistan. I was surprised at how receptive the delegates were!

We used our few passes inside the Convention Center to the max, lobbying every congressperson and high level Dem we could find. Only once did the security come and kick one of the Pinkers out.

We went to several corporate-sponsored reception with our “corporate money out of politics” message and confronted Nancy Pelosi in several high-profile events about her lack of leadership to end the war and impeach Bush.

I loved the high energy of the march after the Rage Against the Machine concert, where Iraq Veterans Against the War led thousands of angry protesters for miles through the streets of Denver.

While the incident in which CODEPINKer Alicia Forrest was terribly manhandled by police and arrested for doing absolutely nothing, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the police acted toward CODEPINK. They threatened us with arrest many times, but in the end always backed down and allowed us to exercise of free speech rights. Let’s hope they are as reasonable at the Republican Convention!

The mainstream media might have ignored the myriad of anti-war actions that took place throughout the week, but the delegates certainly heard the peace message–and our frustration at both parties–loud and clear.