Editordude: The following is an unsolicited response to a recent Rag post entitled, “Open Letter to the Demonstrators at the Corner of Sunset Cliffs & West Point Loma,” which has garnered quite a bit of attention but not a lot of actual dialog, which was our intent in publishing it. Until this … from Code Pink activists.
Dear Clandestina Urbanista,
We appreciate you taking the time to write. We also want to be straightforward in response.
We are members of the San Diego chapter of CODEPINK, and we speak for our chapter only. Together with members of Veterans For Peace, Jewish Voice For Peace, and several other organizations throughout San Diego, we gather each week because what is happening in Gaza is not an abstract “complexity” – it is mass killing, carried out with the full support and funding of the United States government. As U.S. taxpayers, we refuse to be silent in the face of it.
We reject the framing that asking the public to hold “all sides” equally, in this moment, is a neutral act. It risks obscuring the scale, power, and ongoing nature of the violence being inflicted on Palestinians, as well as Iranians and Lebanese.
You describe our presence as potentially “one-sided.” We would say it is focused. When tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of people – half of them children – have been killed, when entire communities and bloodlines are being destroyed, and when our own government continues to send weapons that make it possible, focusing on ending that violence is not erasure. It is our obligation.
We oppose antisemitism unequivocally. Our protests are not directed at people, rather at policies: the bombardment of civilians, the blockade of Gaza, and the ongoing flow of U.S. weapons. Criticizing a government’s actions is not hatred – it is a necessary part of democratic accountability.
We also recognize that U.S. policy contributes to human suffering in other parts of the world. Broad economic sanctions, including those imposed on Iran, and the decades-long blockade of Cuba have had severe humanitarian impacts on civilian populations, restricting access to medicine, food, and essential resources. We oppose these forms of collective punishment as part of our broader commitment to peace and human dignity.
These policies abroad are not separate from what we see at home. The same political logic that justifies endless war, collective punishment, and militarized responses overseas is reflected domestically in the expansion of detention, deportation, and enforcement through agencies like ICE. In recent years, including under the Trump administration, we have seen how fear-based politics and the dehumanization of entire populations can shape policy – whether at a border, in a detention center, or in a war zone.
For us, these are not disconnected issues. They are part of a broader system that prioritizes force over diplomacy, punishment over justice, and domination over human dignity.
You asked what brings us out week after week. The answer is simple: people are being killed, starved, and brutalized – and our government and taxpayer dollars make it possible. Standing visibly, persistently, and publicly is one of the few tools ordinary people have to demand change.
You also asked whether there is space for both Palestinian dignity and Jewish self-determination. We believe it is impossible to build any future at all while bombs are falling and an entire population is being subjected to collective punishment.
We will continue to stand, to speak, and to call for an immediate ceasefire, an end to U.S. military funding for this violence, and real accountability.
We also want to be clear: we welcome respectful discussion and invite anyone in the community to join us at our weekly vigils. Being present together, even in disagreement, can be a meaningful first step toward deeper understanding. If there is to be dialogue, it must be grounded not only in mutual recognition, but in a willingness to confront the reality of what is happening and the role we play in it.
Kind regards,
CODEPINK – San Diego Chapter
Women for Peace
Bravo!
A wonderful response and thoughtful critique of the framing used in the original piece. I was in the comments before they were turned off but I didn’t get a chance to ask Grace (an event organizer) what the best way to contact their group is since the vigil will not be happening this week from my understanding. I would like to help however I can, but this is clearly not the platform to communicate with each other regularly. Is there an email to contact the groups involved or some other form of social media?
Hello CODEPINK,
I am the original poster of the Open Letter. I was not given so much as a call or email to notify me that my letter was published. This week being Pesach, I was not actively engaged with online media. I was told this morning through the email with which I submitted my letter that it had in fact been posted and received comments. Unfortunately I could not respond to any of these before the editor closed the comments.
I’m glad that you’re writing here. It is informative to know that CODEPINK is the lead organizer of the weekly demonstrations. I hear that your main concern is that the U.S. is contributing financial backing to deterring terrorism in Gaza, and that you are very concerned for children and families. I am also very concerned for the wellbeing of children and families, and this is why I am adamantly opposed to militias that fire rockets from residential areas, hide in tunnels, and stock weapons in schools and hospitals. As a U.S. citizen myself, I am actually supportive of my taxes going to support the one and only true democracy in the Middle East.
Unfortunately because of a lack of consistent support of Israel over the last 2 decades and too much leniency in terms of the normalization of authoritarianism and religious fanaticism in Muslim countries in the region, Israel’s government and society has swung further right (sound familiar?).
It is so bizarre to me that you are myopically focused on “U.S. sanctions” against authoritarian governments in Iran, Cuba, Venezula for example – vicitmizing the IRGC and communist governments in these countries that have wrecked havoc on their own economies with or without sanctions. The U.S. is not the problem; they are the problem.
Have you spoken to Iranians? Cubans? Palestinians that want nothing to do with Hamas? It’s clear you have not. You are so blinded by your criticism of U.S. international policy that you can’t see the forest for the trees. Best of luck with that. I’m with the actual people of Iran, Cuba, and Israel/Palestine that don’t want dictators and religious fanatics ruining their countries. They want democracy. They don’t want to be used as human shields for terrorists. They want the freedom to speak out peacefully without getting murdered by their own governments.
This is why I support the U.S. and Israel – and even you – for maintaining these basic laws of dignity — the right to criticize the U.S. and Israel is our right, and we know we won’t get shot for it. Maybe one day you’ll wake up and realize you’re defending the wrong ideology.
Let’s start a dialogue. We do not support Genocide. We do not support Apartheid. We do not support an Ethno-supremacist state. We do not support mass expulsion, ethnic cleansing, collective punishment. We do not support dismembering and lighting children on fire. Now you go.
“The people” of Iran, Venezuela and Cuba but just “U.S. and Israel”… why not the people of US and Israel?
You can reach us at sandiego@codepink.org, and the vigil is still on for tomorrow (Saturday) from 10am-12pm! Hope to see you there!
Excellent! Thank you so much, I will be reaching out soon :)
We are also on Instagram as @codepinksd.
So the truth comes out –
The original poster knew what they were doing by writing that open letter.
Posing as a concerned passerby and even claiming to be afraid for their safety
What a joke…
Their open letter asking for dialogue was completely disingenuous (it was obvious)
The original poster is not a progressive. They support genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, religious discrimination, occupation, collective punishment and illegal wars of aggression.
Zionists talking points don’t work anymore.
They are nothing but a projection and an obfuscation of reality.
Respectfully,
Carolina
While original poster’s letter was a bit over the top cringy along with the intent of getting reactions, to say he/she “supports genocide” is just as disingenuous on your part.
Hi Chris,
I respectfully disagree with your characterization of that portion of my comment.
I said what I said for a reason.
The writer of the open letter asserted their continued support of U.S. and Israeli operations in the Middle East.
This is after over two years of documented mass murder, war crimes, torture, institutionalized rape, a siege and blockade of food, medicine, etc.
What the United States and Israel are perpetrating in Palestine is widely recognized as a genocide.
Which is why – by stating their continued support – I concluded that they must obviously be genocide supporters.
I don’t see any other possible conclusion.
Kind Regards,
Carolina
Just recall that not too many years ago, the US was bombing the shit out of Vietnam, killing many people; it was called genocide at the time — yet peace activists to the most part did not call for the dismantling of our nation and kicking everyone out — nor did the Vietnamese. There was a few radical groups that tried to disrupt the empire. Before that, we committed genocide against the nations of native peoples as a conscious policy (see history of California). In both cases, it was a political problem for Americans. In the Vietnam case, Nixon was forced to resign — regime change? — after all the unconstitutional abuse he shoveled at us (use of FBI, Watergate, spying on activists, murder of Black Panthers, COINTELPRO) and after the rise of the largest anti-war movement in US history (Kent State, the May Rebellion, etc).
You left out: “Like most people, I feel deep grief when I see images of suffering – especially children – in Gaza.”
This is where more more than one thing can be true at the same time. One can be both against the genocide being committed against innocent people AND still support the right for Israel to exist and defend itself.
“From where I stand, these gatherings can sometimes feel one-sided in a way that overlooks key parts of the situation – particularly the role of the Islamic Republic, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the ways in which cycles of violence are perpetuated within those governments. I imagine you may see that differently, but that’s part of what I’m trying to understand.”
Those are real actual threats against the Israeli people. And do you really think those organizations and/groups mentioned actually care squat about innocent Palestinians? Be for real. October 7 happened with the full intent of goading Israel to start a war. No one believes otherwise. And guess what? They got their wish.
And anti-Semitism has imploded since October 7. There is no one who hasn’t seen it. No one. Have some Jews been affected but it more than others? Yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s happening. I gather that’s the main point of the letter, despite it’s somewhat cringy and “why me” message.
Genocide is Genocide.
Apartheid is Apartheid.
Zionism is Zionism.
Save Our Troops, end the US War Machine and get out of the Middle East.
USA is not beholden to Isreal, all stop
A Lincoln-Douglas debate can override the emotional divisiveness here. One must successfully argue in favor and against both sides of an issue to win an L-D debate, or in this case, that is to find common ground, resolution or maybe even solution. This is truly the only path we can take to arrive at the closest thing to objectivity. Start with arguing the view that opposes your own beliefs first. Then post again and make your case that supports your own beliefs. This diffuses volatility through empathy and engages in meaningful dialog.
I appreciate this response and all the peace activists showing up. Stop the War!
The Jews will never forget what happened in WW 2 . I am not Jewish but I respect them in ways liberals don’t. They could annihilate any country around them but they don’t. They are not perfect but I will stand with a civilized society as opposed to one who uses their on people as shields..
Many, if not the majority of Jews in the U.S. identify as liberal. Just sayin.
Interesting opinion piece from the “wrong side”. https://joshuanamm.substack.com/p/acknowledging-hatred-against-jews
I don’t share much of this guy’ politics ur there are some valid facts mentioned.
I’m not sure why you think this is relevant. I couldn’t care less about how this guy defines his Jewishness. I do however care about genocide in Palestine. Let’s talk about that.