Past Actions 2005-06, Winter 07
Recent actions 2007

“Endless” War: A Memorial at the Times Square Recruitment Center, Broadway and 44th Street. At dawn on Sunday, March 11th, 2007, as we approached the fifth year of the invasion of Iraq, people of conscience began reading all the documented names of the war dead, both civilian and military. We continued reading from sunrise to sunset for six days, through Friday, March 16th, 2007. We invite you to be part of a growing resistance movement demanding an end to the illegal occupation of Iraq and saying “NO” to an attack on Iran. Sponsored by Granny Peace Brigade NYC, The Critical Voice, Artists Against the War, Not In Our Name, World Can’t Wait, Peace Action New York State, Raging Grannies, Grandmothers Against the War, Gray Panthers, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Campus Anti-War Network, Code Pink, Chelsea for Peace, Brooklyn Parents for Peace.

Granny Peace Brigade Holds Read-In of Names of War Dead for Six Days in Times Square - full text

At dawn, Sunday, March 11, the Granny Peace Brigade and many supporters began reading the names of those killed in Iraq – the Americans, the journalists, the Iraqis and the other coalition forces -- in an historic event called the "Endless War Memorial." They did so from sunrise to sunset through the entire week as a lead-up to the fourth anniversary of the war, ending on Friday evening in a hail of rain, sleet and snow with wind blowing fiercely, a setting worthy of a Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

On the fourth day of the reading, a thin young boy, about 12, showed up, wanting to get one of our tee shirts emblazoned with our theme, in Arabic and English, "WE WILL NOT BE SILENT." As he stood waiting to ask for his shirt, he was next to two men arguing the merits and demerits of the war. One of them, a very big guy who was defending our occupation, began taunting the child -- "Aren't you happy we went in and got rid of Saddam Hussein" and the like. The small boy practically jumped in the air, and finger pointing to the huge man, cried "No, no, lies, lies" and began to cry. The grannies hugged and comforted him as best they could. As he departed, the grannies urged him to return.

The last day, Friday, the aforementioned freezing and stormy day, did not deter the grandmothers and their compatriots. The reading continued non-stop all day until darkness fell.

During that final day, the grannies became aware of a small figure standing nearby. It was the Iraqi boy who had wanted the tee shirt. He said to Laurie, who had given him the tee shirt, "Miss, I've never known Americans who care, Americans like all of you. I lost my good friend, and for what? War is not good, Miss." Then, shivering, he unzipped his woefully skimpy jacket and proudly displayed the tee shirt we had given him. We all felt that everything we had endured for six long days -- the difficult organizing, the constant standing, braving the elements -- was well worth it for that poignant moment alone. - Joan Wile

March 12, 2007 "Endless" War: A Memorial

i see myself awake on that day
the day we agreed to name the names of the dead

again and at dawn.

I wake myself to recollect and reflect with others
this time of endless war
is it 4 years we endured
aground in their Baghdad
Waterloo- Gallipoli- Dunkirk-
emptying too many boots; filling so many coffins
War's bloated and sour hour glass
counts the finite and the endless

I wake myself against the comforts of home
leaving my old granny bed
because we agreed
to recollect and reflect

and read the names of the dead
who filled the coffins
and left their empty boots
and raw souls keening behind

the day of wrath has come and gone
No song
No innocence.
and, now, we stand, mourners together
behind our white roses
amid the traffic
naming grief and it's outrage

so sorry to say your name,
but, we are here, friend and
we say your name in Times Square

We call out names in the loud bright
to remember how dull war is

Diane Dreyfus

On January 29th, over 1,000 people including Granny Peace Brigadiers were brought together by United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) and Peace Action to lobby members of Congress and engage in direct action including banner drops and vigils. Our message: End the war on Iraq and bring the troops home. Most of us had morning appointments with our Representatives or their staff. Constituent lobbyists formed groups by Congressional District. My group met Emile Milne, Charles Rangel's charming Legislative Director and Press Secretary. Early in our meeting Mr. Milne said, "He [Rangel] would not do anything that would jeopardize the troops. As in Vietnam we will probably see a gradual decrease. As for an immediate cut off of funding, I don't see it....He cannot support bringing the troops home now, publicly. He cannot take a position so far ahead of the [Democratic] Caucus, that he has no impact on the group." After we had spoken back and forth for a while, Mr. Milne added, "This 508 sounds like something Mr. Rangel could support." Mr. Milne was referring to HR 508 "Bring the Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2007." We left the meeting agreeing it went well and that we should keep pushing hard.

UFPJ-Peace Action had gotten us a 1:00 PM appointment with members of Senator Clinton's staff. That meeting was cancelled and replaced by a joint meeting with Clinton's and Schumer staffers at 5:00 PM. Many of us could not stay until 5:00 PM, so we decided to go to Clinton's office at our original appointment time and sign the guest book. After 15-20 of us milled about for a while, Clinton staffers, Dan Schwerin (Systems Administrator and Assistant to the Chief of Staff) and Kyla Pollack (Assistant to the Legislative Director) agreed to meet with us on the stairs outside Clinton's office. Mr. Schwerin told us that Clinton via telephone from Texas had instructed them, "to meet with every single group that comes by." We asked them to ask Sen. Clinton to introduce/support legislation equivalent to HR 508. We continued to present our points and raise questions, some of which concerned Iran. Most of our questions were not answerable on the spot.

Ms. Pollack has answered, via email, one of our questions on Clinton's Iran policy. It is not the answer we want, but an answer. "We have to keep all options on the table, including being ready to talk directly to Iranians should the right opportunity present itself. Direct talks, if they do nothing else, lets you assess who's making the decisions -- what their stated and unstated goals might be. And willingness to talk sends two very important messages. First, to the Iranian people, that our quarrel is with their leaders, not with them; and second, to the international community, that we are pursuing every available peaceful avenue to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.” We left this meeting feeling it had been of some use and that we should keep up the pressure. Clinton says, "Let the dialog begin." We are ready.

The 5:00 PM session with Schumer and Clinton staffers was pro forma and not a dialog. Aside from stage-managing by staff, there were over 30 lobbyists in the room. A group that size tends to change the dynamic from dialog to speech making. And our speeches were clear, knowledgeable and forceful, especially the presentation by student lobbyists from the Hudson Valley Sudbury School who finished by presenting both sets of staffers with shoes labeled with the name of a child killed in the Iraq war.

We came away from our varied lobbying experiences feeling that we have made an important first step and that we have a big job ahead of us.
- Eva-Lee Baird

On January 29th, grannies and other activists did return on Lobby Day: Nine anti-war protesters were arrested Monday when they gathered in the courtyard of the The Rayburn building to read the names of American and Iraqi war dead. The protesters strewed 1,500 white roses and numerous postcards in the reflecting pool. Three held a 20 foot black banner with one word: WAR. They each wore shirts that read "WE WILL NOT BE SILENT" in Arabic and English. There was a large crowd of supporters who sang and cheered as the protesters were escorted out.
The text on the card read: "WE WILL NOT BE SILENT was a statement of The White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany. Today we have built a national campaign based on that message. We have delivered white roses to Congress as a symbolic gesture to demand that they end the occupation of Iraq, and bring to justice those responsible for a U.S. policy of torture and illegal detentions. We are determined to restore common decency and the rule of law and we will hold Congress accountable to that task."
The gathering was a coalition of many groups, Granny Peace Brigade, The Critical Voice, Not in Our Name, The World Can't Wait, Artists Against the War and others. The group spent nine hours in jail, and were released without access to their personal belongings.
- Ann Shirazi

I came to the March on Washington on January 27 with my friend from the Granny Peace Brigade. I am proud of her and the Brigade because they have used humor, ingenuity and the power, wit, and collective experience of one of our invisible or patronized populations to make a lot of noise about this war. Like many people I saw at the march, I am a sixties type, someone who was a draft counselor during Vietnam, and who never liked marches, then or now. This march I liked. Here is a list of a few of the things I liked:

The pink cloth draped around my friend’s husband’s shoulders like a cape. Him saying: I’m a man who isn’t afraid to wear pink. The cape saying: "Stop supporting the war." Only sometimes it would slip down and the "Stop" wouldn’t be visible and we would have to readjust it.

The good natured crowd. Twenty somethings, sixty somethings, eighty somethings, kids, babies, all the ages of man. The preponderance of signs were about the war, and stayed away from hassling Bush or Cheney, a mercy I thought. The singing: All we are saying is give peace a chance. A man playing Taps. The pinkness of the Code Pink people clustered in a group and then again, spread out in the crowd. The way silly things like the reputation of pink can be changed. The drums helping us march.

The cluster of Vietnam Vets and a Gold Star family at the Japanese restaurant, the tee shirt with the face and the name of someone’s son looking out, dead, at all of us. The place, where along with the sushi and miso soup, things turned personal and tragic: somebody’s son, somebody’s nephew, and all those people in Iraq, like us, members of families and tribes, caught in the daily violent meat grinder.

My teenage daughter’s judgment on her boyfriend’s belief in the war: “He’s young.“ And mine: When my daughter, the same age as her boyfriend, says young, she means he doesn’t know about death yet. - Myra Goldberg

Speech given in front of Senator Schumer’s office on January 24, 2007
Sisters and brothers
My name is Vinie Burrows
I am a member of the Granny Peace Brigade
We are beating the drum for peace
It is way past high noon
The clock is ticking
And it is five minutes to midnight
The grandmothers say
Bring the troops home now
We listened to the selected president bush
The words ring hollow
We remember the words of our Native Americans
White man speaks with forked tongue
The trail is strewn with broken treaties
Broken promises
Lies deception betrayal
Talk is cheap
We will not be silent
The time for action is now
I am beating the drum
In the name of the Granny Peace Brigade
Bring the troops home now
We are beating the drums
Bring the troops home now.
Last Thursday, January 18th
Six days ago
The Granny Peace Brigade
Descended on the 110th congress
We saw 100 senators
Our message was
Out of Iraq now
Bring the troops home now
We were beating the drum for peace
While in the DC offices of Senator Schumer
One of the grannies said
Senator Schumer
The grannies are ready to accompany you on a peace mission to Iraq
Take us
Send us to Iraq
Bring the troops home
We are beating the drum for peace
Last night we heard our selected president
Deliver a State of the Union message
We are beating the drum
For the health of the nation
Brothers and sisters
I am tempted to say beloved children
Because I am older than most of you here
The engines of war once set in motion
Have an energy of their own
In September 1917.exactly 90 years ago
Randolph Bourne wrote, in a war diary
And I quote a passage:
“War doesn’t need enthusiasm, doesn’t need conviction, doesn’t need hope, to sustain it. Once maneuvered, it takes care of itself, provided only that our industrial rulers see that the end of the war will leave American capital in a strategic position of world enterprise.”
Those words were true at the end of world war one
Those words were true at the end of world war two
Those words were true at the end of the first gulf war
And I shudder with the truth of his words today
As neo-liberal globalization
And the imperial designs of hegemonic USA capital
Rule the known world
But the Granny Peace Brigade beats the drum for peace
And the moral force of our conviction
Of women who have nourished life
In our wombs
Today as grandmothers
We continue to nourish the lives
Of all the children of the world
Martin Luther King Jr. our modern day prophet said
Moral force of love can turn the arc of war towards life
Towards peace
We are asking
We are telling
We are demanding that
Senator Schumer
Bring the troops home now
No equivocating
No smooth talking
When Johnny comes marching home again hurroo hurroo
When Johnny comes marching home again hurroo hurroo
The men will cheer, the boys will shout.
The ladies they will all turn out And we’ll all feel gay
When Johnny comes marching home

I now conclude with an article from The NY Times October 25th which reported that during the first Gulf War, actual ground combat only lasted 100 hours but 40 percent of the veterans ended up receiving disability payments which now cost us 2 billion dollars each year.
With our Iraq veterans now already into the fourth year of combat, there will be disability payments that may continue for half a century. To date, more than 3000 veterans of the Iraq war and occupation have suffered severe head and spinal injuries, and many of them will need round the clock care for many for decades. That cost may range from half a million to five million dollars per person..
There is another cost to pay which cannot be measured in dollars and cents. There is a cost that our armed service personnel returning home must pay and their families will pay also. It is a heavy psychological cost.
The wounds of war.
The hounds of hell.
with drums and guns and guns and drums huroo hurroo
with drums and guns and guns and drums huroo hurroo
you have no eyes,, you have no arms
where are your legs that used to run
Johnny I hardly knew yer
- Vinie Burrows - © 2007

On January 17th and 18th grandmothers and supporters from all over the country came to Washington. See our Reports on Jan 18 page.

On January 4th, as the new Congress convened, New York based activists were present to demand that our representatives put an immediate end to the illegal occupation of Iraq and bring to justice those responsible for a U.S. policy of torture and illegal detentions. These are our first steps to let the members of Congress know that we are watching, and will come back again and again until the war, occupation, torture and detentions stop. A hardy band of protesters, from various groups- the Critical Voice, Granny Peace Brigades of NY and NJ, Artists Against War,World Can't Wait, and Not in Our Name- exercised their rite of free speech in the Hart Senate Building. Positioning themselves strategically on floors facing the atrium, in front of Senate offices, they dropped four black banners with stark white words: WAR TORTURE LIES , and the 26 foot long WE WILL NOT BE SILENT. Many staffers emerged from their offices to view this statement of purpose. As the group moved away from the banners, Capitol police arrived and carefully undid the multiple knots. They even returned the banners. - Ann Shirazi

December 1st in Philadelphia: Eight of the 18 arrested NYC grannies got up at four am to catch a six am bus to Philadelphia. We were on our way to Philadelphia to support our Philly sisters, charged with defiant trespass at a military recruitment center some months earlier and now scheduled for a court hearing at 9 am on Dec first. By the time we arrived at the Philadelphia Community Court, 1301 Arch Street about 150 people were already assembled. Among them six from the NYC Peace Brigade who had driven from NYC with our banners, placards, and signs. Students from Pennsylvania area colleges, from New York University, Williams College in Massachusetts, veteran groups against the war, seniors, artists, union workers, peace activists were present and a trio of guitarist, flutist and singer provided appropriate music throughout. The crowd was interracial, intergenerational and diverse.

An upbeat Granny MC gave a welcome and background data and then introduced each granny who spoke briefly. As each name was called the granny spoke and then exited into the courtroom building to loud chants of GO GRANNY GO. The noted poet/educator, Sonia Sanchez (one of the 11 arrested grannies) read a poem she wrote and dedicated to all grandmothers who stand against the war. The last grandmother, 91 years old and in a wheelchair, spoke in a small but determined voice. As she was wheeled into the courthouse building the loudest cries of GO GRANNY GO literally bounced off the pavement and roared into the air. Eleven times this lively scenario of GO GRANNY GO energized the crowd. Cars, buses, and trucks going by gave the impression of some urban street theatre. Passersby were curious; some stopped and some stayed to join the rally. The youngest onlooker was six weeks old. Young Gideon whose grandmother was one of the arrested took it all in quietly as he rested on his young mother’s belly but his eyes moved back and forth and an occasional smile and small grunt seemed to express approval.

And as the grandmothers always say, “We do it for them, the children, so that the lives they live will be full of peace, hope and a future of singing days and nights.” - Vinie Burrows

The weekend of November 17, I traveled with the SOA Watch NYC to a demonstration calling for the closing of the School of the Americas, a combat training school for Latin American soldiers established in Panama in 1946. The SOA was relocated into the Fort Benning Army Base after being kicked out of Panama as part of the Panama Canal Treaty in 1984. Renamed "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation" in 2001, the nickname "School Of Assassins" persists. There is real hope that the school will be closed at last. In the House of Representatives twenty of the opponents of the June 2006 amendment calling for the closing the SOA /WHINSEC have lost their seats. The SOA Watch will be working very hard to educate the new members of Congress about the need to support closing the school. Visit www.soaw.org for more information.

During the weekend I was shocked to learn that the US-Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) have created another means by which the police and military are increasing repression in Central America, especially in El Salvador. For information visit www.cispes.org.

On Sunday a large and diverse crowd, estimated to be 22,000 people, came together in the street in front of the high barbed wire fence to call attention to the crimes against humanity funded by our tax dollars. Elderly nuns, aging priests, Catholic high school and college students, Protestant Mission groups, various veterans and other peace groups galore crowded the area, looking over the many tables set up to raise funds. There were leaflets, T-shirts, books, white head scarves given by the 1,000 Grandmothers, bagels, and coffee. Some hard working local people, living among the tattoo parlors and pawn shops, sold hot dogs, chili and water. Every so often another appeal for funds to pay for the weekend event would be announced and people holding up their small white paper shopping bags would come into the crowd accepting the money gladly given. The speeches and music were outstanding. The colorful puppets and banners, the dramatic silent reenactments of the massacred dead were breath taking. On Sunday at noon there was a massive memorial. People chanted the names of the many dead while raising a white homemade cross, a star of David, or a flower. The funeral procession repeated "presente" for each name of someone killed by a SOA graduate. The barbed wire fence was so covered with crosses, stars and flowers, one could hardly see the army base and the police on the other side. At the very end, in the tradition of Latin Americans celebrating life, shouts of "VIVA, VIVA rose from the crowd which was dancing in the street while helicopters buzzed overhead. There were many hugs and good-byes with new friends and old - a renewal of our vow to struggle for peace and justice as we moved toward our buses for the long trip home.

There were sixteen who did not go home. They "crossed the line," going onto the Fort Benning Army Base, two grandmothers among them. These people will pay five hundred to one thousand dollars bail before returning home. After their trials, they will most likely have five thousand dollar fines and spend two to six months in jail. - Bev Rice

The GPB joined with UFPJ and many other peace groups for a counter-reruitment action on October 26 in New York City. It was Parent-Teacher night and our mission was to distribute literature to parents concerning military recruiters in the HSs, and to provide a sample of the Opt-Out form. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, high school administrators must send information about each student to the military. The Op-Out form gives parents and students the opportunity to stop the school from sending personal information to the military. A signed and delivered opt-out form cancels the obligation of the high school and protects the students' privacy.

The flyer explained the opt-out form and the importance of having it signed and returned to the school office. Many teachers supported the effort, and a student teacher who is an Iraq Veteran Against the War, was pleased to see the Grannies at the school. Parents were grateful to get the flyer and talk about the recruiters in the schools. They planned to sign the opt-out forms and have their children return them to the high school office. - Barbara Harris

Sample opt out form and FAQs on our Downloads page.
For more information:
Ya-Ya Network, 212 239-0022, info@yayanetwork.org
American Friends Service Committee 215 241-7176, www.afsc.org/youthmil
Project on Youth & Non-Military Opportunities, www.projectyano.org

Tuesday, September 19 United for Peace and Justice held a march and rally ending at the United Nations, where George Bush was to speak at the General Assembly. As usual, the NYPD played the permit game, refusing one to UFPJ for that date. Once UFPJ established that most people wanted to march with or without a permit, they published a call to do just that. At that point, the NYPD backed off and issued a permit from Herald Square to Dag Hammersjold Plaza. The Granny Peace Brigade proudly kicked off the march which for the most part went smoothly. However, things did not go smoothly for four Granny Peace Brigadiers who had joined with demonstrators from World Can't Wait and Peace Action. The group of 17 approached First Avenue and 44th Street, encountering hundreds of Police and Secret Service agents. A sudden melee followed, and an Episcopalian priest and Iraq Veteran Against the War were beaten and arrested by the NYPD. The rest of us formed a tight line, interacting with pedestrians chanting: "Bush is a war criminal! Arrest Bush! Get the terrorists out of the White House!" The men were charged heavily, while the rest of us received disorderly conduct DATs. We spent 8 or 9 hours in the dank holding cell of Midtown North, where we were never offered food or drink. We purchased water. Norman Siegel was contacted, visited the jail, and took the four Granny Peace Brigaders as his clients. The others are being helped by the National Lawyers Guild. - Ann Shirazi

Sunday, September 10, 2006 at Ground Zero, a group of us grandmothers stood for four hours waiting for George W. Bush to make his phony ceremonial visit to the World Trade Center hole so we could let him know how much we loathe his occupation of Iraq. We had 25 huge black balloons imprinted in white with the words "TROOPS HOME NOW" so he would HAVE to see us unless he covered his eyes And right before protesting Bush at Ground Zero on Sunday, September 10, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, 200 strong, with our gigantic black balloons, our black tee shirts with the words, WE WILL NOT BE SILENT, our drums, our wheelchairs, our walkers, and our tired old feet, accompanied by Buddhist monks banging their big cymbals, Veterans for Peace, and many other patriots. And, we're not finished. We are already planning the next action -- a VERY big one. But, we will not be here forever, folks. Others have to take on our mission, the sooner the better. Younger people, stronger people. Please, please take to the streets. Be radical, be indomitable, be committed! It is imperative! Save our country! - Joan Wile

June 24 - July 4, 2006 Granny Peace Brigade Trek. GPB held a rally and press conference in Time Square on a rainy Saturday morning and then proceeded to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, commencing our ten day "trek"(actually riding a bus between cities) from New York City to Washington, D.C. With activities in Brooklyn, Staten Island and major cities all along the way, we met, were graciously hosted, housed, and nurtured by members of various peace groups.

We met with peace groups, residents of senior housing, political candidates and elected officials. We visited military recruitment centers and vigiled at the gates of Dover Air Force Base. With members of a number of peace organizations, we met, rallied, vigiled, and marched through commercial areas in several cities in Brooklyn, Staten Island, Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Princeton, Wilmington, Plainfield, Baltimore, and D.C.

At every site we distributed leaflets, some of which were concerned with the cost of war, peace, counter-recruitment, and GPB information, etc. At several meetings and rallies, GPB members spoke and performed; singing, dancing, reading portions of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights, reciting poetry, and reading aloud names of U.S. troops killed in Iraq as well as Iraqis who died. In Philadelphia we supported 11 grandmothers who were arrested while attempting to enlist in the military.

We all wore our WE WILL NOT BE SILENT tee shirts and among the banners we carried were GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE banners demanding TROOPS HOME NOW and NO PREEMPTIVE WARS. Dialoguing with people "along the way" be it in a meeting, on the street, in homes, formally and informally was considered beneficial to the GPB and those we "touched" making the "trek" worthwhile. We are enriched for having made the "trek" and the feedback that we have received from those we engaged with informs us that our effort to help in the building of the peace movement has not been in vain. - Phyllis Cunningham

In April 2006 the grannies went to trial. All the women agreed that they had not done anything wrong, they had not violated any laws and were, therefore, not guilty. A judge heard all the testimony, the prosecution’s examination and cross-examination, the defense attorney’s examination. Each woman explained that she protested because of the immoral war in Iraq. After 5 days, the judge reached his decision and acquitted each member of the Granny Peace Brigade. - Barbara Harris

On Tuesday, February 14, 2006 the grandmothers who were jailed on October 17 when we tried to enlist returned to the scene of our "crime" at the Times Square Recruiting Center to participate in the National Grandmothers Enlistment action planned for Valentine's Day. We "opened on Broadway" -- put on a talent show -- chorus line dance, original comic and dramatic monologues, and songs. All performers and special material writers were members of the group of 18 grannies, ages 59 to 90, who spent the afternoon of October 17 in jail!  We think it most fitting that we used the location of our arrest on Broadway to do what Broadway is famous for -- ENTERTAINMENT! - Joan Wile

On October 17, 2005 a coalition of women from several peace and justice organizations, came together to protest the war in Iraq, and to urge their government to bring the troops home. This action, which took place at the US Military Recruiting Center in Times Square, Manhattan, led to our arrest. The Grannies had tried to enlist in the US military that day in order to replace younger children and grandchildren who still had long lives to live. Because the door to the recruiting center was locked, we sat down in front of the center, sang songs, chanted, and read the Granny Peace Brigade Statement of Peace. The police authorities saw the demonstration differently. Was it civil disobedience? Were we blocking an entrance to the center or the passage to the center? A police lieutenant commanded us to disperse. We did not move. After facing resistance to the command a second time, police officers arrested the 18 women and took us to the police station. - Barbara Harris