Most people think that Mother’s Day was a holiday invented by Hallmark to sell more cards. But, in fact, Mother’s Day for Peace was instituted in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe as a response to the carnage of the Civil War. She called on women to come together to commemorate their dead and find “the means whereby the great human family can live in peace…” This Mother’s Day, take a lively stroll with CODEPINK WOMEN FOR PEACE and the GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE, lead by a marching band. Bring your mothers, lovers, partners, friends, children, and grandparents. Share the original meaning of Mother’s Day by handing out leaflets bearing Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation to the mothers and others that we pass along the way. We will make several stops to read the proclamation. We will definitely join the Raging Grannies and Their Daughters as they break into song along the route.
Meet: at Columbus Circle (59th St. & Broadway) by the statue
When: Sunday, May 11, at 11 a.m. (we will step off 11:15) Stroll for as long as you wish.
Route: up Broadway to 66th Street, right to Columbus Avenue, up Columbus, through the flea/farmer’s market at 77th Street, to the Columbus Avenue Mother’s Day Art Fair around the American Museum of Natural History. We will read the proclamation on the steps of the museum, and then go through the park. We’ll finish at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bring: banners, signs of peace, noisemakers (not whistles) if you wish.
Attire: pink and/or festive
We will supply leaflets and a small strolling band.
Mothers Day 2007 - Photo: Sarie Teichman
We hope you will join our MOTHER’S DAY PEACE parade. If it rains, the parade is cancelled, but we WILL proceed under cloudy skies.
Just back from the Cheney demo. It was OK - The Fossella group stayed behind the barriers and across the street from 740 Park Ave.
CodePink and Granny Peace Brigade would have none of that - went to the Park Ave. meridian to catch traffic going both ways. After a discussion of our rights, the police froze the zone - for all pedestrians - and we went to a corner of 71st St. Noticing pedestrians walking across, we went into plan B and decided to slowly walk across Park Ave, briefly remaining on the center median. Back and forth. This annoyed the police. When requested to go to the permitted area, we decided to go to 72nd St.
Stood on the meridian until the secret service informed us that we were loitering and had to keep moving. We realized that slowly walking back and forth across Park Ave was pretty effective. Caught many more pedestrians and lots of cross traffic. We were about 6 women and lots of pink.
On March 30th, 2008 the Granny Peace Brigade held the second in its series of Teach-Ins offering a careful look at the ever expanding empire of foreign military bases that the Pentagon maintains in 130 countries. Entitled Say “No” to AFRICOM the event was held in observance of the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. AFRICOM, the Pentagon’s plan for a regional U.S. military command of Africa, represents a violation of Dr. King’s dream of peace, economic justice and racial harmony.
Four distinguished presenters participated in the forum held at the All Souls Unitarian Church and it was moderated by Granny Peace Brigade member Vinie Burrows, award-winning actor, writer and story-telling “griot.”
Photo - Eliza Griffiths
In African tradition she offered a libation to honor Dr. King and then introduced the first speaker, Horace G. Campbell, professor of African American Studies, International Affairs and Political Science at Syracuse University.
Photo - Eliza Griffiths
Integrating a power-point presentation, Dr. Campbell provided the context in which to develop his arguments against AFRICOM, untangling knots and contradictions in US Africa policy, beginning with 1994 when President Clinton called Rwandan genocide “normal tribal violence” (he later apologized). Discussing genocide, Campbell cited the U.S.’s continuing diplomatic relations with Sudan despite Darfur. He sees the real “terrorism” in Africa as economic and colonial domination perpetrated by European nations for centuries and, more recently, by China and the U.S. That there is widespread resistance on the part of African nations to AFRICOM is “good news” despite the U.S. administration spin that the motivation for this new command is “aid.”
The second speaker was Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy at the Institute for Policy Studies, in Washington, D.C.
Photo - Eliza Griffiths
Ms. Woods provided the background to AFRICOM, a creation of Donald Rumsfeld and established the day before his “resignation” in December 2006. AFRICOM stipulates that an African country seeking to engage in any way with the U.S. must do so exclusively through AFRICOM. The only country that would not be under the AFRICOM command would be Egypt, recipient of one billion dollars of U.S. foreign aid, second only to Israel.
A major motivation behind AFRICOM arises from US addiction to oil - 24% of U.S. oil imports currently come from Africa, compared with 12% in 2003. Besides oil, the African continent is a source for countless strategic resources including uranium and coltan (Colombo-tantalite ore used in cell phones). Other motives are a foreign policy determined to challenge China and to fight the “war on terrorism.” Identifying problems with the press, Ms. Woods reported that President Bush’s recent seven day trip to Africa included four days in Tanzania where there were large daily protests against AFRICOM that were reported as Muslims rallying against Bush and not as Tanzanians rallying against AFRICOM. Ms. Woods ended her presentation with a call to remembrance of Dr. King asking us to declare eternal hostility to poverty, racism and militarism.
Frida Berrigan, senior program associate of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, NYC, described the foreign “aid” currently given to African countries and exposed the insidious nature of the administration’s rhetoric.
Photo - Eliza Griffiths
She underscored the Pentagon’s use of language and coded words that mask the true intent of AFRICOM. President Bush in his March trip to Africa spoke of AFRICOM as a “mission of mercy.” Ms. Berrigan named the various sites in Africa with a military presence – army, navy and air – in “contingency installations”, and provided examples of the military’s euphemisms such as “kinetic engagement” referring to killing. She cautioned the audience to beware of U.S. Administration’s and media’s language when referring to militarization.
Sonia Sanchez, poet, educator, author of sixteen books and member of the Philadelphia Granny Peace Brigade brought her poet’s voice of warning, pain and longing for peace.
Photo - Eliza Griffiths
Her words united the content presented by the three previous speakers. She spoke of the need to engage with young people in an intergenerational collaboration and to do “pushups for peace” as a way of life. Sanchez called out names of people, alive and deceased interspersed with hxosa clicks, who committed their lives to peace and justice. She reminded us that Dr. King said that a riot is “the language of the unheard”, and our task is “to learn how to make the unheard heard, without blowing themselves and the world up.”
A brief question-answer period ensued resulting in some specific actions for participants at the Teach-In re the U.S. Administration. Dr. Campbell said that in relation to the Congo, there should be an apology for the murder of Patrice Lumumba. Lobbying Congressional representatives, the Black Congressional Caucus, and Donald Payne (Dem. NJ) chair of the House subcommittee on Africa were among the suggestions for action. The website: www.resistafricom.org/ was cited for information on Congressional resolutions. - Nydia Leaf, Phyllis Cunningham, Caroline Chinlund
FROM THE GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE, CODEPINK, AND RAGING GRANNIES
Coats are off, the day is warm, people are sailing by in Union Square. Ten of us today, from Granny Peace Brigade, Code Pink, Raging Grannies and their Daughters and a new recruit, Carla from Chelsea United for Peace and Justice.
We’re all seizing the occasion of “Iraq Call-In Day” to get people to step up and make a call to Congress, right here and now. Agenda: Saying NO to Bush’s request for $102 billion more for Iraq. Co-sponsoring Lynn Woolsey’s HR 5507 and safely bring the troops home.
In their fine hats, Mercy, Lillian and Corinne are singing Raging Grannies songs. In between numbers, they call their representatives. We get a nice photo of them with Emma, whose outfit is also irresistible.
Film crews catch us, young men are asking for Granny Peace Brigade buttons. The voters are with us, it’s just the government that needs to know. Phyllis gets a call from Hillary Clinton thanking her for all the calls and letters and saying she’s finally realizing the war was a mistake…but it’s Barbara, joking. Oh, well, soon…
Charlotte greets people exiting the subway: “Tell your Congressman where you want your tax dollars to go!” She meets a guy who takes the flier and then tells her, “I’m a single parent..it just isn’t working right now.” He’s come from a labor meeting.
One of Caroline’s callers is Richard. He looks like he’s dressed for a job interview. He calls Rangel, identifies himself as a resident of a shelter in the district. His message about how he wants his tax dollars spent is loud and clear.
Phyllis talks with a woman who is a documented resident living in Queens. She says, “I pay taxes. Can’t I call?” Phyllis asks another woman, “Are you from New York?” She turns out to be from Sweden, visiting. Reaching for the leaflet, she replies : “NO, but I can read!”
A couple is picking up the flier at the table near Eva-Lee. The woman looks down at the flier. Eva-Lee thinks she’s reading, so she asks the husband, “Are you ready to call?” He says, “She’s making the call right now” and he is right. She is punching it in at lightning speed. He knows his wife.
Lots of thumbs up, many people taking Charlotte, Owen, Anne, and Phyllis’ literature with phone number of the Capitol switchboard. We hand out all the fliers we bring today! So we are assuming that those intentions are percolating all over town. Springtime! Seeds will sprout. Actual on the spot calls, 25 or so today.
What is the opposite of violence?
Weeks before taking action the Granny Peace Brigade met to discuss how to mark the first day of the 6th year of the occupation of Iraq. Someone mentioned the possibility of knitting stump socks for the returning amputee vets. We knew a women who did exactly that at the weekly Grandmothers Against the War vigil in Rockefeller Center. Do I remember correctly that as soon as the suggestion was spoken aloud it swept around our meeting room like a wave? What made this action capture our imaginations and then touch the hearts of so many strangers young and old?
Did the stereotype of sweet little old ladies amuse or was there more; perhaps the “feminist ethics of care” as James David wrote on the Groundswell Blog.
Grannies vs. generals; slow, manual creation vs. fast, technological destruction — this is not just non-violence, but perhaps an opposite of violence.
For some of us knitting stump socks created a visceral feeling of connection with the injured. What got me started was the horror of the injuries that might require stump socks and rage at my government for dragging so many people into misery and death. The idea of being constructive wasn’t foremost in my consciousness at the time but it was lurking down in the shadows and I thank James David for shining a light.
On a practical note, knitting being very, very, very repetitive illustrated our doggedness, our determination to continue to work for peace. We will not go away.
On the day that the 4,000th soldier was killed in Iraq, a roiling of activists took to the streets all over the country.
It struck me that the “No Blood for Oil” has been valid since WWI but no one has ever calculated this way:
If a barrel of oil holds 42 Gallons and
If the average soldier weighs 170 pounds and has six quarts of blood
And, if, there are 4,000 dead
Then, we have filled 143 barrels with American blood.
Five stalwart members and friends of the Granny Peace Brigade and CodePink gathered at Washington Irving High School on Thursday April 3, 2009, the evening of Citywide High School Parents’ Open School night, to help parents who want to keep their children from being recruited into the military. Pat, Leigh, Joe, Eva-Lee and Edith told students and their parents that they need to register with the school to keep their son’s or daughter’s privacy intact. They can’t assume that privacy is a given, or that they would need to give the school permission to give out their child’s name and contact information.
Provisions of the NCLB Act (No Child Left Behind*) require the school to provide students’ names and contact information to military recruiters or the school will lose funding. To prevent the student’s name from being given to recruiters for the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines, the student and/or the parent must notify the school in writing that they don’t want their child’s name given out.
The Grannies gave out information and forms. They encouraged the parents and students to complete the forms and give them in to the principal’s office.
Some parents and students said they had already given in the forms. Others were not yet aware of the need to do so and were very appreciative at being given the information and the forms. Several said that military recruiters have been calling their home repeatedly.
One man was of a different viewpoint – he feels joining the military is a good opportunity. Staff in the school also engaged us in conversation and said that, although they have to be circumspect about it, they try to provide this information also.
On March 19th 2008, about 75 people from various and no organizations came together at Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC to begin a March of the Dead, in commemoration of the million plus Iraqis, Afghanis and military killed in the United States War of Terror on civilian populations. After pausing to read names of the dead at the Vietnam Memorial, they moved slowly through the streets of the city, stopping at such war crime headquarters as State Department and Blackwater in expressions of mourning. The Dead created an ‘endless war’ meditation circle at the White House, to mark the site of preparation of these crimes, eventually walking through torrents of rain to the (In)Justice Department. Later in the day, hundreds gathered at the Reflecting Pool to continue the procession. Mourners in “plainclothes” followed behind the Dead, accompanied by the Capitol Police. Near the Capitol, the procession, now over 300 in number, moved in concentric circles in the street, bringing rush hour traffic to a standstill. In the center of the circle, a tableau formed, with the Dead freezing in positions of sorrow. Thirty four were arrested, including several Granny Peace Brigadiers.
