Archive for September, 2008

Diplomacy Works! War Is Not Inevitable.

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Granny Peace Brigade and CodePink Phone-A-Thon
Friday, September 19 – at City Hall Park, NYC

There’s plenty of unease in the economy this week; today’s flier is headlined “DOES YOUR BUDGET HAVE $$$ FOR WAR?” Edith greets passers- by with, “Help stop the next war!”  “Call your senators!” People accept the flier.

2008_09_19discussion

We talk about the way senators have been sounding the war drums towards Iran in amendments to the Fiscal 2009 Defense Authorization Bill. Turns out it has been passed the day before, minus most of the over 200 amendments proposed. The workings of the senate aren’t easy to explain to citizens on the street, nor for us to follow, even if we’re trying hard to stay on top of things.

Will Killing Our Children… sign

Policemen and postmen and lots of other people give us the thumbs up when they see this sign.

These things cheer us: Fran’s newly registered 19 year-old Queens woman, learning who is her congressional rep, taking our info sheet for phoning reps and senators. Caroline’s Russian woman who doesn’t trust her English but wants to thank her Congresswoman Yvette Clark for supporting Peace by abstaining from H Con Res 362, the anti-Iran tirade proposed by New York’s Gary Ackerman.

2008_08_19table

Phoners to representatives reading the back of the flier find:
THERE IS LEGISLATION PENDING IN THE SENATE & HOUSE THAT CAN LEAD TO SANE, SMART FOREIGN POLICY.
Senator Clinton is co-sponsor of S 759 – prohibiting the use of funds for military operations in Iran.
In the House: HR 5056, the Iran Diplomatic Accountability Act of 2008, calls for the appointment of a high-level United States representative/special enjoy for Iran for the purpose of easing tensions and normalizing relations between the United States and Iran.
DIPLOMACY WORKS!
WAR IS NOT INEVITABLE.
Call the Congressional switchboard (800) 828-0498.

2008_09_19phoner

In the coming weeks we’ll tell people about a new resolution: On September 18, Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced H.R. 6951, “To prohibit the use of funds by the Central Intelligence Agency or the Department of Defense to provide covert or clandestine assistance for the purpose of overthrowing the Government of Iran.” The short title of the legislation has been changed to “Transparent Actions over Covert Tactics in Iran Act 0f 2008” or the “TACT in Iran Act.” The bill has six co-sponsors, including Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-NM), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), James McGovern (D-MA), Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). We’ll ask New York City Congressional Reps to sign onto this one.

- Caroline Chinlund with Fran, Jenny, Joan P., Eva-Lee, Edith and Owen
- Photos, Eva-Lee Baird

Posted in Grass Roots Action, Legislative | 2 Comments »

GRANNIES GET VOTERS INTO GEAR

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

DIPLOMACY NOT WAR WITH IRAN

On the day after September 11 we’re pledged to get US troops out of the Middle East, and glad to feel the responsive vibe down by New York’s City Hall.

Lillian P at phoneathon

Six Grannies and Owen are engaged in a phonathon.  People step up to learn more about our focus of the day: H Con Res 362.

sept_12_2008 phoneathon_signs

Phyllis’ signs are in full view: “Wall of Shame: these Congressional Representatives are trying to drag us into another WAR.” And the list of New York reps threatening war on Iran with H Con Res 362:

Sponsor:
Gary Ackerman (NY 24)

Cosponsors:
Michael Arcuri (NY 24)
Timothy Bishop ( NY1)
Joseph Crowley (NY7)
Eliot Engel (NY17)
Vito Fossella (NY13)
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY20)
Brian Higgins (NY 27)
Steve Israel (NY 2)
Peter T. King (NY 3)
John R. Kuhl (NY 29)
Nita Lowey (NY 18)
Michael McNulty (NY 21)
Carolyn Maloney (NY 14)
Carolyn McCarthy (NY 4)
John McHugh (NY 23)
Thomas Reynolds (NY 26)
Louise Slaughter (NY 28)
Edolphus Towns (NY 10)
Anthony Weiner (NY 9)

Sad to add, there’s an addition to the list this week: John Hall (NY 19)

Learning of the threatening nature of the resolution, longing for an end to wars, voters take our phones and info, make calls, let their representatives hear the message loud and clear:

NO to H Con Res 362. YES to negotiation with Iran. Support HR 5056, the Iran Diplomatic Accountability Act

Some highlights:
Erica is registered in Ohio where she’s a student at Oberlin.  She asks how her representative stands on H Con Res 362.

sept_12_2008 phoneathon_oberlin_student

The staffer says she’ll have to call Erica back.  We hear that a lot of the people who signed this timebomb of a resolution haven’t even read it. However, when Erica looks up Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur in Thomas.gov, she’ll find that she has NOT signed, and can thank her for that and encourage her to sign HR 5056.  Big support for diplomacy with Iran.

A woman on her way into the park comments, “No More Wars, I agree” then shows the button she’s wearing: “Parent US Army”  A young woman who works with the Federation of Senior Citizens salutes us: “I’ve bookmarked your website!”  People pick up Voter Registration forms.

A man harangues us as Lillian, Corinne and Eva-Lee sing a couple of Raging Grannies and their Daughters songs,  He shouts “you hate your country!”  No dialogue here.  This happens sometimes.

High up in the Woolworth Building three suits minus jackets look down at the scene by the gate to City Hall Park. Eventually the three observers from the Woolworth Building descend.  One asks Eva-Lee, “These elderly women, are they here voluntarily?  She responds, “What do you think?”  He says, “Maybe someone brought them here from a senior center.”

sept_12_2008 phoneathon

Caroline, identified as a recent visitor to Iran with FOR,  hangs in with the one who insists: “If Iran develops a Nuclear weapon, Iran will bomb Israel.” Caroline takes a deep breath. (Where do you begin? Here’s a start)  “If any of the six nations with nuclear weapons employ them what will be the result? What would be the most effective way of encouraging Iran not to become the 7th nation? How about some stepping up on disarmament?” He responds, “The US has eliminated 2/3 of its nuclear stockpile.”  “That leaves quite a big pile, but how do you know?”  To Caroline’s amazement, the questioner says that he works for a  company that destroys weapons for the US government. He says his company eliminated the US stockpile of poison gas. “That’s wonderful!” says Caroline. “Weren’t you relieved?” He persists in his vision of Iran (no nuclear weapon as yet) as a tremendous threat to world peace. Caroline sees it another way, with H Con Res 362 and its 270 signatures as a greater threat. They shake hands and agree to disagree.

A little rain didn’t phase us.  We’ll be back next Friday.

- Caroline Chinlund for the Granny Peace Brigade, with Eva-Lee, Joan P., Edith, Lillian, Corinne and Owen

Posted in Grass Roots Action, Legislative | 1 Comment »

A Vintage Community Organizer Recalls 1971, A Good Year

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

It was our time in history…the Great Society budgeted for creative ways to get people involved in having a say in their future…

I had majored in English, hoped for a career in theater in NYC, found instead a life partner and a new idea: teaching young children. I took a masters at Bank Street College of Education and, very green, began to learn the ropes of teaching first and second grades…

From a private school where I taught small classes in the E. 90s I found my way farther uptown to East Harlem where parents of kids who needed day care had partnered with licensed people to create a parent-directed preschool.**

1976_graduation.jpg

By then I was helping the parent-assistant teachers learn to apply a method called Cuisenaire-Gattegno mathematics to the teaching of arithmetic and number concepts. I wasn’t a stranger to East Harlem; Steve, my husband, had also migrated there from downtown where he had been in two Episcopal Church parishes as an assistant clergyman. When I met him, he worked out of a storefront parish in East Harlem. So many people there were addicted to heroin. Steve and a colleague started the East Harlem Protestant Parish Narcotics Committee.

It took a while to learn what helps addiction. The team found they could reach people who wanted to start over while they were in prison and help them with re-entry. The learning process was long, painful and very worthwhile. Kindness was only part of the formula.

By the time we had been married seven years and our son James was three years old, Steve was running a state facility for drug treatment, part of a program created under Rockefeller’s administration which died after eight or so years. Just for the record, it was a good program and saved lives.

1975 - James

I was able to have James enroll in the East Harlem Block Nurseries daycare program, as I continued my relationship with mentoring teachers at the schools. We were deeply fortunate to have James experience the Block Nurseries.

1975 Parents - 1

The teachers were wonderful; the children were well-fed and cared for. Andrea, the cook, made the most wonderful bacalao and other Puerto Rican delicacies. The feeling of being part of a mixed community of White, Puerto Rican and African Americans was intoxicating in its hopefulness. There was a lot of love swirling around.

I received so much more than I gave or was able to give at that time. I learned a lesson I still carry with me. That is, affirming the strength and beauty of people who have been poor and discriminated against has huge effects. United, we learn from one another.

At the time I’m describing, the early 70s, the euphoria surrounding CETA and other programs infusing some cash into East Harlem for community organization was so great that I didn’t learn the lesson of myself as the racist-oppressor. Nobody bothered at that time to make me feel my “whitey” self in a painful or shameful way. It was all about accepting one another. Yes, we had arguments and hurt feelings, just like any people, but it didn’t seem to be about our racial and economic differences.

The years that followed were the years of cutbacks to funds for improving public education, cutbacks of all kinds to public programs. The Block Nurseries still exist, and some of the parent-assistant teachers I knew and worked with are now licensed New York City elementary school teachers. Some have even reached retirement age and have good pensions. This means that they made it through college courses and licensing requirements during that period of the flowering of the Block Schools. They found their confidence and became part of the mainstream. The same kind of growth is to this day part of many good HeadStart programs, where parents and assistant teachers develop and attain credentials to become teachers. However, the atmosphere surrounding the process has changed because of the lack of general public and government support for excellence in education and opportunity for all US citizens and would-be citizens and visiting workers.

A new chapter of support for Community Organizing is ‘way overdue. It’s not about Giuliani’s ha ha ha or Palin’s demeaning put-downs. It’s about justice and democracy and a modern interpretation of the US Constitution.
- Caroline Chinlund, Granny Peace Brigade

** The book which tells the story is “A School of Our Own” by Tom Roderick , Teachers College Press, 2001

Posted in Poems & Songs & Stories | 1 Comment »

BACK TO THE FUTURE: Five Grannies and a fella pitch ‘Opt Out Option’ at East Harlem Teen Fair.

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

August 30:  Educational and career outreach, health information, and support groups for teens and families along with food, music, face painting and fun — City Council Rep, Melissa Mark Viverito sure knows how to throw a party.  Nydia, Judy, one Joan and both Barbaras are joined by our new friend, Kevin, from Brooklyn for Peace.  Our table is set up with stacks of Opt-Out forms, Truth in Recruiting information, information about alternative opportunities to the military and candy — lifesavers and lollipops.  Turns are taken holding down the table as the others fan out to engage the young participants and their parents.

Teen Fair table - group

We weave through the crowd, distributing the forms and starting conversations.  Several other organizations and their representatives are working the room, offering us opportunities for further networking including the Education Advocate from State Senator Jose Serrano’s office, the Executive Director of Peace on the Street, and representatives from the Center for Employment Opportunities, Harlem Drummers, CodePink and AmeriCorp dedicated activists who are all doing important are work with high school students on non-military educational and career options.

2008_08_30familyteenfair-033.jpg

The crowd is lively, responsive and receptive to our message.  One thing is very clear, in the world of  “No Child Left Behind”, all too many parents and kids are not getting the facts about the Opt Out Option.  The vast majority of people we talk to – moms, dads and even their ‘too cool’ teenage offspring – are deeply grateful for the information we give them.

A young video crew from MNN Youth Channel asks to interview us about our work and we are more than pleased to get in front of their cameras.  As soon as we get a broadcast date and time, we’ll let you all know.

To all of you folks who are so generous in your praise of the Granny Peace Brigade, who often ask us, “But what can I do?”, here is a suggestion.

2008_08_30teenfair.jpg

Go on our website – www.grannypeacebrigade.org – and click on the section about Counter Recruitment.  Read up on what we’ve been doing, take a look at our videos and download and print out some Opt Out forms.  Counter recruiting is something you can do on a spontaneous basis — you don’t need banners, buttons, maps, permits or anything other than a good opening line and a smile.  Grab a friend (like swimmers, counter recruiters should use the Buddy System) stake out a spot near a hub for teenagers and/or their parents — then get busy!  Prepare to be welcomed (sometimes hesitantly) and thanked (often effusively) — and when you’re done, be secure in the knowledge that you have helped build a more peaceful and just world.

Okay, get out there — and keep in touch.  We can learn so much from each other and there is much for us all to do.

Peace,
Barbara Harris & Fran Sears with Barbara Walker, Joan Pleune, Judy Lear, Nydia Leaf, Kevin (a college student working with Brooklyn for Peace)

Posted in Counter Recruitment, Grass Roots Action, Peace Fairs | No Comments »

CONGRESSIONAL INTERVENTION NEEDED: When bad decisions happen to good people, Grannies ask “Why?”

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

H. Con. Res 362 is the kind of Congressional action that has Granny Peace Brigade members angry, perplexed and deeply concerned.  We can’t help but wonder what possessed Rep. Gary Ackerman to introduce a resolution regarding Iran that contains much of the same dunderheaded, failed logic that got us into the mess in Iraq — especially knowing how well that’s worked out.

Wanted Poster

However, as stunned as we may be over Ackerman’s introduction of this dreadful bit of saber-rattling, we are REALLY stunned when we see the names of some good people who have signed on in support.  Finding the names of some of our hometown crowd on this “Wall of Shame” is bad enough and we are putting Representatives Maloney, Weiner, Ackerman, Towns & Engel on notice:  you have only begun to hear from your outraged constituents.  But now we are discovering that some of our true heroes have signed on to this outrageous, war-mongering rhetoric — folks like John Lewis and Barney Frank — and that has us truly shocked and deeply grieved.  What is going on here?

In an effort to bring some clarity and understanding to the H. Con.Res 362 travesty, GPB member, Caroline Chinlund has reached out to one of our Congressional heroes, Dennis Kucinich.  Read her letter and then take a moment and send one of your own.  And don’t stop there — find out where your own congressperson stands.  If they’ve signed on, give-’em hell and if they’ve resisted joining in the one-way march to destruction, then make sure you tell them how proud you are of their decision. If you would like to take this a step further, check our our ‘recipe for a phone-a-thon’ on our website.  Discover the power in joining together with like-minded citizens for some voter education.  The Iraq Moratorium is observed on the third Friday of each month and that might be the perfect time to kick off your first phone-a-thon.

Remember, Democracy is not a spectator sport — and forgive the cliche, but we all need to be in the game.  Write a letter, make a phone call, reach out to your neighbor and keep us in the loop.  Working together, we can end this war and create a lasting legacy of peace and justice.

Work hard and stay in touch.

Peace.

- Fran Sears

Posted in Grass Roots Action, Legislative | 4 Comments »

Dear Congressman Kucinich,

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

On behalf of the Granny Peace Brigade Legislative Action Committee here in New York City, I’m writing to thank you, as always, for your inspiration.  We know that this is a busy time with you back at home with your constituents, but hope you could help answer a Big question for us.

Here it is:  How could so many  people elected to Congress by United States citizens who are at least 60 % utterly fed up with what the war in Iraq has wrought for servicemen here, for our economy, not to mention for the Iraqi people, sign H. Con. Res 362?

We hold phone-a-thons in various gathering places throughout NYC, helping people contact their representatives by phone to express their opinions about what’s going on in Congress.  We’ve been focusing lately on what we call the “wall of shame”, the list of 20 New York State Congressional Representatives who signed on to Rep. Ackerman’s resolution.

Wall of Shame
“Wall of Shame” by Phyllis Cunningham

People are astonished to hear that their legislators have signed.  They are routinely told when they call the offices, for example, Nita Lowey’s office, that they are mistaken, that the bill does not call for a “blockade” of Iran.  But, of course, it does just that.  And it also contains at least 80 percent misinformation and outright lies about Iran.

We want to understand the government better.  How did this happen?  How could Jan Schakowski sign this bill?  How could Amy Klobuchar sign the Senate version? How could John Lewis do this?  Barney Frank?  To us, this is an atrocious and dangerous act of government.  Can you help us understand the process?  We do know that probably the resolution was drafted in the AIPAC offices.  But even so, it is so much like what led up to the misinformed attacks on Iraq.  Where is people’s courage?  What are people afraid of?  If you can’t tell us in writing, could we have a conversation sometime via phone, or could you tell Luis what to tell us??

If you’d like to know what we’ve been up to since your hosting our press conference in January 2007, you’ll see on our website, that we’ve been working on several fronts, doing counter-recruitment, holding teach-ins about Africom and the buildup of military bases in South America and the Caribbean.  And of course the phone-a-thons are our outreach to getting people more vocal and involved with their representatives.
Please let us know if there is a time when we could talk with you, or write to us.  You can write to me, or to grannypeace@gmail.com.
May the Department of Peace be born in the next administration.

Thank you,
- Caroline Chinlund

Posted in Legislative | 1 Comment »