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NEWS & LETTERS, MAY 2003
Mourning Mothers
San Francisco--Bush's war motivated many people to
organize. What gets coverage are the demonstrations of hundreds of thousands.
What does not get as much attention are new, independent organizations. There are teachers organizing teach-ins and supporting
student walkouts; youth forming affinity groups; neighborhood people in
candlelight vigils, and many more. One of the most creative new forms of protest is the
Mourning Mothers. Mary, one of the founders of Mourning Mothers, describes its
beginning: "The Mourning Mothers are part of a larger
grassroots Northern California mobilization called Direct Action to Stop the War
(DASW)... A diverse group of activists launched DASW in October 2002; our first
action was the peace camp and shut-down of the San Francisco Federal Building on
Oct. 9 and 10, in response to Congress handing over its war authority to the
Executive Branch. DASW also organized the awesome 'Day-After' action, in which
20,000 activists came together and shut down the financial district on March 20,
the day after war was officially declared. Several Mourning Mothers have been or
are currently members of DASW working group. "The Mourning Mothers was inspired by a Bread and
Puppet street theatre piece that a few of us saw in Washington, D.C. on Sept.
29, 2002, at the first major No War on Iraq peace march. At the end of December,
the founders of Bread and Puppets gave us their blessings to run with the idea.
A group of about 12 of us created the giant masks, cloth children, and gowns in
a half dozen work sessions... Our first action was the Feb. 16 march in San
Francisco for peace, democracy, ecology, and justice!" The Mourning Mothers' form of protest is designed to
draw in participation from other protesters, by actively identifying with the
grief of mothers anywhere (though primarily Iraqi mothers now) who are losing
their children. A fairly routine picket line in front of the Federal Building
was transformed when the entire demonstration of several hundred, rather than
just marching in circles, joined the grieving ceremony Mourning Mothers staged
by "burying" the cloth children in a white sheet. The solemn, silent
ceremony of taking each cloth child and laying him/her out, made the cost of war
very graphic. We distributed some flowers among the protesters to put
on the "graves" of cloth, but many went out to get more flowers to
honor the dead. Some brought full bouquets, complete with a card reading "I
am sorry you had to die for U.S. imperialism." Many people openly
cried realizing that while our ceremony was only symbolic, it was all too real. The Mourning Mothers have participated in other Bay Area
events, not just the big marches, but many smaller events, like the Oakland
docks action on April 7 and ChevronTexaco action on April 14. –U. W. |
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