Mothers Day

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Julia Ward Howe's accomplishments did not end with the writing 
of her famous poem, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." As Julia 
became more famous, she was asked to speak publicly more 
often. Her husband became less adamant that she remain a 
private person, and while he never actively supported her 
further efforts, his resistance eased.

She saw some of the worst effects of the war -- not only the 
death and disease which killed and maimed the soldiers. She 
worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides 
of the war, and realized that the effects of the war go beyond 
the killing of soldiers in battle. She also saw the economic 
devastation of the Civil War, the economic crises that 
followed the war, the restructuring of the economies of 
both North and South.

In 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new 
cause. Distressed by her experience of the realities of war, 
determined that peace was one of the two most important 
causes of the world (the other being equality in its many 
forms) and seeing war arise again in the world in the 
Franco-Prussian War, she called in 1870 for women to 
rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women 
to come together across national lines, to recognize what 
we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to 
finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a 
Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a 
congress of action.

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa013100d.htm

Women's Week Leading Up To Mothers' Day!

>From Monday, May 5th until Friday May 9th, as a build-up 
to reclaiming the Mothers Day of Julia Ward Howe's 
Proclamation and as a protest against the $178 Billion more 
dollars proposed to continue funding the occupation of Iraq, 
we are planning a week of women-focused daily protests at 
the MRS! Such as:

Monday, May 5th: Grandmothers Day of Action: we call on 
Grandmothers to volunteer to be recruited, instead of our youth 
 
Tuesday, May 6th: Mothers Day of Action: we Mothers bewail 
the loss of all our children, and as Mama Bears, we do not 
allow recruiters to take our youth 
 
Wednesday, May 7th: Daughters Day of Action: we call on 
daughters to do a wailing, mourning the loss of our fathers, 
the toll on the humanity of our fathers, the sorrow and pain 
of our fathers who have paid the price for destroying and/or 
harming human beings. 
 
Thursday, May 8th: Sistahs: 
 
Friday, May 9th: Witches, Crones, Sirens: perform rituals 
of leaving, cast a spell of peace and love over the station, 
rendering nil the recruiting of our youth to become fodder 
for this occupation of Iraq. 
 
Then on Sunday, Mother's Day, May 11th, we have the 
March over the Golden Gate Bridge at noon.
PLEASE call 510-524-2776 or email if you're willing to 
sponsor, participate, help organize, or just BE THERE!

http://www.bayareacodepink.org/