Women’s peace group CODEPINK is honoring Mothers Day with nationwide events this weekend, including an event with comedian, author, blogger and activist Roseanne Barr in DC and the release of their new cookbook Peace Never Tasted So Sweet: Deliciously Sweet and Savory Pie Recipes from Women Around the World.

• Washington, DC: Peace Festival with Roseanne Barr, Saturday, May 8th, 1-5pm. Location: John Marshall Place Park, 4th St. NW & Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC

Along with a feisty peace festival, Roseanne Barr will be performing One Taxpaying Mothers Manifesto just outside the Military Arms Fair on the National Mall. “The solutions that I will offer, free of charge,” she says, “if implemented immediately can save hundreds of thousands of people from the complete and utter doom that is encircling and expanding over the earth right now. All of my solutions to end war, hunger and disease can be paid for with just one month of America and Israel’s combined military budgets.”

More events are planned nation-wide to honor the original purpose of Mother’s Day, a Civil War plea, including:

• Los Angeles, CA: Mother’s Day Peace Pie Bake Sale on Venice Boardwalk, Saturday, May 8th, 1-3 pm [contact Whitney Hallock whitneycodepink@gmail.com]
• Tucson, AZ: Naked Truth Project: a gathering to redefine what “obscene” means in our culture. Sunday, May 9th [contact Mary Decamp mdecamp@q.com]
• Orange, CA: 5th Annual Mother’s day Vigil for Peace. Saturday, May 8th, 1-3 pm. Traffic Circle at the intersection of Chapman Ave. & Glassell St. (near the 22, 55, & 57 Freeways) [contact Kathy Hundemer  kathy@codepinkoc.org]
• San Francisco, CA: Mother’s Day Golden Gate Bridge Walk for Peace. Sunday, May 9th, noon, [contact Nancy Mancias codepink.nancy@gmail.com 415-575-5555]
• Delray Beach, FL: Mother’s Day Stroll for Peace. Saturday, May 8th, 5 pm. Worthing Park, Atlantic Avenue, Delray Beach. [contact Hillary Keyes spiderhill@usa.net]
• Arlington Heights, IL: Mother’s Day for Peace Celebration. Saturday, May 8th, 1-3 pm. Harmony Park, Corner of Vail and Campbell Avenues. [contact Catherine ccaporusso@yahoo.com]
• New York, NY: Mother’s Day Peace Stroll. Sunday, May 9th, 11:30am. Meet up at at Columbus Circle by the statue. [contact Dana Balicki dana@codepink.org 202-422-8624]
• Skowhegan, ME: Mother’s Day Peace Vigil: Gathering with No War Pie signs, pink aprons and the Howe proclamation on Margaret Chase Smith Bridge, Sunday, May 9, noon-1pm [contact Lisa Savage lsavage3@gmail.com]

For more information on CODEPINK local events please contact Rae Abileah, CODEPINK’s Grassroots Coordinator at 415-994-1723 or rae@codepink.org

See-Jane-Do-we-love-you!

New York City, NY: On a beautiful sunny Mother’s Day, CODEPINK NYC and The Granny Peace Brigade lead a group of about 100 on a lively stroll through the Upper West Side and into Central Park. With Carmelina and Walter setting the beat with their drums, we were greeted with enthusiasm at the street fair on Broadway and the craft fair on Columbus, and handed out 1,600 fliers/Mother’s Day cards. WE WILL NOT RAISE OUR CHILDREN TO KILL ANOTHER MOTHER’S CHILD.

Pittsburgh, PA: CODEPINKers in Pitts honored the sons and daughters lost in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and also the children killed in the brutal war in Gaza in January. This year we were honored to have as our guest speaker Regina Birchem, an activist who traveled to Gaza with CODEPINK. We read Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation call for peace. The grannies lead us into song. Each year we celebrate CODEPINK Pittsburgh’s Birthday, which is on Mother’s Day, with pink cake. People brought their children and grandchildren to take a moment to honor lives lost and the hope for a better world for all of our children.  There are beautiful photos of CODEPINK Pitts in action with their hot pink banner.

Portland, OR: CODEPINK sent cards to First Lady Michelle Obama this Mother’s Day with a copy of Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation for Peace inside, hoping she will pressure her husband to end the wars.  They also held a silent vigil to commemorate the true meaning of Mother’s Day, and to remind all who see us of mothers who are grieving because of the ongoing illegal occupation of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.  The Oregon News covered the event and there is a great Youtube documenting the action.

San Francisco, CA: About 60 codepinkers and friends came together from around the Bay Area and as far away as Lake Tahoe, for our monthly Walk for Peace on the Golden Gate Bridge. “Free Gaza”, “War Is Not the Answer” and of course, the Mother’s Day pledge were some of the peace messages shared with motorists, tourists, bikers, bridge district cops and other walkers.  Grace of Marin County educated folks on Julia Ward Howe’s creation of this holiday for women coming together to make peace in the world, and our big peace symbol made from dowels, pcv pipe and lots of decorations was eye-catching.  CODEPINK sweethearts Jes and Leslie made it to Baker Beach afterward to enjoy the sun on a bright, windy day!  And in Berkeley, CODEPINK staged the Hot Pink Follies production.

Sacramento, CA: CODEPINK tabled at the annual Whole Earth Festival, and read the Mother’s Day Proclamation on stage at the concert!  See fabulous photos of Sacto women with the Mother’s Day sign.  And watch a video on Sacto CODEPINK’s facebook.

Santa Fe, NM: CODEPINK’s Mother’s Day peace rally including a Choral Recitation of Mother’s Day Proclamation in Tewa, English, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew

New Rochelle, NY: Gaza trip delegate Felice Gelman reported back on her trip at an event connecting the origins of Mother’s Day – centered on peacemaking by mothers of all backgrounds.

Chicago, IL: CODEPINK produced the MOTHER’S DAY MONOLOGUES… Stop The Violence Now! Survivors Speak, a performance fundraiser for Iraqi refugees.

Asheville, NC: CODEPINKers showed the documentary “Beyond Belief” at Firestorm Café & Books. There was tabling, speeches by mothers whose sons/daughters are being deployed to Afghanistan, and a banner display.

Bloomfield, NJ: New Jersey Peace Action held their 3rd Annual Mothers and Daughters Walk for Peace to honor all women peacemakers.

Vigils around the country: Groups in Orange, CA, Santa Monica, CA (with a freeze action!), Cedar Falls, IA (with a peace concert!), Delray Beach, FL (handing out pink roses, the proclamation, and a flyer with “What can YOU do to stop the war” info), Buffalo, NY (with a walk for peace), State College, PA, and Nashville, TN

And of course, from small towns and cities around the world women knitted pink and green squares for the cozy.  We received thousands and thousands of squares at the Pink House, a brilliant array of the creativity and determination of women to end war and support our visible presence outside the White House.

And hundreds of women took part in our mama mosaic by submitting photos of themselves holding up our Mother’s Day sign.  See the photos on flickr here.  See the full mosaic here.

Let’s make Mother’s Day everyday, by honoring our women ancestors with ongoing bold actions for peace!

“No more weepin’ and awailin,’ no more weepin’ and awailin,’ mothers get on board. This train is bound for glory, this train, mothers get on board…”

Mother’s Day has always been important to me since my mother has been an immensely powerful influence in my life. This year, however, Mother’s Day struck me in new and profound ways when I found myself sewing pink squares and singing along with CODEPINK women in its Mother’s Day peace vigil. From the speakers who presented magnificent poems and stories to the singers and activists who brought forth gentle messages of hope and strength, the experience was both eye opening and inspiring.

While I realized more clearly how the wars and atrocities of this pained world strike harm and horror in countless lives each day, here, between our busily working fingers, was hope, bubbling up and weaving itself from tiny pieces until it became a banner quite capable of covering all of us in its love. It said eloquently: “We Will Not Raise Our Children To Kill Another Mother’s Child.” Hope’s light shone out of our knitted cozy — it was bright pink and quite fuzzy.

Stitching and marching, discussing the difficulties of working for peace despite quite immense worldwide pain and enormous ignorance of many who feel as if most war settled down sometime after World War II,  I noticed a quiet resolve amongst my fellow weavers. Their presence in the sun-filled park showed a depth of tenderness and care, deeply beyond their own experiences or challenges. Their hearts were saying: “ I will not rest until the last bomb has ceased, until the last drop of blood has spilled over our dear earth. No, no matter the size of the weapon or threat, I will resolutely stand to prove that war is simply not the answer, cannot be the answer, and can never work as a way toward the true peace we are totally capable of achieving. I will not stop until real peace prevails.”

I suddenly realized that that’s what being a mother really means. Women are the only ones possessing the immensely magnificent ability to literally give life. While I am not a mother yet,  I felt honored to be part of such a strong and beautiful group. I joined because my mom suggested we do this because we were interested in doing something more significant for Mother’s Day than the usual Hallmark card and chocolate. This was a way to honor the real Mother’s Day, a day in which peace was supposed to be recognized as its creator abolitionist Julia Ward Howe outlined so beautifully so very many years ago.

Despite some tangles with the police who seemed threatened by the roses and love pouring from us, I was able to clearly and almost easily imagine what our world will look like when Peace is given its full place, when Mother’s Day will receive its full glory and recognition. I realized peace is not simply the absence of war, but a loving force as powerful as my mother, who quietly and resolutely loves her children, every single day. The CODEPINK action left me with a sense of a peace that is everlasting, and, as cheesy as it sounds, able to win out over all war that comes from an absence of the deep and abiding mother’s love that surrounds us all every day, whenever we choose to notice it.

My only child, my beloved soldier-son, phoned me on the eve of Mother’s Day as I was sitting at the White House fence in quiet contemplation and thanked me and CODEPINK for all we do in our enduring quest for peace.

This was my kind of Mother’s Day. Exhausted, I will return home carrying my message to mothers, to fathers, to my community, a message that is at the same time a challenge, a goal and a dream.

NO WAR. NO MORE.

With thanks to all who are CODEPINK,
Cynthia Benjamin
Mt. Vision, NY

It was an amazing event — every minute, nearly every woman was lying or knelt on the ground stitching together 6,000 knitted squares shipped to DC from women around the world into a 150′ ft. cozy that read, “We will not raise our children to kill another mother’s child.” Then we had a 3 a.m. fashion show, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream pops (um, so amazing), live music from super sassy Melissa Ivey, Iraq Vet Lindsey Campbell and Lizzie West, workshops, yoga…all to honor women worldwide living under occupation.

And our action afterward Sunday afternoon at the Washington Mall, where the U.S. Armed Services had set up hummers, artillerary, and tons of other major weapons for children to explore (ugh??), got some major attention. Check out some mentions in the Washington Post, the Washington City Paper and more here.