The Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia is:

a group of activists, including grandmothers and others, who are dedicated to ending war.  On June 28, 2006, 11 of us went to the Military Recruitment Center in Philadelphia to "enlist" in the United States military,  so that our grandchildren would not kill or be killed in Iraq.  When we refused to leave without enlisting, we were arrested and charged with "Defiant Trespass". On December 1, 2006, Judge Deborah Griffin dismissed the charges against us,  affirming the legality of our non-violent protest. We continue to meet together and resist war-making in Iraq and elsewhere.

                            The Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia meets:

WHEN:     Alternate Thursdays
                                                         Library at 19th and Locust St. (near Rittenhouse Square)
 
ALL ARE WELCOME!

Click here to Contact Us or Make a Contribution.

Contribution in honor of Sybil S. Cohen

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Tell your Representatives to co-sponsor  Rep. Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment:
http://democrats.com/35-articles-of-impeachment

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Call your Senator and Representative in Congress.  Use the FREE phone number:




Earlier we urged you to contact Congress people asking them not to back HR 362 and SR 580.    However, we have learned that Brady, Murphy, Sestak, and Schwartz are pushing for these resolutions to pass.  The resolutions call for an air, sea, and land blockade of Iran.  Many feel this is a virtual declaration of war.   

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Excellent site for polling results and election commentary.
http://www.electoral-vote.com/

Click here for information about Philadelphia City Council.

Obama's voting record for the 110th Congress
 You can find his voting record for the 110th Congress here:
http://www.peace-action.org/PV08/documents/2007PeaceActionScorecard.pdf
 

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Sunday, November 23, 2008:  United for Peace and Justice in the Delaware Valley, Regional Planning Meeting, Friends Center (most likely in the Friends Meeting Room), 2 to 5 p.m.  This is NOT a Granny Event, but four Grannies are going to attend.  The meeting will begin to plan a BIG demo in the region for late spring 2009.

Sunday, November 23, 2008:  Jews Uniting to End the War and Heal America, Central Synagogue, 123 East 55th St., NYC.  Day-long call to action. 

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    With knitting needles, with dirty linen clotheslines, many with songs, and some with acts of civil disobedience, grandmother groups across the United States in at least 20 cities expressed their frustration, their deep rage at the continued occupation of Iraq.  This was the granny way of commemorating the end of five years since the bombing of Iraq on March 19, 2003.
 
    The coordinated granny actions, initiated by the Granny Peace Brigade in New York City, were the latest ones demonstrating once again that the grandmothers of America have been in the forefront of the peace movement since Day One of the U.S. catastrophic invasion of a sovereign nation.
 
    Perhaps the most noteworthy of the protests was that carried out in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 17, where 10 members of the Atlanta Grandmothers for Peace were arrested and jailed for 10 hours when they attempted to enlist in the military at a recruiting center. 
Said Doris Benit, 80, one of the arrestees:  "We believe our young people were sent to Iraq on a web of lies and deceit.  We believe they are being used as cannon fodder in an illegal and unjustified war against a nation which posed no threat to us."
 
    Very whimsical Knit-Ins for Peace were held in New York City, Washington DC, Pittsburgh PA, and other cities.  They were outdoor  events which involved grandmothers knitting stump socks for amputee veterans.  The New York Granny Peace Brigade valiantly knit in
 the rain for about two hours outside the Times Square recruiting center where they had been arrested and carted off to jail in 2005 for attempting to enlist, while calling out the numbers of dead and wounded from each state.  The oldest granny, and perhaps the most vociferously protesting one there, was 93-year-old Marie Runyon.  Part of the New York group, along with some members of the Granny Peace Brigade
Philadelphia and Maryland women, went to Washington, where they knit in rocking chairs outside the Veterans Administration, and when they had completed knitting a number of the stump covers, had a Veteran for Peace color guard hand them over to a VA official.  Fifteen Pittsburgh grannies, the oldest of whom is 84, participated in their Knit-In at a recruiting station, as pictured below.
(Pittsburgh grandmothers knitting at a local recruiting center March 19, 2008 (photo by Bonnie Fortune)
 
    Another creative demonstration was that in Philadelphia, where the grannies hung a laundry line at City Hall and hung the dirty linen of the Bush administration on it -- each item of clothing inscribed with a plea to correct the many wrongs of the Government.    The Philly grannies, like most of the other granny groups, sang anti-war songs during their protests.

 
    In Orange County, NY, a group of grandmas met with State University students on campus in Middletown, and urged them to participate in the anti-war movement.  In spite of pouring rain, there was a good turnout and the students were surprisingly receptive.  The older women had a sense that young people are beginning to take more action in the struggle to end the war.
 
    150 people stood on four corners in Sarasota, Florida.  Eight stalwart grandmothers in Boston held a vigil on Boston Common in a drenching downpour. Other groups that participated were in Spokane; Minneapolis; Detroit; Albany NY; Monkato MN; San Francisco; Montpelier VT; San Jose CA; Bloomington IND; Portland, Maine; St. Augustine FL, and Denver.
 
Amazingly, a lot of the granny protests got wide media coverage in their areas.  This represents a kind of breakthrough, as it has been difficult to get publicity for the many grandmother anti-war activities conducted over the last five years since the war was launched..
 
    At least two grandmothers got arrested when a group of protesters prevented entrance to the IRS in Washington DC 
-- Beverly Rice of the New York Granny Peace Brigade and Sue Gracey of the Boston Raging Grannies.
 
    When grandmothers are willing to risk arrest and jail, as so many of us old ladies do on a regular basis these days, you know this war is despised and must be ended.  We grannies are not getting any younger and our energy is not what it was in our earlier days -- but we keep on keeping on knowing we will not be here forever and earnestly hoping that we are inspiring other and younger people to carry on our urgent quest when we no longer can.
 

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January 1 2008 Grannies Take Part in  Philadelphia Mummers Parade

The New York Granny Chicks, singing "Grannies, Let's Unite".
Click:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXVAsHtitW0

Grandmothers Against the War announce the publication of LOVE GRANDMA: ACTIVISTS WRITE, a collection of letters and poetry for grandchildren of all ages by women and men committed to a better, peaceful world.

                                                                                              By david swanson
NY Granny, Joan Wile has published a book called "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace." It is very much an account of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. ...
Democrats.com blogs - http://www.democrats.com/blog
In Phila, call for info:
Marlena Santoyo
515 Glen Echo Road
Philadelphia, PA 19119
Tel. (215)-247-4385
marlsan@cavtel.net

A Message from James Zogby, an Arab American

The Lie That Keeps the Occupation of Iraq Going: www.afterdowningstreet.org/liegoing

 

From Congressman Dennis Kucinich: Congressional Leaders Continue To Play The War Funding Game While Americans In Iraq Continue To Die

Veterans Break Silence on US War Crimes: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/29/7368/

Price Tag for Iraq, Afghan Wars: Three Trillion Dollars: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/28/7342/

Find out more about  counter-recruitment actions, click here: http://codepink4peace.org/section.php?id=48

April 2, 1917- First elected woman takes seat in U.S. Congress

* VEWG Web page*: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/peacevote2008
Check this page regularly for articles, commentaries, ideas for creative bird dogging, talking points for letters to the editor and sample op-eds for the upcoming primaries, caucuses and general elections.
 
* Presidential Voter Guide: One way to generate an educated peace vote is by using the UFPJ voters guide. You can download the guide in Spanish and English from:  http://www.unitedforpeace.org/index.php and add your local contact information.

Making sense of $700 billion, By James Carroll

OLD FAT NAKED WOMEN FOR PEACE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OINStsPwgQ4