Feminist Peace Network

January 16th, 2007

100 GRANNIES TO VISIT 100 SENATORS

Press Advisory

Contact: Joan Wile
Phone: 917-441-0651
Email: joanwile@grandmothersagainstthe war.org

December 22, 2006

100 GRANNIES TO VISIT 100 SENATORS

Plans are proceeding for the GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE Descent on the Senate January 18, at which time at least 100 grandmothers will visit all 100 United States Senators in their Washington offices to demand an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq. It is anticipated that as many as 200 people will ultimately comprise the group on the 18th. To date, grandmothers from 17 states across the country all the way to California have committed to the action, and many more are expected to join in as the days lead up to the event. Approximately 10 states are, so far, in addition, arranging to visit their Senators’ offices
within their states.

The action was initiated by the New York GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE, the group of 18 grandmothers arrested and jailed on October 17, 2005, when they tried to enlist in the armed services at Times Square to replace America’s grandchildren. They are being joined by their sister group, the GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE Philadelphia, who were arrested on June 28, 2006, when they also attempted to enlist.

The grandmothers, many of them in their 80s and 90s, are undertaking this arduous lobbying expedition out of urgent concern that the new Congress not back off, as they seem to be doing, from the demand of the public who elected them to end the war immediately. As one of the oldest of the grannies, Molly Klopot, 87, puts it: “We’re the elders and our responsibility as elders is to leave this world for our grandchildren a
better place than we found it. If we allow this catastrophic war to continue, we will certainly be leaving it a far worse place.”

The Grandmothers have very specific demands they will present, to wit:

Bring troops home starting now and all home by June 2007.
Stop funds for the war - there is enough money in the pipeline to bring the
troops home safely. Congress has the power of the purse and must use it.
No permanent bases in Iraq.
People of Iraq must control all of Iraq’s resources - no U.S. pressure to
privatize Iraq’s oil company.
Assist in the restoration of civil society in Iraq for all sectors:
housing, education, medical care, legal and administrative infrastructure,
and the arts.
Investigate the lies that launched the war and the conducting of the war.
Repeal the Military Commissions Act.

Restore the writ of habeas corpus.
Adhere to the Geneva Conventions and the conventions of international law.
Close Guantanamo.
Repeal the civil rights violations of the Patriot Act.
End the practice of extraordinary rendition.
No preemptive war.
Call for impeachment proceedings.

The January 18 Descent on the Senate comes almost immediately on the heels of the Grandmothers Vigil held on New Year’s Day at Rockefeller Center on the occasion of the 3,000 GI fatalities milestone having been reached the day before. One hundred people stood for an hour in a silent vigil while some read the names of the dead from the tri-state area who succumbed in 2006. They then walked with lit candles to the Times Square Recruiting Center where they continued to read names. There was extensive television
and radio coverage of the solemn event.

The GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE press conference in Washington will be held at 9:00 AM on Thursday, January 18, location to be announced shortly, after which the grandmothers will begin their lobbying.

Granny Peace Brigade
WE WILL NOT BE SILENT!