Mark Manley

Documentary: Grandmothers Against the War

The peace activist group Grandmothers Against the War (GAW) was started in January 2003 when two women, founder Joan Wile and her friend Judith Cartisano felt driven to express their despair and anger over the war in Iraq by standing vigil together on Fifth Avenue at Rockefeller Center.Today the GAW has grown to close to a hundred members ranging in age from 60 to 93. They are actively involved in a variety of anti war activities including civil disobedience and they continue their weekly Wednesday afternoon vigil at Rockerfeller Center. They have not missed a weekly vigil on Fifth Avenue in the 5 plus years since their inception

Marie Runyon, the oldest Grannie at 93 years of age.
   
Members and supporters of Grandmothers Against the War stand vigil on Fifth Ave. The Grandmothers gather on Fifth avenue at Rockefeller Center every Wednesday to stand vigil. They have not missed a week since their inception over five years ago.
  
"I was on the 104 bus on the westside and this woman got on. She had a backpack on with a button: 'Where is the outrage?' And that was Joan (pictured standing in front of a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt near Riverside Park in New York City). We started talking and she told me about the Grandmothers Against the War." Barbara Walker, GAW member, on meeting Joan Wile founder of Grandmothers Against the War.
     
  
Arlene Ellner ( foreground ) and Diane Dryfeus GAW members, confer prior to the weekly vigil.
   
"Hell no, we don’t belong there. Who are you sons of bitches in Washington to think you’ve got a right? I can't stop. This is wrong. This is evil. We are causing the deaths of thousands of people. We have no right" 93 year old activist Marie Runyon at home, speaking about her opposition to the war in Iraq.
   
A passer by on fifth avenue takes in the grandmothers vigil. " It's hard to step outside myself, to see how we are being viewed...There have been people, when we are standing on line who walk by and stop and look, and I have said, especially if there is a youngester, You need to pay attention." Barbara Walker, Grandmother Against the War
     
  
Members of Grandmothers Against the War frequently wear pictures of their grandchildren while demonstrating and standing vigil.
   
" It bothers me that people are to afraid to speak up. Or to lazy to speak up. Or to busy. But those of us who give a damn, we've got to do it. We've got to find the time and find the energy. And to hell with other people. I don't want to go to jail for six months, but I would if I have to. I would almost quit eating if I thought it would help stop the war". Marie Runyon, flanked by Lawyer Norman Seigal on her left and her minister on her right leaves Manhattan Criminal Court following a January 2006 hearing on the Times Square Military Recruiting Center civil disobedience action. She was one of eighteen grandmothers arrested during the action in October of 2005. Marie was ninety at the time of the action and arrest.
   
" I am not going to do community service, nor will I accept a monitary fine. This is my community servce. I feel my community service is doing the vigil, its doing civil disobedience. " Beverly Rice speaking of her possible sentencing for conducting civil disobedience with seventeen other grandmothers at the Military Recruiting Center in Times Square in New York City in October 2005.
     
  
GAW member Betty Brassell at the weekly vigil on Fifth avenue.
   
Molly Klopot, surrounded by grandmothers as they huddle together to receive final instructions from their attorney Norman Siegel prior to entering court. Eighteen grandmothers were arrested while trying to enlist at the military recruiting center in Times Square in October 2005.
   
GAW member Betty Brassell and attorney Norman Siegel lead a prosession of GAW members across Centre street and into Manhattan criminal court for a hearing on their disorderly conduct arrest at the military recruiting center in Times Square in October 2005.
     
  
Above, a man turns and walks away after confronting GAW members during their weekly vigil. " One day one of us was holding a picture of Iraqi children, wounded, and a man said 'Would you rather they be American children?' Sometimes you get into a discussion...And whether it helps or hurts, I don't know. Its action, reaction. Barbara Walker speaking about the weekly GAW vigils at Rockefeller Center.
   
" I say, sometimes I don't even have the vocabulary to express the feeling about what is going on, what we've done there, in Iraq...And the question I ask is, and this applies to me as well: Why are we not lying down in the streets? Barbara Walker, Grandmother Against the War
   
"These eighteen defendants are people of conscience. On October 17, 2005, they acted on principle in the great American tradition of peaceful, nonviolent protest. They walked in the shoes of great Americans who have made this nation and city as great as we are. We are a better society and a better city because of citizens who stand up, speak out, and visibly and vocally are prepared when other means fail, to even get arrested, to bring needed public attention to their underlying grievence."Attorney Norman Siegel during his closing summation at the trial of the GAW"Consequently, having considered all of the evidence in this case and applying all of the appropriate legal principles, I find that the People have failed to prove each individual defendant guilty of each count beyond a reasonable doubt, and therefore I find the defendants not guilty. The defendants are all discharged."Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Neil Ross