Grandmothers for Peace (a.k.a. Grandmothers for Peace International) is an organization started by Barbara Wiedner (1928-2001
) in May 1982 in
Sacramento, California in the
USA, after the
mass media became "captivated by the image of a grandmother
Barbara Wiedner risking jail through non-violent
civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...
in an effort to save the planet from nuclear annihilation".
History
Barbara Wiedner attended her first protest in 1981, at the age of 53, against 150 nuclear weapons that were stored at
Mather Air Force Base, 15 minutes away from her house. Her granddaughter had made the " Grandmothers for Peace" sign for her. In 1982, in front of the same Air Force Base where she was protesting again, she got arrested for civil disobedience. After 5 days in jail, she held a meeting at her house with ten other women. They all pitched in a dollar to create the Grandmothers for Peace organization.
In November 1982, Wiedner led a peace tour in Russia. Her visit made the headlines in the ''
Pravda''. She later befriended
Raisa Gorbacheva,
and the Soviet spy
Elizabeth Zarubina officially admitted to being an honorary member of the organization. General Lee Butler, who was in charge of the Mather Air Force Base, joined the Grandmothers for Peace organization after he retired from the Army.
In 1997, in
Cape Canaveral
, image = cape canaveral.jpg
, image_size = 300
, caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991
, map = Florida#USA
, map_width = 300
, type =Cape
, map_caption = Location in Florida
, location ...
, Grandmothers for Peace against NASA's launch of a plutonium-powered spacecraft (72-pound plutonium-powered Cassini rocket), which led to the arrest of 5 members of the organization who had dared to step in the highly-guarded facility. In 1998, the organization called for a national boycott against
Nestlé after the company had launched a chocolate bar called "Nuclear Chocolate" to promote the release of the feature film ''
Armageddon''.
After the death of Barbara Wiedner in 2001, Lorraine Krofchok took over the direction of Grandmothers for Peace.
In 2006, the group participated in the
Don't Attack Iran Coalition which
opposed a military attack against Iran.
Organization
The organisation includes over 40 chapters around the US and chapters in
Berlin,
Germany,
Romania,
South Africa and the
United Kingdom.
See also
*
Veterans for Peace
*
List of anti-war organizations
*
Anti-nuclear organizations
*
Nonviolence
Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
References
External links
Official website
Peace organizations based in the United States
Organizations established in 1982
1982 establishments in California
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