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Joan Wile Speech Delivered at the Conference on Aging at the UN
By Joan Wile, Grandmothers Against the War
October 8, 2009
Thank you, distinguished
United Nations officials and honored guests. I am very proud to be standing here with the undreamed of opportunity to participate in today’s conference on aging and activism.
You never know what's around the corner. Who would have thought that I, an ordinary mother, grandmother, and working singer and songwriter, would in my 70s begin a whole new chapter of my life in which
I would devote myself entirely to being an anti-war activist. Even in one’s eighth decade, surprises occur.
Until then, I had been only a sporadic activist – as a young volunteer for
Adlai Stevenson’s presidential campaign; as a marcher in Washington for the no nukes movement; in
Washington again as a mother against drunk driving, and other causes. But, after a while,
I would return full-time to my duties as a mother and my struggles to build a career.
And, then, at the age of 72, something happened that altered my life for years to come, and,
I suspect, permanently. I saw a magazine photograph of a 12-year-old Iraqi boy,
Ali, who had lost his arms, was horribly burned on his torso, and whose entire nuclear family was killed as a result of our bombing of
Baghdad. horrified and heartbroken, I told myself that I had to do something. and
I did. On a freezing day in January, 2004, I began a grandmothers peace vigil on fifth avenue in front of
Rockefeller center. There were just two of us, were quite frightened, as well as cold. however, we
stood and we wore signs which read “Grandmothers Against the War.”
Inasmuch as it wasn’t very popular to oppose the war then, we'd our ground, and the following week there were three grannies. then six. then eight.
It kept growing.
realizing that our vigil was very important in alerting passing foreign tourists to the fact that not all
Americans supported the occupation, nevertheless we felt we should do something more dramatic so as to have an impact on an oblivious
Washington.
On October 17, 2005, 18 of us grannies approached the Times Square recruiting center with the intention of joining the military so we could replace
America's grandchildren in harm’s way for an unjust cause, thereby, we hoped, allowing them to have the long lives we had enjoyed.
Denied entrance, we sat on the ground, and when we exercised our constitutional right to peacefully dissent by not getting up, which, incidentally, was not so easy for us to do, were arrested, handcuffed, and carted off to jail. after a six-day trial in criminal court, we were, of course, acquitted.
The story traveled around the world overnight, which led to our engaging in a huge number of events, actions, rallies, speeches here and abroad, even granny performances.
Our activities have expanded and expanded, and we grannies are so busy we hardly have time to breathe.
Being involved in something we believe in strongly has kept us young and eager to get up each morning.
My troupe of activist grannies proves, I believe, that you’re never too old to contribute to the betterment of the world, and to lead rewarding and productive lives no matter how many decades you’ve survived
I’d like to close by asking all my grandmother associates in our two sister organizations,
Grandmothers Against the War and the Granny Peace Brigade, who are here today to stand up and be acknowledged.
Thank you.
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