Prophecy 2008: 1,000 Grandmothers Needed

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Prophecy 2008: 1,000 Grandmothers Neededhttp://www.1000gran dmothers. net/index. php?option= com_content & task=view & id=96 & Ite\mid=76Clare Hanrahan's speech at Fort Benninghttp://hartleyfound ation.org/ next-seven- generations- grandmothers- speakFor more go to dogpile and type in Grandmothers Speak:http://www.dogpile. comWritten by AdministratorHello to all the Grandmothers here at the gates of FortBenning! I am one of the many grandmothers who refuse topay for war. We are a feisty bunch. We are Raging Grannies,calling for change with humor and parody; we are Women inBlack holding space for the appropriate grief of all thiskilling; we are Code Pink women, raising bloody hands inthe face of cold, indifferent power; we are women ofreligious conviction standing up in the patriarchal churchto demand our equal place; we are part of the Granny PeaceBrigade, asking the recruiters to take us, not the womenand men who have yet to reach the fullness of their years;we are the silver-haired peace walkers, raisinggrandmotherly energy drumming and chanting on the road toFort Benning, each step a prayer for peace. We areGrandmothers for Peace, rising in every country to

say:Torture is never acceptable. Never!The Hopi elders tell us When the Grandmothers speak, theEarth will heal. We elder women, gathered here again, atthe gates of Fort Benning, know well, that when thegrandmothers speak the men of war had best step aside.We, who feel most acutely the cries of the children, and ofthe Earth, come to this place to make it clear: the killingmust stop. The wars must end.We, who hold the grandmother energy, gather here to focusthe distilled wisdom of our years, and the fierce power ofour experience to say: torture is never acceptable. Never!Shut down this school of repression.We 1,000 grandmothers wear white kerchiefs as a symbol ofour solidarity with Argentina's Madres of the Plaza deMayo, and we grieve the stolen lives of the disappeared.With Portillo-Bartow, we understand that solidarityis a human responsibility, and we will not be

deterred.We 1,000 grandmothers, our ancient wisdom flowing, withHolly Near, will sing our freedoms songs:A lullaby much strongerThan bombs and threats to killA force unlike we've ever seenWill break the murderers will.We grandmothers have walked the halls of corrupt powercalling out the truth that torture is never acceptable.Never! Shut down this school of repression.We've been tried, convicted, shackled and locked away, butwe will not be deterred. And Inside the prisons and jailswe have forged alliances with our sisters, the mothers andgrandmothers who are the disappeared of this unjust system.We come here to the gates to this place to say: thiskilling must stop. The wars must end. And with our wailingvoices we express the depth of grief, a grief borne by somany others -- grandmothers like Rufina Amaya, thetruthtellerfrom El Mozote, who never stopped telling the world of

themassacre of her village in El Salvador.We elder women have grown fierce and determined in ouropposition to war and we will not be deterred.We know, as Webster, the first of we 1,000grandmothers knows:That the soulforce of the grandmother' s heart -- of thehuman heart -- is stronger than a triple cyclone fence withrazor wire, stronger than a law which prohibits us to speakthe truth inside Fort Benning's gate. This soulforce of thegrandmothers will prevail.And when the grandmothers speak, the Earth will heal, thetortures and killing will end, and we will not be deterred.Thank you.