Anti-War Protest at British Consulate: Mourning Iraqi
mothers present dead children to Consul-General

Friday, Feb 28, 2003, San Francisco

The Mourning Mothers, seven figures wearing haunting
giant masks and carrying limp, blood- and dirt-stained
rag dolls that suggest dead children, delivered a
powerful message to the British government this
Friday, chillingly depicting the human costs of war.
In mute eloquence, the Mothers unfurled a giant
British flag. Then, to ritual drum beats, the Mothers
wrapped their dead children in the flag and attempted
to present them to the British Consul-General, for
delivery to Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife
Cherie. A wailing song ended the ritual.

The Mourning Mothers stand in solidarity with UK
anti-war protestors. They, along with millions across
America and the world, want to see the British
government withdraw their support for a war against
Iraq. Such a move would be a tremendous blow to the
Bush regime and its limping effort to muster support
for the war. PM Tony Blair is under huge and mounting
pressure on the home front to withdraw. The time is
now to escalate the pressure on the UK. The time is
now for the governments of the world and the
corporations who control them to realize that the
people are going to stop this war and reclaim
democracy, and that they will engage in mass
non-violent civil disobedience to do so.

Standing in silent horror of the human cost of war,
the Mourning Mothers, likened by some to Rodin’s
famous sculpture, the Burgers of Calais, created a
sensation at the Feb 16 peace march in San
Francisco-some people wept, others clasped the
Mothers’ hands, thanking them; thousands took
pictures, including Newsweek and the SF Chronicle,
which featured them on the front page.

The Mothers are an activist group who are part of
Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW), a diverse,
grassroots Bay Area anti-war network that advocates
creative, non-violent direct action-including civil
disobedience-to stop the war against Iraq, reclaim
democracy, and promote social justice and renewable
energy as the means for achieving lasting security. In
particular, DASW is organizing a “Day-After” mass
protest action: Should the US government ignore the
voices of the anti-war majority in America and around
the world and declare war on Iraq, Bay Area residents
will mobilize en masse on the next business day to
disrupt the corporate warmakers and the governments
that serve them. Organizers in 44 cities across the US
are planning similar “Day-After” protests involving
mass civil disobedience. San Francisco’s Justin Herman
Plaza is an assembly point for the “Day-After” protest
in the Bay Area, and the British consulate is one of
two dozen suggested focal points.


Contacts: Mary Bull: 415-731-7924 (office)
415-509-1188 (cell) Judy Haney: 510-377-1912
(cell)
More Info: Direct Action to Stop the War
www.actagainstwar.org <<img src="/img/extlink.gif" border="0"/> http://www.actagainstwar.org