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Peace Grannies Invade Brooklyn's Target Store with Song and Protest Regarding War Toys
Weary Brooklyn Christmas shoppers were unexpectedly entertained on Friday afternoon, Dec. 18, when a troupe of approximately 20 Granny Peace Brigade members and Raging Grannies sang revised Christmas carols condemning war toys at the TARGET Store in Flatbush's Atlantic Shopping Center simultaneously with a serious demonstration against the toxic playthings. This was the second protest in the grannies' recently-launched campaign called "NO MORE WAR TOYS, NO MORE WARS." The first action took place on December 4 at the Times Square Toys "R" Us store,
Although warned by the police earlier in the day to not attempt to conduct any mischief inside TARGET, the grannies nevertheless "invaded" the store at approximately 4 p.m. and quickly went to the toy department where they filled up four carts and some baskets with the most violent toys ever conceived.
The grannies then rode them down the escalator while unfurling many bright yellow banners imprinted with the black letters, "WAR IS NOT A GAME" and "NO MORE WAR TOYS." As they rode down to the next floor, they sang the famous John Lennon refrain, "Give Peace a Chance."
Granny Peace Brigade singing while riding escalator with banners, TARGET, Dec. 18
They intended to leave the toy-filled carts and baskets at the check-out counter, but by the time the elderly crusaders and the carts reached the bottom of the escalator, however, a bevy of policemen was awaiting them and requested that they leave the store, which they did, singing and displaying their many banners as they wended their way outside.
The toys they gathered are disgraceful, to say the least -- guns with repeat bullets, grenades and all manner of killing machines designed to arouse the bloodlust of impressionable young children and teen-agers. The grannies, who have been trying for years to end the destructive and immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, feel these toys militarize America's young and pave the way to more and more killing in the guise of protecting our homeland, a presumption the grandmothers reject.
Once outside, on Flatbush Avenue, the grandmothers opened their special songbooks and sang a number of Christmas carols which the women have revised with lyrics pleading that people not buy war toys. For, instance:
HARK, THE HERALD ANGELS SING
HARK, THE HERALD ANGELS SING
NOW, AT LAST, LET FREEDOM RING.
PEACE ON EARTH AND MERCY MILD,
NATIONS MUST BE RECONCILED.
LET US PUT THE BOMBS AWA-A-Y!
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME, NOW, TODA-A-Y
WARS ARE NOT FOR TOYS, OR A GAME.
DON'T TEACH OUR KIDS TO KILL AND MAIM!
GIVE THE CHILDREN TOYS OF PEACE,
HELP THEM TO LEARN THAT WARS MUST CEASE.
Passersby stopped to enjoy the concert, and many told the grandmothers that they agreed with them. The protesters gave out hundreds of leaflets listing appropriate toys for parents to buy rather than the horrendous ones glorifying lethal battle.
Other members of the grannies' audience included the eight or so cops assigned to protect Brooklyn from the dangerous aged terrorists. The officers stood across from the women throughout their entire songfest trying without success to hide their delight at the grandmas' vocal offerings.
Said the oldest singer, Lillian Pollak, hale and active at 94, "We won't be here forever, and if we can't stop these deplorable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in our lifetime, we must at least do all within our power to convince our grandchildren that they must end the cycle of killing and waste we have been engaging in for far too long. We're determined to continue this struggle to bring back appropriate and healthy toys."
Peace Granny Joan Wile is the author of, "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies And Standing Up For Peace" (Citadel Press '08)
31 Comments so far
Show AllLillian Pollak at 94 years young is doing her part and like she says: if we can't stop these deplorable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in our lifetime, we need to do what we can. That says it all to me! We all need to do what we can and whether it happens in our lifetime, which I seriously doubt, at least we tried to do our part.
don't these grannies know they are JUST toys?
Just toys? Maybe, but they can also be an introduction to the acceptability of war, no matter what. You don't need the Hitler Jugend this way, first the toys, the 'games', the propaganda at school, unemployment maybe, all followed by a 'carreer' in the military. Flying drones from an office in the US maybe, indiscriminately killing faceless people anywhere on the globe.
I wonder how long it will take for one of these drones to be taken over by a 'terrorist' and used against the US? It would be quite ironic if this happened.
Wasn't there a story recently about the "insurgents" having hacked a drone's computer? Aside from the one story no big deal was made of it? Embarrassment maybe that "14th century" people could possibly have the skills to hack a computer, or even know what one is?
The hackers downloaded some Russian software and watched the unencrypted video feed sent by drones. It's stupidly shameful that the US suppliers would not use encryption, but there was no hacked drone or anything close to that. As for "14th century" people, perhaps some view Afghanis that way, but certainly not the CIA or US military. You're assuming that just because conservatives disagree with you, that they're a bunch of bigots. It's your own political bigotry in action.
No doubt were they able to turn the drone around and launch its payload of missiles on a US Base, it would have been described as "barbaric terrorism".
Yeah, and Superman is stronger than Mighty Mouse. Oh wait, Mighty Mouse doesn't exist.
"just toys" as in "just war"
(ref St. 0-gustine in Oslo)
What are you say are just toys, the grannies, or the toys of war and violence the grannies protested against the marketing of? Har Davids's reply to your post seems to indicate that he believes that you mean to be speaking of the toys the grannies protested against, BUT your question, the way it's stated, leaves the possible meaning of the grannies being only toys.
You only say, "don't these grannies know they are JUST toys?", and the "they" word technically applies to the "grannies" word.
Condoning theft and criticizing grammar?
"toy-grannies"?
whatever gets you through the night, friend.
(You are correct - as an independent sentence the "they" does refer back to the ladies. However, can we not assume most readers would know I was referring to the toys of the report, even if some didn't catch which definition of "just" I was playing with?)
Whenever I'm in the store and see war toys, I like to hide one or two of them by carefully blocking their visibility with different toys stacked in front of them. Especially this time of year.
Only hiding one or two of them won't help, but the idea of disappearing them from store shelves is a good one.
So you're condoning theft?
My family & I wholeheartedly supports the Peace Grannies and what they are doing!
Crafty
Reminds me of that classic line from George Carlin:
"Now they're thinking about banning toy guns . . . BUT THEY'RE GONNA KEEP THE F***IN' REAL ONES!!"
True those words are, BUT it's also important to remove the brainwashing of youth with all of the war and violent games and movies the U.S. toy and movie industries are always glad to flood the USA with. If removing those elements that pervert U.S. culture can help the youth to start being encultured in healthy ways, then this should help them to develop a greater tendency to THINK, before saying "yes" to violence and U.S. wars.
The culture is very violent and curbing, and reversing this, cannot be a bad thing to do. It's an essential thing to do. A healthy culture should have greater majorities of people against their government resorting to violence, wars, human rights abuses, and other criminality. A sick or violent culture breeds sick and violent citizens, sure; or so I believe, anyway.
Otoh, it's NOT necessary for "banning" of toy guns, etcetera. Banning would be through government legislation and wouldn't happen with the sort of violently criminal government we have. And even if the government would seriously consider implementing such legislation, it should not be necessary to do this. Consumers can simply boycott, just stop buying the toys, which'd force the manufacturers to stop manufacturing these toys. Consumers have all of the power that's needed for this sort of matter.
It's a valid issue but only one of many damaging outcomes of liberal/libertarian laissez-faire capitalist culture and policy.
USans cling to this culture and defend it because their masters have instructed them that it's their "pride and joy" and there is simply "no alternative", and chasing ethical principles is a dangerous distraction from chasing material luxury/convenience. You don't want to be miserable, do you?
And so the side-effects of this pursuit manifest in an infinite variety of ways, because as the people are distracted with material pursuit, churning the munny, the elites have set their imaginations loose to roam the infinite landscapes of wealth-redistributing rackets. One is warfare. Another is children's toys. There are many, many more, and they snake through the streets and into your eyes and ears.
Instead of doing exchange with elites, we can do exchange in our local communities. Buy the children's toys from the local toymaker, who you know and trust. Your child will have memories of the face who made their toy. The Pentagun will be deprived of the positive association, and will remain alien as it should. Fewer dollers will reach the type of people who make war toys. And more will go to the people who truly care about the community.
It's only one of many ..., as you say, but the action of these grannies is right and good; as all of their anti-war actions over the past several years have also been. At least they're doing something to keep the public message about these wars needing to be stopped and for the USA to stop being a violently criminal country going, or present. Their action is constructive and definitely beats being couch potatoes or only bitching on the Web, like a lot of CD'ers seem to often do and nearly only do.
Cheers for the grannies. War toys, war games, shoot em up movies contribute to our culture of violence. They are not JUST toys. We are being brainwashed to love fighting and droping bombs around the world.
shach: "They are not JUST toys."
"just" as in 0's BS apologetics for "just war".
it was ridicule - satire - folks!
think of it when next you hear "It's just business."
Molly Klopot looks like Emperor Palpatine, standing there with those Star Wars toys.
Aggression and tribalism are core parts of human nature. Weapons appeal to boys from a young age, be they sticks or something they can form into a gun. The idea is just wired into us, and no amount of hiding the toys will change that. It takes an honest understanding of what we are to to overcome wired-in aggression.
These grannies simply made themselves and the left look foolish. Peace by disrupting a Target? Fortunately for us all, nobody paid attention.
"Aggression and tribalism are core parts of human nature."
wrong - this is learned social (mis)behaviour.
(here - if I could - I would insert my 'toon of a fetus dreaming of a mushroom cloud)
Your cartoon would illustrate poor arguing skills. All across the world, people have always been familial and tribal. From sports teams to warring tribes in New Guinea. Open your eyes.
just a thought - are the shops in the Middle East stocked with toy suicide belts?
I think young people get the real thing there.
Lots of toy guns. The photos of kids, infants, and babies with suicide belts all looked handmade.
In Gaza, there is a culture of death that uses these toys to further its own goal, nihilism. It's encouraged quite consciously. In the US, in comparison, the gun culture is about freedom, manhood, and personal power.
For the record, I played with toy guns as a child and have never owned a real one.
Next stop, the Pentagon?
Poet
If it get's people talking then Yay! more power to them. I don't condone censoring of any kind, and preventing companies from producing certain kinds of toys falls under that category IMO. But if we teach children to love, and what wars do to the brothers and sisters that we learn to love, the appeal of such toys may dwindle and they may stop being produced, because people won't buy them. The Grannies gave a teaching opportunity to parents, and that's a very good thing.
Well, at least pacifists have some kind of platform in the US. Pacifism has absolutely no voice in the UK - "anti war" voices are only against a specific war. Even "Thought for the Day" which offers a religious perspective on current events fails here. It doesn't even voice the views of christians or other faiths who oppose the current Afghan war - as for true christian pacifists, Quakers for instance. Nope. Nor Buddhists, Jains or any other non violent point of view. Pacifism is the unspeakable belief. Patriotism demands the "boys" prepared to make their living learning to kill be unquestioningly supported.
May God bless the grannys, they're onto a worthy movement.
Intelligent Americans understand!!