World
| Why Mothers Push for
Peace. [World] There is a long tradition of
bereaved
mothers campaigning for peace, both in the US and elsewhere in the world. And while the poignancy of their protest inevitably
attracts public attention, their campaigns have had mixed outcomes. Ms Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son Casey was killed
in Iraq last year, has vowed to remain for the duration of his holiday, or until President
Bush consents to talk to her. The Committee of
Soldiers' Mothers in Russia, a human rights organization, has been campaigning against
conscription and the war in Chechnya for years. And
in Argentina, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo continue their decades-old marches in Buenos
Aires on behalf of loved ones abducted by Argentina's 1976-1983 military regime. So what is it that turns maternal grief into a
political force? |