As we recognize and celebrate Mother’s Day, let us first remember and honor Julia Ward Howe. Julia Ward Howe was heartbroken and distressed seeing the ravages of the American Civil War. She wrote “The Battle Hymn of The Republic” as a way to express her anguish and outrage, and saw this was not enough to bring about change. I see her as one of the first feminists, striving to make equality of the sexes a reality. A true visionary, she also saw that peace, the end of war as a way to resolve conflict, was equally as important.
In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war erupted, and Julia Ward Howe began to organize women, her goal to petition Congress to end all wars. A true activist, she took her campaign international, issuing a “Manifesto For Peace” at conferences in Paris and London. In 1872 she put forth and promoted the idea of a “Mother’s Day For Peace” to be celebrated on June 2 each year, and in 1873 women in 18 U.S. cities made this a reality.
Anna Jarvis was another trailblazer during the Civil War, establishing and organizing “Mother’s Work Days.” Julia Ward Howe was directly influenced by Jarvis’ tireless work and activism. Jarvis’ daughter, also named Anna, was motivated by her mother’s and Howe’s work for equality and peace, established the first “Mother’s Day” celebration in West Virginia in 1907. Through Jarvis’ activism, by 1912, 45 states had official declarations, and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the celebration into law.
Within a few years, Jarvis became disappointed with the increasing commercialization of Mother’s Day. In keeping with the intentions of peace and equality and justice, the original purpose of Howe and Jarvis, I invite you to look beyond the ‘feel-good’ façade and ask yourself “how can I honor the work of these visionary and brave women? What can I do to promote peace and equality?” I encourage you to look in the mirror and affirm “Peace Begins With ME!” and then go out into the world and make a difference.
I want to point out that both Howe and Jarvis saw the power in organizing people toward a common goal. While we each have power as individuals, when we come together in a focused purpose, our energy and effect is multiplied many times over. Looking at the peace movement, I believe Howe was the first to put forth an organized effort to end war. Compare this to the thousands of years that humans have used violence and war to address conflict, we’re just now coming into our own as a force for peace. This is why it is so important to support peace-oriented organizations, both financially and physically, to keep the momentum going, to add to the consciousness of peace and nonviolence. As I requested previously, ask yourself how you can get involved, how you can support your local or national peace efforts. Know in your heart – Peace Begins with ME!
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
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With love, rage, and solidarity,
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