MOTHER WARRIORS VOICE
20 Year Anniversary!

By Pat Gowens, Editor, Mother Warriors Voice

It’s our 20-year anniversary and we are still here. HURRAY! Mary Anderson suggested that we make this issue the “no outrage” issue--a celebratory relief from the horrors mothers are enduring worldwide. I hope you appreciate our efforts. We had to avoid reporting on the war(s) and corporate crap and the legalization of torture and….okay… no outrage.

As usual we report on the amazing resistance taking place to stop the outrages. Minnesota and Oakland moms in poverty are making gains—and always visible in the streets. US groups are organizing to stop the ads forced on millions of children at school and on their buses. In Sierra Leon the Amazonian Initiative Movement held a rally where women practitioners of Female Genital Mutilation burned their instruments—and renounced the practice.

We actually have six pages of victories for this anniversary issue. The Wisconsin Plan in Israel has been greatly modified to exempt 25% of parents from 30 hours unpaid work. Next step for Sawet el-Amel activists—elimination of the plan altogether. S. F. Chinatown immigrants stopped a college and city from taking away their housing. Aborigines won title over land in a major Australian city. Arnetta Grable won $4 million from Detroit after a cop killed her son. And she is investing it into scholarships for Detroit youth.

Mary, Adele, Lillian and I—all old timers on the MWV—have written fun stories to celebrate. Mary’s Baby Hunger reminds us of the satisfying thrill that babies bring-- easy to forget in the midst of struggle. Adele describes her work on the VOICE and why she remains committed. Lillian revisits her classic story, Freedom is Only a Heartbeat Away, about social security moms Vs welfare moms. I share some of the powerful mama music that has kept me going for 20 years.

REMINDER: send us your stories!