Common Threads--The Mother's Day Project
Bluegal wrote up a little bit about The Mother's Day Project last Sunday, but I wanted to learn more. As someone with a background in visual arts and knowing that through art, humanity has confronted some of our most painful facets, long before we've had the distance and ability to discuss it otherwise, I've participated in the power of this kind of communal project before with the AIDS Memorial Quilt. I thought (and hoped) that The Mother's Day Project could similarly engage some C&L readers and asked project founder Threading Water if she would contribute a guest post to C&L to tell us more about her project, and the desire to honor and acknowledge the human cost of the war:
The Mother’s Day Project is not – as the name would suggest – a cross-stitch sampler of aprons and biscuits and babies and other sentimental iconography associated with mothers and motherhood. Truth is, The Mother’s Day Project is only marginally about mothers, despite its nod to the traditions of home-based needle arts.
Volunteers from 37 states, five countries and three continents, are stitching the names of female members of the Coalition Forces who have died in Iraq. Each stitched name is returned to me to be joined into an embroidered fabric collage panel that will become part of a larger memorial. Additionally, each participant is asked to learn something about the woman whose name they receive and to write about their experience as a Project participant.
The purpose of The Mother's Day Project is to draw attention to the human cost of the Iraq War. While the parameters of the Project focus on women who have lost their lives serving as part of the Coalition forces in Iraq, it is not meant to exclude recognition for others who have lost their lives as a result of this war. Male soldiers, Iraqi men, boys, girls, infants and women have died in the thousands. They are all worthy and deserving of our attention. But, how does one grasp these devastating numbers, many of which are the result of underreporting and best guesses?
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105 women soldiers
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4,389 military deaths
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8,257 Iraqi security forces deaths
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29,978 wounded US soldiers
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435 contractor deaths
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42,096 Iraqi civilian deaths
This war, more than any other in my lifetime, has been removed from the collective psyche of our day-to-day lives. What we see, what we know and subsequently, what we feel is under tight control. No flag-draped coffins. Reporters are "embedded," and thus compromised in their duty to report with fairness and objectivity. Most days, the daily death toll from Iraq is buried in a sidebar of my local newspaper somewhere around page 11.
Meanwhile, the real numbers coming out of Iraq reveal a level of violence and destruction that is, for most of us, too daunting, too numbing to comprehend. And why should we have to comprehend the reality of Iraq? Without a military draft, a relatively small segment of our society has been paying the price of military service, with many individuals serving three or four rotations in Iraq. That leaves the rest of us, the majority of us, untouched.
Julia Ward Howe envisioned the original Mother’s Day as part of a larger peace movement following her experiences during the American Civil War. That fact certainly lends credibility to the name of The Mother’s Day Project. As human beings, the work of bringing peace to our personal relationships, our communities, our country and our world may be the most noble and necessary endeavor of our lifetime. I am all in favor of returning Mother’s Day to its original purpose and I hope this small, grassroots project will advance a return to the genesis of the day.
I also hope, fervently, to fan the coals of subversiveness. The Mother's Day Project, in making the losses of war personal, changes forever the sense of disengagement that the Bush Administration wishes us to feel about this war. No one who has taken the time to forge a personal connection with someone killed as a result of this war, will ever be able to look at those statistics of dead and wounded in the same detached way again.
That's more than a protest of the Iraq War. It’s a shift in comprehension and vision. A small revolution.
It begins with needle and thread.
ONLY 42,000 Iraqi civilian deaths? Are we missing a zero in there?
Remember, the 42,096 Iraqi civilian deaths is a low number. It only includes those directly related to violence confirmed by atleast two independent sources. The more correct number is much higher. The John Hopkins University did a cluster-based analysis which is the total death toll compared to post-war. So basically they compared US occupation with Saddam Hussein. Because of the total collapse of infrastructure in that country, no water, no food, no hospitals, etc., we are now above a million dead iraqis. But then again, who cares? If you ask an american, then most would say 4000 have died.
The quilt is a great idea; but, what possible purpose can be achieved by excluding the names of the males? I think this kind of thinking is exactly why feminism is such an offensive school of thought.
I forgot to mention that the analysis from John H. University required the iraqi families to prove the death of a family member with an official death certificat. The appr. 1 mio. deaths is the "extra" deaths that have occured compared to a death rate from under Saddam Hussein. And BTW, there is also according to the UN, 4.2 mio iraqies who have been displaced from their home. Some people call that ethnic cleansing. All out of a population of around 24 mio. people to begin with.
#3 I Like Pie,
Feminism(s) is/are not offensive -- I am a male and a proud feminist.
But still, why exclude males? Would a similar project that excluded females be okay?
The quilt is a great idea; but, what possible purpose can be achieved by excluding the names of the males? I think this kind of thinking is exactly why feminism is such an offensive school of thought.
You're kidding, right? You must be.
I have several links which show Iraqi deaths between 85,000 and 600,000 (the 600k is from the Lancet medical journal in the UK).
http://livefrankly.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/bush-officials-charged-with-...
The most stunning number are those who died on the battlefield but didn't...those who will live with it for the rest of their lives.
FreeSpeech TV showed a picture once which was beyond disturbing. A US soldier with no legs, one arm gone and the other arm only remained at the elbow. If one was into black humor it reminded me of the old "Art" and "Bob" jokes, only these aren't jokes, they are young lives.
Impeach. Indict. Try. Hang.
Some people call that ethnic cleansing´´
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Well Bush has learned well from his grandfather Prescott bush, who did trade and bizz with the Nazis and was almost charged with traitorship. Only a few 100 grand brought his ass freedom, oh and dont forget Henry ford either folks.!!
So today we have a asshole idiot of a dead decendent as president, whos father was president and so forth. Now the GWB the ?? drip dry is at it again, attempting to gain votes for his vulgar party ? Is this guy nuts? yes, is this guy living in a bubble? yes, and who would take that traitor scumbag Bush, and his words for real?
I dont think I have to answer that ?? for you ppl, you are all free thinkers,, do the math, imagine the oil,,and make friends with a ?????
God bless and have a great eveing and a even better tomorow. Best regards to to the C&L crew for a excellent blog as well.
Talk to you folks later.
Best regards,,,
Many in the Bush administration have been charged with war crimes. Now indict and try these fuckers for the crimes they have committed against all humanity.
BTW, I read this Open Letter to Bush today and it was brilliant showing his family's relationship to the Nazis.
Good reads, both.
Ahh, the real price of oil.
I Like Pie @ 3:
I agree. Feminism is very sexist.
hugo @ 4:
Translate that to the American population of 300 million and you get 12 million dead and 45 million displaced.
Dan @ 1:
these figures are from the website, Iraq Coalition Casualty Count (link in post). The website explains how the statistics were gathered and further states that the true figure is certainly much higher. I have no doubt that adding a zero would bring the number to a more realistic figure.
The figure for Iraqis is offensively low given both Lancet/Johns Hopkins studies and the two Orb surveys.
RickB @ 15:
AMEN! Worth repeating.
why is it that no matter where you find the Iraqi civilian deaths listed,
they are ALWAYS way understated. with the daily carnage in iraq,
the death total in iraq is over 200,000 easily and not just from their
civil war.
Well I am too offended by the use of female only names. It is as if the death of women in combat was a sign of a more immoral war and mothers' grief was more disturbing than fathers'. Sexism is a 2 way street
MsJoanne @ #7:
"FreeSpeech TV showed a picture once which was beyond disturbing. A US soldier with no legs, one arm gone and the other arm only remained at the elbow. If one was into black humor it reminded me of the old “Art” and “Bob” jokes, only these aren’t jokes, they are young lives."
If you wanna get really depressed, read "Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo. It was written in 1939 from the perspective of a WWI soldier who not only lost his limbs, but most of his face, including his hearing and sight. He slowly realizes what bad shape he's in as the book goes on. I read it when it was re-released in 1970 - think it's time to bring it to the public again.
Multiply that civilian figure by ten and we are starting to get into credible territory.
NO 20 said what was on my mind- the civilian number does not look right at all...but thanks for telling us about the project....I worked on the AIDS quilt on all those years ago...projects like this are good keeping us focused and keeping people in hearts and minds....
Leave it to the women to stitch a thing of beauty from threads of loss and destruction.
For those offended by the use of females only,I would say this.As a Vietnam Veteran and 'old school' about women fighting,it shows the progress our war machine style leaders have made in finding fodder for their games.We know the recruitment standards have been lowered to fill the 'quotas of volunteers".If someone chooses to make a statement against the carnage of war using a defined group as a vehicle,recognize it for that and appreciate the effort.Demonstrate your feelings any way you like. If you have issues with 'feminists',this is not the place to launch an attack.
I can just imagine the uproar if someone put together a quilt to honor men who have died from breast cancer (Yes, SURPRISE, many men every year die of breast cancer) but not acknowledging the countless more women who die.
I am also a lifelong feminists and I find this offensive SPECIFICALLY because it is completely counter to feminism to separate the female soldiers killed out just as it is completely unfeminists to EVER say "innocent women and children". True femnists would say, "innocent children", "innocent civilians" or "innocent men, women and children" but nor REAL feminist would say "innocent women" and children. A womanist? Yes. A feminist? No.
Feminism isn't offensive. It's "Womanism" and "Womanists" who are offensive; especially when they present themselves as feminists and promote sexist, COMPLETELY UNFEMINISTS, words, ideals and actions. It's offensive to people who are not feminists and it should be even more offensive to REAL feminists.
@22
I've got news for you. The idea of "stitching a thing of beauty from threads of loss and destruction" has been done before and it wasn't women who came up with it and did it, it was overwhelmingly MEN.
It was/is called the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
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