RAGING GRANNIES OF METRO DETROIT

History of the Raging Grannies

HOW IT ALL STARTED IN VICTORIA, BRITISH COLOMBIA

The First Group to call themselves "Raging Grannies" sprouted in the winter of 1986-87 in Victoria, British Columbia. Several peace activists who had been doing street theater began dressing up in outrageous hats and singing satricial songs to protest against nuclear submarines, uranium mining, nuclear power, militarism, racism, clear-cut logging, and corporate greed. They were sometimes arrested but never taken to court.

Since then Raging Grannies have performed at numerous rallies, meetings, schools, festivals, churches, community events, and demonstrations where we sing for peace, the environment, and social justice. We appear wherever and whenever we sense an opportunity to speak out or sing out for women's rights, jobs for all, a clean environment, better education and an end to military spending. In our continuing efforts to raise awareness of issues, we would like to sing ourselves out of business. Each Raging Grannie has found empowerment through this shared experience.

Raging Grannies groups quickly sprang up clear across Canada, all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Each group changes the words of familiar tunes to suit their particluar circumstances. Now there are gaggles of grannies all across Canada, the U.S.A. and in several other countries, Japan, Greece, the United Kingdom, Australia.....

GETTING STARTED HERE IN THE DETROIT AREA

We started up in the Metro Detroit area in November 2002. By the end of the year we had seven appearances around town, and the first one was across the border in Windsor. We sang and marched for peace, at a fundraiser for the Committee for the Political Resurrection of Detroit (CPR), on the streets of Detroit singing alternative holiday carols, at a nightclub fundraiser for peace, at the Peace Action holiday dinner, for peace in front of a recruiting station, and at a suburban mall, protesting against war toys for children. We were off to an enthusiastic start. Our own Patricia Lay-Dorsey kept a journal, complete with loads of pictures, of all our activities from our start in November 2002 through March 2004.

Patricia's Journal Link

 

You can get in touch with us by email,contact@raginggranniesdetroit.com