– by Gillian Crowley –
Who are these grey-haired women in frumpy dresses and outrageous hats warbling protest songs? They’re the Victoria Raging Grannies, marching down the aisle of the Star Cinema to introduce a documentary titled Granny Power about this international phenomenon. Started in Victoria 28 years ago, the Raging Grannies now have more than 80 chapters across North America.
The film, part of the Victoria Film Festival, makes clear that these women are more than “eccentric old biddies” or “senior citizens’ street theatre” as some have called them (or worse). The women featured in this documentary have a mission and a steely glint in their eyes. By using songs, sarcastic humour and passive resistance, they make the point that “women of a certain age” have the wisdom and freedom to resist social injustices, militarism and other wrongs in society. The stereotypical “granny” outfits are their way of mocking society’s expectations that older women are irrelevant and should fade into the background. If grandmothers are standing up for what they believe in, it raises the question, why aren’t others?
In 1987 the Victoria Raging Grannies were born out of a group reacting to health and environmental threats posed by U.S. Navy nuclear subs and warships coming into Victoria’s waters. “We were also reacting to some of the attitudes towards our age within the peace group we were involved with,” says Fran Thoburn, a founding member of the Victoria “gaggle” (their term).
Thoburn explains, “We’re not anarchists but we do feel the government needs to be accountable to the people.” She is proud of the “remarkable” things her group has done. “When the US Navy was here conducting war games we actually got a meeting with provincial politicians and asked them, who owns the seabed that’s being impacted? They couldn’t answer that and had to bring in the legal experts.”
The Grannies have challenged nuclear-armed ships, forestry companies, arms manufacturers, multinational corporations, pharmaceutical giants, makers of war toys, the World Trade Organization and every level of government. Anne Moon, a forthright member of the Victoria RGs says, “We want to challenge people to get up and off their behinds.” There’s often a price to pay, though, for defying the status quo. Since 9/11, some members find they can’t attend their biannual Unconference in another country because they’ve been arrested in the past.
There’s a disturbing image in the documentary that shows New York policemen handing a walker into a paddy wagon and then assisting a very elderly woman into the van after it. Arresting grandmothers and great-grandmothers for peacefully protesting a war is bound to reflect badly on the powers-that-be. In fact, in a court case that received wide media attention, all charges were dismissed.
Some question whether the funny get-ups and irreverent songs might not undermine the very serious messages they hope to deliver. In response, Thoburn says, “The attention we get makes sure the message gets across. We make a difference by bringing issues to people’s minds.”
Many members of the Raging Grannies have always been activists; others discovered their voices much later. One woman in the film said she’d been a quiet, shy person all her life but eventually became angry enough about certain issues that she was able, through the Raging Grannies, to finally speak out. “I find by putting on my Granny outfit I become another person, a braver person, and I feel supported by the others in the group.”
