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Social Action at the local level
The Raging Grannies started in Victoria, British Columbia, and spread to other cities in North America. Jo Wood, a member of the Ottawa Raging Grannies, says their group is made up of older women concerned about social issues who use songs and satire to try to make their views known.
They like to use music to convey their ideas, but they are not a choir. In fact, they are not all good singers. They are a protest group that demonstrates in creative ways at political events, or just shows up in shopping malls to sing about not buying war toys. Jo feels that the Grannies have a personna that allows them to approach people, and get more gentle treatment from police and security guards. The Raging Grannies enjoy working with young people, showing them that older people too can act on their passions about social and environmental issues.
In December 2007, while Environment Ministers were in Bali discussing the sequel to the Kyoto agreement, the Raging Grannies were upset about the position the position put forward by the Canadian Government, so they joined ACT for the Earth to help Santa Claus deliver a lump of coal to the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to make the point that he had been a bad boy.
The goal of this demonstration was to create an event that would attract the media, and increase awareness of their opposition to the Government's stance.
Raging Grannies at the International Day of Action on Climate Change, December 8, 2007 in Edmonton, Alberta:
The Ottawa Raging Grannies visit the protest against uranium mining at Sharbot Lake:
The Raging Grannies visit a congressman's office in Michigan:
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