Dear CODEPINK Activist,

This Mother's Day, let us reclaim the original sentiment of the holiday by rising up to demand: "Stop the killing now!"

As we were preparing our Mother's Day call to action this weekend, we received a phone call from Marla Ruzicka's mother. She told us that Marla had just been killed by a car bomb in Iraq. Marla, a passionate advocate for peace, was with us on our first CODEPINK visit to Iraq in 2003 and chose to stay on to help the innocent victims of the war.

Yet again we are brought to our knees with grief. Marla was family to us. On this Mother's Day, thoughts of Marla and her mother Nancy flow together with the stories of American Mother's whose children have been killed while serving in this war, and all the grieving mothers in Iraq. All have suffered terribly from this war. Filled with despair and determination, a voice inside us shouts: STOP THE KILLING.

This call to Stop the Killing is, indeed, the message of abolitionist Julia Ward Howe, who in 1870 issued the original Mother's Day proclamation calling on women to rise up against war. "We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs," Julia said. (click here to read the complete proclamation)

This Mother's Day, let us transform Julia's words into action. Here are several ideas:

1. Vigil or protest at your local recruiting station on Saturday, May 7th, the day before Mother's Day. We have created a guide for you that includes background information on the counter-recruitment movement and suggestions for actions, chants, banner ideas and educational links. Invite your mom, sister, children and other activists in your community to join. Please contact us with your plans so we can announce your action in our national press release. We hope to have 30 actions happening around the country on May 7th.

2. Sign the Mother's Day Pledge that you will honor the world's mothers by devoting time during the year to actions against war. We have 10 ideas to get you started.

3. Write an anti-war op-ed for your newspaper or letter to the editor to educate people about the true origins of Mother's Day. If you write and submit a piece early -- like now! -- you'll have a better chance of getting it printed.

4. Get your mother a gift that fits your values and supports the work of CODEPINK. Visit our on-line store for ideas or our special Mother's Day gift packages. You may place orders up to May 2nd, 2005.

Whatever you do, please take some action on Mother's Day to commemorate the true meaning of this day, to continue Marla's work on behalf of innocent victims, and to end the insanity of sacrificing our children to war.

With tender hearts....,
Farida, Gael, Grace, Jodie, Medea, Rae, Tiffany and Willow