Mother’s Day is rooted in a call from Mothers to end war, at the end of Julia Ward Howe’s proclamation she calls on us to gather for the ‘great and general interests of peace’. In years past we have brought our message and gathering outside the White House, but this year we pivot to remembering we the people are the power and it is us who are cultivating the future of peace for all life. What can you do locally to bring the practices of peace to those at the most horrific effects of the war economy? Or practice yourselves together, the Peace Economy; the giving, sharing, caring, thriving, relational economy without which none of us would be alive.
Start planning now. Just pivoting to peace will also begin to nourish your hearts. Below are some ideas and links to how.
Take Action!
Take The Peace Economy Pledge! Commit to taking part in moving your values away from the extractive war economy and into the Local Peace Economy.
Support your Local Communities of Mothers!
- Support unhoused mothers in your community
- Going to an unhoused women’s shelter – asking them what their needs are, collecting it and delivering it on Mother’s Day.
- Support those most impacted by war economy in your community
- Clothing swaps and drives
Free market
- Clothing swaps and drives
- Bring mothers and their children into a nature
- Organize trash walks with neighbors with children. Make it a game
- Support for artists and makers in your community
- Find a local craft guild and buy directly from them
- Creating something together
- Have a craft or maker party
- Envision a new way to get your needs met with gift and new economy projects
- Teach mothers how to help their children become conscientious objectors:
Use our Local Peace Economy Resources!
Download our Mother's Day 2025 Flyer!
- Beautify your Neighborhood: How to Plant a Habitat Garden at the Local Playground
- How to Stage a Clothes Swap
- How to Organize a Successful Skillshare
- How to Host a Seed Swap
- The Anarchist’s Guide to Seed Sharing
- A Stranger Dinner with your Neighbors: How to Host a Stranger Dinner
- How To Host a MamaBake Food Swap Session
- How to Start a Free Market
- Crop Mob
- How to Integrate Gift Circles into Any Community
- 10 Lessons from a Sharing Economy Organizer
- How to share: 300 guides to help your community thrive
- 10 Ways to Create Community in a Suburban ‘Hood
- How to Host a Great Sharing Event
The Radical History of Mother's Day
A History of Mother's Day: In 1872, Julia Ward Howe declared the first "Mother's Day for Peace” when she sounded the call to DISARM, DISARM! This year, we will heed Julia’s call and bring together our grandmothers, mothers, daughters, aunts, children and all who want to work for an end to militarism, violence, war, occupation, genocide and other forms of hate.
Honoring Palestinian Mothers: “In Palestine and in exile and diaspora, however, mothers face particular challenges and forms of oppression by the Zionist regime, from imprisonment to the destruction of their homes, the confiscation of their land and the detention of their martyred children’s bodies. Nonetheless, Palestinian mothers remain on the front lines of the struggle for the liberation of themselves, their children and all of Palestine, from the river to the sea...” - On Arab Mother’s Day: Palestinian mothers demand the return of their children; a message from women prisoners | Samidoun