Women's league celebrates century of political activism
MN chapter examines
efforts it has made for
peace, gender justice
BY JAMES MCKENZIE
Minnesota chapter of the Women's International
TheLeague
for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the worlds oldest
women's peace organization, will be celebrating several
anniversaries with its exhibit on April 22-29 at Wisdom
Ways Center for Spirituality in the Carondelet Center, 1890
Randolph Ave.
The week-long retrospective "Women Creating Art for Peace
and Gender Justice" marks the 100th anniversary of WILPF,
which was founded in 1915 by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane
Ad-dams. It also marks the 20th anniversary of the
Minnesota chapters participation in the United Nations'
Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.
Marilyn Cuneo, 90, of Mendota Heights was one of 20
Minnesota women in Beijing in 1995. She recalled the
excitement of seeing "35,000 women from around the world
together. It was life-changing for all of us."
Cuneo joked about how the American women stood out in
Beijing "in our jeans and sweatshirts among all the other
colorful fabrics of the world." It was that conference that
inspired the formation of WILPF-Minnesota's Arts
Committee. "There were no arts on the formal UN program,
but the arts are an important way to reach people, more than
just talking," Cuneo said.
"We use the arts to elucidate the bigger issues," said Terri
Hawthorne, 72, of Merriam Park. "Photography, stories,
music and drama—the arts allow us to talk about things
people don't want to hear about."
Such global issues as water rights, reparations for past
wrongs and female genital mutilation will all be addressed
in the programs WILPF has planned during the week (see
the sidebar on page 2). One of the displays, "My Spirit Longs to
Soar," tells of Mary Yang of St. Paul, a Hmong immigrant who
over the course of several decades has come to terms with the
trauma of war and the struggle of adapting to a new culture.
The local WILPF chapter learned of Yang after putting out
a call for stories of human rights abuses. The third child in a
family of 14, Yang settled in St. Paul after a decade of flight
from a genocidal campaign carried out against the Hmong
following the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam in the
1970s. Yang's family fled war-torn Laos on foot to a refugee
camp in Thailand before traveling to the U.S. She had had only
12 days of formal schooling in her home country, but
Hawthorne and the other WILPF women gradually
dYang's story represents years of work in a variety of
media by the Arts Committee of WILPF-Minnesota. The
first effort was the assembling of nine large panels in the
form of a traditional Hmong quilt. Each of the colorful
panels represents one stage in Yang's life, from threatening
airplanes flying above a jungle in Southeast Asia to her
arrival in St. Paul. The panels sparked discussions in
programs that WILPF presented across the region, helping
audiences understand Yang's experiences and those of many
other Minnesotans of Hmong descent.
A second WILPF project emerged at the Perpich Center
for Arts Education in Golden Valley. There, Highland
Park composer Janika Vandervelde worked with high
school students on the creation of Why Don't My Eyes Refuse to
See? a retelling of Yang's story in drama, dance and music.
Through this collaboration, some of the Perpich students
"discovered that their own relatives had war experiences they'd
never talked about," Cuneo said. "This work spreads out in
ripples; what we've done keeps growing." A video of
Vandervelde's collabo- ration is included in the exhibit.
Yang eventually followed her children into school in St.
Paul and now speaks English, drives a car and works in a
medical clinic. "She's a person of great substance in her
community," Hawthorne said.
Wisdom Ways, which is a ministry of the Sisters of St.
Joseph of Carondelet, leapt at the chance to host WILPF's
week-long exhibit, according to its director, Barbara Lund.
An ordained Lutheran pastor, Lund said such collaborations
reflect the Sisters' mission to bring the community together.
And while the WILPF exhibit could have reached a lot of
students at a University of Minnesota site, she added,
"Carondelet Center is very much a part of both St. Catherine
University and the surrounding neighborhood."
WILPF does not proselytize, Lund said, "it engages. These
issues are overwhelming, but they don't overwhelm; they
work with art."
WILPF has chapters in 47 countries around the world.
Member Luella Greene, who will portray Jane Addams at
the exhibit's opening reception on April 22, spoke of the
advancing age of the Minnesota chapter's members and the
possibility of it dying out. However, in her research she
learned that such concerns have cropped up throughout the
organizations history, "and WILPF keeps going."
If the response of Wisdom Ways' staff is any indication,
the Minnesota chapter of WILPF may have a long future.
Associate director Son-ja Anifrani, 33, spoke of the WILPF
members she has met as "walking history books" and
marveled at "their high energy and how they get stuff done."
Program associate Rebecca Dubias, 24, a 2013 graduate of
St. Catherine, spoke of the impact of these women on her and
other students' lives.
"Most of us were hearing about these complicated issues
for the first time," Dubias said of WILPF's Art for Peace and
Gender Justice exhibit. "It brings gender inequality to a
whole new level of understanding on this all-female campus."
The Art of persuasion: Revisiting the work of WILPF's MN chapter
omen Creating Art for Peace and Gender
W
Justice," a week-long retrospective of the work of the
Arts Committee of the Minnesota chapter of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
(WILPF), will open on Wednesday, April 22, in
the.Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality at the
Carondelet Center, 1890 Randolph Ave.
The retrospective includes photographs, videos,
paintings, costumes and other media that document the
experiences of WILPF and its 93-year-old Minnesota
chapter. Talks by participating artists and honored
guests arid videos of various art performances will
be presented daily. The schedule includes:
An opening reception from 6-8 p.m. on April 22. It
will feature a celebration of the 100th anniversary of
WILPF's founding by American social worker, anti-war
and women's rights activist Jane Addams. Members of
the Arts Committee will speak, and the Women's Drum
Center will perform.
"Sustainable Acts" from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, April 23,
with Highland Park composer Janika Vandervelde.
"Pre-Beijing" from 6-8 p.m. Friday, April 24, featuring
the poetry of Marilyn Cuneo and Naima Richmond, a
quilt project by Diane Knust and a look back at die
WILPF
Peace Train with Donna Malum.
"Beijing" from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, April 25, with
photos, videos and books from the United Nations' Fourth
World Conference on Women in 1995.
"Post-Beijmg" from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, April 25,
featuring Puppets for Peace by Luella Greene and the
sandwich boards, parades, exhibits, conferences and
workshops in WILPF's past.
"Female Genital Mutilation" from 6-8 p.m. Saturday,
April'25, featuring "I See Hope in Your Eyes" with
Richmond and Cuneo.
"Women, Peace and War," featuring a talk on "Forward
Global Women" by Minnesota
Senator Sandy Pappas from 2-4 p.m.; "My Spirit Longs
to Soar," the story of Hmong immigrant Mary Yang,
from 4-6 p.m.; and videos from 6-8 p.m. Sunday, April
26.
"Why Reparations: Growing Up African-American"
and "Women in Black: War Protests" from 6-8 p.m.
Monday, April 27.
"Rivers of Regeneration," on women and water rights,
from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 28.
"UN Documents and UN Women" with Cheryl
Thomas of Global Women's Rights from 6-8 p.m.
Wednesday, April 29.
All of the programs are free and open to the public.