MAMA

MAMA MAMA-NYC.ORG WHO AMONG US hasn't rolled their eyes at Maclaren baby strollers clogging up the sidewalks, or grumbled about food-smeared toddlers screaming during an otherwise civilized brunch? When it comes to respecting families and kids, activists are just like everyone else. "In most ways, children and families are really excluded from the activist agenda, although this varies from community to community," says Amy Hamilton, who co-founded MAMA (Mothers Alliance for Militant Action) two years ago with Jennifer Arsenault, Vikki Law and other local mothers. "Taking a child to a meeting or event that isn't kid-friendly is an excruciating experience, with everyone eyeballing your child if they say something or walk around-in other words, if they don't manage to pass as a small, quiet adult."

MAMA, a grassroots collective, was formed to advocate for the rights of mothers, women and children. MAMA's members came together over a number of shared concerns: the absence of affordable childcare and paid maternity leave, the high cost of parenting in NYC, the difficulty of remaining an activist after becoming a parent, the need for community. MAMA knows too well how isolating parenthood can be, and wanted to build a supportive network of women and families with shared values. The organization adheres to the principles of direct democracy. There are no leaders; decisions are made collectively, using consensus. While the group is women-only-something, MAMA says, that is much-needed-plenty of events welcome everyone.

The group's goals include fostering kid-friendliness in activist communities and protecting and increasing family-friendly public space. Inclusiveness for all parents is central to MAMA, and members avoid promoting any specific philosophy of parenting. The membership encompasses just about every kind of mama out there: work-for-pay, stay-at-home, mothers of color and white mothers, those who are single and partnered, middle-class and poor, queer and straight and trans. People from all five boroughs participate, but because of the demands of parenting and family life, members' commitment level ranges. The point is to broaden families' options and make life easier, not create additional burdens with overly rigid membership demands.

"It's not a sexy issue," says Jennifer Arsenault. "Younger, childless activists are not thinking about what it's like for parents in their midst. But with over 80 percent of women becoming mothers at some point in their lives, they will eventually be affected, and hopefully not have the same issues we are addressing now."

MAMA has a childcare collective currently serving seven families. The group recently held a childcare skill-share with the upcoming Republican National Convention in mind, but such skill-shares are a regular part of MAMA's activities. In 2003, MAMA worked in conjunction with the Easterbunny Liberation Organization to set up nationwide protests against retailers like Wal-Mart and Kmart, which were stocking Easter baskets filled with toy soldiers and guns instead of more traditional (and less disturbing) chocolate treats. Dressed as Easter bunnies, the women handed out plastic eggs containing information, and at least one mother, decked out in a lilac sweater and bunny ears, was cuffed and taken away in a cop car at the Astor Place Kmart.

Last Saturday, the group held Science Teacher Sarah's Earth Day Extravaganza, where everyone got a pizza dinner and a chocolate or vanilla Earth cake. Kids went home with a goody bag full of science experiments. ("Scientists 4 and under should have an escort," read the announcement, which triggered a flashback to my Catholic elementary school's deafening, folding-chair-filled "supper room," with its checkered linoleum and crates of brown and white pints of milk.)

MAMA will hold its second annual Mamas Rising Up! on Sun., May 9. The free event, which runs from noon to 5:30 at La Plaza Cultural Garden (9th St. betw. Aves. B & C), is an effort to reclaim Mother's Day from Hallmark and fashion it into a time for addressing the issues that women and mothers, especially those who are low-income, grapple with daily. According to Hamilton, Mother's Day is "a day when empty lip service to motherhood reaches a crescendo, but the realities of mothers' lives are never discussed, for example the fact that so many of us are dealing with poverty and have incredibly limited options."

Mamas Rising Up! will have speakers from WBAI, Women in Black, Casa Atabex Ache, the Hunter College Welfare Rights Initiative and a Zapatista solidarity organization. The People's Law Collective is scheduled to give a training about parents rights at protests. Moreover, there will be music, theater and fun stuff for kids. Says Arsenault, "It's really important to us that our events, unless held for adults only, have something going on that kids will enjoy."