The First Group to call themselves “Raging Grannies” sprouted in the winter of 1986-87 in Victoria, British Columbia. Several peace activists who had been doing street theater began dressing up in outrageous hats and singing satricial songs to protest against nuclear submarines, uranium mining, nuclear power, militarism, racism, clear-cut logging, and corporate greed. They were sometimes arrested but never taken to court.
- Raging Grannies groups quickly sprang up clear across Canada, all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Each group changes the words of familiar tunes to suit their particluar circumstances. Our debut performance was on February 12, 1996, in Olympia at the Presidents Day rally sponsored by the Washington State Labor Council. Cold weather and pouring rain did not dampen our spirit as we sang
- Oh, we are a gaggle of grannies
- Urging you off your fannies
- We’re raising our voice
- We’re sick of your toys
- NO MORE WAR!
Since then the Seattle Raging Grannies have performed at numerous rallies, meetings, schools, festivals, churches, community events, and demonstrations where we sing for women’s rights, jobs for all, a clean environment, better education and an end to military spending. In our continuing efforts to raise awareness of issues, we would like to sing ourselves out of business. Each Raging Grannie has found empowerment through this shared experience.
We do not seek payment for booked performances, but we do accept donations in order to fund our activities.