Nationwide Protest Against K-Marts 'Commando Bunnies'

Sunday 16th

K-mart, among other national retailers, are selling Easter baskets in which the traditional chocolate bunny has been replaced by toys including tanks and plastic soldiers armed with machine guns, rifles, grenades, and knives.

This Sunday 16th at 3:00pm, go to your local K-Mart ( dressed as close to a bunny as possible ) to protest and ask that they remove these detestable "toys".

Note that local K-Mart managers are empowered to remove the baskets from store shelves and have done so in a few instances to date.

Using the store locators on their websites for contact info, you can also telephone your local K-Mart, Rite Aid, Genovese, Walgreens and Wal-Mart stores to voice your objection to having a day celebrating the "Prince Of Peace" commandeered by jingoism.

For background on the issue see: Full Metal Bonnet

Last Sundays protest in NYC: Bunny Busters

CONTACT: easterbunnyliberation@yahoo.com

PARENTS IN BUNNY EARS TO PROTEST SUNDAY AT KMART

For Immediate Release

Contact: easterbunnyliberation@yahoo.com

for more information



P'EASTER RALLY TO BE HELD SUNDAY

Concerned families to protest Kmart's selling of war-themed Easter Baskets on March 16th



The pentagon has invaded our Easter baskets, or so it seems. Instead of chocolate bunnies, or decorated eggs, several retail chains are stocking their shelves with Easter baskets containing war toys. These baskets are comprised of plastic commando-type soldiers with machine guns, rifles, grenades and knives.

Outraged by what they consider to be war-mongering Easter baskets that contradict the holiday's theme of rebirth and new life, a group of concerned parents and children will stage a bunny-themed protest outside Kmart at Astor Place in the East Village NYC on Sunday, March 16th, at 3 p.m. They have also called for nation-wide demonstrations at every Kmart and Walmart, saying that local action is needed.

Activist and mother Amy Hamilton-Thibert spent an hour last Sunday afternoon inside the Astor Place Kmart dressed in a bunny costume in protest of the sale of these baskets. Her subsequent arrest and night in jail has not deterred her from going back this coming Sunday.

"I have the feeling that the US will be at war indefinitely and I do not want my two-year-old daughter growing up with Easter baskets containing commandos," said Hamilton-Thibert. "The baskets also inadvertently symbolize something far more insidious and terrible, which is the impact of war upon younger generations. An important element that is often overlooked in discussion of these events is that war is also a children's issue. One in four residents of Baghdad are children and when the United States embarks upon their bombing campaign that is being described as comparable to Hiroshima in planned scale, thousands upon thousands of children and babies are going to be murdered. Seeing the Easter baskets reminded me of just how many mothers and their families will be affected by a war in Iraq," she added.

Drugstore chain Walgreens announced this week that it will pull the baskets from their shelves, but retail giants Wal-Mart and Kmart are continuing to sell them.

Sunday's protest is sponsored by M.A.M.A., a NYC-based grassroots collective of radical women that was formed in June, 2002 to strengthen common bonds, solidarity and community among women. M.A.M.A. demands rights for mothers and children and the recognition of the role traditional women's work plays in our economy and society. M.A.M.A. is firmly opposed to a war with Iraq, and was one of the endorsers of United for Peace and Justice's anti-war rally in Manhattan on February 15th.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: ALL K-MART AND WALMART STORES WILL BE CLOSED IN IRAQ. THEY WILL BE REPLACED WITH TARGETS.