Make Art Not War... Satire Works Too.

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Yes this is a humorous jab at the American government and its border control, but I felt that this clip offered up much more than just satire as a tool to promote nonviolence. Though I personally would not think to crochet for peace, I was surprisingly moved by this woman and her work. I find her quirky, some of the pieces are hideous, and the idea is a little goofy. However, when I saw the crochet covering for the tank with the flower at the tip of a tank's gun I was reminded of protestors putting flowers in the gun barrels in a 1967 Vietnam War protest, and I found it very powerful. 

This woman also crochet coverings for Suvs, guns, and chainsaws. She literally turns instruments of direct or indirect violence into pieces of art which at very least get your attention. What if we took all these instruments of war and made them laughable or adorable? What if we could directly transform tools of hate into projects of creativity and love. Now its hard to imagine Ahmadinejad calling for a halt to nuclear research and the start of an RPG decorating contest or even or own country actively pursuing a change our glorified perception of war...but what if they did? 

This clip also points out the irony in who the American government suspects to be terrorists. But it was the very notion of this woman physically making us take another look at violence and war that was so creative and beautiful to me... regardless of your feelings on her crochet work. Lastly, while some fight for peace, some rights, and some hammer on missile silos, what if we could actually find a path to peace with nothing but public displays of crochet and human creativity?