In African cultures the cross symbolizes the Tree of Life. Five woman activists, who died for their convictions, represent the female Christ Militant. I undertook a pilgrimage to Germany and photographed the graves of Petra Kelly and Sophie Scholl and the site where the body of Rosa Luxemburg was recovered. I paid homage to Anna Mae Aquash and Viola Liuzzo by visiting and photographing the sites of their murder in the United States of America.
Sophie Scholl (1921 -1943)
A German student and member of the White Rose resistance against Hitler was executed by the People’s Court at age 22 for treason, she participated in producing and distributing thousands of leaflets calling an end to the war and denouncing the inhumane actions of the Nazi Regime. Her clear-sightedness, her courage and dignity when facing tyranny makes Sophie Scholl one of the most admirable women of the 20th century. “Stand up for what you believe in even if you stand alone.”
Viola Liuzzo (1925 – 1965)
The middle-class white homemaker from Detroit was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan after helping to organize the SCLC Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Viola Liuzzo was deeply empathetic and had no tolerance for injustice. She was committed to the American Civil Rights movement and her murder helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. “There are too many people who just stand around talking.”
Anna Mae Aquash (1945- 1975)
The First Nations activist from Canada was murdered by members of the American Indian Movement under still unclear circumstances on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota. She was a prominent member of AIM, participated in the Trail of Broken Treaties and the Occupation of Wounded Knee. Anna Mae Aquash, as a member of the Mi’kmaq tribe, believed strongly in Native American Rights, in self-governance and in empowerment through Native American traditions and spirituality. “I intend to be one of those raggedy-ass Indians”
Rosa Luxemburg (1871 – 1919)
She was murdered by members of the rightwing Freikorps in Berlin during a worker’s uprising and her body was thrown into the Landwehrkanal. Born in Poland and a naturalized German citizen, she was a co-founder of the German Communist Party (but a strong critic of Lenin). Rosa Luxemburg was a profound and compassionate critical thinker whose writings on Socialist political theory, Militarism, Pacifism and freedom of thought are of great relevance for today. “Those who do not move, do not notice their chains”
Petra Kelly (1947 – 1992)
The German Pacifist, Anti-nuclear activist and uncompromising environmental advocate she was shot by her lover and companion. The motivation and circumstances of her murder are still controversial. Petra Kelly was strongly influenced by Robert Kennedy whom she met when volunteering for his election campaign. She was a passionate and highly intelligent person and will be remembered for being instrumental in founding the world’s first Green Party. “Uranium is the raw material of a power-elite who has taken Mother Earth’s every living creature hostage.”