Paki Wieland was the soul and conscience of peace and social justice. She was there to protest the Gulf and Iraq Wars, she was there to stand by Haiti and for its sovereignty free from intervention, she was there to stand by Cuba and against the US embargo, she was there to stand for Venezuela, occupying that country’s embassy in the name of its legitimate government, she was there to stand against Vermont Yankee, she was there to stand for the release of the prisoners at Guantanamo Naval Base, she was there as a Green Party candidate, she was there to protest L3Harris’ production for weapons of war, taking direction that she was arrested for multiple times, she was there as witness in Haiti, in Cuba, in Afghanistan, in Gaza, in Yemen, with the Gaza Flotilla… She was there for there to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. She was there for the Committee to End the Wars vigil and the Friday night movies and discussion, she was there for the Greenfield vigil. She was there for Occupy Wall Street. She was there for the Commemorations of the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, every year. She was there to protest Israel’s assaults on Gaza and Palestine, every time. She was there. She was there with her Northampton Media camera to record protests and vigils, direct actions and meetings. She was there broadcasting with Occupy the Airwaves, she was there with her interviews on Greenfield Media. She was there with the Raging Grannies. She was there with Code Pink, both with Western Mass Code Pink and in the Pink House in Washington. She was there in discussion and sometimes dispute with Rep. Jim McGovern, fruitfully, and before that with Rep. Richard Neal despite his intransigence to her petitions. She was there for her students at Antoioch and there forher clients in therapy. She was there at the parties, at the meetings, at the sing outs. She was there for her family, Marcelle, Tim, William and James and shared them with us. She was there. She showed up. She was there.
And she is here with us and always will be. She has led us and followed us, and she always will, with her spirit, with her celtic poems and readings, with her ideas, and with her humor and occasional sharpness,.
Paki Wieland was a member of Massachusetts Peace Action from 2018 until her death, just one of the organizations she was part of, but the one here those of us in MAPA want to note. It mattered to us that she was a part of us, and that she showed up when we needed her presence, her voice and her leadership.
Paki Wieland died on March 12th. She died peacefully after several years of treatment and work to rid her body of lung cancer. She never until just days before she died let it interfere more than the minimum necessary with her commitments to action and solidarity for peace and justice, with her activities with friends, with her comrades. She died planning the International Women’s Day Program with W. Mass Code Pink, to which she had made sure that the Raging Grannies would sing and the Womyn Drummers would drum. She moved to her daughter’s with her friend Crystal Zeven and did what she could until the very last minute she could. Which is what Paki always did: She showed up and did what she could until the very last minute and beyond.
Merri Ansara
March 16, 2026
PS Readers will remember other actions and campaigns Paki was part of, including those before I met her in 2006. Remembering them is good. Continuing to act on them to achieve the peace and social justice we long for and work for is even better.
