Nachie
17th July 2006, 00:29
First Report : ARA campaign against the pro-life assault in Jackson, Mississippi
hello everyone!
Anti-Racist Action is in Jackson, Mississippi for the next three weeks, fighting to keep the last abortion clinic in the state from being shut down by militant pro-lifers.
This issue couldn't be more relevant or important. If these pro-life wingnuts are allowed to win, abortion will be essentially illegal in Mississippi. Also, a pro-life victory here will embolden these groups and harden their resolve, leading to many, many more right-wing assaults on clinics across the country. A failure to stop them here could well snowball out of control.
We are currently fighting Operation Save America, a confrontational anti-choice group made up of families and hotheaded, super masculine men. The Minutemen are rumored to be in town, with reinforcements on the way. At the end of the month, a notoriously militant group known as Oh, Saratoga will be arriving for a week of actions. These are our identified enemies at this point, not counting lone wolf wingnuts and various white supremacist and fascist groups who may make an appearance at any time.
After driving for two days and 17 hours, we arrived on the morning of Friday, the 14th. We immediately dove into preparation, securing places for everyone to stay and working out logistical, intelligence, and security matters. Our plate was especially full when one considers that four of the five initial advance vehicles broke down on the way, two of them breaking down twice. Bad luck? Who knows...
After working out the infrastructure we needed to operate here, we rolled on Saturday the 15th with about 20 people to help protect a NOW (National Organization of Women) rally from the pro-lifers. Although the area was crawling with uniformed and plainclothes police and two school buses of riot cops were sitting right at the edge of the event, the OSA fascists came right in and were met with an effective ARA blockade. We were able to hold their initial scout team, who were carrying signs displaying aborted fetuses and bible scripture, for about 30 minutes. At that point, OSA members came into two other sides of the park carrying massive, six foot high pictures of dead fetuses. Although we were stretched very thin at this point, we were still able to go person-to-person and hinder their movement towards the stage. Things escalated when the fascists began shoving and hitting ARA members with their signs. Seeing this, the police broke out their beating sticks and riot shields and began to try to intervene.
After a few more minutes of this, and repeated warnings and threats from the police, NOW members began adopting our harassment tactics, pushing OSA members back, blocking them with their pro-choice signs, and even linking arms and surrounding individual members! It was an exciting time; OSA was being blocked on all sides, the pro-choice rally was protected, and we were winning. At this point, the police declared that there was a "bomb threat" and began pushing EVERYONE out of the park, whacking some of us with their shields as they herded us onto the sidewalk. With half of the crowd on one side of the street and the other half on the other, chaos began to creep into the equation. The police began to lose their cool, and there were several heated shouting matches. Shortly thereafter, the permit ended and everyone was ejected from the area. Apparently the ATF bomb robot was brought out and blew up a "suspicious package" but many of us are somewhat skeptical. Whether it was a legitimate bomb threat or the police fabricated one, it sure seemed like they were on OSA's side.
I am about to run out of time on this public computer, but I will be writing a report on today's actions sometime tonight or tomorrow. We are acting effectively, but we desperately need more people. Contact us and get down here! There's the widest range of tactics imaginable being employed here at this point and it's only day three of the three week campaign.
Come down South and help us put these fundamentalist bigots in their place. Let's give 'em the boot and keep abortion safe and legal in Mississippi!
For Unrestricted Reproductive Freedom for All.
No Pasaran! Pasaremos
Asheville Anti-Racist Action.
[email protected]
828-335-7329
-----------------------------------------------------------
Report and Call to Action from Reproductive Freedom Summer in Jackson, Miss.
by Road, Central Texas Anti-Racist Action
In the past 20 years, the religious right has declared war on reproductive freedom and women’s rights. The latest battle in this war is taking place this week in Jackson Mississippi, where the right-wing group Operation Save America (OSA) is waging a campaign to shut down the last abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi.
The battle started the morning of Saturday, July 15 with about 40 members and allies of OSA picketing in front of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization clinic, but at the same time, women’s rights groups were planning their opposition. The National Organization of Women (NOW) held a rally in a public park in downtown Jackson at noon, with Radical Women, World Can’t Wait, Anti-Racist Action (ARA), and Common Ground activists participating.
The rally began with music and speakers from the various groups while OSA activists began to wander in with their 3’x5’ foot signs of aborted fetuses. Activists affiliated with ARA moved to confront and halt the advancement of OSA, despite the urges of NOW organizers to ignore OSA and not turn attention from the rally. NOW had been assured by the police that they would be providing security. However, the police soon made it clear that they would not restrict the movement of OSA in a public park, and OSA made it clear that their intentions were to proceed to the stage and end the rally. On ARA and an increasing number of NOW and Radical Women activists kept the OSA activists at bay and the NOW rally going.
By 1:00pm, it was no longer and issue of keeping OSA off the stage or out of the crowd, because the police began pushing everybody out of the park because of a bomb threat that had been received. Police pushed about 200 women’s rights activists across the street to a narrow sidewalk against a wall, but stopped before they had pushed the OSA activists out of the park. The police had effectively turned the park used by NOW and allied groups over to OSA.
Furious at the police betrayal, (or for others, un-amused by typical police behavior), the people from the NOW rally defiantly crossed the street back to park, despite police orders, to confront OSA by covering their signs with pink and black banners and shouting down their mindless preaching with every insult imaginable. The afternoon was filled with the dark underbelly of the radical right and their police protection. Women’s rights activists would be hit with signs by OSA and then threatened with arrest by the police for “pushing”. A young man with a t-shirt proclaiming, “Homosexuality is a sin. Islam is a lie. Abortion is Murder,” blamed queers for everything from murder and crime to the dissolution of families and told one young man, “If you are a homosexual, somebody should put a gun to your head and blow it off.” Police denied women’s rights activists access to their buckets of water bottles, which were still in the evacuated part of the park, but could be seen drinking it themselves.
Around 2:45 pm, police completely pushed every one out of the park after which it is reported they detonated the suspected bomb. In a way, the victory went to OSA for successfully disrupting and ending the NOW rally, but there was a victory for the reproductive freedom movement. NOW organizers lost faith in the words of the police, after they made it abundantly clear whose side they were on. Also, many people realized the utility and empowerment of more confrontational and militant tactics in dealing with Christo-fascists. Both of these led to more collaboration and solidarity between the variety of groups fighting for reproductive freedom in Jackson.
The action picked up again the next morning at the local Unitarian Universalist church, which has been providing housing and other support for out of town women’s rights activists. OSA was planning to protest at the church during their Sunday services, and the church requested the presence of ARA, NOW, and the other groups in countering the OSA and defending the church. About an hour before the service, OSA began arriving across the street from the church, with the women’s rights groups at the church waiting. An automobile barricade had been formed around the parking lot, leaving only the entrance and exit open. OSA members had to move their cars from the parking lots across the street at the demand of the police because they were on private property.
Soon, one OSA member attempted to drive in to the church parking lot. Militant women’s rights activists positioned themselves in front of the car, stopping it only feet into the parking lot, but them the OSA man kept moving forward into the activists. People climbed on top of the hood, windows were shattered, and panels smashed in. The man, who was scared to death, and his broken car were escorted out of the parking lot by police, under threat of arrest if he didn’t leave. Later, another OSA man was threatened with arrest when he tried to walk onto church property and was physically blocked by militant women’s rights activists. The police sympathy was a pleasant surprise compared to the previous day’s clear police antagonism, which is expected to return as the week wears on.
The rest of the morning, OSA was held to the other side of the street and their preaching on the sound system was drowned out by shouting and noisemakers.
The weekend’s events have been both stressful and exciting, but have generally succeeding in frustrating OSA’s efforts and demonstrating our “no compromise” stance towards defending reproductive freedom and women’s rights. We are asking all concerned people to come to Jackson and stand with us in solidarity for women’s rights. Events are continuing all week and even into August, because as OSA leaves, Oh Saratoga is arriving to continue their war against women’s lives and freedom.
For more information, email Asheville ARA at [email protected] or call 828-335-7329
-----------------------------------------------------------
Clinic Defense in Jackson, Mississippi
Today (Sunday) was an ultimate win for Anti-Racist Action. We were asked by the Unitarian Universalist Church to provide protection during their Sunday service from Operation Save America (previously known as Operation Rescue) who came bearing 10 foot signs of an aborted fetus, set up a speaker on a tripod, and began yelling (from across the street) about how we're all going to burn in hell because we allow 50 million unborn children to die in the U.S. alone. Many read from the bible at length, told us they wanted to save us from the depths of hell (by turning to Jesus, of course) and called us cowards and shameful when we wore our bandanas as face masks (even though almost all of them had either a digital camcorder or a camera)
The Jackson Police, upon viewing the arrival of the Pro-Lifers, warned them that they had parked their cars on private property (an auto-body shop parking lot) and that they had to leave. After about 10 minutes of the Christians ignoring the police requests, the police stopped making them, and allowed them to stay.
The real treat of the day, however, came when a "Pro-lifer" tried to enter the church parking lot. Even though we had reiterated that they were not welcome, and not allowed on private property, one man, wearing a "Jesus is the standard" shirt, tried to drive his car into the lot. Affinity groups assembled, locked arms, and stopped his progress. He tried to open up his car door only to be met by a member of the congregation standing directly in front of it, and holding a "Protect Women's Rights" sign up to his window. During the chaos and yelling, the car's hood was dented, the windshield was badly cracked, and the passenger door was caved in. Despite several cameras being present (from both sides) there is no footage showing who was responsible for the damage.
After that, no other car attempted to enter the church area.
Several individuals, however, did try to cross the street to preach to us about the Bible. Again, groups assembled and prevented him from stepping foot onto the grass parking lot. A police officer slowly sauntered over, and said "Excuse me, Sir, but you're going to have to go back to your side." The man tried to say that it was public property, and which point we clarified that it was private, and harassed him back to the other side of the street.
The fun dwindled around 12 pm (Many of them were severely overweight, and needed a break to get a meal from McDonald's) after having started around 9 a.m.
(I just want to make clear that I think that last jab at "overweight" people is totally random and unnecessary. Nevertheless this is an extremely important issue as should be apparent from the above reports. Support ARA! - Nachie)
hello everyone!
Anti-Racist Action is in Jackson, Mississippi for the next three weeks, fighting to keep the last abortion clinic in the state from being shut down by militant pro-lifers.
This issue couldn't be more relevant or important. If these pro-life wingnuts are allowed to win, abortion will be essentially illegal in Mississippi. Also, a pro-life victory here will embolden these groups and harden their resolve, leading to many, many more right-wing assaults on clinics across the country. A failure to stop them here could well snowball out of control.
We are currently fighting Operation Save America, a confrontational anti-choice group made up of families and hotheaded, super masculine men. The Minutemen are rumored to be in town, with reinforcements on the way. At the end of the month, a notoriously militant group known as Oh, Saratoga will be arriving for a week of actions. These are our identified enemies at this point, not counting lone wolf wingnuts and various white supremacist and fascist groups who may make an appearance at any time.
After driving for two days and 17 hours, we arrived on the morning of Friday, the 14th. We immediately dove into preparation, securing places for everyone to stay and working out logistical, intelligence, and security matters. Our plate was especially full when one considers that four of the five initial advance vehicles broke down on the way, two of them breaking down twice. Bad luck? Who knows...
After working out the infrastructure we needed to operate here, we rolled on Saturday the 15th with about 20 people to help protect a NOW (National Organization of Women) rally from the pro-lifers. Although the area was crawling with uniformed and plainclothes police and two school buses of riot cops were sitting right at the edge of the event, the OSA fascists came right in and were met with an effective ARA blockade. We were able to hold their initial scout team, who were carrying signs displaying aborted fetuses and bible scripture, for about 30 minutes. At that point, OSA members came into two other sides of the park carrying massive, six foot high pictures of dead fetuses. Although we were stretched very thin at this point, we were still able to go person-to-person and hinder their movement towards the stage. Things escalated when the fascists began shoving and hitting ARA members with their signs. Seeing this, the police broke out their beating sticks and riot shields and began to try to intervene.
After a few more minutes of this, and repeated warnings and threats from the police, NOW members began adopting our harassment tactics, pushing OSA members back, blocking them with their pro-choice signs, and even linking arms and surrounding individual members! It was an exciting time; OSA was being blocked on all sides, the pro-choice rally was protected, and we were winning. At this point, the police declared that there was a "bomb threat" and began pushing EVERYONE out of the park, whacking some of us with their shields as they herded us onto the sidewalk. With half of the crowd on one side of the street and the other half on the other, chaos began to creep into the equation. The police began to lose their cool, and there were several heated shouting matches. Shortly thereafter, the permit ended and everyone was ejected from the area. Apparently the ATF bomb robot was brought out and blew up a "suspicious package" but many of us are somewhat skeptical. Whether it was a legitimate bomb threat or the police fabricated one, it sure seemed like they were on OSA's side.
I am about to run out of time on this public computer, but I will be writing a report on today's actions sometime tonight or tomorrow. We are acting effectively, but we desperately need more people. Contact us and get down here! There's the widest range of tactics imaginable being employed here at this point and it's only day three of the three week campaign.
Come down South and help us put these fundamentalist bigots in their place. Let's give 'em the boot and keep abortion safe and legal in Mississippi!
For Unrestricted Reproductive Freedom for All.
No Pasaran! Pasaremos
Asheville Anti-Racist Action.
[email protected]
828-335-7329
-----------------------------------------------------------
Report and Call to Action from Reproductive Freedom Summer in Jackson, Miss.
by Road, Central Texas Anti-Racist Action
In the past 20 years, the religious right has declared war on reproductive freedom and women’s rights. The latest battle in this war is taking place this week in Jackson Mississippi, where the right-wing group Operation Save America (OSA) is waging a campaign to shut down the last abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi.
The battle started the morning of Saturday, July 15 with about 40 members and allies of OSA picketing in front of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization clinic, but at the same time, women’s rights groups were planning their opposition. The National Organization of Women (NOW) held a rally in a public park in downtown Jackson at noon, with Radical Women, World Can’t Wait, Anti-Racist Action (ARA), and Common Ground activists participating.
The rally began with music and speakers from the various groups while OSA activists began to wander in with their 3’x5’ foot signs of aborted fetuses. Activists affiliated with ARA moved to confront and halt the advancement of OSA, despite the urges of NOW organizers to ignore OSA and not turn attention from the rally. NOW had been assured by the police that they would be providing security. However, the police soon made it clear that they would not restrict the movement of OSA in a public park, and OSA made it clear that their intentions were to proceed to the stage and end the rally. On ARA and an increasing number of NOW and Radical Women activists kept the OSA activists at bay and the NOW rally going.
By 1:00pm, it was no longer and issue of keeping OSA off the stage or out of the crowd, because the police began pushing everybody out of the park because of a bomb threat that had been received. Police pushed about 200 women’s rights activists across the street to a narrow sidewalk against a wall, but stopped before they had pushed the OSA activists out of the park. The police had effectively turned the park used by NOW and allied groups over to OSA.
Furious at the police betrayal, (or for others, un-amused by typical police behavior), the people from the NOW rally defiantly crossed the street back to park, despite police orders, to confront OSA by covering their signs with pink and black banners and shouting down their mindless preaching with every insult imaginable. The afternoon was filled with the dark underbelly of the radical right and their police protection. Women’s rights activists would be hit with signs by OSA and then threatened with arrest by the police for “pushing”. A young man with a t-shirt proclaiming, “Homosexuality is a sin. Islam is a lie. Abortion is Murder,” blamed queers for everything from murder and crime to the dissolution of families and told one young man, “If you are a homosexual, somebody should put a gun to your head and blow it off.” Police denied women’s rights activists access to their buckets of water bottles, which were still in the evacuated part of the park, but could be seen drinking it themselves.
Around 2:45 pm, police completely pushed every one out of the park after which it is reported they detonated the suspected bomb. In a way, the victory went to OSA for successfully disrupting and ending the NOW rally, but there was a victory for the reproductive freedom movement. NOW organizers lost faith in the words of the police, after they made it abundantly clear whose side they were on. Also, many people realized the utility and empowerment of more confrontational and militant tactics in dealing with Christo-fascists. Both of these led to more collaboration and solidarity between the variety of groups fighting for reproductive freedom in Jackson.
The action picked up again the next morning at the local Unitarian Universalist church, which has been providing housing and other support for out of town women’s rights activists. OSA was planning to protest at the church during their Sunday services, and the church requested the presence of ARA, NOW, and the other groups in countering the OSA and defending the church. About an hour before the service, OSA began arriving across the street from the church, with the women’s rights groups at the church waiting. An automobile barricade had been formed around the parking lot, leaving only the entrance and exit open. OSA members had to move their cars from the parking lots across the street at the demand of the police because they were on private property.
Soon, one OSA member attempted to drive in to the church parking lot. Militant women’s rights activists positioned themselves in front of the car, stopping it only feet into the parking lot, but them the OSA man kept moving forward into the activists. People climbed on top of the hood, windows were shattered, and panels smashed in. The man, who was scared to death, and his broken car were escorted out of the parking lot by police, under threat of arrest if he didn’t leave. Later, another OSA man was threatened with arrest when he tried to walk onto church property and was physically blocked by militant women’s rights activists. The police sympathy was a pleasant surprise compared to the previous day’s clear police antagonism, which is expected to return as the week wears on.
The rest of the morning, OSA was held to the other side of the street and their preaching on the sound system was drowned out by shouting and noisemakers.
The weekend’s events have been both stressful and exciting, but have generally succeeding in frustrating OSA’s efforts and demonstrating our “no compromise” stance towards defending reproductive freedom and women’s rights. We are asking all concerned people to come to Jackson and stand with us in solidarity for women’s rights. Events are continuing all week and even into August, because as OSA leaves, Oh Saratoga is arriving to continue their war against women’s lives and freedom.
For more information, email Asheville ARA at [email protected] or call 828-335-7329
-----------------------------------------------------------
Clinic Defense in Jackson, Mississippi
Today (Sunday) was an ultimate win for Anti-Racist Action. We were asked by the Unitarian Universalist Church to provide protection during their Sunday service from Operation Save America (previously known as Operation Rescue) who came bearing 10 foot signs of an aborted fetus, set up a speaker on a tripod, and began yelling (from across the street) about how we're all going to burn in hell because we allow 50 million unborn children to die in the U.S. alone. Many read from the bible at length, told us they wanted to save us from the depths of hell (by turning to Jesus, of course) and called us cowards and shameful when we wore our bandanas as face masks (even though almost all of them had either a digital camcorder or a camera)
The Jackson Police, upon viewing the arrival of the Pro-Lifers, warned them that they had parked their cars on private property (an auto-body shop parking lot) and that they had to leave. After about 10 minutes of the Christians ignoring the police requests, the police stopped making them, and allowed them to stay.
The real treat of the day, however, came when a "Pro-lifer" tried to enter the church parking lot. Even though we had reiterated that they were not welcome, and not allowed on private property, one man, wearing a "Jesus is the standard" shirt, tried to drive his car into the lot. Affinity groups assembled, locked arms, and stopped his progress. He tried to open up his car door only to be met by a member of the congregation standing directly in front of it, and holding a "Protect Women's Rights" sign up to his window. During the chaos and yelling, the car's hood was dented, the windshield was badly cracked, and the passenger door was caved in. Despite several cameras being present (from both sides) there is no footage showing who was responsible for the damage.
After that, no other car attempted to enter the church area.
Several individuals, however, did try to cross the street to preach to us about the Bible. Again, groups assembled and prevented him from stepping foot onto the grass parking lot. A police officer slowly sauntered over, and said "Excuse me, Sir, but you're going to have to go back to your side." The man tried to say that it was public property, and which point we clarified that it was private, and harassed him back to the other side of the street.
The fun dwindled around 12 pm (Many of them were severely overweight, and needed a break to get a meal from McDonald's) after having started around 9 a.m.
(I just want to make clear that I think that last jab at "overweight" people is totally random and unnecessary. Nevertheless this is an extremely important issue as should be apparent from the above reports. Support ARA! - Nachie)