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UID:Indybay-18626847
SEQUENCE:18685244
CREATED:20091027T073400Z
DESCRIPTION:Seemingly out of nowhere, a horribly ugly assault on women and reproductive 
 rights is happening right now at UC Berkeley. A Christian fundamentalist 
 and Christian fascist road show calling itself the Center for Bio-Ethical 
 Reform CBRMidwest [at] cbrinfo.org arrived at Sproul Plaza early this 
 morning (Monday) to stage what it calls its “Genocide Awareness Project 
 (GAP).” They state their mission is to “create debate” and “our 
 main purpose is to disciple others to save lives.” They appear from their 
 websites to be a well-funded national campaign that is going to be 
 travelling to campuses across the country; they see historically 
 progressive (and pro-choice) UC Berkeley as especially crucial ground to 
 take.\n\nAll day Monday this anti-abortion/anti-women group covered Sproul 
 Plaza with (according to one outraged eyewitness) “…an elaborate huge 
 huge display of bloody fetus pictures, targeting Obama, comparing abortion 
 to Nazi genocide and lynching in the old south, and sporting a picture of 
 Mario Savio as its "free speech" centerpiece.” This horrendous display 
 looks like it cost huge bucks, and they had a crew of dozens of 
 anti-abortion “disciples” including their own "documentary" film crew 
 and both speaker types but also plenty of them walking through the crowd 
 dressed in pink or purple, mostly older but some younger, trying to engage 
 students in conversations about the “horrors” of abortion. \n\nAs of 
 mid-afternoon, students from the Gender Studies Department and the local 
 NOW chapter were texting everyone they know to get down to the campus, 
 where they formed a line & locked arms in front of these creeps, chanting 
 "Our bodies, Our choice" for hours. People hurried to bring signs they had 
 at hand – “Abortion Doctors Are Heroes” – enlargements of a 
 Revolution newspaper centerfold, “A Fetus Is Not A Baby” – and joined 
 in. The situation was very tense. \n\nThe GAP and the Pro-Life Institute 
 are part of the same movement that has been terrorizing clinics and 
 murdering abortion providers, most recently shooting down Dr. George Tiller 
 in his own church on a Sunday morning. There can be no common ground with 
 religious fanatics and Christian fascists, given their goals of ending 
 women’s rights to abortion and contraception. How could anyone who 
 respects the dignity and humanity of women find common ground with people 
 who murder and bomb to take those things away? \n\nThe World Can’t Wait 
 movement is sounding the alarm: tell everyone you know: women and men, 
 students and older people too -- get down to Sproul Plaza and make your 
 presence count. This “GAP” assault is something about to hit other 
 campuses and there has to be a resounding resistance seen, heard and felt 
 in response. Come early (or any time) Tuesday – be with the students -- 
 and take a stand.\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/27/18626847.php
SUMMARY:URGENT ALERT! Defend Women, Defend Choice! Rightwingers Assault Both in Berkeley!
LOCATION:Sproul Plaza\nUC Berkeley
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/27/18626847.php
DTSTART:20091027T160000Z
DTEND:20091028T000000Z
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