Join Radical Women at "Reproductive Freedom Summer"

Dear Friends,

It is time for all feminists to come to the defense of the Jackson Women’s
Health Organization! Women and men need to hit the streets and shout
out the words of Mississippi civil rights fighter Fannie Lou Hamer: “I’m
sick and tired of being sick and tired” and denied reproductive justice.

A Radical Women contingent from four U.S. cities is traveling to Jackson,
Mississippi to take part in marches, rallies, forums and other actions that
Southern feminists have organized during the week of July 15-22. During
this time, the last abortion clinic in Mississippi will be under siege by
Operation Save America (OSA, the former Operation Rescue), with sup-
port from groups such as the homophobic, anti-woman Minutemen United.
Please join Radical Women in Jackson or lend your financial support.

When Jackson NOW, the Southern Abortion Fund and other pro-choice
activists called for a “Reproductive Freedom Summer” to combat OSA,
the idea was to provide physical defense of the women’s clinic.
Unfortunately, the new clinic director has decided to hire a private security
firm instead of collaborating with the feminist community. This makes it
even more urgent to support our sisters in the South and descend on the
streets of Jackson like the anti-segregation Freedom Riders did in
the 1960s.

The message Radical Women brings to the organizing in Jackson is that
rightwing anti-abortionists are ultimately the Ku Klux Klan in street clothes.
Their agenda would send society back to the era when women’s “place”
was barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen and the “place” for people of
color was on the back of the bus.

To combat the growing far-right threat, it is not enough to hire security
guards. It is not sufficient to endlessly e-mail and fundraise for spineless
Democratic Party politicians, as some feminist groups do. The right wing
is building a movement that attacks women, immigrants, queers, people
of color, and workers. Defeating the bigots hinges on generating a move-
ment powerful enough to win the hearts and minds of the people of
Mississippi and of the U.S. This means building a militant, multi-hued
multi-issue force that will protest, sit-in, strike, and use any means
necessary to preserve human rights. That’s what worked for the civil
rights movement, and that’s what can work now.

Feminists need to go on the offensive and do more than just protect the
minimum that still exists. Real choice means safe, free, unrestricted
abortion on demand to women of all ages and abilities; free, safe birth
control; an end to forced sterilization; employer-funded, 24-hour childcare;
full medical coverage and pre-natal care for all; and guaranteed jobs,
social services, education and training.

If you are interested in organizing with Radical Women against the ultra-
right – in Jackson or elsewhere – please give me a call at 206-722-6057.
In New York City, you can call Emily Woo Yamasaki at 212-222-0633.
Donations toward the contingent’s travel expenses and hotel costs are
also much needed. Please mail checks, payable to Radical Women,
to 4710 University Way NE #100, Seattle WA 98105 (indicate your
donation is for “Jackson defense”).

Thank you for your help, participation and support. Let’s turn this Freedom
Summer into a new season of liberation!

Anne Slater
Organizer, Radical Women
1908 Mission St., San Francisco CA 94103
http://www.RadicalWomen.org
natradicalwomen [at] aol.com