ARA Pro-Choice Defense Campaign in Jackson, Mississippi

Hello again from the sweltering heat of Jackson-

Things have been somewhat busy since the first report.

On Sunday, we were asked to protect the local Unitarian Universalist church from an Operation Save America protest. We arrived at the location and immediately set about constructing a barrier with our vehicles on two sides of the property. We didn't have to wait long for the fascists to show themselves; shortly after we finished moving our vehicles the fundamentalists showed up in force with roughly 30-50 people, two trailers, a PA system, and their anti-abortion camper van. There were also five unmarked federal or local law enforcement vehicles surveilling the scene and a number of marked police vehicles. After blocking several brazen attempts to penetrate our perimeter with linked arms and lengths of reinforced PVC pipes, a fundamentalist pushed his car through our initial line and rammed an affinity group. A mini-riot followed, which shattered the windshield and badly dented the hood and passenger side door of his car. The driver, who appeared both enraged and terrified, began to open his door. However, when several ARA members around the car began to advance on him, he shut the door and was escorted off the private property by the police. After this event, the police blocked access to the church parking lot with several vehicles and threatened to arrest any OSA member who approached the church. When questioned by the police, the driver of the car could only identify his assailants as "people wearing masks" and was unable to press charges. The rest of the day was a standoff which ended with OSA leaving the scene in defeat.

After successfully defending the Unitarian church from an anti-choice assault (and trashing a fundamentalist's car in the process), we have been very busy working towards another effective action. The past few days have been taken up by planning and plotting. Police and federal surveillance have been very heavy so far, but we've been doing just fine.

Operation Save America will be leaving in a few days and taking their hateful yet pacifistic rhetoric with them. They're reportedly very concerned with the mere presence of ARA affinity groups in the city, and have been putting much time, effort, and money into maintaining an overwhelming security presence at all of their lodging and parking locations. Additionally, the police are rumored to be spending upwards of $50,000 a day surveilling us.

However, the departure of OSA does not mean the end of the campaign to protect women's rights in Jackson. The Minutemen are reported to be coming to the city in the next several days, and will continue the anti-choice attack for another week. After the Minutemen depart, our most violent foe arrives on July 30th in the form of "Oh, Saratoga".

These violent fundamentalist bigots are a militant splinter group that formed when Operation Rescue split in two several years ago. The less militant members formed Operation Save America, and the more militant, uncompromising members formed Oh, Saratoga. Many of us feel that the fight down here will take on a much more confrontational, possibly violent nature when these psychotic characters arrive.

We need more people, both active ARA members and others, to come down to Jackson to support us in our fight to protect the last abortion clinic in Mississippi. We need your help. Please contact Asheville ARA and come get in the streets with us!

Asheville Anti-Racist Action
ashevilleara [at] hotmail.com
828-335-7329

(more coverage on http://www.infoshop.org)