Donate Now to Send a StopPatriarchy.org Contingent to a Major Women's Rights Conference
April 9, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
We received the following call for donations from StopPatriarchy.org:
Dear Friends,
Your financial support is needed to send an incredible contingent of StopPatriarchy.org activists up to a major women's rights conference happening this weekend.
"From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom" is the 27th annual conference at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA when 1,000 mostly young students along with community activists come together from across the U.S. and internationally to "build a stronger movement for reproductive justice and social change."
StopPatriarchy.org needs to be at this conference, and we're asking for your support. We have a super great and very diverse crew: multi-national, multi-generational, multi-sexual orientation that is eager to bring StopPatriarchy.org—our agenda of taking on the ENTIRE war on women from the "Pope to the pimp!"—to this conference. Especially important: we want to bring our vision & plans for stepped-up resistance this summer to the massive assault on abortion rights.
Housing, transportation, and conference registration costs money. Approximately $150 per person with 8-10 of us going. Could you give $150 and sponsor a volunteer? Will you pitch in $20?
Take a few minutes and read over the statements (below) from a few of our volunteers who are planning on going and are asking for your help.
We think these words beautifully convey how dynamic and transformative this movement is. You can be part of this with your donation.
Warmly,
StopPatriarchy.org Organizers
Help us get to Hampshire Conference!
Some words from several in our group:
From a young white college student:
"In a time where abortion is more stigmatized than ever, there is nothing more significant than going to this conference. For a 20-year-old woman like myself, I am constantly bombarded by anti-abortion media and attacks from anti-abortionists. How could people, especially women, be against something so fundamental? Do they not see the connections between outlawing abortion and the control over women? Could they be so blind?
“Surrounding myself in a pro-abortion environment is crucial. No longer will I feel hopeless in this struggle for justice. No longer will I simply share my opinions—I will shout them out! Even scream them, if I have to! In a world faced with so much insanity, I refuse to remain silent."
From a 21-year-old Black woman:
"I want to go to the Hampshire conference to inform people of the revolutionary movement and also learn about what they are putting forward, what they have to offer positively to the movement. I would also like to tell/show the people that will be there how they can participate in StopPatriarchy. When I was in DC for the Roe v. Wade 40th anniversary, I wasn't sure if I was going to learn anything or even if I belonged there. Then, after protesting and marching hard in the cold I was certain I touched someone with our side of the cause. So, I'm hoping to do the same in Massachusetts. I really want to go but I support myself and my son so $150 is kind of steep."
From a young white woman:
"I'm 22 & majoring in women and gender studies. Finding StopPatriarchy began a process within me that unleashed this anger I had been pushed deep within me. It not only unleashed it, but it harnessed it towards something that was fundamentally challenging the status-quo on the role of women in society; the ways in which pornography plays a key role in keeping women viewed as objects for consumption and degradation, and the ways in which abortion rights are being systematically stripped away and how integral this right is to women being free. This movement deeply looks at the realities women face every day, and relates them to the way this system works, the way it must work in order to maintain its control and legitimacy, and ultimately, gets into why things simply should not and do not have to be this way. StopPatriarchy gives me hope that one day, after lots of struggle, things will NOT be this way, and people like me, who do not conform to gender constructs, will be allowed to live in a society which cares not about such things, but instead allows people to be who they are, live to their full potential, and thrive equally. It's this understanding and this hope that I want to help bring to the conference. In college with a part-time job & living on my own: really need some financial assistance to get there!"
From a low-income Black woman with 2 kids:
"I'm new to this and learning as I'm going along. I'd like to go to Amherst: 1. because I've never been there, 2. It's even better to be there for the first time for the revolutionary movement for liberating people. Before I met this movement I didn't know that it used to be legal, up until not very long ago, for husbands to force their wives to have sex unwillingly. I didn't know that the law didn't see that as rape, just because they were married. Rape should be rape no matter who you are. It shouldn't be like that. Meeting this movement has been overwhelming... but also like a relief. I am looking for the words... It's amazing to find that someone is willing to change all this. I'm like, 'Okay, let's go!' As for abortion, a woman should be able to get an abortion if she wants one. It shouldn't be something where somebody is forcing her to keep it. No one should force you—it is YOUR choice. Forcing women is not right. It's not right! Honestly, I don't get paid enough to afford this conference without some help. I wouldn't expect anyone to pay my whole way, I could do at least half. But I have bills to pay and two sons. They are the love of my life but I take care of them and that's part of the reason things are kind of tight and I could use some help getting up to this conference."
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