THIS TOO SHALL NOT PASS!

CALL FOR AN ANTI-FASCIST BLOC AT THE MARCH FOR CHOICE 4/25 IN DC

Anti-Racist Action is calling for a visible antifascist bloc on April 25th
in Washington DC as part of the March For Women's Lives. The climate of
fear engendered in this country by the Bush administration's military
agression and assult on civil liberties has created an opportunity for the
forces of the right wing to consolidate their power and work together to
push through an agenda which is oppressive in many ways, one of the most
visible today being the assault on sexual and reproductive freedom. This
calls for nothing less than total resistance, and it is critical for
anti-authoritarians to make our presence felt as part of this opposition.

As anti-authoritarians and anti-fascists, we work to build strong
communities of families and inclusive support networks. We come from a
position where we find our attempts at strengthening our communities under
attack by state regulations in many different ways. We need to stand up
for what we need: full reproductive freedom, access to birth control,
acceptance of adoption as a choice, support structures for having and
raising children, access to affordable prenatal and birth options, and
free abortion on demand. Ultimately we want to care for ourselves and we
believe in taking practical steps toward that - NOW.

Our call for an antifascist bloc allows us to raise awareness of the ties
between fascism and the restriction of sexual freedom. Historical fascism
was much more effective in its patriarchal redefining of gender relations
in the "homeland" than in its more widely publicized racist outrages, and
right-wing religious and nationalist movements today, from the Taliban to
the Christian Right, similarly build their power first and foremost on
state power over women as a class, and state regulation and social
conditioning of sexual and family relationships. Bringing up this
often-overlooked connection keeps the struggles of women and sexual
minorities from being marginalized.

This march, organized by mainstream and liberal feminist groups, will be
the largest gathering in recent years of a broad spectrum of forces
opposed to the current right-wing clampdown on sexual and reproductive
freedom, and in the context of a presidential election season and ongoing
legal and political battles in the fields of gay marriage and abortion
rights, it will be highly significancant in its own right. While we
recognize this march as an important step towards fighting for the freedom
of choice, we also identify the need for a greater focus in local work.
There are many steps we can take to increase our presence and impact right
where we live. We need to be shutting down fake clinics,providing abortion
clinic defense, creating alternative and independent groups focusing on
reproductive health, supporting sexual freedom, reaching out to youth with
empowering messages about sexuality and choices, reinventing the family
structure and organizing opposition to anti-freedom groups/events.

The March For Womens Lives begins at 12 noon at the Mall. The antifascist
bloc will meet with the Radical Cheerleaders' Bloc Potluck at 9:00 am at
Stanton Park (C St. between 4th and 6th, NE). We are calling for a bloc
with banners having creative antifascist, women's liberation, and "freedom
without compromise" statements. We encourage everyone to bring information
on the organizing work being done in your own communities to hand out at
the march and rally.

See you in the streets!

Baltimore and New Jersey Anti-Racist Action
 mobtownara@hotmail.com
 newjerseyara@ziplip.com
www.antiracistaction.us