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etween feminism and queer theory queerness might be roughly defined as gender or sexuality non conformism anarcha feminism recognises the fluidity of gender and its construction from birth as a way of acting talking thinking while recognising gender binaries as socially constructed anarcha feminism sees that society divides people into male and female oppressing women and those that don t fit into strict gender roles although there is some acceptance by wealthy capitalist countries of difference with regard to gender and sexuality ultimately it is acceptable only as a lifestyle choice not as a revolutionary force which it should ultimately be the destruction of the systems of capitalism state and patriarchy would lead to an explosion in different ways of being sexualities gender identities family structures etc patriarchy and men the fight for women s equality has been framed as a battle of the sexes however feminism has led to a growing consciousness of male oppression under patriarchy such as strict adherence to masculine gender roles duty to provide in the realm of work and lack of equal rights to active parenthood male oppression has been misconstrued as either a product of the feminist movement or an oversight of it yet it is often through feminist dialogue that a space has opened up for discussing these aspects of men s lives and experiences pro feminist solidarity between men and women can make meaningful inroads into these issues meaningful reform many very real changes have been made in women s lives due to feminist efforts these include suffrage the right to work outside the home equal pay legislation anti domestic violence legislation etc unlike anarchism feminist ideology can and has been accepted into capitalist reform yet it is socialists and anarchists who have mainly been behind meaningful reform through the trade union movements anti racism work community work and women s liberation movements unfortunately many of the ultimate aims of those who struggled to create these reforms have now been lost their achievements have been co opted into seeming like the achievements of democracy when in fact they were concessions hard won by activists condemned as radicals of their time while continuing to fight for meaningful reform for example abortion rights and free childcare we also want to remain completely clear about what we are fighting for not just women s equality but absolute equality the ultimate endpoint of feminism is anarchism rag is always looking for new members so if you d like to get involved please drop us a line either on our facebook page or by emailing ragdublin gmail com posted by ragdublin clinic violence a personal account the following is an article from the rag issue 4 which was published three years ago in october 2009 it s a personal account of working in an abortion clinic and its dangers while we launch campaigns to achieve the right to choose abortion in ireland it should always be in the back of our mind that this will never be a cause completely won because threats legislative violent societal will always remain it seemed like any other friday morning at work on 30 december 1994 the cold new england winter was in full effect as i scurried into the warmth of the abortion clinic where i worked as a receptionist and telephone counsellor i greeted stan the armed security guard at the door and clocked in stan was a somewhat eccentric guy who had been in the us army for many years he had the affect of someone who had been in combat and never quite got over it but would never admit it his modus operandi seemed to be tough guy with a soft side but on duty he was all tough guy i was on phones that day which i was thankful for because it was a busy friday and i didn t feel like dealing with all the patients in the waiting room downstairs so i sat down coffee in hand shut the answering machine off and started to answer the ringing phones when i told my parents i would be working at an abortion clinic on beacon street in brookline massachusetts my mother said i don t suppose i can talk you out of that can i she knew the answer i had been adamantly pro choice for years and despite the dangers of working in a clinic i jumped at the chance massachusetts had a buffer zone law designed to protect patients and staff that prevented protesters from picketing closer than 18 feet from the building sadly this was mostly not enforced and clinics didn t have a method of screening who got into the building anyone could simply walk right in later in the morning i received a phone call from stan s wife wanting to know if he was ok um i think so i answered tentatively why would he not be i peeked downstairs and saw him standing like always at his post after she called a couple of other people called friends and family of some of the medical staff wanting to know if they were ok too i told them that everything was just fine here but by then i was really starting to wonder what was going on that s when my boyfriend called thank god he said when i answered the phone i nearly had a heart attack is everything ok he had been driving to work listening to the radio when a breaking news bulletin came on the air to say that two clinics on beacon street in brookline had been attacked by a gunman several people including each of their receptionists had been shot he heard the report on the radio and thought i might be dead he nearly crashed the car pulling over to call me from a payphone i insisted that i was fine although inside i had started to panic a little it seemed as though the moment i knew why everyone was calling the clinic the phone lines truly started to light up bits of information poured in about the clinic shootings but one thing was on my mind and the minds of everyone i worked with lee ann lee ann nichols our former co worker the woman who trained me to do my job and though it sounds trite to say so one of the most unique and fantastic people i d ever met had just left us to work at a neighbouring clinic only three months prior so quiet and sweet you would never expect her to be wry and hilarious at the same time and i remember the day she told me she was 38 i couldn t stop staring at her she looked all of 24 we were sorry to see her go because she felt like the light of our office but frustration at our overbearing boss forced her to find work elsewhere she had been hired as a receptionist at preterm a clinic only a few blocks away it had just been attacked we hoped and prayed that she had had the morning off i wish i could say that she did but word quickly spread that lee ann had been shot the gunman had walked into each of the clinics verified with each receptionist that he was in the right place and then pulled his rifle out of a gym bag and started shooting starting with her people ran for cover and out any door they could then he walked out neither of the clinics had armed security so no one could stop him the two clinics that were hit each sat a few blocks on either side of the clinic where i worked we wondered why he skipped over us the only thing we could figure was that our armed guard surveillance cameras and the awkward layout of our clinic deterred him from hitting us you had to walk through two heavy glass doors and down the stairs to get to reception he could have gotten in but he never would have gotten out alive supposedly our security cameras showed him walking around the building several days before the attack but knowing that he literally hit one clinic drove by ours and then hit the other was truly sickening we managed to finish out the workday in tears of sadness and fear it may seem incredible that we saw all of our patients that day and the only explanation i can come up with is that this clinic was a for profit business lost patients meant lost revenue but this for profit status was also the reason why we had an armed guard while the other two clinics both non profits did not my co workers and i didn t put up a fuss about continuing to work but the perpetrator still had not been caught and we felt like sitting ducks as if a bomb could go off any second when my shift was done i went home and turned on the news one man who had been sitting in one of the waiting rooms talked about what happened he said that as he sat in the waiting room he was thinking to himself about the receptionists voice and how it was the most soothing beautiful voice he d ever heard i started to cry because i knew he was speaking of lee ann her voice was pure music and i d remarked on it myself but the man on tv continued to say that his reverie was broken by the gunman coming in and shouting at her this is what you get you should pray the rosary while he shot ten bullets into the woman the stunned witness had only seconds before been lulled by how could anyone shoot this innocent woman he asked lee ann and shannon lowney planned parenthood s receptionist were pronounced dead i turned off the television my boyfriend came home early from work with instructions and cash from his boss who commanded him to take me out for dinner we went to our favourite thai place but everyone at all the tables around us were talking loudly about the clinic shootings i wanted to stand up and scream at everyone that they didn t know the half of how horrible it was it wasn t just a news story people really lovely people with lilting voices and hilarious senses of humour who were loved and cared for by friends and family were dead and here we all were having dinner talking about it like it was a soundbite but of course i didn t instead we took home what was left of our food the next day the front page of the boston herald featured a huge photo of lee ann being wheeled out to an ambulance smeared all over in blood she had no shirt on a cloth haphazardly thrown on top of her but you could clearly see the side of her breast it was a disgusting last image of a friend put there to sensationalise and sell papers a candlelight vigil was held in front of the statehouse as a reaction to the shootings i went with a friend and co worker as we held little candles in our cold chapped hands we felt completely alienated by the chants and speeches given that night lee ann nichols and shannon lowney had become martyrs for the pro choice cause the occasion was not to remember who these two women were but to declare what they would now represent my companion and i couldn t see beyond our grief to grapple with the big picture just then on sunday i had to work again my regular sunday shift i usually enjoyed sundays because i was the only one in the building so i had free reign to do whatever i wanted sometimes i even brought my guitar but when i showed up less than 48 hours after the shootings i found a cop car stationed out front guarding the building the city provided this round the clock security to all of the clinics in case the suspect or anyone else wanted to have another go at first i thought i d be brave and go in alone disabling the security system in the dark interior of the clinic but once i was inside i went back out again and asked one of the policemen to come in with me and have a look around i thanked the policeman and he went back to drinking coffee in his car while i turned the answering machine off and started my work it was new year s day the news that john salvi the killer had been caught in norfolk virginia shooting at a clinic there from outside wouldn t be out until that day s paper luckily no one was injured he pled insanity saying he was schizophrenic but was convicted of murder on march 19 1996 ironically that same day the supreme court agreed to review the constitutionality of abortion clinic buffer zones salvi was found dead eight months later in his prison cell when i saw his photo on the front page of the newspaper with the headline i felt numb with hatred and anger he d never get to be punished for what he did and since he died before his appeal could be processed a judge overturned his conviction essentially exonerating him after death that s justice for you i guess and clinic violence rages on in may of this year dr george tiller an abortion provider was shot dead in his own church after repeated threats had been made to his life in today s world of anti terrorism campaigns i wonder if those committing abortion clinic violence will ever be seen as the true terrorists that they are sadly i m not holding my breath since roe vs wade made abortions legal in the us in 1973 protests against clinics have become progressively more violent arson gun fire bombings and chemical warfare are just some of the more alarming tactics however anti choice protesters also use cameras to intimidate clinic patients regularly blockade entrances try to stop patients and their escorts from getting out of their cars and stand outside of clinics with posters featuring mutilated babies their terrifying tactics are designed to instill fear in both the providers of abortion and anyone seeking their services the fight for choice doesn t end with making abortion legal the battle against anti choice terrorism is a fight for all time since 1993 their violent murderous tactics have failed to get the media coverage and outrage they deserve the list of extremely violent acts compiled by the national abortion federation is truly impressive and not in a good way in the us while law abiding anarchists as well as activists taking part in direct actions to protect animals and the environment are being jailed without due process and convicted as terrorists abortion clinic violence is not considered a terrorist act under the law despite the fact that clinic staff are confronted with threats of violence every single day letters claiming to contain anthrax acid attacks arson stabbings shootings bombings these are real threats real dangers that people must face when going to work each day not to mention the patients it s pretty grim to be honest but that s why we must persevere it s why it s our job to educate people on why abortion safety is important why it s essential to de stigmatise abortion why it s ok to admit that we re afraid but why we must soldier on with making our pro choice voices heard even after we win the right to choose for an idea of the frustrations fears and dangers faced by patients and pro choice volunteer escorts and to learn more about escorting at an abortion clinic in kentucky usa check out the blog every saturday morning at http everysaturdaymorning wordpress com posted by rag dublin older posts home subscribe to posts atom the rag issues 1 to 6 contact us email ragdublin gmail com facebook www facebook com ragdublin blog archive 2014 2 april 1 parenting and activism february 1 2013 4 november 1 october 2 april 1 2012 3 october 1 september 1 january 1 2011 5 november 1 july 2 february 1 january 1 2010 18 december 1 october 1 september 1 august 2 june 3 may 3 april 1 march 3 february 2 january 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