Column by Dennis Trainor Jr. | Acronym TV
When asked if the pro-choice movement has made some tactical mistakes that have resulted in the erosion of abortion rights guaranteed by the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision, Sunsara Taylor, an activist with the group Stop Patriarchy, does not blink: “Yes,” she says, indicating that even branding the movement for abortion rights around the idea of individual choice no longer serves the cause.
“The fight over abortion has never been about babies, it has always been a fight about control over women,” Taylor told me during a wide ranging interview that aired on Acronym TV on the eve of the 43rd anniversary of Roe v Wade. “It has never been a fight about choice in the abstract. There are all kinds of choices people make that are not under assault. The choice to get an abortion is under assault, because that has everything to do with whether women will be able to control their lives.”
According to Taylor, supporting Democrats to oppose Republicans is demobilizing.
“I think the Democratic Party is the worst thing to happen to the women’s movement, and today, the face of that is Hillary Clinton. There are a lot of people who have tied their notion of women’s empowerment (…) to a system that commits huge atrocities and crimes against humanity. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to the women’s liberation struggle. When young women support a Hillary (or the Democratic Party), they get lulled to sleep,” says Taylor. “(They) learn not to talk openly about abortion. You learn not to call Christian Fascists ‘Christian Fascists’ you learn you are not supposed to go into the streets and raise bloody hell when they shoot up an abortion clinic; (instead) you’re supposed to treat it like it is part of the overall gun (violence) epidemic.”
Taylor sees the investment in Democrats as a capitulation to an ongoing fascist assault. While agreeing that the Democrats are on the left end of the spectrum, she sees the entire spectrum as one that has been pulled far right.
“Yes,” Taylor implores “(let’s) get rid of a system that gives rise to a Trump. Be part of making a revolution. Yes, an actual revolution – that is far more realistic. A revolution that gets rid of the economic system, the military system, (along with) the state, culture and ideas that goes along with (our current system).”
As a supporter of the Revolutionary Communist Party, Taylor is under no illusions that this revolution will happen now, but she is imploring people to join her in the streets. “The only way anything has ever been won for oppressed people in the history of this country is through mass political independent resistance… (speaking) the truths that no politician will and putting their bodies on the line behind it.”
Taylor, a lead organizer with the group Stop Patriarchy, organized a counter protest to The March for Life in Washington DC on January 22nd. Taking place on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade every year since 1973 – it attracts hundreds of thousands of people (each year, between 250,00 – 500,000 show up) for the largest anti-abortion event in the world.
In 2015, Taylor and others physically blocked the March for Life, resulting in a handful of arrests.
You can watch an excerpt from my full interview with Sunsara below.
Dennis Trainor, Jr. is the host of the nationally syndicated Acronym TV (airing on Free Speech TV) and writer/ director of the documentaries American Autumn: an Occudoc, and Legalize Democracy. @DennisTrainorJr
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