INSIDE i*H»»M,..»»»* LEONARD PELTIER' THE LA REBELLIOJ LIBERATING THE CHURCH •c THE PATRIARCHY WITHIN- FALL 1992 BREAKTHROUGH VOL. 16, NCU Breakthrough is the political journal 1 EDITORIAL: WHO DECIDES? of Prairie Fire Organizing Committee by Sally Thomas (PFOC), an anti-imperialist organiza- tion working in the international 2 500 YEARS: RECOVERING THE PAST, REVISIONING THE FUTURE solidarity, anti-intervention, anti- by the Editors racist, women's and gay liberation movements and other progressive movements in the us. PFOC supports 4 TO REGAIN OUR SOVEREIGNTY self-determination and liberation for an interview with Leonard Peltier Puerto Rican, Black, Native American, Mexican and other oppressed peoples, 8 UNRAVELING THE MYTHS and freedom for political prisoners and by Jose Lopez Prisoners of War. 13 SISTER ACTIVIST: LIBERATING THE CHURCH i is published three times by Sister Mary Kay Hunyady a year by the John Brown Education Fund, 2io-9th Street, #443, San 19 FROM COLUMBUS TO RODNEY KING: Francisco, CA 94103, ©1992 JBEF. THE LOS ANGELES REBELLION AND BEYOND byAkinyeleUmoja Editorial Collective: Barbara Barnett, Scott Braley, 24 THROUGH ARTISTS'EYES Camomile, Jimmy Emerman, Terry Forman, Les Gottesman, 30 FEAR OF THE SHIVERS OF FREEDOM Judith Mirkinson, Sally Thomas by Ingrid Strobl Volume xvi, No. 2, whole no. 23. Press 35 LAPATRIAESUNA! " date: September 15,1992 by the Movimiento de Liberadon Nacional Mexicano You can write to PFOC do: 38 BWTO BACKLASH Boston: PO Box 747, by Margaret Power and Melinda Power Allston, MA 02134 Adanta: PO Box 18044, 41 CAN'T JAIL THE SPIRIT Atlanta, GA 30316 • Uprising at Lexington Federal Women's Prison by Laura Whitehorn San Francisco: PO Box 14422, • Dhoruba Bin Wahad Threatened with Reimprisonment San Francisco, CA 94114 Chicago: Box 253, 43 FROM DEATH ROW — THIS IS MUMIA ABU JAMAL 2520 N. Lincoln, writings by Mumia Abu Jamal Chicago, IL 60614 48 WRITE THROUGH THE WALLS Subscriptions are available from the SF address. $10.00 individual/$i5 institutions and overseas (surface mail)/4 issues; free to prisoners. Front Cover: "The Protector of die Woods" by Leonard Peltier. "I wanted to be an artist ever since I was a little boy. There was no Indian school that taught art, except in Santa Fe. They had a two year waiting list. I couldn't wait dial long — I would have turned into an alcoholic like everyone else my age — I had to get a job. In 1983, in prison, I decided to develop my painting." Back Cover: "Who Decides" by Kerr & Malley, Los Angeles—based artists, created hi PRAIRIE FIRE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE response to the Supreme Court Webster decision in 1989. EDITORIAL Who Decides? AY "ABORTION." What's the first thing that comes abortion taboo and sexuality immoral!" The right wing's to your mind? Probably not "medical procedure." clever manipulation of language — coining their anti- SChances are just uttering the word sets offa chain woman movement "pro-life"— suddenly rendered femi- of complex thoughts and emotions. Why does abortion nists "baby-killers" and witches. evoke such an emotional response when half of all It was a major concession when pro-abortion activists women will choose to have an abortion by the time they countered the right wing's "pro-life" movement with a are 45 years old? That abortion is a commonly sought "pro-choice" movement. "Choice" was our way of avoid- medical procedure would suggest that, for one reason or ing talk about abortion, of internalizing the right-wing another, a lot of women want or feel the need to have interpretation of abortion as tragedy. And although abortions. I wonder then, if abortion is so common, why women have never stopped fighting for women's power to do we almost automatically associate it with tragedy control our own bodies, we're now smack in the middle of and emotional pain? losing one of the fundamental keys to women's liberation. Women haven't always agonized — and shouldn't Changing our language won't magically turn the tide in have to agonize—over the decision to have an abortion. our favor. But by reclaiming a consciousness that is decidedly There are many complex factors in deciding whether or "pro-woman," "pro-abortion," "pro-feminist," "pro-sex," not to have a child — terminating a pregnancy may not and "pro-lesbian" we can begin to reclaim our power. always be easy. But the majority of women who have The Supreme Court decision on the Pennsylvania abortions do so because they didn't intend to get preg- abortion case essentially gutted Roe v. Wade. Yet newspa- nant. (And until there's a foolproof method of birth per headlines across the country declared it a "pro-choice control that every woman has access to and will use — victory." We can't accept the non-meaning of "choice" in suggesting major changes in social attitudes about sex— this context. By now we know we can't count on the courts women are going to get pregnant unintentionally.) My to affirm reproductive freedom, and there's little evidence point is, the decision to have an abortion should be that we can count on "pro-choice" candidates. Whether easier to make than it is now. But we live in an atmosphere it's denying funding for abortions or requiring parental where the right wing has succeeded in convincing us that consent, even so-called pro-choice candidates add fine abortion is not only tragic but criminal. print restricting access to abortion in the laws of this land. How could that have happened, when all evidence Women won't be able to make any choices about points to a strong pro-choice majority in this country? abortion, sexuality or motherhood until we can direct our Really— everyone to the left of Marilyn Quayle is pro- lives unhampered by anti-woman ideology. That's why choice! So why is Roe v. Wade in shreds? Why are abortion can't be a "tragic" choice, made with a guilty women facing more and more obstacles to getting an conscience. That's why we have to reclaim our sexuality, abortion? beginning with the eradication of child abuse and incest. Because abortion is not just a medical procedure. That's why we have to end the age-old double standards Abortion and women's reproductive freedom raise basic that deem sex for women naughty, that insist women care questions about women's autonomy and sexual inde- more about love, husbands and children than sexual pendence. gratification. That's why women must be able to choose Give us an inch and we will take a mile. Give us the abortion ^Whave the financial resources that make that ability to terminate a pregnancy, and we may realize that choice viable. That's why we must have access to safe motherhood is optional. Relieve us of mandatory forms of birth control, sex education, and an end to forced motherhood, and the essence of womanhood (a la the sterilization. That's why we have to claim our lives as fully patriarchy) is threatened. Take away men's domination independent individuals, who can choose to lead mean- of women, and you get all sorts of possibilities — a ingful lives with or without children, in relationships with women's movement defining womanhood from the women or men. That's why all families should be recog- perspective of women. Women prioritizing our own nized, whether they are headed by single women or sexual gratification — even tuning men out of the lesbians and gay men. That's why all children must be picture. Lesbianism! Yes, Pat Buchanan, it's your valued equally — with access to quality health care, nightmare from hell! housing, and education. The right wing identified these threats to male power Who decides? The answer can only be women — not early on and set out to destroy the women's movement. just some women, but each and every one. "Put women back in their place!" they cried. "Make —Sally Thomas M |^s|f!ift'|^i^;^||||ri|?S§: |iHi|||||ij||||||§::iil||jj akatal heir SiillifflH Newswee, Change" through several cha worked once again. Some t ;.:,,-- ''' • "- -.-;::. •-: /V'' -, : :'••• • '••-'•?•&;?, Bflfjfff "':;'>':": .;;:•.,;.;•;;.:.. j;v:.;-§efh; : .-:''.: •:A'-r;>,;}v : : ' " : • •<••.',:"':: . .B:":..;. ::'cukui?B'::'":s7.::|sed, in the;C '• . ' ., :::: ! . ...... •" - : \ : -V- • -'-'""'' .;.:,,... pur con tatihi2p^i saa :i.ai: nd uSfeiiU' r.\ :f ' , I I ;: 1 ':' :. : :: ' •. •,;-. i_: \; '-. ' •••::_•. ' ' "; . ..' •-.- : . ••' • plpyfe:; : ipi || :"r: -^ : "••' •"^""- ' • ' . : :.V ::"i/S|; f, ',-. .:">-:•:; . •- '• . : aetas andjtajjpMfe^ | i t • / ;:; >;; u.p^^ :/;,,. •,• ;/i::;":vr;7 ;; f- .:::./-AS;-:: ! "';. •"} • ."' ; -::. ; •'.. ; ": •; !3c ,:• .',;;; ;V : . ' '.....' • " ' . y""i: •... • •;; -;; ...=./. ' ; ;: ...... : : ; ">-;".'":: A :' '•.;::;;• .--r.-v, '• .• ; ; .:;: .' : ;: .:''.:.' ' . .• J:::. ..... 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But, just as importandy, point from which we must ;ew World" is neither the version e world created by the European nor the one envisioned by and his ilk— it is still before us, still to be Sices of resistance are important because they ''- ' '• ••'- -'• -"•' : « Idnallenge our willingness to accept a European legacy '•- which insists that domination is inevitable and surren- >: ; der the only possible response. From them people can ';' ..>: ; v /:' . :: r : ...:: .;;.•!' >•; ' y'\• . , ;--•.: • learn not only about the past but begin to seek new ideas iweftltha ..... I fey "• : :.r\^.^ .','-'••••" and avenues for change, to construct a new vision for the . Thesf pfWi . .'.;!"."-': ; v.: jrojdHressed by Leonard future. ^iiE Umo i a, and the Movi- The Columbian era must not be celebrated; it must facional Mexicano, writing and be ended! Q To Re|§| i|Pis .....