23.-dykes-and-fags-wanna-know.pdf
Web PDF • Imposed PDF • Raw TXT (OCR)



















Dykes AND
Facs WANT
To KNow

A Written Interview with
Lesbian Political Prisoners:
Linda Evans,

Laura Whitehorn,

& Susan Rosenberg

Queers United in Support of Political Prisoners


I'm an activist, why haven't | heard of you before?

LAURA: I think it’s because there's been a long time during which the
“joft” and progressive movements haven't really tried to know who's in
prison inching but not imited to political prisoners and POW

‘or instance, how many AIDS activists know about the many PWA’s in
prison, and the horrible conditions they live in? Aside from Mike Riegle
at GCN (Gay Community News), how many writers and media folks in
‘our movements try to reach into the prisons to support lesbian and gay
prisoners, whose ives are often made pretty rough by the pigs. In general,
this country tries to shut prisoners away arid make people outside fonget
about us. In the case of political prisoners, multiply that times X for the
simple fact that our existence is a. danger to the smooth, quiet running of
the system: our existence shows that this great demokkkracy is a lie.
pevemment doesnit want you to know who we are ~ that's why they try so

ard to label us “terrorists” and “criminals”.

LINDA: Political prisoners have been purposely “disappeared” by the uss.
government, whose official position is that “there are no political prisoners
inside the u.s."This is the way that the government denies both that the
motivations for our actions were political and that the movements we
come from are legitimate, popular movements for social change.’The prison
system isolates all prisoners from their communities, but especially harsh
isolation is instituted against political prisoners: restricted visiting lists,
frequent transfers to prisons far away from our home communities, mail
censorship, “maximum security conditions”, long periods of time in solitary
confinement.



Bur our own political movement too, has ignored the existence of political
prisoners. 1 think this has largely been a product of racism -- most USS.
litical prisoners/POW'S are Black and Puerto Rican comrades who
Fave been locked up for over a decade, Unfortunately there has never been
wespread support among progresie white people fr the Black Libera
tion struggle, for Puerto Rican independence, or for Native American
sovereignty struggles and these are the movements that the Blacl/
Puerto Rican/Native American political prisoners/POWs come from.

Also, many political activists have actually withheld support for politi-
cal prisoners/POWs because of disagreements with tactics that were
‘employed, or with actions of which the political prisoners have been
accused of convicted. These disagreements are tactical in nature, and
shouldn't be allowed to obscure the fact that we all have been fighting

for justice and social change. This withdrawal of support leads to false
divisions amongst us, and actually helps the state in its strategy to isolate
political prisoners/POWs from our communities and political movements.

SUSAN: The activists/radicals of the late 1980's and 1990's have to reclaim
the history of resistance that emerged and continued through the 1970's
and 80's, As long as the government and mass media get to define who
and what is important then the real lessons contained in ours and others
experiences will get lost. People haven't heard of us (except as a vague
memory of headline if that) because there i avery serious goverm-
ment counter insurgency strategy to bury the evlutonaies who have
been captured in prison. I have been in prison 6 years and over half of that
time was spent in solitary confinement or small- group isolation 1000s of
miles away from my community and family: My experience is similar to
the 100/150 other political prisoners in the U.S. If the individuals from
different movements (ic, the Black, Puerto Rican, Native American and
white movements who have seen the need for organized resistance to
oppression) are destroyed itis. a way to delegitimize the demands of the
movements.



Did you do it? Did the government misrepresent what you did?
If so, how?

LAURA: Yes, I dic it! I did (do) resist racism, sexism, imperialism with
every fiber of my queer being, and I believe we need to fight for justice.
“The government's “version” of what I/we did is a complete lie, though, in
that they call resistance a crime. It's sort of like the way Jesse Helms cals
us “sick -— he’ as sick as you can get. On the morality meter he doesnt
even make the needle move. Same way the US. government, a genocidal
system, calls acts of revolutionary struggle “terrorist violence”, and their
system of law, “justice”.

LINDA: Yes, T'm proud that I've been part ofthe struggle to build an
armed clandestine resistance movement that can fight to support national
liberation struggles, and that will fight for revolution in the US. Of course
the government misrepresented what we did first of all by calling us “ter-
rorists” to make people think we were a danger to the community, as if our
purpose was to terrorize or kill people. Quite the contrary: all the armed
actions of the last 20 years have been planned to minimize any risk of
human life. This, of course, isin stark contrast to the actions of the terrorist
government, which is responsible world-wide for supporting death squads
and mercenary armies like the contras and Savimbi’s in Angola,
which supports the Isracli war of genocide against the Palestinians and

the brutal system of apartheid, and which supports daily police bruality

in Black and Third World communities here, even such acts as the aerial
bombing of MOVE in Philadelphia in 1985, which killed 11 people and
created a firestorm that left over 250 people homeless.

SUSAN:I have been a revolutionary for much of my life. A revolutionary
in the sense that I believe in the need for profound social change that goes
tothe rots of the problem. Which Belew i systemic. Consequenty I
have along with others tried many methods of struggle to enact a strategy
to win liberation and attack the state (government) as representative of the
em. First as a peace activist in the late 60's, then as a political activist in
the 70s, and then in joining the armed clandestine resistance movement
that was developing in the 80. I am guilty of revolutionary anti-imperial-
ist resistance. Of course the government has misrepresented me and all of|
us, The main form that has taken isto call us terrorists, which is something
that couldn be further from the truth, Just like all opposition to the cold
war of the 50's was labeled communist, ‘the 80 equivalent is terrorist. Now
there are all kinds of terrorists according to the US, ~ all of it bullshit. 1
don't mean to beg the question in the specific. I believe that no revolution-
ary captured comrade says what they have or haven't done within their
revolutionary work,

Audre Lorde says the masters tools (violence) will never
dismantle the master’s house (the state). How do you react to
is?

LAURA: dont think “violence” is just one thing, so I don't think it’s
necessarily “the master’s tool”, Ifrevolutionaries were as vicious and
careless of humanity and innocent human lives as the U.S. government
is, then I think wed be doing wrong. But when oppressed people fight for
freedom, using violent means among others | teak we shoud support
them. Would you have condemned African slaves in the US. for killing
their slave masters, or for using violence in a struggle for freedom? To me,
the isue is how do we fight elcetvely ~ and humanely -= for iberatio
As we build the struggle, we have to be very self-critical, very self-conscious
about how we struggle as well as what we struggle for. But I think we also
need to fight to win ~- and I think that means engaging in a fight for
power For the past 5+ years Ive witnessed closeup the violence ~ slow,

rutal, heartless of genocide against African American women. To refuse to
fight to change that (and I don't believe we can fight for power completely
“non-violently") would, think, be to accept the violence of the state in the
name of rejecting the violence of revolutionary struggle.



LINDA: I disagree with posing the question in the way she does (or how
the question does).1 dont think the issue is violence, but rather polities,
ower. Around the world, imperialism maintains itself -~ keeps
itself in power -- by military power and the threat of violence wherever
people struggle for change. Liberation movements have the right to use
‘every means available to defeat the system that is oppressing and killing
people, This means fighting back in self-defense, and it means an offensive
struggle for people's power and self-determination. But reducing it to a
tactical question of ‘violent means” doesnt recognize all the aspects of
building a revolutionary movement that are crucial to actually mobilizing
people, developing popular organizations, empowering oppressed groups
‘within the people’ movement like women and indigenous people, develop-
ing a revolutionary program that can really meet people’ needs and that
people wil ght 9 make real. \ logan tha emboxis this for me comes,
om the Chinese Revolution: “Without mass struggle, there can be no
revolution, Without armed struggle, there can be no victory.”




SUSAN:I always took the quote from Audre Lorde to mean the opposite
‘of what you say: Funny, no? I always interpreted her saying that to mean
the masters tools being lectoraV/slow change. Well == there you go!

Why is it important to support political as opposed to
pon parca! prisoners? Shouldn't we be concerned about all
risoners?

LAURA: think we should be concerned about all prisoners, and I don't
think it’ ever been us political prisoners who have promoted any irresolv-
able contradiction between us and the rest of the prisoners in the U.S. But
within that, I think there is a particular need for progressive movements
to defend political prisoners, Because its a part of Aghting for the move-
ments we Come fiom. Tf'you ae fighting racism and homophobia, and
there are people serving lang sentences fa prison for Sghting those ings,
T think you advance the goals by supporting the prisoners. also think that
ort for politeal prisoners helps expose how Fepressive and unjust the
whole system is. That can also be an avenue to supporting all prisoners.

Support for political prisoners is a concrete act of resistance to the control
the government keeps over all our minds: it fights the isolation and silenc-
ing of political prisoners and POWs, It asserts the legitimacy of resistance.
‘And in my experience itis a major way that people outside become aware
of the purpose and nature of the prison system as a whole,

LINDA: Yes -- it's important for our movement to be concerned about
all prisoners, and I think it’s. especially important for the lesbian and gay
movement to concern ourselves with combating attacks on lesbian/ga
prisoners, and supporting all prisoners with AIDS. Concerning ourselves
‘with all prisoners, and with the repressive/warchousing role of prisons in
our society is another way of fighting racism, since the majority of prisoners
are from Third World communities. Prisoners get locked away -- out of
sight, out of mind -- and the few prisoners’ rights that were won in prison
struggles are being undermined and cut back. Human rights are nearly
non-existent in prison, and without community support and awareness, the
government can continue to escalate its repressive policies, and conditions
‘will just steadily worsen. This is especially true for prisoners with AIDS,
since the stigma attached to AIDS in society generally is heightened in
prison, Prisoners with AIDS die at an even faster rate than PWAs on

the outside because treatment is o sporadic, limited, and conditions are

so bad. So I would never say for people to support political prisoners as
opposed to nonpolitical prisoners. Our interests inside prison are definitely
notin opposition to each other. Al the political prisoners/POWs actively
ight fr prisoner rights, and for changes in conditions that wll benef

all prisoners. But it’s important to build support specifically for political
prisoners because we represent our movements, and it’s a way for us to
protect and defend the political movements we come from against govern-
ment repression, For the movement on the outside to embrace and support
political prisoners/POWs makes it possible for us to continue to participate


in and contribute to the movement we come from and it makes it impos-
sible for the government to isolate and repress us in their efforts to destroy
‘our political identities.

SUSAN: Al prisoner are in desperate need of support and asthe popula
tion gets greater (in prison) and the repression get heavier the prisons
will become a major confrontation within the society. If the prisons are

to become a social front of struggle then there must be a consciousness
developed to fight the dehumanization and criminalization that prison
intends, Political prisoners are important to support because we are in
prison for explicitly social/political/progressive goals. Our lack of freedom
does affect how free you are. If we can be violated, so can you. There is no
contradiction between political and social prisoners.





How does being a lesbian fit in with your work?

LAURA: The same way it fits into my life ~ itis a basic, crucial part of my
character, my outlook on things, my personality. Because I'm a lesbian, the
fight against homophobia and sexism take on particular importance. But
really [think my lesbianism helps me care about the oppression of others
By the imperialist system, Sol think my lesbianism makes me a better
anti- imperialist -- it makes me fight all the harder. Being a lesbian in
prison is often very hard, but being “out” gives me a lot of strength. I have
to say that I am very proud when I hear or read about the struggles queers,
are waging out there.

LINDA: Being a lesbian has always been an important part of the reasons
why I'm a revolutionary ~ even before I was self-conscious about how
important this is to me! I don't separate “being a lesbian” from any other
part of my life, or from my politics. Because I experience real oppression as
lesbian and as a woman, I am personally committed from the very core
‘of my being -- to winning liberation for women, lesbians, and all oppressed
cople. This makes me more willing to take risks and to fight, because |
Fave a vision of a society Twant to ive i, and to win for future generations,
where these forms of oppression don't exist. think being a lesbian has
also helped me recognize the importance of mutual solidarity and support
between the struggles of oppressed people, despite the sexism, heterosexism.
and racism that often interferes in the process of building, these alliances.
I really believe that we have a common enemy ~ the imperialist system
~- and that we have to support each other in all the forms our struggles
against that enemy may take. These alliances need to be built in a way that
respects the integrity of our various movements.

SUSAN: Well! Being a lesbian is part of the very fabric of my being -- so
the question is not really how it fs into my work rather how conscious do
T make my lesbianism in living in prison or in the life of resistance I lead.
Iralternates depending on what the conditions are, Recently I have “come
‘out” because at this point I have chosen to be more consciously lesbian~
identified. I have done this because I believe that as gay people we need
more revolutionary visions and strategies if our movement is to become
significant in inking the overtuing of sexual oppression with other forms
of oppression. The other reason I have felt compelled to be out is that my
tightest, most important women in the community we live in are the
butches. It is the butches who suffer most for their choices/existence in
prison. In recognition of Pete, Cowboy, Juju, Slimic, and all the other sisters
it seems only right. Finally -- Laura and Linda have been out since the
RCC6 began and it has been a very important political and personal expe-
rience for them, and for us all." They have through their struggles created an
cavigonment of love and solidarity that enabled me to subsequently come
out” as well.

How have you struggled with sexism and heterosexism in the
groups with which you have worked?

LAURA: Mostly by confronting people when I think they are being sexist
or heterosexist, and by fighting for women's liberation and lesbian and gay
liberation to be included not just as words but as real goals."The saddest
times for me have been those times when I was in groups where we diditt
deo this I thinks ery important for people to be able to strug for

a variety of goals without setting up a hierarchy or exclusive list. I will
contintie to join groups whose main program is, for example, anti- racism
or support for Palestine or Puerto Rito, Because those things are just as
necessary for my liberation as women's and lesbian liberation are. And I
wwortt demand that my liberation be made a part of every agenda. Bue
won't ever deny my identity, my right to be respected, and the urgency and
legitimacy of lesbian, gay and women's liberation, either.





SUSAN: I have become much more of a feminist over the last number of
years -- and by that I mean ideologically and politicaly I believe we have
to examine the position of women, the structures of the society and how
male dominance defines women’s position in all things. I dont think in the
past fought agains th subjugation of women and gay people wal



substituted my own independence as a woman with actively struggling
against political and social forms of oppression. For example: in Niaragua
now; the women militants of the FSLN are reevaluating their practice
of struggling aguinst sexism, and some of them are selferitical that they
subordinated the strugele of women tothe needs ofthe so-called greater
societal good. What it means now is that abortion and the struggle for
reproductive rights under the new non-revolutionary society are being
set back generations, and the level of consciousness among women is not
(at this point) strong. cnough to effectively challenge this development. I
believe that to subordinate either women or gay people and our demands
is a big mistake.



What is the connection between the primarily white middle
class gay rights movement and the struggles of other
oppressed Beople? How do we envision 4 gay movement that
encompasses other struggles?
LAURA: believe that any struggle of ‘primarily white middle class”
people has the danger of being irrelevant to real social change unless it
allies itself with the strugeles of oppressed people. This country has a great
track record for buying off sectors that have privilege. Once that happens,
not only do things stay the same they get worse, But even more then,
that, I feel that we cannot be full human beings unless we fight forall the
oppressed. Otherwise, our struggle is just as individualist and racist as the
dominant society. In that case, we'll never win anything worth fightin,
for think the queer movement needs to talk to other movements and
communities, inorder to work out common strategies and figure out how
to support one another. I think we need to talk to groups in the national
liberation struggles in order to figure out how to sct our agenda an

strategy ~- like what demands can we raise in the fights about AIDS that
can help other communities fighting AIDS? Ie’ a struggle, not necessarily
an easy process, but it’s crucial. It’s also true that our movement has already
adopted lessons from other movements -- often without even realizing or
recognizing it: Weve especially incorporated strategic concepts developed
(at ahigh cost!) by the Black Liberation struggle from the Civil Rights
movement to the Black Power and human rights struggle. It’s no accident
that Stonewall’ leadership was Third World gay men and lesbians. So I
think it’s important to recognize that whenever we pose the question of
alliances and coalitions, we dontt need to “encompass” other people, we
need to ally with them, earn from, and_strugele side by side with them.
‘We need to support them. And we need to fight for them as well as for
‘ourselves, because the second we accept divisions or ignore the urgency of
fighting racism, we lose



LINDA:I dont think that struggles against sexism or homophobia or
racism can be delayed, because these are forms of discrimination/oppres
sion that actively disempower individuals and groups of people who can
bbe mobilized to actively participate in the struggle. Racism, sexism, and
heterosexism cannot be tolerated in our movement or in out alliances
because we don't want to duplicate the oppression that we're fighting
against, Of course the process of building these alliances is difficult and
long-term, because building trust and respect requires building relation-
ships that are really different from those that exist in society in general. So
Tdont think the primarily white middle-class gay rights movement can,
or should, “encompass” other struggles. White middle class gay men and
‘women cannot set the agenda for other movernents or for other communi
ties, Rather, I think that this movement should actively support struggles
against other forms of oppression as a way of making our own movement,
stronger, more revolutionary, less selfcentered, and more supportive of the
zgoal of liberation and self-determination for all oppressed people.





SUSAN: ‘This is a big question and has many aspects to it. I can only offer
a small answer, as I believe that prisoners who have no social practice

in a movement because of being locked up have a warped or limited
understanding of the real dynamics in the free world movements. The gay
movement as itis currently constituted has reemerged since I have been in
prison so Thave not been par of ts development I don think the gay
movement can be relevant other oppressed peoples and their stagpes
without an anti-imperialist analysis of the roots of gay oppression an

then correspondingly a practice that implements that In other words a
movement that is fed by white middle class men -- even those oppressed
because of their sexual identification/orientation -- without ceding power
(within the movement) to Third World women and men, and dealing with
their agendas will ever be anything but reform- oriented, To only srugele
for gay rights without struggling for the rights (human and democratic)
ofl those in need, and specifically those who are nationally oppressed
sets up competing struggle rather than a cohesive radical opposition to the
government.

What was going on in your life that led you to participate in or
support anned Strugale? fe you to particip.

LAURAGI began supporting armed stage inte late 60 when I
realized the government would keep on killing ‘Third World people if left
to its own devices. The murder of Fred Hampton (chairman of the Illinois
BPP) by the Chicago pigs and FBI was a turning point, not only because it
‘was an assassination, not only because the state tried to cover it up, but also
because it made me ‘understand that the U.S, would never agree to “give”
oppressed nations ther human rights Thats why the govemment had to
Fred, and Malcolm X, and so many other leaders.

Ta hated the injustice of this society for years, but it was in the 6013, when I
supported the Vietnamese, Native American struggles, the Black struggle,
Puzrto Rico and saw those nations ‘waging struggles for freedom that
included armed struggle -- that I started to see that there could be a
struggle to win. Once { began supporting Third World nations’ right to

use armed struggle to win self-determination, it made sense to me that I
should be willing to use many forms of struggle to fight, too.

‘Mostly, think that it’s my vision of what a wonderful thing it would be to
live ina just, humane, creative world that motivates me to embrace armed
struggle as one part of what it takes to fight for a new society.

LINDA: When I first became a political activist, I was a pacifist. I had
never experienced real violence in my own life, and naively hoped that
the changes I envisioned could come about non-violently. Then, I got beat
over the head and teagased by cops guarding the Pentagon at my fst
major demonstration, I came “head-to-head” with the fact that this system
maintains its power through violence on every level -- from beating up
protesters, to genocide against internallycolonized nations, to waging war
against nationally-colonized nations, to waging war against the people of
Vietnam,

I became an activist in a time that was defined by the victories and
development of national liberation struggles around the world and inside
the US. Iwas especialy inspired by the Vietnamese and by Black people
<ugaling for cil rights and then fr Back Power/Black Liberation.
Vietnamese women fighters and Black women in the struggle were role
models for me ~- because they were dedicated to fighting until victory was
won. Their courage and dedication, their willingness to risk everything for
freedom, the fact that women were being empowered by the process of

struggle ~~ all were exemplary.

So by supporting these national liberation struggles I came to support the
right of oppressed people to fight for liberation by any means necessary.
Malcolm & Che Guevara, and Ho Chi Minh were important influences
in my life and political development. But I actually became determined to
participate in armed struggle because of the rage I felt after the FBV/police
raids on Black Panther Party offices and homes all over the U.S. ant
artclarly the murder of Fed Hampton and Mark Crk by Chicago
police,

“The intensity of this police terrorism against the Black community in so
many cities made me realize that whenever a political movement even
begins to threaten the stability of the status quo, the state will actin
whatever ways it must to destroy it. In order for a revolutionary movement
and vision to prevail, therefore, it’s necessary for us to defend ourselves and
‘our comrades, and to build our own capacities toward a day when we can
seriously challenge the repressive power of the state, so that state power
can be taken out of the hands of those who use it to oppress, taken over,
instead, bythe peopl themselves. I know ths sounds idealistic yet itis a
struggle that has succeeded in many countries around the work



Thelieved then -- as I do now ~~ that U.S. imperialism was the main
‘enemy of the people of the world, and I wanted to fight on the side of the
Oppressed to build a better world for allThis was the era of Che Guevara
call for "2, 3, many Vietnams’, and I recognized that the US. govern-

ment depends on the “domest tanquiity” fits population to allow for
imperialist interventions around the world. This is one reason the Black
Liberation struggle was such a threat, and why white people fighting in
solar ith national iberation sugges were thretening a wel, ‘That’
part of the reason that the repression of the internal liberation movements
‘was so immediate and devastating, and why there were such efforts to
divide off white struggles from these struggles.

SUSAN: The war against the Black Liberation movement by the FBI/US.
government was most influential for me in secing the necessity for

armed self-defense. The challenge placed on us who were in a position
of solidarity with revolutionary nationalist Back ganizations was to
uphold self-determination and to fight for it. The other clement that most
personally propelled me into armed clandestine resistance was witnesing
the genocide of the chemical war being waged in the South Bronx against
Black and Puerto Rican people. Aa.a doctor of acupuncture and covnemr

nity health worker I watched us fail to stop the plague.


What do you do all day?
LAURA: My time is divided among: fighting for decent conditions and

against the prison’s denial of those things (a daily necessity!), working on
my political and legal work, communicating with people via letters and
phone calls, talking to other prisoners (and working with them to try to
deal with legal issues, health issues, etc.), meeting with my codefendants,
trying to find out how my comrade Alan is (he's engaged in a hard, life~
and-death battle with cancer, shackled to a bed in the 1.C.U. oncology unit
at D.C. General Hospital [Editor's Note: Since this interview took place,
‘Alan has recovered and was released from prison in June 19921). spend’a
lot of time talking to women about AIDS -- by one estimate, 40-50% of
the women in here are HIV+, yet there is no program, no education, no
counseling provided. Like my other comrades, I spend a lot of time doing
informal counseling and education on this.



LINDA: Work and work out.

SUSAN: Because I am a doctor of acupuncture and a conscious person I
have become (in addition toa politica prisoner) a peer advocate/AIDS
counselor. It is not recognized by the jail but I spend 75% of my time
counseling people -- women who are HIV+. The other time is spent doing
my other work, and talking with others. We spend a lot of the day locke
down in our celis. Because’ of the overcrowding, and lack of programs the
administration keeps us locked down an enormous amount of time.

How do you deal with your white privilege in jail?

LAURA: struggle to be aware of it; I fight racism actively and organize
for that fight; I try to make the resources that I have access to, available to
others. Educating people about how to fight AIDS is another way, because
that’s information that the gay and lesbian movement have that women in
the D.C. Jail lack -- and it means that women are continuing to contract
the HIV every day. That is a crime.

LINDA 1 try to use the resources and education I've had access to asa
result of my white privilege to benefit all the prisoners I live with, and to
fight for our interests This takes many forms, fom struggling 8 a prisoner
for the institution of AIDS education and counseling programs, to helping
individual women with legal problems or abuses oftheir hts by the fal
‘When I was in jail in. Louisiana, we were able to win a jailhouse lawyer's
legal suit forcing the jail to give women glasses and false teeth (all jail
dental care amounts to is pulling teeth, and few jails replace them). One of
the conflicts I confront is between dealing with immediate needs and crises
as an individual counselor/agitator/jailhouse lawyer, and always pushing
the institution to provide the services and_ programs that prisoners should
be entitled to asa basic human right -- education, medical care, exercise,
mental health and AIDS counseling.
SUSAN: Well! I struggle against racism in every way I can. I have learned
patience, and how to be quiet, and how to really isten to who is talking,
and what they are saying.

What observations or advice do you have for lesbian/gay and
S activists as we start to experience police surveillance,
harassment and abuse?

LAURA: Fight it. Don't back away. Develop clandestine ways of operating
so that the state won't know everything that you're doing. Support one
another so that, when anyone is targetted for state attack, they can resist
= that resistance will build us all. Dont ever give information ~ even if
you think it’s “safe” information -- to the state, Dont let the state divide
the movement by calling some groups “legitimate” and others not. Unity
is our strength. Support other movements and people who are also targets
of state attack, When the state calls someone a “terrorist”, or “violent”, or
‘gray’ ov anything think hard before ever bliesing it tobe true. Ress
sist. Resist.

LINDA: Be cool. Develop a clandestine consciousness. Value your work
‘enough that you dont talk to the enemy about it (like over tapped phones).
Dont underestimate the power and viciousness of the state, and don't
‘expect white privilege to make you exempt from repression. Take the
lessons of past repression against political movements seriously ~~ not

to demobilize you or make you affaid, but to safeguard and defend yout
‘work. Remember you'e building for the future, not just for today, and

keep struggling to broaden your vision. Remember that reforms are only
temporary concessions, that theyre neither permanent nor do they really
solve fundamental problems.

SUSAN: Study other movements here and around the world and examine
the state’ methods inorder to develop tactics that allow you to keep
functioning. Very important, if one self-consciously is building a move-
ment that knows the state will destroy it if the movement begins to pose a
real or perceived threat.



What is your position on go-go girls in womens’ bars?

LAURA: Take me to a bar and we'll have a scintillating discussion of this
issue, OK?

LINDA: Take me to a bar and I'll let you know!

SUSAN: I think that anything that objectifies women as sexual objects
(versus sexual beings) is anti-woman, Even in an all-woman context, Being
Iesbian is subversive because women loving women isa crime against the
state, and against the bourgeois patriarchal morality of this society -~ but
being subversive doesn't necessarily mean it’ about liberation, If nothing
else Thave learned. that liberation and the need for it begins in oneself
-~- objectification/sexual stereotypes/misogyny not only destroy us in the
world they contode our own beatts. Iam not interested in a soiety that
promotes those things. Although I don't believe that they will be ended

until we decide to end them ~- they cannot be overturned through the law

of this state.
xsl BUCK
all
%
se & %
* *
ove >
%, °
“OW, upssnc8

The Boston Anarchist Black Cross functions as the defensive arm of
local anarchist struggles. We work to forge an organized support network
for local activists in need and for folks behind bars. We seek the total
abolition of prisons and work on projects in support of this cause.

Boston ABC
PO Box 230182