Bigger than Dobbs: The War on Women and Democracy Rally -Ann Ferguson

Ann’s Intro June 23 Bigger than Dobbs: The War on Women and Democracy Rally

1. Welcome!! I am Ann Ferguson, the MC for this event. I am a retired professor at UMass and a long time feminist, peace and social justice activist. I will be your MC and will introduce the speakers. I represent the organizing committee for this coalitional event sponsored by FCCPR (Frankin County Continuing the Political Revolution) and many co-sponsors.
2. But before I describe our organizations and the program I want to make some general announcements:

1. First ! Thanks to the Raging Grannies for their songs!
2. There are several sign-up sheets on clipboards at the table by the door. Please put your name and contact info on it if you want to receive further information about FCCPR and further events and issues we are working on that connect to the themes of the rally.
3. Buttons and Cards: There are also some buttons and cards and other material relevant to the fight for reproductive rights and justice at that table.
4. Handouts: There are event program flyers that list the speakers and their descriptions on one side along with political things to do, and the Republican Project 2025 plan on the other. There are also sheets with some chants we may use.
5. Access: There is an ADA access door in the back of the hall behind the church.
6. Time Limits! We need to be out of this space by 1:30 at the latest and we have a lot of speakers so we will try to end the rally by 1:15 at the absolute latest!! We will give each speaker 5 minutes (although our keynote speaker will get 7!) and I will have to be a strict school marm with a kitchen timer marking the 5 minutes with a ding!! And maybe then they get an additional minute to wrap up so we can be fair to all the speakers and yet get out of here in time!!
7. Parking! Please don’t park at the Funeral Hall next to the church!!

3. This rally is called Bigger than Dobbs: the War on Women and Democracy. I want to tell you more about our group and the Reproductive Justice task force that has helped organize this rally, , and I also want to mention the many other co-sponsors of this rally. But before I do that let me explain why the speakers and others of us are wearing white and green at this rally.

1. We are wearing white to honor the 19^th and early 20^th century US suffragists who won women the constitutional right to vote. This struggle was started by women abolitionists against slavery who were not allowed to speak in public to oppose slavery. The campaign to make women full citizens has only been partially successful up to the present, because although white women won the vote in 1920, US racial segregationists have continued to deny many women and people of color the vote by racial gerrymandering of electoral districts and the ERA amendment was never ratified. So feminists and antiracists have much more to do to protect even our democratic right to vote, let alone our other democratic rights!
2. We are also wearing green sashes, ribbons and scarves in solidarity with the global Green Wave movement to support abortion rights and to oppose violence against women which started in Latin America.

4. The main organizer and sponsor of this event is my organization FCCPR, which is a local group established in 2016 that promotes democracy and progressive politics. FCCPR is also a part of the nationwide progressive political organization called Indivisible.

1. Indivisible was created in 2016 to “save American democracy” and “resume the project of creating a humane America that is more like social democracy than corporate plutocracy”. It was formed after Trump was elected to organize local political actions to challenge MAGA Republican policies, both through electoral politics and events at Town Halls and other venues.
2. Indivisible is sponsoring rallies and standouts all around the country on the weekend of June 22-24 to mark the second anniversary of the Supreme Court Dobbs decision which took away the constitutional right of women to abortion. Our rally here in Greenfield is a part of 16 events at 13 locations that the Feminist Action team of MA Indivisible is co-sponsoring throughout our state this weekend.

5. So now let me tell you about the FCCPR Reproductive Task Force. We created this task force after the Supreme Court Dobbs decision in the 2022. We are inspired by the concept and history of Reproductive Justice and activism created by Black feminists in 1994. We support the definition of Reproductive Justice offered by Sister Song on their website https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice which is (quote):

Reproductive Justice is the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.

We aim to work together with other sister organizations in the River Valley of Western Mass. and beyond to support reproductive justice for women and parents through legislative action, informational campaigns, political demonstrations and fundraising to support access to abortions for all who need them. We also advocate for the educational and social supports (sex education, contraceptive access, and medical care) necessary for reproductive justice for all, regardless of income or race, as well as for the rights of working parents to paid parental leave, health care, childcare and other social supports (housing, schooling, adequate income) necessary to raise healthy children.

We have a list serve for those interested in reproductive justice issues. At present we sponsor regular Zoom meetings open to all interested. Please contact us for
further information or to join our task force at www.fccpr.us/reproductive-justice-task-force (or sign up on the FCCPR sign up sheet at the table).

6. Co-sponsors: It takes a village to defend our democracy!! Besides the MA Indivisible Feminist Action Team, our main co-sponsors for the rally who helped us organize it are the Traprock Center for Peace and Justice, and the WMA Code Pink Women for Peace. Some of our other cosponsors are represented by speakers on the program, and include the Western MA Jewish Voice for Peace; the Amherst Young Feminist Party, the Western MA Area Labor Federation; and the River Valley Democratic Socialists of America.

7. Finally!!! What is our rally about? The title of our rally today is Bigger than Dobbs: The War on Women and Democracy.

Although we are feminists who oppose the Supreme Court Dobbs decision, we see that decision as only one part of a broader reactionary plan not only to wage War on Women and deny us our bodily sovereignty but also to an overall attack on US democracy. This politics is Bigger than Dobbs, and connects to a MAGA Republican plan called Project 2025, some of whose aims are stated on our program flyer. This plan aims to take over our government if Trump wins the Presidency. It will have consequences not only for women and LGBT folks, but also for workers, immigrants and those working to combat climate change and to demand social justice at home. Increasing state repression of protests is a present worrying trend in the US and also connects to a War on Humanity that leaves many US citizens unable to influence the decisions of their own government in the ongoing genocide in our name in Gaza, as well as in politics that affect our lives at home. We are holding this rally to increase public awareness of how wars, the present Supreme Court and reactionary anti-democratic politics are all part of wars on most of us, and particularly on women, in a multitude of ways.

So now let me introduce you to our key note speaker, Pat Hynes from the Traprock Center for Peace and Justice, who will say more about the themes in this Bigger than Dobbs rally and how they connect.

(Ann reads Pat Hynes speaker description and the program continues)

Speaker Descriptions

1. Keynote Speaker: Pat Hynes is an ardent feminist and lesbian and board member of the Traprock Center for Peace and Justice. She is a retired Professor of Environmental Health and Environmental Justice; a writer and author of many books; and co-founder of Bread and Roses, the feminist restaurant and cultural center in Cambridge. 

Chant: Abortion is a woman’s right/this is why we stand and fight!

2. John Bonifaz is a constitutional attorney and the Co-Founder and President of Free Speech for People, a national non-profit organization which defends democracy and our Constitution across the country.  It has served as a leading force in the nation fighting to protect our right to vote and our elections, challenging big money in politics and unchecked corporate power, and confronting corruption in our government, including now in the United States Supreme Court.

Chant: They say Theocracy, we say Democracy! They say Autocracy, we say Democracy!

3. Kaia Jackson (they/them) is a Core Organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace of Western MA. They are also a healing arts facilitator, storyteller and movement chaplain who is grateful to call Great Falls their home!

Chant: No More Wars!! No More Wars!!

4. Dave Cohen got his start in the labor movement organizing a union at Holyoke Wire and Cable Co. He went on to become an International Representative for the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) and retired after 38 years of building rank- &-file-run democratic unions.
5. Rosemarie Freeland is the coordinator of the Women’s Resource Center of Greenfield Community College and a member of that institution’s professional staff union’s local chapter of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. She will speak of her personal experience organizing educator union activists at Greenfield Community College.

Chant: When Women’s Rights are Under Attack, What Do We Do? Stand Up, Fight Back! When Workers’ Rights are Under Attack, What Do We Do? When Queer Rights are . .

6. Kevin Young teaches in the History department at UMass Amherst. He is active in the faculty-librarian union (MSP), in the campus Environmental and Social Action Movement (ESAM), and in Faculty for Justice in Palestine. He will speak about faculty and student protests against the war in Gaza and the implications for democracy.

7. Susan Triolo is a retired early childhood & elementary teacher; longtime anti-racist, peace & justice activist with W.Mass CodePink and FCCPR and the chair of the Sunderland Democratic Town Committee.  She will talk about how important local politics are in the fight to stop the war on women and promote reproductive justice and democracy and suggest some things that we all can do to promote these values.