Refuse and Resist
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Refuse & Resist! ("R&R!" for short) is a human rights activist group in the United States. It was founded in New York City in 1987 by C. Clark Kissinger, Abbie Hoffman and other activists concerned that the American government under U.S. President Ronald Reagan was moving in a "reactionary" direction against the rights of its people. Artist Keith Haring created R&R!'s logo in 1988. Today, the organization's national office is in New York City, and chapters exist in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Honolulu, Hawaii; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Refuse and Resist! opposes censorship, war, and police brutality. The organization also works to expand reproductive freedom, having played an active role in the defense of abortion clinics; and rights for immigrants. The group supports a diversity of tactics, including direct action to achieve their goals, rather than legislative and judicial actions. It does not endorse candidates for any office.
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[edit] Governance and Methods
The organization is made up of group affiliates, which may be individuals, local R&R! groups, national groups, or other organizations. These group affiliates answer to a National Council which attempts to meet quarterly to "identify new reactionary attacks and to encourage resistance to them"[1]. National Conferences are scheduled annually. All individual members and group affiliates may vote at these conferences.
From 1997 Fall through 2001 Winter, Refuse & Resist! published CounterAttack magazine to alert people to recent incidents and developments and upcoming events concerning their causes. They now do the same by republishing relevant news articles (from various sources) online.
Refuse & Resist! have an Artist Network, which they use to hold special entertainment events to raise awareness for their causes. Artist Network rarely indicates whether the artists listed are allies or members of the Refuse & Resist!, and often list anyone and any piece they deem appropriate for display or mention. In 2004 Dec., R&R! began to encourage and back "Resistance Book & Film Clubs", which are usually independent of the organization, with much the same goals as the Artist Network. In 1988, R&R! organized "Resist in Concert!", featuring dozens of performances, with Sinéad O'Connor headlining.
They have given out the Courageous Resister Awards to those who have done the most to win struggles for civil rights and civil liberties. Regular recipients include obstetricians who perform abortions and prominent protesters, among others. The first awards were given at Resist in Concert! in 1988, with Susan Sarandon, Robbie Conal, Philip Agee and others presenting.
R&R! actively organize protests and other public demonstrations, some of which have a symbolic theme. Most significantly, they marched with millions in the streets in New York City during the 2004 Republican National Convention. They have also encouraged civil disobedience.
[edit] Campaigns
R&R! are staunch opponents of all forms of censorship. A member of R&R!, Shawn Eichman, famously burned a flag in public in protest of the Flag Protection Act of 1989 and then defended his violation of the law in federal courts, all of which effectively nullified the law for its violations of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. When the U.S. Congress approved a law, which U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms sponsored, to list types of artistic expressions considered unacceptable when funded with grants from National Endowment for the Arts, R&R! organized both the "Jesse Helms Degenerate Art Show" and the "New Blasphemy Forum" in New York City as outlets for artists to express opposition to the new restrictions. The musicians' activist alliance Rock Out Censorship consider R&R! an ally in standing for freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
R&R! are also opposed to any kind of invasion of privacy, especially surveillance. When the 1990 Census was conducted, R&R! organized public demonstrations across the U.S., in which census forms were burned in protest of the intrusive questions asked the forms.
R&R!'s slogan on women's rights is "Abortion on Demand & without Apology!" In their fight to defend women's right to choose abortion, they have defended obstetricians and clinics against attack. In response to the judicial opinions in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services and Rust v. Sullivan, R&R! deliberately disrupted two sessions of the U.S. Supreme Court, which was the first time the court had ever experienced such a thing. In acts related to this disruption, R&R! occupied the offices of U.S. Congressman Henry Hyde and the National Right to Life Committee, both whom opposed abortion.
R&R! initiated the FightBack Network in the early 1990s to coordinate themselves with others to act against violence committed against people providing and/or seeking abortions. During the 1990s, R&R! were vocal and uncompromising opponents of Operation Rescue, a group known for staging protests and civil disobedience against abortion clinics. Refuse and Resist! activists kept Operation Rescue out of a meeting at the 1992 Democratic National Convention.
R&R! also organized the first resistance to the annual "Right to Life" march in Washington, D.C., in 1992 and initiated National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers in 1996, which has since become an annual occasion.
R&R!'s opposition to violence also includes opposition to warfare. One of their members was the first U.S. Marine to refuse orders to fight in the Persian Gulf War.
R&R! believe Mumia Abu-Jamal, an early member, was wrongfully accused when convicted of murder in 1982, citing that evidence presented in prosecuting him was false and a possible vendetta that the Philadelphia Police Dept. had against him. R&R! are active of the international "Free Mumia" campaign. R&R initiated the "Philly Freedom Summer" in Philadelphia, PA, 1995 in order to raise awareness and gain support for Abu-Jamal's cause for a new trial. It was during that first summer that they spoke out against Pennsylvanian Governor Tom Ridge, who signed Abu-Jamal's death warrant that June. That August, Abu-Jamal's punishment was changes from the death penalty to life in prison.
R&R! echo Abu-Jamal's view that more needs be done to crackdown on police brutality and other types of misconduct by authorities.
R&R!'s slogan on immigration is "We Are All Illegals!" They have frequently protested at the offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and at the United States Coast Guard base in Miami, Florida, in opposition the return of Haitian refugees back to Haiti. In another event, some members of R&R! were arrested after climbing over the fences of a hidden INS detention in Texas, in course of exposing it to the public.
R&R! organized the first National Conference Against the War on Drugs. They used the opportunity to exposed the public to photographs of the "boot camps" being used to incarcerate youths as punishment for victimless drug crimes[2].
[edit] Criticism of Refuse and Resist
As a left-wing organisation, Refuse and Resist's policies are subject to the same criticisms as the rest of the left. See for example criticisms of socialism.
Refuse and Resist has been criticised for its connection for the Revolutionary Communist Party, which was the single most important initiating group, and whose activists have played a key role throughout the organization's history. This criticism can come from both the political right and left (see for example [3],[4]).
