{"id":173,"date":"2015-12-01T21:42:34","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T01:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/?p=173"},"modified":"2017-02-20T22:38:49","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T02:38:49","slug":"scorned-by-mobilization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2015\/12\/01\/scorned-by-mobilization\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Prolifers for Survival — Scorned by Mobilization for Survival"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Carol<\/a>

Carol Crossed<\/p><\/div>\n

by Carol Crossed<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mobilization for Survival<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mobilization For Survival (MFS) began in the 1970s and was a diverse network of peace organizations, principally to address nuclear concerns.<\/p>\n

Groups were encouraged to join by paying a modest membership fee and agreeing to four principles:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. Disarming countries of nuclear weapons; <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2. Banning nuclear power; <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3. Ending the arms race; and <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4. Meeting human needs.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MFS grew to roughly 350 member groups, and in the Spring of 1980 they ginned up for a large demonstration<\/p>\n

First Contact<\/strong><\/p>\n

Juli Loesch (now Julianne Wiley) called the MFS office to get information on how to join and participate in the demonstration.\u00a0 \u00a0She spoke to a staff person at Mobilization for Survival named Stephen Zunes.\u00a0 Stephen was only 23 years old and a practicing Quaker when he began working at the national office of MFS in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\"Juli<\/a>

Juli Loesch in 1980s
(now Julianne Wiley)<\/p><\/div>\n

Stephen\u2019s responsibilities centered around organizing Survival Summer. \u00a0It was modeled after Mississippi Summer (1964) and Vietnam Summer (1967).\u00a0 This is the gathering Juli requested information about from the MFS office.\u00a0 She recalls being sent a \u201cpretty substantial\u201d packet of information.<\/p>\n

However, Juli was shocked by its contents. It included a couple of leaflets by \u201cabortion rights\u201d organizations.\u00a0 Juli characterized this as opportunistically exploiting a peace march.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 By promoting that the Three Mile Island nuclear energy accident and its dangers of radiation created a need for lots more abortions, free and on demand, especially for women living downstream in the Susquehanna River watershed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Juli\u2019s sense of humorous outrage and her passion for justice, coupled with this absurd misuse of peace, were quickly aroused. First, Juli argued, \u201cIt was manifestly incoherent thinking that the nuclear industry was wickedly responsible for endangering or damaging babies<\/em>, but that at the same time, our righteous response was: let\u2019s be sure they all get aborted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Secondly, Juli was in the midst of trying to organize a bus full of pro-lifers to come and support this no-nukes demonstration.\u00a0 \u201cThey would surely back off if one of our demands was supposed to be \u2018yes on abortion, and lots of it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juli phoned the MFS headquarters and carefully and rationally (and she admits perhaps a tad hotly) voiced her objection to this conflation of incompatible issues.<\/p>\n

Juli recalls the conversation:<\/p>\n

\u201cOK,\u201d said the person on the other end of the line, \u201cAnd what did you say your name is?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJuli Loesch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the group you represent is?\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, there wasn\u2019t any group.\u00a0 It was just Juli.\u00a0 So on impulse she blurted, \u201cWe\u2019re Pro-Lifers for Survival (PS).\u201d<\/p>\n

So Juli hung up, cooled down a few degrees, and then thought, \u201cOh, Lord.\u00a0 Now I\u2019ve got to organize a group.\u201d<\/p>\n

MFS Responds<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Stephen<\/a>

Stephen Zunes<\/p><\/div>\n

According to Stephen, the MFS Staff was fully aware of the diversity of the member organizations.\u00a0 Some were front groups for organizations whose belief in the four principles were suspect.\u00a0\u00a0 For instance, the Communist Party rationalized Soviet nuclear weapons and other military policies. There were Jewish organizations that supported Israeli occupation. \u201cThe MFS staff were willing to tolerate those differences, but there were some staff and local chapters that wouldn\u2019t tolerate allowing anti-abortion groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Boston chapter of Mobilization for Survival sent out a letter against PS, saying that all<\/em> prolifers were \u201cracist, classist, misogynist anti-choice reactionaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juli was more than miffed. \u201cThey had Presbyterians and Physicians for Survival and Polyamorists and Pagans for Survival. But Pro-Lifers for Survival they could not tolerate?\u201d<\/p>\n

Strange, she remembers. \u201cMFS was glowing with the urgency to create the broadest grassroots coalition ever for the Survival of the Planet<\/em> — nothing could be more important than that! But now there\u2019s certain people, potentially certain tens of millions of people, they\u2019d really rather not have in their coalition, the exclusion of whom was more important than the survival of the planet<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen sought to mediate.\u00a0 He called Juli Loesch to clarify where PS was coming from.\u00a0 Though broadly sympathetic with the consistent pro-life position himself, he didn\u2019t dare push that perspective, but simply called for tolerance and inclusivity within MFS.<\/p>\n

The seven member staff were almost evenly divided on the question, with the director, a Lutheran Minister open to accepting PS: \u201cI have an intolerance for intolerance\u201d he said. Given the divisions, however, they would have likely brought it to the full Board, if it could get that far.<\/p>\n

A couple local and regional chapters of MFS had already gotten wind of the controversy. Boston, the largest and most active, threatened to pull out of MFS altogether if PS joined.\u00a0 Other groups wrote letters calling for tolerance and diversity.<\/p>\n

It was clear that PS\u2019s application was threatening to split the organization.\u00a0 Stephen recalls that not wanting to cause damage to an important peace coalition, Juli, to her credit, withdrew the PS application to join MFS. \u201cIt was a classic example of intolerance of Progressives towards those with a consistent pro-life perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"book<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thus did Pro-Lifers for Survival begin and expand.\u00a0\u00a0 By 1987, it morphed into The Seamless Garment Network, later renamed Consistent Life. Stephen Zunes is co-editor of our book published by Praeger:<\/p>\n

Consistently Opposing Killing<\/a>: <\/em><\/p>\n

From Abortion to Assisted Suicide, the Death Penalty, and War<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

====================================================================<\/p>\n

For more blog posts on the history of the consistent life ethic, see:<\/p>\n

First Stirrings in Connecting the Life Issues<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The Consistent Life Consensus in Ancient Christianity<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Ancient Roots of the Consistent Life Ethic: Greece<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Reminiscing on the Founding Meeting of the Consistent Life Network<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Carol Crossed           Mobilization for Survival Mobilization For Survival (MFS) began in the 1970s and was a diverse network of peace organizations, principally to address nuclear concerns. Groups were encouraged to join by paying a modest membership fee and agreeing to four principles: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. Disarming countries of nuclear weapons;… <\/p>\n