Pro-Life Culture Jamming 101
Culture jamming hijacks the dominant culture of an area by jamming it full of counter-cultural messages. For pro-lifers this is a scrappy way to bring a culture of life to public spaces & to challenge pro-aborts. This is a civil disobedience tactic – so it involves legal risks!!
Anti-abortion culture jamming can dismantle the assumption that pro-abortion is the ubiquitous stance in a city or neighborhood. It disrupts hegemonic pro-abortion presences in the spaces they occupy and frequent. If pro-abortion messages are already plastered around an area, posting pro-life messages nearby can begin a visual dialogue, legitimize anti-abortion speech locally, spread subversive information, and spark a sense of bold resistance. It's autonomous, anonymous, and free advertising.
A lone guerrilla activist may inspire other pro-lifers to join in the jamming, creating a mass distributed action. Or their messages may give pro-lifers they confidence boost they need to declare their opposition to abortion publicly. It only takes a few visual repetitions to make a pro-life message appear popular, or better yet, seem dangerous the pro-abortion paradigm. Don't let pro-abortion propaganda go unrivaled! Mark your territory for the movement. Defend the dignity of the babies and take back your streets!!
Not to mention, it looks hot and feels bad-ass.
Where to jam:
In our busy lives, we tend to pass dozens of places in which information can be posted on our way to work and school. We often overlook the simplest of things — telephone polls, newspaper boxes, dumpsters, street signs, stores, coffee shops, and the list goes on. Try utilizing common places in the area to get your message across. Scout out spots that are highly visible and well-traveled in the daytime and deserted at nighttime (office buildings, highways, overpasses, stadiums, etc.). For short, repetitive messages and stencils, high-traffic pedestrian areas seem to be the most effective: sidewalks, walls, benches, and whatever else is on the street.
Mediums of culture jamming:
Chalking
"Chalking" is using chalk to leave a message typically on concrete or stone. It can be as simple as writing your favorite pro-life website on the sidewalk with children's chalk, or as complex as the stencil work by artists like Green Ape. Mix water with chalk to create a thick paint, or purchase spray chalk for quick application. Chalking is typically legal on public property, but be careful about government property. Know your rights and keep a printout of the property lines on hand in case law enforcement approaches you. Some of our favorite websites: optionline.org, letthemlive.org, abortionpillreversal.com, abortionprocedures.com, babycenter.com, abortionworker.com.
Stickering
Stickers, sometimes known as "slaps", are a quick way to slap your message on almost anything. They are low-risk, easy to carry, clandestine to apply, and good for covering pro-abort stickers as you come across ‘em. They can be hand-scrawled on name tags, printed on mail labels, professionally produced, or even drawn on sticky notes. Vinyl stickers will last longer but also may be more expensive and easier to take down. Paper stickers won't last long but you can make a lot at once (such as with Avery templates) and plaster them everywhere. Play around with it! Also, we have lots of stickers that you can order in the PAAU store. Stick fetuses everywhere!!
Wheatpasting
A wheatpaste is a type of poster that is fused and sealed to a surface using paste. Wallpaper glue or modpodge work well, or you can make paste the old-fashioned way: Mix two parts white or whole-grain wheat flour with three parts water, stir out any lumps, and heat the mixture to a boil, stirring continuously so as not to burn it. When it thickens, add more water; continue cooking it on low heat for at least half an hour, stirring continuously.
Apply a thin layer of paste to the surface you want to stick your poster on then press it down. After, glaze over the poster with another thin layer of paste. Posters can be hand-drawn or printed. We strongly recommend learning more about wheatpaste techniques and strategies in this graphic and this zine.
Tagging
Tags are fast phrases that you can spontaneously write on a surface. We are fond of the tags "abortion is murder", "fetuses are people", and "fuck abortion". Write them in a bathroom stall, on a lamp post, across a boarded window, pretty much anywhere. Definitely write them on top of any pro-abortion messages. Tags are addicting to do and they make pro-aborts MAD!! Make sure you have a good permanent marker, paint pen, or graffiti mop so your message won't wipe away. We recommend Grog Squeezers, Krink paint markers, Montana dabbers, Magnum Sharpies, and Markal-B Paintstiks. Learn more about tagging culture and etiquette in this article.
Graffiti
Graffiti is exactly what you think it is: classic (yet strategic) vandalism. It can range from quick paint pieces to full unauthorized murals. As you guessed, it's usually done with spray paint. A few things you'll need: fun colors from a good brand (recommendations from Graffid and PaintingSpider), variety of spray caps (we recommend Montana), gloves & full body cover, eye protection, decent mask (to avoid inhalation).
Know and follow the basic rules of graffiti culture: 1. Don’t snitch, 2. Don’t write on religious buildings or war memorials, 3. Don’t write on houses or cars, 4. Don’t paint over other graffiti, 5. Leave no trace. More very important strategy advice in this zine. And we didn't tell you this: the cops can't charge you if they can't find your can caps.
Banner dropping
By dropping a banner off of a visible public place where there is high amounts of traffic, many people will be able to read your message clearly. Hanging a banner off a building or structure makes for great media coverage, alerting the broad public to an issue or campaign. It’s also a good way to frame or contextualize an upcoming action. And they make hot pictures.
Banner drops can be as low-tech and low-risk as several bedsheets tied to road overpasses, but the ones that really pack a punch involve large pieces of cloth or netting deployed at great heights, often by experienced climbers. You can paint the message and construct the banner yourself (instructions in this zine), or if you're lazy like us, just order it from Banners on the Cheap.
Guerrilla projection
With a single projector, you can turn the side of a building into a huge advertisement. It’s legal, relatively cheap, and low-risk. Projections can be low-fi or hi-fi; mobile or stable. Two jerry-riggers can do one out of the back of their car to capture a quick hit-and-run photo op, or a professional VJ can project from a more stable plug-in location to entertain a crowd of thousands. Most importantly, it’s visually powerful: You can literally shine a light on the opposition. A projection can move and change, and even be interactive. Watch a movie, play a game, create art! Project a classic rescue documentary on an abortion clinic! Get your hands on a Gobo projector or video projector and light it up. Learn more here.
More mediums:
Moss graffiti: infographic & instructions
100% organic. Go green!
Reverse graffiti: info & instructions
You can’t get in trouble for cleaning up!
Neverwet "invisible" graffiti: instructions
You only see it in the rain!
Currency hacking: info
Turn your dollars into leaflets!
Culture jamming:
• Makes the invisible visible. The injustice of abortion is invisible to many. If you can't see it, you can't change it. Posting pro-life messages on the street forces the issue into pedestrian awareness by giving a voice to its voiceless victims: the babies.
• Brings the issue home. With creative and repetitive messages in tactile spaces, we can make the otherwise abstract, far-away issue of abortion personal, visceral, and relevant. Guerrilla messages can bring abortion to the forefront of public consciousness.
• Balances art and message. Art explores questions and politics demands message. The right balance can move both hearts and minds. With our visual messages and pro-life aesthetics infiltrating enough spaces, we can engage a collective reckoning with abortion.
Quotes to inspire your jamming:
"Assumptions are the building blocks of ideology, the DNA of political belief systems. They operate best when they remain unexamined. If basic assumptions can be exposed as contrary to people’s lived experience or core values, entire belief systems can be shifted. Actions that expose and target widely held assumptions can therefore be very effective at shifting the discourse around an issue and opening up new political space. Identifying a point of opportunity and timing your interventions accordingly could increase visibility and put additional pressure on decision makers." (Source)
"Graffiti is criminalized because the graffiti artist and the capitalist cannot both be heard at the same time. The brilliance of graffiti is not so much in the specific words or images, or in how many people see them for how long, but more in the process of people coming together, relearning what they want to say and saying it. Jamming is another technique for redecorating your town—and also sharing your perspective with your neighbors and passing along some information and ideas not reflected on the nightly news. You can jam all over town in one night and instantly make your perspective and presence known. Cover your streets with love and rage. If graffiti didn't change anything, it would be legal. The walls are alive." (Source)
Image sources:
Quoted sources:
Banner Drops, Stencils, Wheatpaste, and Distributing Information