An Attack on One Is an Attack on All

By John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney–

“An attack on one is an attack on all.” That’s the core commitment that NATO countries make to each other to ensure their mutual security. When Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine without provocation in February, NATO reminded Putin of its members’ solemn dedication to each other’s defense and warned him not to encroach upon their collective territory.

Later this month, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, along with four of his arch conservative Republican colleagues, will in all likelihood strip women (and nonbinary, intersex, and transgender people who can become pregnant) of their fundamental human right to exercise control over their own bodies when it comes to reproduction. An estimated 26 states stand ready to completely ban or severely restrict access to abortion as soon as the decision becomes effective. Some states will even force women who have been raped and thereby become pregnant to carry the pregnancy to term and give birth against their will.

Like Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Alito and his Republican allies on the Court, in Congress, and in many state legislatures and governor’s offices are launching a broadside on all of us who care about women’s autonomy and equality—as well as LGBTIQ rights and dignity and other core human rights issues, such as racial justice, and ending horrific gun violence against our society’s most vulnerable people. We remain hopeful that the Supreme Court will not overturn marriage equality, but these powerful conservative forces are engaging in a wide ranging and calculated offensive to undermine our collective freedom, equality, and dignity—all for their political gain and personal motives. We must stand together and embrace for ourselves NATO’s credo: “An attack on one is an attack on all.”

We are inspired by the late Magda Hellinger, a Slovakian Jew who not only survived for three years as a prisoner at Auschwitz, but also was able to save the lives of countless other Jewish prisoners by taking advantage of a prisoner leadership role the Nazis gave her. In her recent memoir, The Nazis Knew My Name, published by her daughter last year, Hellinger recounts how faced with unimaginably horrific circumstances, she vowed “to stay as positive as [she] could” in order to be undistracted in her ability to help herself and others. She succeeded through her extraordinary savvy, compassion, and in her own words downright “chutzpah” in standing up to the SS. Through it all, her constant refrain to her fellow prisoners was: “We have to stick together and help each other.” 

Today, we too have to stick together and help each other through our own mix of compassion and chutzpah, and strategic thinking. We must immediately help those currently under direct attack, such as people who need abortions in states where it will soon be outlawed, trans youth, and LGBTIQ students. We need to form a broad and ethical coalition that truly stands up for each other, respects the needs of its least powerful members, listens to their voices, and heeds their wisdom. We have to let go of internecine conflicts that distract us and impede us from achieving our ultimate goals.

Our opponents all too often have been remarkably successful in putting aside differences to achieve tangible results, such as the elections of Donald Trump and George W. Bush. They plotted and executed long-term strategies to install a very conservative Republican Supreme Court, overturn Roe v. Wade, and invent an interpretation of the Second Amendment that prevents common sense gun control—such as a ban on assault weapons that is supported by sizeable majorities of Americans. They have been methodical, patient, and relentless in many of their efforts. We need an even greater level and intensity of commitment in voting, mobilization, and organizing going forward as well as intelligent, creative, and effective long-term strategies.

Ultimately, to attain lasting gains in human rights, we must enable our opponents to be able to see our common humanity so that they no longer seek to exploit us for political and financial gain. We would love to live in a world without “us and them.” Then we all could embrace Hellinger’s imperative to the fullest: “We have to stick together and help each other.”

John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, together for over three decades, were plaintiffs in the California case for equal marriage rights decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008. Their leadership in the grassroots organization Marriage Equality USA contributed in 2015 to making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.