After some controversy about the Occupation Glasgow camp as highlighted in THIS ARTICLE I was contacted by two women claiming to be onsite. One agreed to write a piece about her experience there and a reaction to the piece on Mhairi's blog.
To be clear - this article is not a statement of SSP Campsie, or the SSP's stance on the Occupy Glasgow camp; nor is the original De-Occupy post by Mhairi. Both are part of an on going dialogue.
Hi there,
I'm afraid I cannot make an official statement without the rest of the group.
I can only give you permission to use this if printed in its entirety.
I can say that ANYONE reported to have broken the safer spaces policy will be expelled,with immediate effect, with police force if necessary.
Certain elements made themselves known in a meeting on Friday. The core group took a weekend off to gather thoughts together and deal with this problem. We also realised that although many had agreed and voted for the implementation of the the safer spaces policy, not everyone followed it.
These people are not welcome in our occupation. Although this will make the occupation smaller, it will make it stronger.
With regards to the article......
If the article had shown only concern about safety at the camp and greater concerns about misogyny in society I could support it fully,many of us share the same concerns, but unfortunately there was too much salacious and untrue copy with regards to the incident that happened here last week.
Those of us with greater knowledge of the incident were appalled. I do however think aside from that most points raised in the article were fair, and as a feminist I'd be inclined to agree, but unfortunately for me those observations were negated by many untrue statements elsewhere in the article.
I commend Mhairi for writing the article passionately, her knowledge of feminist ethics is made clear by some of the language used.
I would only suggest she fact checked before publishing, this would have saved a great deal of upset and hurt on both sides, as a writer I understand the immediacy of publishing an article of this nature as soon as possible, but this was not the time. It was very upsetting to everyone concerned.
We would like to show solidarity with all groups in Glasgow, but direct attacks from various political and social organisations have made this difficult, we hope that in the spirit of solidarity we can encourage those responsible to now help, instead of hate.
A female occupier
6 comments:
I am following this issue closely and indeed invited Mhairi to cross-post her article on Village Aunties.
I've had a bit of contact with two women on Twitter who say they are feminists and in support of the occupation. I haven't learned much from that except that there are two feminists in support of the occupation; I'm not sure why or if there are any others at the occupation who are not people I'd never want to associate with or to claim they represent me as part of the 99%.
I've also had extensive conversations with two feminists who tried separately to attend the occupation meeting about the aftermath of the whole rape incident. It was those conversations as well as Mhairi's post that convinced me that the camp in its present form is un-salvageable and should be shut down. That's not to say a new Occupy Glasgow movement can't be born from the ashes at a future date but this one is tainted with so much misogynist abuse from the occupiers, so much rape apologism, victim blaming, anti-feminism, etc. etc. that there does not appear to be any core camp of any value to stand up for. I've also heard from folk who visited the camp about the racism they've overheard as well as bizarre David Icke supporters in evidence.
I would hope if you are feminist and still in support of the occupation, you would be able to counter some of this for me and others like me. What worries me about this article is that you don't say what the inaccuracies in Mhairi's article are.
I know she went to Occupy Glasgow in person and spoke with a number of people, and attended the afore-mentioned meeting, again trying to talk to a number of people as well as participating in the meeting. All I can see is that feminists involved in Occupy Glasgow keep complaining about the attempts of many feminists to criticise and shut down the camp but I haven't seen a substantive argument against Mhairi's article or the move to shut the camp down yet.
I am very open to hearing such an argument and I am convinced that if Mhairi did get facts wrong she would want to correct them.
I don't know what specific points are being challenged in Mhairi's account (which I personally welcome for opening up a discussion around something that is too often ignored), but a few points I notice:
She only refers to Occupy Glasgow's first statement, which was produced by two people autonomously (who had been up all night dealing with the crisis). That night after General Assembly an official statement was produced - written by almost a dozen people in collaboration and unanimously agreed on by everyone on camp. This is the only official Occupy Glasgow statement and the only one on the website, but it is not linked to by Mhairi: http://occupyglasgow.org/news/21-statement-from-occupy-glasgow-in-light-of-recent-events.html
Her account has now been reposted across the internet and is unfair to the group who agreed upon and wrote the official statement.
She also doesn't mention how at the general assembly that night where closing the camp was discussed, it felt for most of it, the consensus was pushing towards closing or moving. In the second part the passionate statements from three women swung the debate in my opinion. They were furious at the idea of backing down in the face of male violence and of sweeping the issue away by closing the camp. One of them said (paraphrased) 'the rapist must not be given that power. It makes me feel patronised that we say we stand up to the police, the council, the establishment and refuse to leave, but a rapist can be given that power?'. I think their speech's swung the group in the face of a lot of men calling for the camp to close.
Finally she says "This rape was fully preventable" but doesn't explain how. I for one don't know enough about the circumstances to make that call, beyond the idea that all rapes would be preventable with the benefit of hindsight.
Please could "a female occupier" specify the inaccuracies she says are in Mhairi's blog post. I was horrified by the original victim blaming statement that went out by Occupy Glasgow. And horrified by comments on the Facebook page such as let's drop gender politics because It's divisive.
Can you please share this too then.
Below is an open letter from Glasgow Women's Activist Forum to Occupy Glasgow. If your organisation would like to sign the letter, please email glasgowwomensactivistforum@ gmail.com
We, the undersigned, are writing to those involved in the Occupy Glasgow protest because our voices have hitherto been marginalised and our concerns systematically ignored in the days following the rape that occurred at the protest on Tuesday.
Our decision to write this letter is not based on political or ideological rejections of the Occupy movement, but is motivated by a very real concern for the physical and emotional well-being of all those involved in Occupy Glasgow, with specific concern for women and vulnerable people.
We believe that those involved in the protest failed to ensure the safety of its participants. The safety of the most vulnerable amongst us must be paramount in any organisation or movement, and a failure to construct and implement a system which ensures the safety of all its participants constitutes a failure of the movement as a whole.
In light of the gang rape that took place on Tuesday, we condemn the decision to continue with the occupation. Not only does the rape itself constitute reason enough to end the protest, but the reaction in the days which have followed has only convinced us further.
Allowing rape apology, victim blaming, and accusations of 'fabrication' or 'conspiracy to bring the occupation to and end' to be voiced in statements both on the official Occupy Glasgow facebook page and at General Assemblies without question demonstrates a complete failure of those involved to grasp the severity of the incident.
There has been insufficient effort to make necessary changes to the physical space or the safer spaces policy following the attack.
Women remain at high risk at Occupy Glasgow, and openly voiced this at the women's meeting on Friday 28th October. Prior to Tuesday, verbal and physical intimidation had been reported by occupiers to the group, yet these issues were not addressed.
It is extremely alarming that women at the occupation confirmed that the group only reported the rape after a group decision was taken to do so. Even after members of the occupation took this decision - which, we cannot stress enough, was not theirs to take - the occupation continued to refer to the rape as 'alleged'.
Our decision to write an open letter followed attempts to reach out to Occupy Glasgow by attending General Assemblies. However, women who have attended meetings and facilitated workshops have experienced verbal and physical intimidation from occupiers, leaving us no option but to make this official appeal to the women of Occupy Glasgow to take our concerns seriously.
We consider this matter urgent, and cannot stress enough that this appeal is motivated purely by our desire to create safe spaces for women not just within activist movements, but everywhere in society.
Glasgow Women's Activist Forum
http://libcom.org/news/open-letter-glasgow-womens-activist-forum-occupy-glasgow-01112011
Glasgow Women's Activist Network continue to be concerned about the safety of women involved in this occupation and have written this open letter:
We, the undersigned, are writing to those involved in the Occupy Glasgow protest because our voices have hitherto been marginalised and our concerns systematically ignored in the days following the rape that occurred at the protest on Tuesday.
Our decision to write this letter is not based on political or ideological rejections of the Occupy movement, but is motivated by a very real concern for the physical and emotional well-being of all those involved in Occupy Glasgow, with specific concern for women and vulnerable people.
We believe that those involved in the protest failed to ensure the safety of its participants. The safety of the most vulnerable amongst us must be paramount in any organisation or movement, and a failure to construct and implement a system which ensures the safety of all its participants constitutes a failure of the movement as a whole.
In light of the gang rape that took place on Tuesday, we condemn the decision to continue with the occupation. Not only does the rape itself constitute reason enough to end the protest, but the reaction in the days which have followed has only convinced us further.
Allowing rape apology, victim blaming, and accusations of 'fabrication' or 'conspiracy to bring the occupation to and end' to be voiced in statements both on the official Occupy Glasgow facebook page and at General Assemblies without question demonstrates a complete failure of those involved to grasp the severity of the incident.
There has been insufficient effort to make necessary changes to the physical space or the safer spaces policy following the attack.
Women remain at high risk at Occupy Glasgow, and openly voiced this at the women's meeting on Friday 28th October. Prior to Tuesday, verbal and physical intimidation had been reported by occupiers to the group, yet these issues were not addressed.
It is extremely alarming that women at the occupation confirmed that the group only reported the rape after a group decision was taken to do so. Even after members of the occupation took this decision - which, we cannot stress enough, was not theirs to take - the occupation continued to refer to the rape as 'alleged'.
Our decision to write an open letter followed attempts to reach out to Occupy Glasgow by attending General Assemblies. However, women who have attended meetings and facilitated workshops have experienced verbal and physical intimidation from occupiers, leaving us no option but to make this official appeal to the women of Occupy Glasgow to take our concerns seriously.
We consider this matter urgent, and cannot stress enough that this appeal is motivated purely by our desire to create safe spaces for women not just within activist movements, but everywhere in society.
Glasgow Women's Activist Forum
http://libcom.org/news/open-letter-glasgow-womens-activist-forum-occupy-glasgow-01112011
I've just re-read Mhairi's blog post again, and I still can't see any statements that might be untrue. Mhairi's article is subjective, sure - it's Mhairi's opinion, and I don't think she'd deny that.
The only things I can see that Mhairi presents as fact are comments made to her by occupiers, the first statement published by Occupy Glasgow, and claims made in the press. She's not presenting these as facts, but as comments made and claims published.
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