How the Neoliberal Thought Collective uses "feminist" language to defend misogyny

Lisbeth Latham

Other the past months federal politics has seen the airing of a series of allegations of inappropriate behaviour and outright sexual assault against Morrison government ministers and staffers. These allegations have caused understandable anger amongst wide sections of society, most particularly women - highlighted by the Marchs 4 Justice on March 14 and 15 in numerous cities and towns. In response government ministers and their supporters and defenders in the media have relied on dubious legalistic arguments based on spurious legalism and denials of misogyny. Much of the responses to these defences have tended to see these arguments as reflecting a lack of understanding of concerns and/or poor leadership on the part of Morrison. However, these interpretations tend to make the mistake of seeing the statements and arguments coming from the government and its support networks as being genuine, if ill informed or mistaken. I would argue that instead these arguments are not at all genuine, but are instead of a conscious destablisation and misinformation campaign being conducted by sections of the neoliberal thought collective within Australia to buttress and defend the government and if we are to respond effectively to the current crisis we must accept this reality that significant sections of the media are not good faith actors.

Capitalism as a system is a highly unstable system, it has a tendency toward crisis and contains within it a significant number of contradictions which further this instability. At the same time, despite predictions of inevitable limits and the possibility of collapse, it has demonstrated itself to be an remarkably resilient and flexible system that has been able to adapt to, absorb, neutralise, and eliminate potential threats. Central aspect to this resilience has been the capacity of capitalism and its supporters/beneficiaries to construct a cultural hegemony in support of the system which works to normalise and integrate, and where necessary, smash threats to the system. Within late capitalism, as neoliberalism has become the hegemonic response to capitalist crisis and contradiction this hegemony, particularly amongst ordinary people, has been increasingly been buttressed by the neoliberal thought collective(s).

The concept of a neoliberal thought collective, developed by a range of theorists of neoliberalism such as Philip Mirowski and Dieter Plehwe, refers to the networks of neoliberal idealogues and promoters that exist within and move between academia, think tanks, and media. During the early period of neoliberal thought, when it represented a marginal approach seeking to overturn the dominant social democratic and liberal responses to capitalist crisis, served to help spread ideas and promote the legitimacy of neoliberalism as a response to capitalist response - however has it has emerged as the dominant system the NTC not only promotes neoliberal responses to crisis within its own networks and more broadly, but seeks to defend it’s system by destabilising and undermining alternative approaches - most succinctly articulated in Thatcher’s maxim “There Is No Alternative” in this way demonstrating, as Steven Lukes has suggested, that an important aspect power is the ability to limit possible policy options which are available. Central to the approach of the NTC is to deligitimise alternative perspectives and approaches by co-opting and misusing the language and ideas of its opponents, effectively neutralising by creating confusion as to what these positions actually represent and are arguing.

As mass anger at the allegations against Christian Porter and Liberal staffers - and the acts by the government to protect them rather than hold them to account has increased we have seen a new wave of defences being articulated based a superficially feminist basis - which appears as an apparent break from the attempts at rape apologism and victim initially mobilised by the government and its supporters - most notably Peter van Onselen. This is best reflected in a number of opinion pieces by fairfax columnist Parnell Palme McGuinness titled “Boomer feminism is not what we need at this transformational moment” and “Scott Morrison is not a misogynist, what lacks is a female inner circle” which follow an November 2020 piece “Please, not in the name of feminism:Expose of ministers’ private lives”. In these pieces McGuinness attempts to exploit and mobilise existing divisions within the Australian feminist movement, most notably between older second wave feminists and feminists who have emerged and been influenced by feminisms third and fourth wave.

The significance of these articles is not the actual arguments contained within them, which are dubious and disingenuous, but they way they have sought to mobilise feminist language in justifying a defence of Porter and Morrison. Whilst these articles have been widely seen as bad articles with weak arguments, in drawing responses and shifting debate onto the their spurious arguments the articles work in both shifting the debate away from what to do about an attorney general who is faces credible allegations of rape and a governmetn which defends him to the validity of McGuinness’s argument and adds to the general divisions which exist within the current movement.

It is necessary to simply reject outright any attempt to distract from the seriousness of sexual assault within our community and the failures of institutions to address this violence. At the same time it is vital that we recognise that the only way to move the movement forward and achieve real change is to support the mobilisation of survivors and their supporters with the aim of making attempts to ignore the movement and continue as normal are simply impossible.

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France: Violence and sexist acts - The case which the CGT has stifled

TW: descriptions of violence, apologism
By Mathilde Goanec & Dan Israel
Originally published 27 JUNE 2018 in Mediapart

One of the members of the General Confederation of Labour’s (CGT) most powerful federations, a Parisian garbage collector, is implicated in acts of violence and for the sexist climate that persists in his union. The case could have become a positive example for the union, which is increasingly vocal about gender equality issues and awareness of violence against women. However, in 18 months, the organisation has not managed to resolve the situation, which turns into a quagmire.

Attacks at protests, sexist remarks, equivocal slogans, and even a physical confrontation: several women activists of the CGT have complained for many long months of a sexist climate tolerated within the CGT City of Paris, and the actions of one the most prominent trade union leaders of this union, a member of the Executive Board of the powerful Federation of Public Services. Despite repeated warnings, no sanctions were pronounced, according to a series of documents obtained by Mediapart and confirmed by activists at all levels of the organisation.

Against sexist violence, all together!

At the end of 2017, a dozen women activists created the Collective Femmes-Mixité in the CGT City of Paris. In a letter sent to the secretary general of the union, Philippe Martinez, and to the leader of the Federation of Public Services, Baptiste Talbot, eight of its members denounce not only "verbal, sexual and gender-based attacks", actions according to they are "repeated and conscious", but also a case of physical violence. The letter regrets that the perpetrators implicated "continue to exercise their mandates as trade union leaders without any difficulty" and hopes that the CGT will answer, "in view of its consistent work in terms of understanding, prevention and fight against violence ".

The main events focus around the year 2016 and the beginning of 2017. They all concern the CGT union of the City of Paris (called "US", which has about fifteen unions representing different trades), and more particularly interaction between two of its organisations. On the one hand, the Paris cleaning union, which represents the city's garbage collectors, almost all men; on the other hand, the early childhood union, which brings together professionals, almost exclusively women, supporting young children. Both unions, as well as the US, are under the leadership of the Paris Departmental Union (UD) and under the authority of the Federation of Public Services, the premier federation of the CGT with 80,000 adherents claimed at the national level.

The letter of the eight women describes several problematic episodes, featuring men from the cleaning union, including its secretary general Régis Vieceli, attacking women, often from CGT Early childhood. These incidents vary in severity, ranging from oppressive remarks to violent altercations.

On March 9, 2016, during a demonstration against the labour law, a cleaner union activist yells into the microphone "Michel and Jacquie, take care of El Khomri", a direct reference to the porn site "Jacquie and Michel" and the then Minister of Labour. On May 1, 2016, the slogans are aimed this time directly at a CGT activist, who passes by the cleaning union's truck, recognisable within the thousand thanks to its red and black star and two mannequins dressed in the garb of garbage men who sit on the roof. "We'll fuck you, we'll fuck you," spits the speaker. Shortly after, at the microphone, Regis Vieceli invites women to a party organised at the Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne) incinerator, then occupied by his union, and offers activists "3 condoms and 2 mojitos, and if you are not CGT, 2 condoms and 3 mojitos".

CGT Early Childhood Logo

A month later, during a major demonstration in the capital, two women complain this time of touching on the buttocks and breasts, committed by men around the cleaning union truck. "We wore our red T-shirt with the CGT Early Childhood logo," reports one of them. There were a lot of people, and men were close to us. One of them groped my chest, another put his hand on the buttocks of my young colleague. She was shocked, and since then she has never been to a protest again. For my part, it took me some time to put on a CGT T-shirt, and I took the largest size to hide the shape of my body."

"He grabbed me by the hair and pushed me violently on a table"
On December 2, 2016, in the morning, the tension rises sharply. A lively quarrel broke out between CGT officials of the City of Paris, in the premises of the Paris Labour Exchange, close to the Place de la République. At issue: a banal history of office occupation between, on the one hand, two women in charge of the CGT early childhood union of the City of Paris, and on the other, Régis Vieceli.

The stories of both parties diverge completely, except on the brutality of the incident. For Emma* and Olympe* (many witnesses have preferred to appear under aliases, see our black box), the facts are clear: it is an assault. "My back was to him when he caught me by the hair and pushed me violently on a table, said the Olympe the same day in the complaint she filed at the police station. While I was half lying on the table, I saw my colleague raise his arm as if to give me a punch. I wanted to avoid it but I still received a slight blow in the right jaw. Despite my colleague, who interposed between us, he did not let go and continued to shake me in all directions, tearing the sleeve of my T-shirt. He finally ejected me violently against a table that fell to the ground. "

The activist complains of back and neck ailments, says her body had scratch marks and a blow on her back. Her statements are confirmed by pictures taken immediately after the violent episode. After filing a complaint, she went to the North Paris medical and legal unit, which granted her three days off work. Very shocked, Olympe will then be stopped from working a further two months by her doctor.

The version of Régis Vieceli on these facts is quite different. In a letter also sent the same day to the Federal and Confederal Directorate of the CGT, he says that it was he who was "provoked and assaulted by two comrades". He assures that he no longer feels physically safe on the premises of the Labour Exchange, says he no longer wants to go alone and therefore decides to be "accompanied by my comrades from my union to ensure [his] safety" in future meetings.

Regis Vieceli, supported by written testimonies of men and women from several unions, still maintains this line. Contacted by Mediapart, he did not answer any of our questions. At the Federation of Public Services (of which he is a member of the Executive Board), Natacha Pommet, a member of the federation's national leadership, believes that doubt persists on the facts and underlines the "contradictions" in the testimony collected, encourages "caution". The complaint filed by Olympe was dismissed on 29 June 2017 by the prosecutor's office, on the grounds that the facts "could not be clearly established by the investigation" and that "the evidence is not sufficient for the case to be tried by a court".

In January 2018, Régis Vieceli was nevertheless blamed by his employer, the City of Paris. The City Executive briefing note states that "it is established that [he] has committed threatening and violent acts against his colleague and that the latter struck a piece of furniture as a result of these actions", but that it cannot "be clearly established whether he delivered a direct blow", or whether "his actions were made in response to a physical aggression" on the part of Olympe.

"If you want, I'll train you in my room"  On February 17, 2018, the secretary general of the cleaning union again crosses a line against Rosa*, a young activist of the Technicians and Executives section of the City of Paris, while she is with several male comrades in an office of the Republic Labour Scholarship to prepare a union meeting.

"Three people have arrived, someone from my management and two other men, including this activist, who I did not know," Rosa tells Mediapart. He said, "If you want, I'll train you in my room." I did not react in the first few seconds, then I told him it was humiliating and degrading. I was in an office, in the evening, the only woman facing five guys older than me, I felt unsafe. Especially since he got upset, saying that I was sexist, that it was a joke, and that we can not say anything to the women ... I told myself that if it continued, he would slap me. I went out crying from the office. "

The following week, Rosa writes to the leadership of the union, asking that the official apologise and receive a booklet on gender equality. She did not receive a response. A month later, Rosa's union officially complained to Regis Vieceli himself, as well as the federation, the US and the UD, saying that "coming from a federal official, this attitude is simply unacceptable."

"We did not communicate on this because Regis Vieceli said he apologised”, explains Natacha Pommet today, who admits that the federation did not directly meet Rosa on this subject. “He regretted having said these things after drinking alcohol. But we recognise the context: a mostly male union, sexist behaviours that unfortunately the CGT, like the rest of society, is not immune from”. Rosa, for her part, continues to affirm: she has never received an apology from Regis Vieceli.

The discomfort prevailing in the CGT City of Paris around the facts denounced by the Collective Femmes-Mixité is probably also explained because there is a serious precedent. In 2015, an activist was unable to work due to illness for several months, after being the victim, according to her, of moral and sexual abuse. The episode involves some of the actors struggling with the current issues that hang over the union. The victim, interviewed by Mediapart, confirms the facts but does not wish to comment. Yet they have remained rooted in the heads of those who are concerned about the internal atmosphere. They note that after the illness of the activist in 2015, there was a period of calm, then the incidents have resumed, reaching a crescendo.

The Collective Femmes-Mixité was received, at its request, by Confederal officials, the highest echelon of the CGT. It was March 9, 2018, more than a year after the fact. "We were there to say that under no circumstances could the CGT accept a sexist environment or physical violence against a woman," said the confederal leader Boris Plazzi. It was necessary to remove any ambiguity because the comrades can have the feeling that one does not worry about what happens to them. We took time because we had to convince everyone to sit around the table. I am an activist, a leader, who tries to understand, to recut. I understand that activists find it too long. "The second meeting with representatives of the confederation took place Thursday, June 21, without further concrete progress in the eyes of the collective and the departmental union of Paris, which supports it.

For Philippe Martinez: "Unacceptable" abuses 

Philippe Martinez leads a CGT contingent

Most of these cases, including those of Olympe and Rosa, were also reported to the watch cell against sexual and sexual violence, created by the CGT on an experimental basis at the end of 2016. This cell, supported by the general secretary Philippe Martinez, reports directly to the Confederal Executive Committee, a sort of "parliament" of the CGT. In April 2017, the cell officially alerted the Federation of Public Services on the events occurring within the CGT of the City of Paris, to denounce the cluster of events, all signalling the existence of a sexist environment within or around the federation.

Symbol of the embarrassment surrounds the file, it is only orally that the cell presented its first annual report to the Executive Board on March 6, 2018, at the CGT headquarters in Montreuil. The report largely evoked, without citing directly, the facts that occurred within the CGT Paris. Contrary to the usual procedures, no written report has been circulated, even to members of the Executive Board who were absent on 6 March. Its conclusions remain inaccessible to the vast majority of the organisation.

"The general secretary Philippe Martinez is publicising this watching in the media, but it is muzzled”, say the insurgent members of the Collective Femmes-Mixité of the CGT Ville de Paris. “Not only does it not help us, but it also generates real anger. One has the impression that there is a difference of treatment when it comes to punishing not a simple member, but an official. "

"It is unacceptable that such abuses occur in our organisation. But the cell is not a court," Philippe Martinez tells Mediapart. The objective of the cell is indeed to "sensitise, train and listen to the victims," he says, but then "we pass the baton" to the federations, under the autonomy of the trade union organisations vis-à-vis the confederation that oversees them. "This is the principle of federalism, insists the CGT leader. In the confederation, if I learn stories of this kind, and I have evidence, I act, it has happened to me already. We assume our responsibilities but we are not entitled to take sides for this or that organisation. "

"The cell did its job, it went to the end. It has no decision-making prerogatives of sanction, contrary to the organisations concerned”, underlines for her part Sophie Binet, member of the confederal executive commission of the CGT, in charge of the questions of equality between women and men. “The confederation must put everyone around the table to find a solution. The process is too slow and laborious, but it is engaged. "

The responsible implicated, spearhead of the CGT for elections?
In 2013, the CGT appended to its statutes a charter dealing with sexism and internal violence. It states that any activist convicted by the courts for acts contrary to the values of the union must be removed from office. "When there is a judicial conviction, our statutes are clear. The problem is that issues of gender-based violence are under-apprehended by police forces and outsourced by the courts”, notes Sophie Binet. “But without judicial support and when, as in this situation, there is a difference of interpretation between the organisations concerned, it is longer and more complicated to settle. "

Marilyn Baldeck, head of the Association Against Violence Against Women at Work (AVFT), takes a sharp view of the whole affair. Especially since her association has partnered with the CGT to train its executives and support its activists on the issue. Today, she also works with the Collective Femmes-Mixité and believes that there is no doubt about the credibility of the facts described and documented, including physical violence. "To say that the file has been closed without further action by the justice system is a good outcome for some union officials," says the lawyer. “They are sometimes able to be distant from legal processes, but this time, the closure without follow-up being the end of this story? It is not possible. "

For Marilyn Baldeck, "the fact that a CGT official is filing a complaint against another CGT official is so far removed from the traditional union culture that it requires taking this matter seriously". But for now, it is far from being heard by the Federation of Public Services or the Cleaning Union. Because Régis Vieceli, on whom the debate crystallises, is a powerful unionist, almost unanimously considered a "hero of the struggles", all the more difficult to contest that he must be one of the spearheads of the CGT in Paris for the next professional elections.

"If we had condemned the one who is considered to be the aggressor, he would have had a very heavy penalty from the mayor of Paris, but he is an important trade union figure," defends the federation. "I'm a political activist, I'm sensitised to sexism, I know it's everywhere," notes Rosa. “But such a protection system, I have never seen that. I do not understand. At work, for less than that, we would all be up in arms ... "

The Federation of Public Services claims the course of "education and pedagogy". It assures that Regis Vieceli is gradually becoming aware of these issues, like the rest of his union. "We know that some activists have been sexist, and must take ownership of the changes," says federal leader Natacha Pommet. “But between the moment we are a "big macho" and the moment we are convinced of these issues, it can take time”. On the Confederal side, Boris Plazzi agrees:" I am in favour of the policy of small steps. At first, there was no question of talking about all of this, and since then there has been an internal discussion within the federation. Between what it said a year ago and what it is saying now, there has been a real journey. You have to train, you have to do pedagogy to get out of this type of practice. "

A letter denounces those who play "frightened virgins rather than fight"
In this case, the cleaning union and the Federation of Public Services have regularly downplayed the facts or dodged the issue. In March 2016, in response to the official protests of several trade unionists, including those in charge of the Paris UD, on the slogan associating Myriam El Khomri with "Michel and Jacquie", the cleaning union issued a letter denouncing those who play "frightened virgins rather than fight". The letter assures that the slogan simply referred to "two of our retired comrades whom we had the pleasure of hosting in the demo".

At a meeting held just days after the aggression against Olympe, bringing together officials of the UD and trade unions of the City of Paris, some supporters of Regis Vieceli have also persisted, that what was described by witnesses is the sort of "fight which is normal, man or woman". As for the accusations of touching, the response was equally flippant: "When there are many demonstrators, pressed tight, it is a normal that thing that happens".

For its part, the Federation recognises the touching without spin but claims not to have been able to go further. "The touching took place in the motorcade of Paris, in the union of Regis Vieceli, it is condemned and condemnable”, insists Natacha Pommet. “But it was impossible for the women who spoke to identify their attackers and to know whether or not they were part of that union. We know how these events happen, especially in the summer, with the distribution of drinks of all kinds, it is very complicated”. The federation also recalls that it has drafted a joint statement with the UD and a number of unions, including CGT Early childhood, after a difficult discussion. "It never appeared, and today we still ask the question of why?" says the organisation.

But it was especially around the physical confrontation of December 2, 2016, that the Federation of Public Services has delayed. It collected the testimony of those involved a few days after the fact but did not return its investigation report until March 5, 2018. From the first lines of this report, the tone is clear: "Beforehand, it is necessary to note that the issues mentioned above arise in a context of strong internal conflict within the CGT City of Paris issues of power and control of trade union freedoms and finances."

For several months, the US is indeed in a state of decomposition, three unions (including that of cleaning) have jumped ship, supported by the Federation of Public Services. Soon joined by five other unions, they now form a coordination on their side, unprecedented in the history of the CGT in Paris. Officially, the disagreement is political, but personal enmities also seem to be at work.

The conclusion of the federation's report assures that "sexism must be fought" and welcomes the fact that no new sexist statements or words have been reported during the recent period, "which seems to us to demonstrate that an in consciousness has taken place ". In doing so, it ignores the "training room" proposal made to Rosa, which was denounced at the time in many letters.

The report finally warns critics of the federation: "In an era of sharpening the class struggle, as our organisation faces decisive elections, the Federation believes that those who threaten to publicly defile the CGT act in the interest of our enemies. Asked about this very controversial tone, Natacha Pommet assumes: "There was a reaction from the federation to a number of unfortunate facts, we follow this trade union very closely, and therefore we find it detestable that this kind of things can go out anyway, while professional elections are coming. We think that it is not preferable. Last time, remember, we had already had the Lepaon affair, which had not been very favourable to us ... "

A petition to denounce sexism ... of accusers
The scandal of 2014 around the then secretary general of the CGT, Thierry Lepaon, accused of having his office redecorated at a high price, remains a trauma for many union officials. To the point that some people are now cultivating the ambiguity: "It is perhaps also because this man is a militant recognised in his militant activity that he may be the target of attacks, even if he has had unacceptable behaviour, "says Natacha Pommet.

A position shared by Maria Da Costa, another supporter of Régis Vieceli. A former head of the early childhood union and one-time secretary-general of the US, the latter does not question the "gender problem" or the importance of feminist struggle. However, she denounces what she considers as a manipulation: "We use a number of things to make sure that those who have a certain vision of unionism and struggle are harmed," she says.

Armed with this suspicion, Regis Vieceli's supporters have made their positions widely known. At the end of 2016, a petition hostile to accusations against the union leader has for example circulated within the US. "The fact of taking sides for the woman without waiting to know all the versions of the facts shows that the mentality of some (s) did not change on the superiority of the men who would be the strong sex, and, on the women, who would be inferior to the man, "assured the text. "We reject this retrograde, degrading and infantilising image of women. Just like the image of the alcoholic violent worker ... ", it continued.

On the door of the premises allocated to the cleaning union on the Bourse du Travail de République, a poster exposes the local doctrine: "Here we can laugh at everything, but not with anyone! "That is to say, not with" the fascists, the collaborators, the anti-communists, the breakers of the CGT, strikebreakers", nor with" the homophobes, the sexists, the misogynists "or ..." the misandrists ". Misandry, this hostility towards men, appeared in the local vocabulary following the incident of December 2 and its aftermath.

The pressures are sometimes more direct. Three days after Rosa's sexual invitation, one of her comrades, close to Régis Vieceli, wrote to her to express his regret at not having intervened directly that day, but also to dissuade her from reporting the incident to the federation. "Your first union action would be to feed what is already dividing our organisation," he writes. During a general assembly, the same activist and a handful of supporters of the secretary general of the Cleaning Union directly call out the young woman: "They have deployed the catalogue of strategies for the defence of sexism, she recalls. Stereotypical arguments: "You want her skin", "You instrumentalise feminist issues", "He did not rape you anyway, he is ready to discuss" ...".

The same author used the same arguments to blame Flora* for having signed the common letter alerting to the sexist climate in the US. Following the release of the letter, the young woman said she had "a difficult week". The activist calls her for 45 minutes to discuss disagreements between activists, and ask her to justify her signature of the letter. "He reproached me for attacking a super activist, destroying the CGT, making him want to leave" the organisation ", he told me that during all his years of activism, he never had was arrested on harassment issues ... "During the week, the young woman receives at least one call per day, together with an email or an SMS.

Trade union solidarity, therefore, plays a full role, acting as a protective barrier around the responsible party. "We know this type of strategy, they have been deployed in other types of organisations, including political”, Sophie Binet notes. “And that's what you have to work on. We must succeed in dissociating the militant collective from an aggressive leader. It is to that end that I keep saying that you cannot be a good union activist and an abuser. It's incompatible. "

"It still seems crazy to us that it happens in our organisations"
Benoît Martin, head of the departmental union of Paris, has been advocating feminist issues for several years and has taken a firm stance on the matter with the federation, the confederation, and two CGT publications. "I have been very exposed since. I am criticised for talking about these issues that would only be internal disputes. I believe that there continues to be a macho solidarity in my trade union organisation, obviously. But this may not be essential: there are clearly issues surrounding the preservation of the organisation. And to preserve is to be silent, even where it would be necessary to listen, to repair, to prevent and to sanction. "

Suffering is all the greater as union loyalty is strong. "We must read the resolution number 5 from the last Congress, in April 2016, underlines Benoit Martin. There is a formal commitment to combat sexism outside and in the CGT and to combat violence against women in the workplace and in the union. Some consider me "over-committed", but I simply exercise my responsibility to the CGT, which clearly claims to be a feminist union. "The departmental manager is proof of the exemplary fight led by his union within the International Labor Organisation (ILO) just recently. The CGT represents all French employees in the negotiation of new binding rules against violence against women.

For the confederal leader Boris Plazzi, however, we must understand that the union is living a new situation. "All this is very new at home, it falls on us, he testifies. If you ask us to talk about everything else, employment, social justice, etc., we will be inexhaustible. But before this kind of business, we are a little like a chicken in front of a knife. We are not seasoned, it seems to us insane that it happens in our organisations. "

The birth of the collective has been experienced by the activists who have constituted it as a lifeline, the opportunity to lead "a trade union struggle, noble and beautiful", bringing together women who sometimes come from different pathways and trades. "It has changed my life a lot, and this is the case for all of us because this aggression triggered our setting in motion, our personal and collective development," says Angela*. “Our story is also about stopping feeling guilty about what can happen to comrades, it is to tell us that the CGT means as much to us at it does to them. If we do not unite in a common struggle, it will never stop."

This new solidarity does not prevent either bitterness or sometimes the desire to slam the door. "I know that real values are carried by my union and it is this orientation that makes me want to stay, Rosa insists. For a year, I see a lot of evolution, the speeches are not quite the same, there is an awareness among some men and women. But what is tiring is to live sexism both outside, in the street, and in my union, which should be a space that protects us from all this. Today we spend a lot of time fighting around this issue when there are many other fights we would like to see."

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France: "Pigs and their allies are right to worry": Caroline De Haas and feminist activists respond to the column in "Le Monde"

Originally published by Franceinfo
10/01/2018

Some thirty personalities and members of associations react, Wednesday, January 10, on Franceinfo, to the arguments of the text of 100 women defending the "freedom to pester" of men after the movements "#balancetonporc" (#exposeyourpig) and "#Metoo".

A paper that does not pass. 
Tuesday, January 9, 100 women have signed a forum published in Le Monde where they defend the "freedom to importuner", after what they call a "campaign of denunciation" targeting men accused of sexual harassment in the wake of the Weinstein case. A text written by several renowned authors, including Catherine Millet and Catherine Robbe-Grillet, and signed by figures such as actress Catherine Deneuve and journalist Elisabeth Lévy, who defend, among other things, the "freedom to pester" scoundrels face "public denunciations and impeachment of individuals (...) placing them exactly on the same level as sexual assailants".

The text drew a response from feminist activist Caroline De Haas who wrote one, in turn, co-signed by thirty activists and feminist activists, to denounce what she considers a "#Metoo, it was good, but ... ". Whenever women's rights progress, consciences awaken, resistances appear. In general, they take the form of "it is true, of course, but ...". This January 9, we had a "#Metoo, it was good, but ...". Not really new in the arguments used. We find the same arguments in the text published in Le Monde as we see at work around the coffee machine or in family meals. The letter is a little like the embarrassing colleague or boring uncle who does not understand what is happening.

"We could go too far." 
As soon as the equality advances, even half a millimetre, good souls immediately alert us to the fact that it risks falling into excess. Excess, we are right in it. It is the world in which we live. In France, every day, hundreds of thousands of women are victims of harassment. Tens of thousands of sexual assaults. And hundreds of rapes. Every day. This is a caricature.

"We can not say anything anymore." 
As if the fact that our society tolerates sexist remarks - a little - less than before, such as racist or homophobic remarks, is a problem. "Well, it was frankly better when we could treat the women as quiet sluts, huh?" No. It was less good. Language has an influence on human behaviour: accepting insults against women means allowing violence. The mastery of our language is a sign that our society is progressing.

"It's Puritanism." 
Portraying feminists as stuck up, or even badly fucked: the originality of the signatories of the letter is ... disconcerting. Violence affects women. All women. It weighs on our minds, our bodies, our pleasures and our sexualities. How can one imagine for a moment a liberated society in which women freely and fully dispose of their bodies and their sexuality when more than half of them claim to have already experienced sexual violence?

"We can not flirt anymore."
The signatories of the letter deliberately conflate a relationship of seduction, based on respect and pleasure, with violence. To conflate everything is very practical. This puts everything in the same bag. Basically, if the harassment or aggression is "repeated pestering" it is that it is not so serious. The signatories are wrong. This is not a difference in degree between dragging and harassing but a difference in nature. Violence is not "increased seduction". On one side, we consider the other as his equal, respecting his desires, whoever they are. On the other, as an object available, without taking into consideration her own wishes or her consent.

"It's women's responsibility." 
The signatories of the letter talk about the education to be given to little girls so that they do not let themselves be intimidated. Women are therefore designated as responsible for not being assaulted. When will we ask the question of the responsibility of men not to rape or assault? What about boys' education?

Women are human beings. Like the others. We are entitled to respect. We have the fundamental right not to be insulted, whistled at, assaulted, raped. We have the fundamental right to live our lives in safety. In France, the United States, Senegal, Thailand or Brazil: this is not the case today. Nowhere.

The signatories of the letter in Le Monde are in the majority of the recidivists in the matter of defence of paedophiles or as apologists for rape. They are once again using their media visibility to trivialize sexual violence. They despise the millions of women who suffer or have suffered the violence.

Many of them are often quick to denounce sexism when it comes from men in working-class neighbourhoods. But the hand in the ass, when it is exercised by men in their midst, according to them is the "right to pester". This strange ambivalence allows them to proclaim their attachment to the feminism of which they claim for themselves.

With this letter, they try to close the lead lid that we started to lift. They will not succeed. We are victims of violence. We are not ashamed. We are standing. Strong. Enthusiastic. Determined. We will end sexist and sexual violence.

Pigs and their allies are worried? It's normal. Their old world is disappearing. Very slowly - too slowly - but inexorably. Some dusty reminiscences will not change anything, even published in Le Monde.


Signatories to the statement:
Adama Bah, Afro-feminist and anti-racist activist; Marie-Noëlle Bas, President of the  Chiennes de garde; Lauren Bastide, Journalist, Fatima Benomar, Co-spokesperson of the Effronté.es; Anaïs Bourdet, Founder of Paye ta Shnek, feminist activist; Sophie Busson, feminist activist; Marie Cervetti, director of FIT and feminist activist; Pauline Chabbert, feminist activist; Madeline Da Silva, feminist activist; Caroline De Haas, feminist activist; Basma Fadhloun, journalist; Clara Gonzales, feminist activist, Leila H., Check your privileges; Clémence Helfter, feminist activist and unionist; Carole Henrion, feminist activist; Anne-Charlotte Jelty, feminist activist; Andréa Lecat, feminist activist; Claire Ludwig, communication officer and feminist activist; Maeril, illustrator and feminist activist; Chloé Marty, social worker and feminist; Angela Muller, feminist activist; Selma Muzet Herrström, feminist activist; Michel Paques, feminist activist; Ndella Paye, afro-feminist and anti-racist activist; Chloé Ponce-Voiron, feminist activist, director, producer, and actress; Claire Poursin, co-president of Effronté.es; Sophie Rambert, feminist activist; Noémie Renard, host of Antisexisme.net and feminist activist; Rose de Saint-Jean, feminist activist; Laure Salmona, co-founder of Feminists Against Cyberbullying and feminist activist; Muriel Salmona, psychiatrist, president of Traumatic memory and victimology and feminist activist; Nicole Stefan, feminist activist; Mélanie Suhas, feminist activist; Monique Taureau, feminist activist; Clémentine Vagne, feminist activist;  l’association En Avant Toute(s), l’association Stop harcèlement de rue, the association to Stop street harassment.

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On Cologne and the problem of hegemonic masculinity

Lisbeth Latham

Protest against both sexual violence and racist attacks 

Over New Year’s Eve, a series of large scale attacks against women took place in Cologne and other German cities. A number of perpetrators were reported as being from refugee communities resulting in an intensification of the debate over how Germany and other Western societies should respond to asylum seekers from non-Western cultures particularly from predominantly Arab and Muslim countries - particularly as far-right forces have sort to use the attacks to build support for their own attacks on migrant communities, especially Muslim communities. Sections of the German left (which is also reflected in the Anglophone left) have sort to respond the right’s use the Cologne attacks, by attempting in various ways to downplay the seriousness of the events of New Year’s Eve and by shifting focus onto sexual violence within German and other Western societies. In doing so the left’s arguments while differing significantly in premise from that of the right, still shares much of the right’s logic regarding the violence in Cologne and refugee policy - albeit the logic is inverted. Much of the left arguments are primarily aimed at proving how racist the right is - and that the right’s supposed concern for women is disingenuous - but ultimately is not useful in either challenging violence against women in our society or the attempted mobilisation of those concerns to attack migrant and refugee communities.  

What happenedOn New Year’s Eve there were large scale attacks on women at train stations in the German cities of Cologne, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Dortmund, and Bielfeld. The largest of these attacks took place in Cologne where an estimated 1000 men participated in attacks. Groups of men reportedly acted isolated individual women these isolated were then robbed and/or assaulted. These attacks took place despite large scale police presences. Angela Klein reported that 213 local and federal police were deployed at the Cologne station and the adjacent cathedral square. Initial complaints to police were, ignored, but women continued to make complaints and media attention and public awareness around the incident grew, by January 30 to more than 1,000  complaints had been reported to police in Cologne alone (more than 400 involving sexual assault), some of these complaints include complaints against the police for failing to assist women on the night. The other German cities where large numbers of complaints have been made include Hamburg (236 complaints involving 391 victims - with only three of these complaints not involving sexual assault) and Dusseldorf where 113 complaints were made regarding sexual assault and theft.

Official responseThe initial responses of the German state and media pretended that the attacks had not occurred. A press release from Cologne Police headquarters on January 1 stated, “Shortly before midnight, the station forecourt in the area of the stairway to the cathedral had to be evacuated by uniformed officers in order to prevent a stampede caused by the firing of pyrotechnic munitions by about 1000 revelers. Despite the unplanned break in celebrations, the situation was relaxed, because the police were well placed at critical locations and showed their presence.” ZDF, one of Germany’s state broadcasters did not cover the attacks until January 5, and had made a deliberate decision at least on January 4 to delay reporting on the incidents. They subsequently issued an apology.

When the nature of the attacks were revealed, Henriette Reker, Mayor of Cologne, suggested that “there’s always the possibility of keeping a certain distance of more than an arm’s length – that is to say to make sure yourself you don’t look to be too close to people who are not known to you, and to whom you don’t have a trusting relationship.” She later stated that women in the city should follow a ‘code of conduct’ including a dress code to prevent further attacks.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the dominant party in the coalition government, under pressure over the slow public acknowledgement of the violence and criticised by far-right parties over the government’s policy supporting large scale (but inadequate) intakes of refugees announced that it will look at quicker mechanisms to deport migrants and asylum seekers guilty of crimes, the government has also made threats that it will reduce its refugee intake.

Thomas de Maizière, the CDU interior minister has called for a review of Germany’s laws around deportation to make it easier to deport individuals (including refugees) convicted of crimes. Currently only attracting prison sentences in excess of three years impact on refugee status.

While this call has been met with opposition from some within the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), the minority partner in the German government. Ralph Stegner, SPD deputy chief, accused de Maizière of knee-jerk opportunism. “We don’t need to change either the basic right to asylum or the Geneva refugee convention to deal with organized criminality by whoever in Germany”. However, other sections of the SPD have engaged in their own anti-refugee rhetoric. Heiko Mass, the SPD justice minister, has stated that those who are applying for asylum can be deported for crimes attracting a one-year prison sentence, while three local chapters of the SPD in Essen have called for blockades against the establishment of refugee centres in the city. The SPD Essen city organisation has distanced itself from these calls.

In the wake of the attacks there have been a raft of changes in Germany. The governing coalition has Bundestag approved new laws providing for the creation identity cards for refugees linked to a centralised data system - these cards will include country of origin and fingerprints and will be accessible by all government agencies. On February 26, passed of new refugee measures including a two year suspension of family reunions for refugees and reducing payments to refugees by €10 and provision for quick asylum decisions for refugees from an expanded list of “safe countries” which now includes Algeria, Morroco, and Tunisia.

Far-Right responseDuring 2014, Germany had seen the emergence and strengthening of a number of hard right and neo-nazi organisations, most notably Pegida (Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes - Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West), a Far-Right organisation established in Dresden in October 2014, which were able to mobilise large regular anti-Muslim protests in a number German cities. These actions peaked with a march of 25,000 in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings in January 2015. These organisations have seized upon the New Year’s Eve attacks as “proof” of the “existential threat” posed by refugees - particularly Muslim, Arab and North African refugees, to German culture and society.

It is important to note that while some of those who are alleged to attacked women have been identified as coming from North African and Arab backgrounds (including some of whom are refugees) others have been German and US citizens. The Far-Right organisations have sought to pose as the “true” protectors of German women. These organisations accuse the local, state and federal governments along with the media and police of engaging in cover up to conceal the “threat posed” by refugees and Islam to German society.

Since New Year’s Eve, in a number of German cities there has been a series of anti-refugee protests and an escalation of physical violence against refugee and migrant communities – including a protest of 2000 people in Leipzig on January 11, which included hundreds of Far-Right activists torching cars and smashing windows and resulted in the arrest of 211 people. On February 6, Pegida, with other European far-right organisations, organised Europe-wide anti-Muslim protests, which they have dubbed “Day of European Patriots”, with the largest protest in Dresden involving between 8000 and 15000 people. Pegida has also sought to use outrage over Cologne to attempt to establish Pegida franchises in a number of countries including Ireland and the Netherlands.

In response to the attempts to use violence of New Year’s Eve to promote anti-refugee and broader islamophobia as mechanisms to “protect women” Laurie Penny argues that the right is seeking to “steal feminism” - however the right are not only not interested in “stealing feminism” they are generally hostile to feminism and it’s liberatory project. Instead they are motivated to mobilise racism - the extent to which the right has a concern for women it is primarily regarding who controls women in society.

Far-Left responseThe German Far-Left has attempted to mobilise around two core issues - opposition to sexism and to anti-refugee sentiments. This has notably occurred at protests organised by feminists, Left and anti-fascist forces in Cologne on January 6 and January 16. These protests have expressed anger both at victim blaming calls for women to modify their behaviour – attempting instead to focus on sexual violence as a problem, and rejecting the Far-Right’s’ claims of caring about women as cynical hypocrisy to cover their racist attacks on refugees and Muslims. The importance of these dual themes have also been a feature of articles published in Australia and England.

While I agree with a need to reject both sexism and anti-refugee racism, many of the articles from the Left have a tendency to give more weight to their anti-racist arguments by downplaying the seriousness of the attacks - reflecting the tendency of sections of the Left towards a cynical hypocrisy when it comes to taking violence towards women seriously. Indeed Angela Klein argues that significant sections of the German left failed to take the attacks on New Year’s Eve seriously. This downplaying is a consequence of the poor understanding of why violence towards women occurs (and a lack of real concern when said violence is an inconvenience when addressing other priorities). Also, much of the Left shares with Far-Right and mainstream political forces an orientalist understanding of non-Western cultures, particularly Islam.

Silke Stockle and Marion Wegscheidher, in an article for the German website Marx 21 (which has been republished by a number of Left-wing Anglophone publications and websites), argue that the mainstream discourse fails to discuss the systematic character of violence against women in Germany and state that the “hundred police officers present at the scene who did nothing to intervene in order to protect the women victims, despite the fact that there was even an undercover policewoman among them, is speaking volumes”. It is undoubtedly the case that the police response to the attacks exacerbated the situation. Angela Klein argues that the police response was deeply flawed in the following ways:

• Despite being aware that something was occurring as early as 9.30 pm, the police failed to seek additional support and, feeling overwhelmed, reportedly departed the square at 11.35 pm, when attacks were still happening and continued through until the early hours of the morning;
• The police responded, if at all, above all to acts of theft. Women reported that the police in case of sexual harassment were merely “watched”. Even a female officer who had been sexually harassed in the crowd got no help from her fellow officers. Angela Klein argues this is consistent with the general behaviour of police and legal authorities in Germany towards sexual harassment, which in Germany is still regarded as a “peccadillo” that is not punished under criminal law;
• There are also reports of women attempting to escape the square being pushed back into it by police.

However, the failure of the police response, which has seen the Cologne Chief of Police take early retirement - while undoubtedly influenced by misogyny and victim blaming attitudes - does not negate or reduce the responsibility of the perpetrators.

Much of the discourse of the Left has positioned the gendered violence in Cologne within the context of the pervasive gendered violence in German and other Western cultures. At one level, this is an extremely important point, combating a tendency to focus on the violence and problems of the “other” to minimise and erase the violence within one’s own culture.

However, in seeking to highlight the problems of sexism within Germany, and Western cultures more broadly, there is a tendency to minimise what occurred in Cologne and other cities. This is done in a number of ways, including:

• Failing to acknowledge that the number of reported attacks have risen and continuing to comment based on the very early figure of 100 complaints to police;
• Making a false distinction between rape and sexual assault and then focusing on the number of reported rapes, effectively ignoring the hundreds of sexual assaults that occurred;
• Making false comparisons to other violence against women in German society, such as at Oktoberfest, to suggest that anger and concern is purely motivated by xenophobia. I argue that these comparisons are false because they do not acknowledge that while sexual violence is a feature of both the Cologne attacks and Oktoberfest, the scale and scope of both the violence and the events are very different. Each year the estimated number of sexual assaults at Oktoberfest is several hundred (of these just 10 to 12 are reported to the police!), at a 16-18 day festival attended by millions of people, which is less than half the number of reported assaults in one square on New Year’s Eve in Cologne);
• Arguing that the violence either did not occur or was perpetrated by other groups of people;

These strategies are problematic for a number of reasons. Most importantly because they demonstrate a clear lack of empathy for the women attacked, whose experiences are being erased. This is also the case for women attacked at events like Oktoberfest, whose experiences are being mobilised to erase the experiences of the women assaulted in Cologne.

Kate Davison writing in Overland, and Ulrich Rippert writing on the World Socialist Website argue the small number of arrests to call into question whether attacks occurred at all. The Huffington Post’s German edition ran an article suggesting that the allegations of violence in Cologne were false rape allegations either consciously or unconsciously prompted by the racist atmosphere in Germany. More recently The Idependent ran an article headlined “Cologne: Three out of 58 men arrested over mass sex attack on New Year's Eve were refugees from Syria or Iraq”.

These arguments are seriously flawed. Whilst it is true that only a small proportion of alleged perpetrators have been charged - this speaks to the difficulty in identifying people in the circumstances of the New Year’s Eve attacks - to suggest that it reflects a broad conspiracy by the German state does not fit the early response of the German state. Tobias Lill in arguing that the allegations reflect false rape allegations - relies on a number of examples women reportedly making false allegations against refugees- however only one of which was associated with the Cologne attacks - out more than 400 allegations (which is consistent with experiences around the world that very few allegations of rape are false). Lill misses the right’s argument - they are not only opposed to refugees but Muslms particularly from North Africa and the Middle East - of whom the refugees fleeing persecution and war are a subset - so arguing that those perpetrating violence were not refugees (which is questionable) will is not sufficient counter the racist fear campaigns being mounted by the right, particularly when they can shout that a significant proportion of those individuals who have been charged from the Cologne attacks (albeit primarily for theft) were from North Africa (25 Algerians, three Tunisians and 21 Moroccans), Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Underlying all of these minimising arguments, is an assumption that if refugees were responsible for violence then it calls into the question the legitimacy of the right to asylum for other refugees. Rather than reject this logic these arguments simply attempt to negate the facts on which the right makes its arguments. Downplaying the seriousness of attacks is a flawed strategy as it not only doesn’t negate the racist arguments - but instead risks alienating anyone who has a genuine concern about the violence and leaves the left in a weakened position in dissuading them from accepting the xenophobic arguments of the right. A far more effective and honest argument is simply to deny the relevance of the actions of some individual refugees when it comes to answering the question of what Germany’s (or any other Western country’s) response should be to address the needs of millions of people currently in need of refuge globally.

Orientalist approach of both the right and far-left
A major factor underlying the attempt to erase and downplay the extent and seriousness of the violence on New Year’s Eve is that much of the Left discourse accepts the racist logic and assumptions of the Far-Right, Right and centrist parties - i.e. that non-Western cultures are homogenous - but the Left reject the Right’s argument that these cultures are universally misogynist and instead argue the opposite: that they are universally unproblematic. In order to sustain this position it is necessary for responsibility for violence to be shifted onto causes other than “culture”:

• Sexual violence that is inherent with capitalism;
• Marginalisation and alienation experienced by refugees;
• The violence being a consequence of the perpetrator’s gender rather than their culture.

All of these perspectives, while making some valid points, are flawed in their own way. It is undoubtedly the case that late capitalism promotes cultural products which objectify women and promote violence against them. However, it is odd to think that a brief exposure to the violence and sexism of German culture would be able to quickly overcome a cultural background that contained no attitudes and values that normalise and legitimise violence against women.

Similarly, while alienation can be an important factor in triggering acts of violence, why would gendered violence manifest in the scale and organised fashion it did on New Year’s Eve? Alienation and disempowerment only make sense if the violence is seen as an antidote to those feelings; or if the targets of the violence are perceived somehow to be responsible for this alienation and thus deserving of punishment.

While gender is undoubtedly a factor in the violence, gender is not culture-free. Indeed, masculinity and femininity - or what it means to be a “man” or a “woman” - are generally viewed as being culturally constructed and not universal characteristics.

Viewing non-Western cultures as homogeneous is a reflection of what Edward Said described as Orientalism. Said also argued that orientalist views of culture see Westerners as being less bound or influenced by their culture than non-Western people. While we may view the right’s orientalist views as being more problematic (as they legitimise violence and war), the left’s Orientalism is also problematic as it erases:

• The agency of women in North Africa and the Middle East, and their supporters, in seeking to transform their society’s attitude towards women;
• The extent to which attitudes towards women within Western cultures are a consequence of feminist struggles;
• The extent to which misogyny and sexism towards women within non-Western countries has been actively promoted by the West.

There are long histories of struggle against sexism within North Africa and the Middle East and the involvement of women in broader liberation struggles. The most notable current example is the contribution and leadership of Kurdish women in the struggle against ISIS in Syria, particularly in the Women’s Protection Units. However, the struggle in the region for women’s rights has deep roots. The Turkish and Egyptian feminist movements date back to the nineteenth century, Turkish women achieved full suffrage in 1934 (this is earlier than in France and prior to the elimination limits to suffrage based on race based exclusions in Australia and the US), with 18 women elected to parliament in the Turkish elections that year (there were not that many women elected to Australian federal parliaments until the mid 1990s). It is also important to note that there were refugees in Cologne’s cathedral square who sought to stop attacks on women, and there have been the protests by refugee communities in Germany against the violence on New Year’s Eve - both of which have received little attention outside of Germany.

Central to arguments that refugees pose a threat to Western societies is the idea that the West has a benevolent attitude towards women, or what Klein refers to as a thin “varnish of a civilized behaviour towards women”. Of course to sustain this position distance must be created between the gendered violence that exists in Western and non-Western cultures themselves. Those who seek to justify the exclusion of refugees based on the “inherently violent” cultures that refugees come from, ignore that Western cultures are themselves highly violent and misogynist. This is reflected in the already too-high level of violence against women in Germany (which at 1 in 7 of German women is lower than the 1 in 5 Australian women who have experienced sexual violence) but also other forms of violence in German society, such as the Far-Right’s recent spate of assassination attempts against politicians, including the attempt on Henriette Reker’s life the day prior to her election as Mayor of Cologne.

White Germans (and white Australians) create distance between themselves and violence which occurs in Western societies. The perpetrators of violence are “othered” so it can be more easily argued that they do not represent the culture of that society. So pick-up artists and neomasculinists who advocate and teach rape tactics are not indictments against Western culture - but instead simply “sad losers” who live in their mother’s basement. Even the violence within institutions such as the police and armed forces are argued away as instances of bad apples or at worst problems with the internal culture of those institutions rather than a reflection of broader problems with western culture.

Whilst most people in Australia (and for that matter Germany) would not publicly agree with the attitudes towards women articulated by MRAs - the National Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women Survey suggests that the vast majority of Australians understand that violence is a crime (96%), and that violence against women is a serious issue (95%). However below this general opposition to violence, lie widespread attitudes and beliefs that justify and legitimate violence, including sexual violence, against women: 1 in 5 Australians think that domestic violence is excusable if a person gets angry or later regrets it; only 59% of surveyed Australians “believe that women rarely make false claims of rape” - meaning that 41% believe that women often make false rape allegations (they don’t). These seemingly contradictory attitudes reflect the existence of both a view, which has been achieved through struggle, that violence towards women is wrong existing along side widespread attitudes that justify and legitimise such violence.

The right’s cynical use of the New Year’s Eve attacks are premised on the idea that “Western attitudes towards women” are somehow more “enlightened” than the supposed “misogynist and patriarchal views” of non-Western countries - and that these attitudes are inherent to the respective cultures. However we should remember that the West’s “enlightenment” is not only superficial (as indicated above, but the gains for women that the idea of enlightenment is premised on, have only relatively recently been achieved through changes in laws (and not necessarily in cultural beliefs). Some of the rights for women, which women in Australia have achieved formally (but are not always able to access due to class and other oppressions) as a result of campaigns over the last 120 years include:

• Ending women’s status as the legal property of their fathers and husbands;
• The right to attend university;
• The right to divorce and gain custody of children (in particular the introduction of no-fault divorce);
• An end to compulsorily dismissal from government jobs upon marriage;
• Criminalising domestic violence and marital rape;
• Increased control of fertility [albeit limited and constantly under legal  threat - particularly for women experiencing additional intersections of oppression];
• Some legal limits on mobilisation of victim blaming in rape prosecutions [most notably shield laws which formally limit the ability of a defence from raising a survivor’s sexual history, but sexist judges may still allow such defences];
• Some restriction in the application of provocation defences which allow men to justify assault and murder on the basis “that their partner provoked them”;
• Legal protections against discrimination in employment.

Western imperialism has played a central role in supporting reactionary misogynist political movements in the Middle East that have undermined the political status of women. The Taliban in Afghanistan emerged as a part of a reactionary counter-revolutionary movement (led primarily by landlords) hostile to the land reforms of the government of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. The Taliban sought to mobilise a broader opposition to the government by harnessing anger at advances in the rights of women. The success of the mujahedeen (from which the Taliban emerged) was made possible by the large scale military and financial support from the West, particularly the US government.

Similarly, the US and other Western government have been hostile to other governments in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries that have advanced the rights of women - as these governments challenged Western interests - whilst propping up thoroughly misogynist regimes such as the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia. The impact of the Western imperialism’s support for misogyny can be seen in the decline in formal and practical rights between the Ba’athist regime in Iraq and the subsequent US protectorates in Iraq (women’s rights had been under assault in Iraq in the decade between the first and second gulf wars).

Hegemonic masculinity

If we recognise that all cultures contain progressive and reactionary characteristics, how can we account for violently misogynist attitudes that permeate society? Hegemonic masculinity is a concept coined by Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell in her 1993 work Masculinities. Rooted in Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, hegemonic masculinities are those masculinities that base themselves on the subordinate position of women in relation to men. Like other hegemonies these masculinities primarily rely on ideas of the superiority to maintain the stability of this dominance. Behind these ideas of superiority is a capacity and willingness to mobilise violence to defend the domination of men.

Implicit in this, is that there is not a singular hegemonic masculinity, but multiple masculinities which have their own concerns regarding threats to their hegemony and how best to respond to these threats.

Anne Summers in her 2003 work The End of Equality argued that the emergence in Australia in the 1990s of various father’s rights groups was a response to gains of women in the Family Court associated with child custody. These groups sought and were successful in weakening the legal gains by women. Summers argued that part of the push back was associated with escalating violence by men towards women - violence which was most clearly articulated in the emergence of the Black Shirt father’s rights group. These developments in Australia continued, and has been seen in other Western countries, with the emergence of Men’s Rights Activism. These ‘activists’ are implacably hostile to feminism and advocate violence against women, asserting such violence exists in the ‘natural order’ of relations between men and women. MRAs simultaneously paint men as experiencing a uniquely ignored victimhood in order to undermine positive action to eradicate violence against women.

The concept of hegemonic masculinity does not explain all violence by men towards women - nor does it deny the existence of gendered violence which is not perpetrated by men against women - however, it argues that much gendered violence can be explained within a framework where men’s violence towards women seeks to maintain, justify and legitimise men’s dominance over women.

The existence of Western hegemonic masculinities supports the logic of the slogans of sections of the German Left which claim that violence against women is not an import into German society - at the same time, German hegemonic masculinity is not the primary cause of the New Year’s Eve attacks and the misogynist aftermath. At the same time there is no escaping that this misogyny (particularly by police and other state agents) did play a driving role in the series of events that followed.

Across the West, we are seeing concerted attacks on refugees, asylum seekers and Muslim communities. These attacks, and the attempts by the Right to justify them based on the individual criminal individual acts by members of these communities, should be rejected totally as a cynical and racist attempts at collective punishment. It is important to fight against the marginalisation of refugees and any policies that seek to limit the rights of refugees to be united with their families. If violence within within our society is to be overcome the actions of the state actions needs to be directed by marginalised sections of the community - particularly the women in these communities. At the same time it is necessary to confront misogyny and violence against women and recognise that gendered violence is a problem in all communities. If we are to live in societies free of gendered violence then the attitudes and values that legitimise and justify that violence must be challenged with a focus on the many hegemonic masculinities in our communities as a priority.

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