To think trying to close down a library/archive because you don't like a event is just not on

[thecraftyfox]

Yes, it's trans related. If that gets your hackles up, stop reading now.

The small but very important Working Class Movement Library in Salford has been around for ages and does what it does brilliantly on a teeny budget and wth predominantly volunteers. It's such a valuable resource for historians and well, anybody interested in things like the Suffragettes, the Union movement etc.

In February they're hosting a talk by Julie Bindel on growing up and coming out as a lesbian in 1970s North East England. Julie Bindel wrote this article in 2004 which states that transwomen are not the same as women. www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jan/31/gender.weekend7 Since then she has been harrassed and hounded for it.

As a result the WCML is being bombarded online by transactivists in an attempt to punish them. They are giving them dreadful reviews despite never going there, attempting to cause financial damage by trying to stop funding and promotion of the place and getting people to call them. If you don't like it, don't attend. The talk is not about transpeople, it's about Julie's life and work which has been enormously important for many women, especially her work with women who have been abused. I can't understand why a small library can't host this event without being subjected to such vitriol and harrassment. Am I being unreasonable to think that if you don't like what somebody writes or says, you don't start a campaign of harrassment and act like a spoilt child. www.facebook.com/wcmlibrary/ the comments and posts are just unbelievably spiteful.

I haven't read the article. I know nothing about Julie Bindel. Smear campaigns whatever the cause are incredibly immature. It is awful that your library is getting targeted.

Why do they think it's acceptable to behave like terrorists, bullying and harassing people who want fair discussion of an issue that interests them?
Their behaviour disgusts me.

I imagine that libraries keep books I wouldn't agree with. So what? Yanbu.

YANBU. That's awful.

YANBU at all. Seriously unpleasant behaviour to harass this library.

That's dreadful. Although not surprising.

Is there a petition?

I can't stand Julie Bindel, nasty woman who really has it in for trans people. That said of course the library should not be shut because they hosted a talk by her. If what she said constitutes hate speech they should make a complaint or have a representative from the trans community also make a speech there, certainly not shut down a very useful resource.

Many of those supporting the library and Bindel have been openly threatened with violence, including rape and death.

Ironically, at the same time they claim that allowing Bindel to speak is "literal violence".

So messed up.

That's awful OP. The irony of course, is that while they want to be recognised as women, they seem to go about it by behaving like a bunch of nasty, misogynistic bullies.

wcml.org.uk/shopping-basket/

You can donate to the library here.

Am I being unreasonable to think that if you don't like what somebody writes or says, you don't start a campaign of harrassment and act like a spoilt child

thecraftyfox

You are not being unreasonable

I may not like what you have to say

but I will defend to the death your right to say it

Voltaire

Please can people start putting 'trans' in titles?

I'm not 'anti-trans' but this sort of shit makes it really fucking hard. Especially given that some of the more extreme trans activist rhetoric calls for what can only be described as corrective rape. Lady, you ain't no sister.

I read through the fb comments, and it really annoys me that young people seem to be so liberal on one hand 'everyone is equal, we dont care about your gender /sexuality' etc. But on the other hand as soon as anyone says anything they dont agree with they want them closed down. Not much tolerance there?!

Also, one of the people on there banging on about marginalisation and words being violence etc identifies as 'pansexual agender'. Yet is a female in a relationship with a male. So to the entire world she presents as a straight white woman in a relationship with a straight white male. So what challenges does she face? None! But shes happy to shut down people who have actually faced discrimination, as she doesnt agree with them.

But then she also commented 'genitalia have no link to sex or gender' so.......

That's awful.

It reminds me a bit of the dames on the run thing.
when you don't agree with somebody then you should challenge them.

I actually support trans people's rights. But I think so often the trans movement is at the cost of 'cis' women and girl. And some (certainly not all! But a vocal minority) of them seem to get genuinely vindictive and revel in this harm caused...

Anyhow, some bookshops sell bibles and other religious texts. should I try to shut those down? Of course not!!!!

Btw:

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Such a smart woman... !!

'Genitals have no link to sex or gender'... try telling that to girls subject to forced genital mutilation. There's some real class and cultural privilege at play here, and they can't even see it.

ExitPursued.... yes there is a petition in support of the library. Here it is.

www.change.org/p/working-class-movement-library-support-the-working-class-movement-library

That link takes you to the donation page.

If you don't want to donate but still support, you can join the WCML FB page or just sign up to their e-bulletin instead here

Plonit's link does take you to the petition.

Personally, I agree with you and with the author of the article and think it's a shame the event is being hounded.

However, I can see why they are doing it. In their eyes it is the same as criticising/campaigning against a library that is hosting a talk by a published racist or misogynist author. I think they're wrong to see discrimination. But if you see it, you act against it, right?

Can't stand Julie Bindel. Think she's entirely wrong on trans issues. Think this behaviour is appalling and the library shouldn't be treated in this way.

I hope the OP would be equally passionate if the library invited Nick Griffin or Nigel Farage to speak though.

I don't agree with nick griffin. That doesnt mean i have the right to stop him speaking.

I dont believe in religion. That doesnt give me the right to close churches.

I dont believe in lots of stuff. But im not up my own arse, and dont believe that my opinion is more important than others

Such a smart woman... !!

In 1919 Evelyn Beatrice Hall revisited this topic when she published a collection of letters from Voltaire which she had translated and edited. She included an instance of the well-known saying, but she did not assign the words to Voltaire. Instead, she labelled the expression a “Voltairean principle”, and she placed it within her own commentary about the relationship between Voltaire and Helvétius.

quoteinvestigator.com/2015/06/01/defend-say/