AIBU to ask about the rape gang inquiry report? (Content warning - Details of Independent Rape Gang Inquiry)

[RedPoet]

Rape gang inquiry report bit.ly/4uE5odw

It's harrowing

This reporting is concerning me. There is no proof whatsoever that this man was targeting Muslims. He was targeting non white people, deliveroo riders etc. Yes it was a racist attack but it wasn't an attack on the muslim faith, or any particular faith. Edinburgh is very diverse, there are many non Muslim, non white people.
I'm not sure why the police/media/politicians are even bringing Islam into it. They're all falling over themselves very publicly to offer their support to a community that hasn't necessarily even been targeted.

On top of that an asylum seeker committed an almost identical attack 2 months ago in Edinburgh, running around stabbing random people with 2 massive knives. The response couldn't have been more different. No response from any politicians, no police or public support for the local community, and very little reporting.

Not to detract from the actual point of the thread but I think the reporting/response is the kind of the point.

Exactly. And I think it is absolutely disgusting that the PRIME MINISTER, former Director of Public Prosecutions who is so unbelievably scrupulously careful not to say anything to prejudice a trial when he wants to curry favour with the perpetrators supporters actually has sat in judgement on this man already.

While obviously I want him to stand trial as much as I would anyone else who deliberately injured people (apparently not all of the injured were Muslims though), I would not be surprised if this can be used by the defence in his favour.

From what I can see, there are three responses:

• Don't give the report oxygen, it will only encourage Reform/Restore and create riots

• It all happened years ago, some people have been prosecuted, the CPS is opening old files and there's a new inquiry coming: haven't we done enough?

• It's been hyped up / dog whistle racism.

I am so sorry for the girls and this is a massive problem, partly due to the DEI culture and partly due to the fact rape close to decriminalised in this country. Plus the evil bastards that did this chose their victims carefully: girls from chaotic backgrounds that had no one to stand up for them or else had no power.

We need to do better at all levels. If we don't people will stop listening to the authorities and go back to local vigilantism - at which point all bets are off. Either we are a country where the law applies to everyone, or we are not.

If (or when) Andy Burnham becomes PM it won’t make a blind bit of difference, he is actually probably more invested in “creating cohesion” and promoting diversity seeing as he’s from the North West where grooming gangs have been a massive problem for years

Oh that's definitely going to happen. He got quite cagey when he was asked about his stance on the grooming gang report, when he was canvassing in Makefield.

Oh
That's disappointing
Labour really don't care about women at all then

They care that much about women they've never even catapulted one towards leadership.

They are controlled by the unions and the unions despise women.

🎯

It's a Restore UK report that needs treating with a lot of caution. There is a good fact check article here. Rape Gang Inquiry Report.docx – Fact Check – UK Fact Check Politics

The girls testimonies are true. Fuck off trying to downplay what happened to them.

I agree.

It's an absolute disgrace that left-wingers who love to present themselves as caring, compassionate and morally superior, persist in pretending rape gangs are not a thing, or that it's a "far right bandwagon".

Do they think these poor girls and women are making it up for attention? Do they think they pretend they have been abused because they are "far right"?

It is absolutely a thing. Through my work I have met many of these girls and women and I promise they are not making it up. Their accounts of what has and is being done to them are harrowing. No one, adult or child should have to go through it and then the perpetrators not face justice because the government is too craven and self-interested to do the right thing.

To add to their trauma, they are dismissed by police, social workers and others in authority as "slags". Children as young as 12.

Don't imagine it's an historical problem. It's still going on, the perpetrators emboldened by the government's unwillingness to deal with the problem, think they are untouchable. Sadly, they are probably right.

There are a few Labour MPs who have had the courage to try to stand up for these children, but they have been either ignored or punished.

Mostly though, the left is an absolute disgrace on this subject which they have been conspicuously ignoring for over 50 years.

Keir Starmer - they are jumping on a "right-wing" band wagon.

Lucy Powell - dismissing the problem as a "little trumpet" and a "dog whistle".

Bridget Philipson - rolling her eyes at the mention of the abuse children have suffered for decades.

Power is more important to them than doing the right thing.

The Father of a rape gang victim is standing as Restore's candidate for the Manchester mayoral by election.
His daughter Scarlett was abused by 60 men in Manchester.
Hopefully this report will get some airtime during the campaign.

No chance. His loss will be overshadowed by his political ideology. It's all wrong.

Ik, but we can hope. At least it will get a few weeks in the sun, which is more than its getting rn.

Tell you what, I will personally invite you to come and stay at my house, in Rotherham, and we’ll have a mooch about and ask some of the girls who I know, about their testimonies. For tea, we’ll go in one the many many takeaways which these animals still own and we’ll see how you get on when you ask for theirs. We’ll get you in a taxi home with one of the still operating trafficker cabs firms if you like? We’ll have a lovely time. And that way, you can have a proper ‘fact check’.

When a women shuts the door on rapes because she would rather protect the race of her rapist? That's the equivalent of the rape defence advocating the woman asked for it.

When a women shuts the door on rapes because she would rather protect the race of her rapist? That's the equivalent of the rape defence advocating the woman asked for it.

You don't need to, sweetie. I lived and taught in Rotherham for years, I taught students from the whole Rotherham community, worked in the college and got a lot of experience of the entire Pakistani community there, including going into homes to teach English to women.

Yes, many of us were concerned about the attitudes towards women held by some Pakistani men and raised these concerns, and yes, there was at that time among the authorities an attitude of 'We can't go there,' which was deeply disturbing. But I was also very aware - more than you, I suspect Ms Righteous - of the nuances within that community: the parents who were encouraging their daughters to go to good universities and gain degrees that would allow them to follow successful careers, the friendliness of families who wanted to engage (I don't think I have ever eaten so well as when I was invited into the homes). I am still in touch with some of these families and I know they are as horrified by these crimes as anyone. They are also very frightened of the growing racism and violence here, and the way any crime committed by a member of the non-white community is whipped up as an excuse for violence on our streets.

The grooming gangs were and are terrible and we need to split the idea of criticism of this and racism. It is not and never has been racism to accuse men of Pakistani origin of sexual offences against girls and young women. It becomes racist when people are out on the streets shoving burning wheelie bins at police because an immigrant has committed a sexual offence, but there are only a few tutting noises when it's white men.

This report has been compiled by Restore - one of the nastier of the extreme right-wing and racist parties in this country. You can be pretty sure that they doing give a flying ufck about sexual predation on women by whilte men, because they are on the whole, right up there with sexism.

Don't try and teach me about Rotherham. I lived and worked there for decades.

Which report has been compiled by Restore?

Oh I see, because Lowe made sure this inquiry happened, it's not to be taken seriously because of racism. The exact thing he covers in his foreword, as being part of the problem when covering up the scandal @Tekknonan you may have had experiences of teaching nice Muslim families, but that doesn't destract from the findings of a report that should make everybody sit up and finally listen.

Don’t try to teach me about all the ‘good’ you tried to do there. I lived it. You might think you were entering into communities and doing good, what good did you do? I’m ever so pleased you were ‘well fed’ in their homes. So, were me and my friends. At first. You haven't mentioned once, in your word salad, the victims. The ones dealing with the results of your families that fed you so well and want to send their daughters to good schools, just the fear (haha) those communities say they face. So, again, I offer you the opportunity to see the real Rotherham. The one you missed when you walked around with your eyes closed.

@TekknonanAlso, you said you knew about the abuse but when it was mentioned to authorities you were met with ‘we can’t go there’. So, what did you do then? Did you go above the local authorities? To the top? To the national press? What did you do?

No, I didn't say that. I said we were concerned about the attitudes among some young men, and felt that the authorities weren't taking those seriously. We didn't know about the abuse.

What did you do when attitudes towards women and young girls were not being taken seriously? Who did you then feed knowledge of that incompetence on to? Was it just concern you displayed or was there any action on your part?

I was at TRC in the early 2000s. Was that the college you taught at? Because, they absolutely did know what abuse some girls had been subjected to.