An affront to feminist principles

[Imnobody4]

Students at LSE last night tried to cancel an event about the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7.

This is an affront to the universal ideals of feminism. @polblonde👇
https://x.com/unherd/status/1979159255686005071?t=l3rZvQqTGl0pW_5W00DMDg&s=19

Students at the London School of Economics (LSE) have tried to cancel a private meeting to discuss sexual violence committed by Hamas during the October 7 attacks of 2023. The event went ahead last night with a heavy police presence as pro-Palestinian protesters chanted anti-Israel slogans outside the building. Inside, an Israeli lawyer spoke about the problem of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in several countries where women have been targeted by mass rape and other kinds of sexual assault.Notably, one of the organisations calling for the meeting to be cancelled was a feminist society at the university. In an “open letter to LSE management”, they demanded that the “egregious” event shouldn’t be allowed to go ahead, claiming that it ignored “concerns expressed by experts and LSE staff”.This fits right in with the Filia thread. I am just disgusted.

I think this sounds awful. And for students to try to stop a discussion about the weaponising of raope and murder of women, as an act of war, is appalling. They should be forced to sit and read Brownmiller, Against Our Will.

But:

This fits right in with the FiLIA thread. I am just disgusted.

The expression of pro-Palestinian views, and the intrusion of such views into the opening assembly of FiLIA was nothing like this. I was there, and it was nothing like the description of the crowd at the LSE (I wasn't at the LSE) - although there were some nasty, weedy TRAs outside the FILIA venue, trying very ineffectively to stop us from entering the building.

It’s awful but plus ca change.

Women never count, if counting them contrasicrs any wider political movement that involves men.

What so called progressive men deems important always has hand maidens ready to support them.

This is especially so in war and international relations - what happens to women is always secondary.

Supposedly the FiLiA CEO invited and paid for the two Maoist Americans who have written and were selling antisemitic pro Hamas, pro-resistance material to come.
That's pretty awful.

You don't think the pro Palestine rhetoric and complete absence of any condemnation of the Oct 7th attack from the stage is the same.
Palestinian women count, Jewish women don't.

https://x.com/HeidiBachram/status/1978846065097949396?t=mHIghvb42c_rH_NFesrjnw&s=19

This is something I spoke about at the @FiLiA_charity fringe event. The reality of rape on October 7 is being shut down by accusations of racism. This is the most grotesque way to silence victims. Unforgivable.

That was a fringe event, not the FiLIA conference.

The incidents at the conference were hugely problematic, but the conference was not a shouting cesspit of pro-Palestininan anti-Semites in the way the attempt to shut down the LSE event appears to have been.

The conference had over 2,000 delegates, probably over a 100 speakers (I couldn't count them all) and 40 stalls in the exhibition area.

I have no truck for Hamas - they are murderous scum terrorists, and if I were an Israeli, I'd trust a Palestinian as far as I could throw him, but I also have to accept that those with pro-Palestinian views have the right to express them.

And I don't like the way that the FiLIA conference is being tarred with the violent tactics of the pro-Palestinian anti-Semites. Yes, apparently they were there (I didn't see/hear anything in the sessions I attended) but they did not dominate the conference.

Where is this quote from.

The only provided is twitter, which most people dont use.

Is there an actual article or new report.

I think it's these absolutist statements that try to force team support or lack of it for a very different political cause that are the antitheses of feminism.

Of course you can be pro-Palestine without hating Jews. Quite a lot of Jews are.

For those who dont want to comment on a tweet they cant even read online, I have found the article.

https://unherd.com/newsroom/palestine-protesters-disrupt-lse-sexual-violence-event/

can be read in full at https://archive.is/GMrLA

I am still astonished by how many people don’t know really anything about what happened on 7th October. I’m sure I’m not as well-informed as I should be, but so many people are completely ignorant. Of course the BBC, and much of the main stream media won’t report the details because, let’s face it, it is so horrific (or at least that’s their excuse). The UN took weeks to confirm there was any sexual violence, despite extensive evidence. Here, again, protestors want to stop any discussion of the actual events, stop people understanding what happened

Meanwhile there are women demonstrating at pro-Palestinian marches declaring that they support Hamas. 😱

I get where you’re coming from, but I don’t think that it’s such an absolute binary opposite. There is a strong Islamic feminist movement, and I’d imagine that Islamic feminists are probably pretty much pro-Palestinian. Feminism isn’t the preserve of the West.

Hamas are murderous terrorist scum, and they used rape as a weapon of war on October 7th. But I think we can actually separate out jihadist murderous Islamism from a desire for self-determination.

Personally, I think that the idea that the Palestinians will be satisfied when they have their own state is a Pollyanna-ish naive hope over the historical record, but I also think we need to recognise multiple points of view.

What? No one would describe me as pro_Palestinian I don't think, but this is just silly. People can be feminists and pro-Palestinian, pro-Israeli, massive Zionists, or think they all need to go jump in the lake.

Astonishingly awful behaviour. I can’t fathom the minds of these people. How could anyone justify to themselves protesting against a private discussion of rapes that occurred during conflict.

Not a happy thought, but a prime example of student politics.

Admittedly only a minority, and bad enough that they are showing off to each other like this, without thought for the impact they might have, but that some of them will go on to becoming adult members of society and will continue to behave like this.

Both IRL and on SM.

They are always with us.

But what kind of mental gymnastics would you have to perform to believe yourself the good guy in this scenario? It’s unfathomable. Surely there’s a line where student politics is no longer the explanation but the excuse.

I really hope they come to regret this moment, but I worry you’re right.

Because violence against women isn't important.

Rape as a weapon of war is still not widely condemned.

If those in power dont, why would brain dead students lost in the their tiny world of student politics be any more women's rights aware.

The wider context to all of this is the patriarchy and male values are still the primary default position in most countries, whether so call advanced western cultures or any other.