Conference plunged into turmoil over priority 'equity cards' eg trans woman furious a biological woman allowed to go first

[IwantToRetire]

Okay - this is a DM article - so now doubt they have picked on the most extreme instances, but thought it quite funny:

A political conference for Canada's New Democratic Party descended into chaos after progressive activists got into heated arguments over 'equity cards.'

NDP members from across the nation gathered in Winnipeg, the capital of the Manitoba province, over the weekend to elect the party's new leader.
The event was billed as an opportunity for progressive Canadians to 'come together to debate ideas, celebrate our shared values, and help shape the future of our movement,' the NDP convention website said.

But footage from the event revealed frustration among delegates over the alleged misuse of so-called equity cards, colored coded cards that identified a party member as being part of a marginalized group that granted them special privileges.

'Equity' is a woke buzzword that means equality of outcomes. Progressives say that equality, generally taken to mean equal opportunities, can be discriminatory because some minority groups must first overcome disadvantages that others do not have.

One delegate was outraged that she was allegedly skipped in the speaker queue despite having been standing at the podium with her gender equity card.

A transgender woman who argued her 'rights are under attack' claimed it was 'frustrating' that a 'cis gender woman had spoken over me.'
Similarly, a black woman argued that equity cards for women like her 'have no value outside of this space.'

Conference chair Adrienne Smith, who identifies as non-binary, also seemed a bit testy and snapped at a delegate in a keffiyeh after being addressed as 'madame chair.'

Continues at https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15691203/canada-ndp-conference-equity-cards-chaos.html and https://archive.is/NIS2p

(NB I did try to find a news report about the Conference but this is the only one that came up. If anyone has any news about the Conference that says a bit more than this would be interested to know what happened in terms of achieving conference aims!)

That Daily Mail article reads like a Saturday Night Live skit. Especially when you find out that the one in the keffiyeh who got snapped at for misgendering the chair is ALSO non binary.

I despair that this is reality.

Hang on, Naomi Klein's husband is the new leader? For someone who doesn't believe in capitalism, she's got a very entrepreneurial attitude to the family business.

Reading about this on wiki and the nomination rules hurt my brain:

To be nominated, candidates require at least 500 signatures from party members, at least half of which must be from female-identified members and at least 100 from "other equity-seeking groups," including Indigenous people, LGBTQIA2S+ people, persons with disabilities, and visible minorities.

Oh Canada.

Yeah, daily mail and that.

I’d laugh if it wasn’t so worrying that these clowns have inveigled their way into institutions.

Actually what they need to do is have a major conference to compile a thorough list of who trumps who in victimhood. Obviously a straight white male is absolutely at the bottom (sub bottom, really) but who will come out on top? Interesting!

And yet a straight white male is the new leader. Truly, plus ça change,plus c'est la même chose. But agree on the inveigling.

The loony left continue to outdo themselves.

What a bunch of f*cking muppets.

They need to go do some manual labour/shelf stacking/caring jobs for a while and then come back and talk to us about their 'oppression' 🙄

I keep trying to figure out how the Cleese/ Barker / Corbet class sketch would work with intersectionality but I can't compute. I think they'd have to be on moving platforms or a see saw

Unless he wears a she/her badge, in which case he boings straight up into top position.

Tbh, it doesn't sound like it was 'chaos' or 'turmoil' at all. Some people made criticisms of a system and the writer decided that the speaker 'seemed a bit testy' about being misgendered. Maybe they were, maybe that was entirely the writer's projection, but unless you were there you'll never know I guess.

What I do know is the Mail has a vested interest in portraying women and left wing people, and especially left wing women, as silly, petty and hysterical, so I'm calling hyperbole on their description of what happened. Don't get me wrong, as a lefty myself I think leftist people can be daft and nitpicky, but it feels like this Mail report is making mountains out of molehills.

It's like when papers have headline about 'CELEB'S FURY OVER INCIDENT' and it turns out they expressed no more than mild disapproval about something

I didn't read the DM article.

I saw vids on X. The whole thing was ridiculous.

Not in a 'this is chaos' way, but more in a 'this is the kind of nonsense so-called intelligent people are spending their time on' way.

@Echobelly !!! You're not Sonia are you

He's not just any white male, he is a nepo baby. His father was a former leader of the party and his wife is a very famous activist/writer. His family is extremely famous and wealthy (ironically for a party that is supposed to be for the "working-class")

Many such cases!

Cf Britain's poshest communist Alex Kalinicos

Alex makes King Charles look common.

See also Corbyn's former chief of staff Andrew Drummond-Murray of Mastrik, who prefers to just go by "Andrew Murray" when being a man of the people.

There's a surprising number of prominent communists in Debrett's.

I must admit that when I saw who the new leader was, and how the political agenda of the party was presented, whether the Conference wasn't a bit like having a creche at an event.

ie you dont want silly childish behaviour disrupting an adult discussion (allowing that people do have different politcals to one's own) so you allow them to have their very own (irrelevant) play acting at politics and the established norms of party politics carries on.

ie the white male establishment keeps their hold on positions of powers.