by
Sometimes, when people know I was among the many women involved in the Women’s Liberation Movement of the late 1960s and subsequent decades, their assumption is that I must be glad to have Rosie Duffield as the MP for the constituency in which I live.
Not so.
In my view, Rosie Duffield has accrued two major achievements during her tenure. She has contributed to the increased persecution and ridiculing of transgender people and the growth of a cultural environment wherein they are used in ludicrous ‘culture wars’ as scapegoats and easy targets for dishonourable politicians to traduce. Additionally, immediately after being elected in 2017, she eagerly took part in the Labour Party’s undermining of support for the Palestinian quest for justice, supporting the Zionist so-called ‘Jewish Labour Movement’ and Labour Friends of Israel, and backstabbing Jeremy Corbyn—whose popularity had effectively given her the win.
Local people who felt betrayed would suggest that those who participated in the purge of the party and its right-wing shift bear some responsibility for the current terrorising of the Palestinian people in which, as a UN spokesperson has said, ‘the horror surpasses the ability of language to describe it.’ The untrammelled, barbaric ferocity of the Israeli assault on the people, infrastructure and ecology of Gaza and the West Bank piles atrocity upon atrocity daily. The perpetuation of this genocide relies on the complicity of the UK, along with the USA and other players. The Labour Party is as guilty as any other part of the British state in its support for Israel’s settler-colonial racist project. And MPs who are aware of and oppose this are sadly far fewer than those who joined in with the nonsensical campaign of false accusations of antisemitism toward Israel’s critics. This is an age-old, cynical tactic of pro-Israeli forces: a deliberate attempt to suppress the groundswell of support for Palestine, and one which, despite its continued deployment, people have increasingly seen through.
To many voters in the Canterbury and Whitstable area it is not news that Rosie Duffield, despite no discernable expertise or credentials, was not put in place as candidate through any democratic selection, the previous candidate (who had done much to make the seat winnable) having been unceremoniously dispatched by the party hierarchy. Apparently a politically knowledgeable and experienced MP would have been unacceptable. Disillusionment set in pretty quickly for many people after the pleasure afforded by the ousting of the Tory incumbent. For this portion of the electorate, voting for Rosie Duffield would be unconscionable.
It is obvious that for many trans people in this country, life has become increasingly difficult in recent years, with concerted efforts to limit health care provision, for example, and outright denial of the validity of their very existence. Concurrently, feminist activists from the era of campaigning against male violence, changing laws, setting up refuges, etc, who have been committed all our lives to the principle of women’s right to safety, and who also express solidarity with trans people, face the risible insulting accusation of no longer caring about it. Such is the nature of the hostile, polarised atmosphere to which some people contribute while positing themselves as brave outliers against purported threats to this safety. (That the appalling threats, harassment, abuse, or violence that have become commonplace in this ‘debate’ are abhorrent and unacceptable, from any quarter, should go without saying.)
Claiming to simply be concerned with protecting women’s rights, while contributing to the discourse that dehumanises and discredits trans people—e.g. ‘our’ MP re-tweeting the gratuitously spiteful Piers Morgan—is disingenuous at best. Embracing cross-party working—with the likes of Miriam Cates, or Kemi Badenoch? Ditto. Naivete is perhaps involved, yet we see a ‘frightening convergence between anti-trans feminist movements and fascists’ or right-wing elements who uphold patriarchal structures inimical to women’s freedom, as Lola Olufemi says in the current issue of Red Pepper. She calls it ‘a defining struggle’ of our time. We can only wish for our MPs to be aware of this danger and act accordingly.
Rotten System
The kind of feminism I suggest worth supporting never aimed to make a few liberal tweaks to a rotten system to enable female MPs or others in positions of power to claim to be feminists, with only a shallow, self-serving sense of what that actually means. I’d suggest a feminism worthy of the name is more like the transformative, visionary and generous intersectional politics of those such as Angela Y. Davis, long-time supporter of Palestine, who has said ‘the trans community taught us that it is possible to effectively challenge that which is considered the very foundation of our sense of normalcy.’
‘Labour is the party of equality,’ proclaims the leaflet given out at Canterbury Pride. ‘Breaking new ground for LGBT+ rights.’ ‘The next Labour government will … remove indignities for trans people.’ How Labour Party members or representatives can support Pride one day, and the launch of Rosie Duffield’s campaign the next, is a matter for their consciences, and a puzzle to the rest of us. Meanwhile, the farcical aspects of this country’s electoral system are certainly well highlighted in this constituency.
© Frankie Green June 2024
About
Frankie Green lives in Whitstable and has been taking part in various political activities since the 1960s: anti-apartheid movement, the Vietnam war, the Gay Liberation Front, the Women’s Liberation Movement and Palestine Solidarity Campaign. She helps run a feminist music archive and collects stuff on a blog.
More from Frankie Green in Whitstable Views:
Whitstable Views: How You Can Help
- Make sure you share and like our articles on Facebook and Twitter, and whatever other social-media platforms you use.
- Follow the site to get regular updates about new articles when they appear. Press the “Follow” icon in the bottom right hand corner of your screen and that will take you to the option to sign up. (It disappears as you move the text down, then reappears as you move it back up again!)
- Leave comments on the site rather than on Facebook. Let’s get a debate going. All of our contributors are willing to engage with you if you leave a comment.
- To all writers out there, we would LOVE you to make a contribution. Read our submissions page for details on how to go about that: https://whitstableviews.com/submissions/
- Finally you can donate. As little as £1 would help. Details on the donations page here: https://whitstableviews.com/donate/
Whitstable Views 
One Comment