{"id":43,"date":"2019-12-02T16:55:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T16:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/?page_id=43"},"modified":"2024-02-04T12:14:40","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T12:14:40","slug":"open-letter","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/?page_id=43","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\/\/ <em>This letter was distributed in printed form to about 50 people in Birmingham in the summer of 2015.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\/\/ <em>Trigger warning: the letter contains explicit references to sexualised violence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Open letter from a victim of sexualized violence and her support group<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>We are writing this open letter to inform you\nabout events of rape and sexual abuse that have taken place in the\nBirmingham political circles. Our aims with this are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li> to empower the person who was raped to speak up, <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li> to make these events known and talk about sexualized violence without taboo, <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li> to initiate a process that discusses the structures that allowed this to happen, ways of responding to it and means of preventing it in future <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li> create a supportive atmosphere for all victims and survivors of sexualized violence and <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li> to force the perpetrator to take responsibility for what he has done and prevent future abuse. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We are a group of people who became active when\nthe victim decided to share her experience with political and\npersonal friends. This was after a case of sexual violence was made\npublic in the left scene she is now part of and which gave her the\nconfidence to be open about her experience. Together we decided to\ninform more people about what happened and this letter is the result\nof a process we have had with a smaller group of people in Birmingham\nand the perpetrator. Please read this letter, take your time to think\nabout it, share it and discuss its content with other people from the\npolitical and social circle, but do not make this letter or its\ncontent public online nor share it with people outside the relevant\ncircles or people you do not trust to act according to the aims of\nthis letter. Our interest is a left scene in\nBirmingham that is able to engage in an emancipatory struggle with\nsociety, but also within itself. A general guideline for what\nwe mean by relevant is: everyone who knows the perpetrator or the\nperson he raped, people who are or were involved in the social and\/or\npolitical circles or people who are interested in working towards the\nsame goals as stated above. We cannot and do not want to decide this\non an individual level from afar and hence will leave this up to you.\nWe also want you to protect the privacy of the victim by not\nidentifying her or the perpetrator publicly. Additionally we would\nask you to refrain from putting this letter up on the Internet, as\nwell as talking about the rape or the people involved on facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>A brief chronology<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the beginning of 2012, X, a central character\nin the Birmingham political circle, raped his then girlfriend and\ncontinuously violated her sexual self-determination over a period of\nseveral months. He exploited the situation of her being dependent on\nother people&#8217;s help after an accident that partly immobilized her at\nthe time. To state clearly how we use the word rape: X ignored her\nexplicit verbal rejection as well as her physical resistance to sex\nmultiple times, while she was doing rehabilitation and when they\nlived together over the summer. He was confronted with this during\nthe relationship, but the violence and abuse continued over the\nsummer until she moved away from Birmingham in autumn 2012. The\nviolence went unnoticed and unmentioned and part of why we are\nwriting to you is to discuss what circumstances led to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Our approach<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To us it is very important that\nX is not at the centre of the political process. There is a tendency\nin debates about sexualised violence to focus too much on the\nquestion of how to deal with the perpetrator. We think this can\ndistract from looking after those who are directly or indirectly\naffected by his behaviour and organising support for each other in\nthe process. Instead, we think a process about sexualised violence\nshould take on the perspective of the victim. This means for us to\nunderstand that being raped is often an individualised experience of\npowerlessness. The taboo around the topic further makes it harder to\ndeal with this experience as it suggests that it is something to be\nashamed of or something too difficult to deal with. This is why we\nthink encouraging victims to be open about their experience can be\nvery empowering by making it clear that this is not an individual\nproblem, that it is nothing to be ashamed of and that it is something\npeople are willing and able to engage with. Empowering victims to\ntalk about their experience also helps to share the responsibility of\nfinding a response to these acts of violence instead of leaving\nvictims alone in trying to find a way of dealing with it. Taking on\nthe victim&#8217;s perspective for us also means to recognise that in this\ncase, and also in many other cases, it is the victim who silently\nretreats from political activity while the perpetrator stays on. We\nsee this as one of the reasons why people are much more concerned\nabout the effect that an open debate will have on the perpetrator,\ninstead of asking what support can be offered to the victim or other\npeople affected by sexualised violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the past months of the process, many people initially\nreacted by expressing their fears that there would be a witch hunt\nagainst the perpetrator, or that the process would become one of\npunishing or shaming him. While we share these concerns in general,\nwe also see a problem in addressing them to a victim making her\nexperience of rape public. Firstly, we think it is important to see\nthis letter and the reactions to it as a reaction to the\nperpetrator&#8217;s violence and that the situation we have to deal with\nnow has been created by him and not by the person speaking up.\nSecondly, we think it is extremely important that everyone who gets\ntold about a case of sexualized violence takes responsibility for how\nthey react to this information. The silence of a victim cannot be\nseen as the condition that people behave reasonably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We decided to\nwrite the letter with an &#8216;X&#8217; instead of the perpetrator&#8217;s name, since\nwe want to protect the victim&#8217;s as well as the perpetrator&#8217;s identity\nfrom the public sphere, the internet and hostile groups.\nNevertheless, we also think that there are good reasons to name and\nidentify a rapist in discussions and want to encourage you to do so.\nThis is not to punish or shame him but because we think that\nmaking rape and sexualised violence an unsayable thing is part of the\nstructures that make it impossible for victims to talk about it, seek\nhelp, and break out of their situation. What&#8217;s relevant for victims\nis also for rapists: as, if they can be relatively sure that their\nactions can never be talked about publicly, they can feel safe and\nunquestioned. To change this seems more important to us than to fully\nprotect the perpetrator&#8217;s identity. It is up to you to use the\ninformation about the perpetrator&#8217;s violence responsibly, so that\nother victims will feel encouraged to talk about their experience in\nthe future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While\nwe see the responsibility for the acts of violence to lie with the\nperpetrator, we think a political process around rape should focus on\nstructures that enable it rather than on the perpetrator as an\nindividual to be punished and\/or rehabilitated. For us this means to\nsee his acts of violence not as individual acts but linked to his\nbehaviour more generally and understand them in the context of the\npolitical group he and the victim were involved in, and society more\nbroadly. We feel that his\ncentral position in the group gave him the chance to remain\nunchallenged and unquestioned and thereby normalised his abusive\nbehaviour. We see internal\nhierarchies, authority and dependencies as relevant factors of\nabusive behaviour both in this case and in political groups more\ngenerally; and think there needs to be a broad discussion that also\nreaches those people at the \u201cloose ends\u201d of our communities and\ngroups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From\nour perspective, X was further able to exploit a culture of keeping\nthe political and the private separate, and one where asking for help\nand taking care of each other was unusual and hard. It was seen to be\na distraction from the political fight of the group and\nrather being delegated to private relationships. Statements\nby the perpetrator that sex with his girlfriend boosted his\nself-esteem or made him \u201cfeel more manly\u201d and his suggestions\nthat keeping him well could be her \u201cnew role\u201d in the movement\nafter her accident, bring up issues of sexism in our relationships\nand political organizing. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nthe case we are writing about, the victim felt isolated and dependent\non the perpetrator due to the long hospitalization, rehabilitation\nand limited mobility while staying in Birmingham. We\ndecided to tell you this in order to show how other dimensions of\noppression, such as ableism, should not be ignored when discussing\nsexualised violence as well as access and self-determined behaviour\nin our political and social contexts. However, despite the importance\nof structural oppression we do not want to encourage the profiling of\nvictims: A victim becomes a victim, because there is a perpetrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>The perpetrator<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have included a large section of the\nletter discussing how we think the perpetrator should be dealt with;\nhowever this does not mean that we intend this to be a focus for\ndiscussions. Rather we have included this here because we hope that\nit will answer some of the questions people may have, and so reduce\nthe amount of time that is spent on this topic during meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>X was confronted with his\nbehaviour during the relationship,\nas well as afterwards but he was reluctant to recall his acts of\nsexualised violence. He further\ndid not seek help to deal with what he had done. He continued to be\ninvolved in politics and also entered a new sexual relationship,\nwhich increased the isolation and fear of his victim to tell others\nabout her experience. For the past 4 months we have been in\ncontact with the perpetrator via Email to ask him what he understands\nabout his actions and what steps he has taken in order to change. We\nformulated some demands towards him that we see necessary in order\nfor him to take responsibility for what he has done;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>1. Seek critical help to recall and understand what he has done in order to change<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We believe that taking responsibility for his actions must involve\nhim recalling and understanding his acts of violence. This is why we\ndemanded of him &#8211; and provided him with some contact information &#8211; to\nseek competent and critical help to do perpetrator work with him. At\nthe time of writing this, he still claims to not recall his acts of\nviolence. Considering his actions and the verbal and physical\nresistance of the victim, we think this is very unlikely and\notherwise a serious problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>2. Inform any new political environment and sexual partners\nabout his abusive behaviour<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also believe that a perpetrator has the responsibility to make\nhis past transparent to the people around him. This for us concerns\nany future sexual partners, but also people he works with\npolitically. This is not to punish him but so that they can \u2013 on\nthe basis of that information and his way of dealing with it \u2013\ndecide for themselves in what ways they trust him. As we see his acts\nof violence not as single events but also linked to abusive\ntendencies in the way he does politics and further believe that it\nwas his powerful position within political groups that allowed him to\nget away with it, we think it is important that if he wants to\ncontinue doing politics, the people around him are informed. This\nincludes not just the leaders of political groups, but especially\nthose who are not in the center of decisions, in less central and\npowerful positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>3. Stay accountable to us and a contact group<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We think it is important that X cannot run away from his\nresponsibilities by changing political group, city or friends. For\nthe moment being, we are in contact with him and will continue to do\nso over the next few months in order to allow the discussions in\nBirmingham to not focus on this task. In the future, we hope to\nestablish a contact group in England to take over and discuss with\nhim the steps he is taking in response to our demands and beyond. We\nthink this group should be formed by people who are no close friends\nof X but willing to be part of this process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, we do not want to take any position or\nmake judgments regarding your personal relationship with X. From our\nside we don&#8217;t see the necessity of anyone cutting ties with him\npolitically or personally. However, we do understand that some people\nwill have their own good reasons for this. We also want to make\nexplicit at this point that we respect his current girlfriend&#8217;s\ndecision to stay in a relationship with him and have also been in\ncontact with her over the past months. While their positions within\nthis political process are of course not unquestionable, we think\nthat his friends and especially his girlfriend should not be\ncriticized for their relationship with X. We think it is good if\npeople who decide to stay in contact with the perpetrator confront\nhim with his actions and do not spare out the topic. At the same time\nwe ask you, when you talk to X, to always consider that what you hear\nis only his perspective and to respect the privacy of the person he\nraped by not allowing him to talk about her, but to focus on him\ninstead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Ideas for the process in Birmingham<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we said above, we think a process in Birmingham would ideally\nnot focus on X, but instead take on the perspective of the victim,\nsupport the people affected and focus on the structural conditions\nthat allowed this to happen. We wish to see an open, supportive and\nreflective process about the rape and abuse that took place, about\nviolence-supporting structures and about how they can be overcome. We\nwish to change the situation in Birmingham such that the victim can\nfeel comfortable to visit Birmingham, talk with others freely about\nwhat happened and find support instead of isolation. Beyond this, we\nalso hope that the process around this particular case can help more\ngenerally to detect and prevent future patterns of abuse and\nsexualized violence; and create a culture of awareness and structures\nof support and empowerment for victims and survivors of sexual abuse,\ninstead of taboo, silence and the expectation to deal with these\nproblems individually instead of collectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To achieve these aims, we think it is important to focus on\norganizing a collective process in Birmingham that does not leave\nindividuals feeling helpless, frustrated or overburdened with finding\na response to all of this. Such a process could take on many forms to\nbe sure. As a first step we encourage you to hold a meeting in order\nto talk through the letter in detail, clarify or raise questions, and\nagree on further meetings and steps that you want to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regarding the long-term aims of this process,\nwe think there are (at least) three central questions to be discussed\nin Birmingham;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>1. What factors in the social and\npolitical context support abusive and exploitive behaviour?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>2. What factors prevent victims from\nsharing their experience, asking for support, or leaving the\nthreatening situation they are in?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>3.\nWhat structures need to be built up in order to prevent future\nincidents of sexualised violence and to support and empower people\nwho were sexually violated?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We think it would be very helpful to offer a framework in which\npeople who want to further engage with the topic can do that in order\nto sustainably raise awareness in the Birmingham political group. In\nterms of questions of power, violence and dependency structures and\nhow these can be countered collectively. The debate could for example\nencompass how to create a support group that victims can turn to,\nwhat dynamics victims are confronted with when they start talking\nabout their experiences of sexualised\nviolence, how hierarchical structures in the group can be made\ntransparent and eased out, how dependencies can be dealt with\ncollectively, or what could help people to see violence and start\nasking about it. This is however only a list of topics we came up\nwith without knowing the current situation in Birmingham, so we hope\nyou adjust and add to it from your own perspective and experience. We\nare aware that this is a very challenging topic for many and want to\npoint out that often it can be useful to get external support (e.g.\nin form of workshops or training) from people who have more\nexperience with this. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While we ourselves do not wish to become major actors in the process in Birmingham, we would like to be kept updated about what is going on. We would appreciate if you could send us a brief summary of your meeting(s). Our group is going to meet regularly (every 2-3 weeks) until the end of the year and we are happy to answer questions or try to give advice in that time. While after 2015 we might not be able to respond to emails anymore, we will still read them and maybe will write up a summary about how we experienced the reactions. You can contact us via this email address: <a href=\"mailto:against_rape@riseup.net\">against_rape@riseup.net<\/a>. We can also forward private messages to the victim if you indicate this in your email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>************************************************************************<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Naming the perpetrator &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the original letter we decided against naming the perpetrator because we feared that people would attack us for naming him and take his side because they would judge it as an act of punishment. Thus, we decided to not name him not only to protect the well-being of the victim, but also because we didn\u2019t want a potential controversy around naming him to divert attention away from constituting a community accountability process in Birmingham. Finally, we believed that by informing his social environment, demanding him to inform any future partners and comrades himself as well as establishing a contact group to hold him accountable, we had provided enough information to prevent future abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, five years later the attempt to hold him accountable has failed. Whilst we initially believed that despite him moving to London just after some of the people close to him in Birmingham were informed about him having comitted sexual violence, there would be enough structures to hold him accountable, this is now not longer the case. Whilst never meaningfully committing to a process of accountability, he has now stopped engaging in any way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have therefore decided to name Edward B. so people around him can make informed decisions with regards to him.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>How to use the name<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We want to stress that this webpage is created in order to make available resources that show some different ways for people and groups that are affected by the direct and indirect impacts of sexual violence. Sadly, in the course of this and other experiences with perpetrators of sexual violence, we have to recognise that it is very difficult to get commitment from a perpetrator to work towards a stance of accepting the violence they have committed and the harm they have done. We do not want Edd\u2019s name to be spread around as gossip in isolation from the perspective that is put forward on this website. We want everyone who knows about the abuse to have read the victim\u2019s perspective that is set out in these letters, so if you are sharing this information we ask you to share it together with this website and to encourage a critical engagement with the content and process around the sexual violence he committed and sexual violence in general. We do not demand that people who have a relationship with Edd cut off all contact with him, but we do think the social and political environment around perpetrators have a responsibility to hold them accountable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have the following aims for adding Edd\u2019s name to this website and we want people to use the information for these reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Prevent future abuse<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the perpetrator has not met any of the demands and is unwilling to do so, we have no trust that we can rely on him or his social environment to prevent future abuse. Knowing about the fact that he has raped someone and failed to even recognise \u2013 let alone take responsibility for &#8211; his acts of violence, we did not want to take any risk that he would do this again to anyone. Surely we will not reach everyone with this website, but it is the most we can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We considered leaving this website anonymous and only naming him in emails that we send out to groups and organisations in the left scene. However we feared that we would thereby reproduce informal hierarchies by providing this information to the \u2018inner circles\u201d of the left wing scene and leaving those in the \u2018outer circles\u2019 or anyone joining new, in a vulnerable position. We publish his name here to allow as many people as possible to reflect on and make an informed decision about their relationship with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Stop the silencing<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking up about sexualised violence is a big part of the battle against this form of abuse. We believe that victims have a right (but not a duty!) to name their abusers and should not face repercussions if they do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also feel that speaking about sexualised violence in an abstract and impersonal way often contributes to making all the cases invisible that happen in our peer-groups and political organisations. In theory many people would agree with a victim centred approach that aims to empower those who have been abused. But we have learned in this process that when it comes to the point where a friend or comrade has committed rape, too many people fail to apply such a feminist perspective and instead often take the perpetrator\u2019s side. The reasons for this vary from not wanting to admit this due to a feeling of guilt, to the fear of losing an important friend, to preserving stability and one\u2019s own position of power within groups. We hope that naming Edd will help to confront the reality that rapists are not only strangers and to encourage the uncomfortable debates about how we deal with cases of sexualised violence in our own social and political circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Demands<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As is set out in the report from the contact group, Edd did not do any of the three demands that were requested of him by the victim (set out in the letter above)*. In our view these demands are a very small thing to ask of someone who has perpetrated such an extreme harm, and yet Edd has up till now refused to do any of them. We don\u2019t think that people need to cut off contact with Edd, but that anyone who does maintain contact with perpetrators of sexual violence has a responsibility to the victim.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We still think that the demands of the original open letter are all still relevant and that those around Edd can and should make him do them.&nbsp; In the current context we ask those around Edd to make sure that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>1. Edd goes to a perpetrator programme &#8211; the demand from the original letter is still valid and Edd should attend a perpetrator group. This was discussed with Edd extensively and a suitable programme was identified. However, Edd refused because he felt he was somehow different to the other men in the programme.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>2.&nbsp; Edd takes responsibility for what he has done &#8211; this means to hold up the victim\u2019s perspective and to challenge him on what he has done. Throughout the contact with Edd he never took responsibility for his actions but always <a href=\"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/?p=59\">portrayed himself as a victim of his circumstances<\/a>. Until perpetrators recognise their choice and responsibility for their actions they cannot truly change.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>3. We still think that Edd has a responsibility to inform his sexual partners and his political environment about what he has done by providing them with the information from and a link to this website. This website will not reach everyone and people have a right to make an informed decision about how they relate to him.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>4. Edd stays accountable to the victim or their representatives if required. The contact group will no longer be working, however Edd still has an ongoing responsibility to reply to contact from the victim or their representatives in the future.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Finally, we want to stress that any victim has the right to protect their identity and want you to support their will of remaining anonymous.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here you find the conclusion of the perpetrator contact group: <a href=\"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/?p=59\">https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/?p=59<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*<strong> Update concerning the perpetrator &#8211; August 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By now the perpetrator has applied to different perpetrator programs in the UK. In 2020 he applied to Everyman (https:\/\/justiceinnovation.org\/project\/everyman-project) and to DVIP (https:\/\/dvip.org\/). The application was confirmed via mail by the people reading this website&#8217;s e-mail. Apart from that the perpetrator did the STOPSO programm (https:\/\/stopso.org.uk\/) from June to December 2022.<br>He has written occasional e-mails to this website&#8217;s address since 2020 and continues giving updates about his steps. However, we can not judge his progress or reflections. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\/\/ This letter was distributed in printed form to about 50 people in Birmingham in the summer of 2015. \/\/ Trigger warning: the letter contains explicit references to sexualised violence. Open letter from a victim of sexualized violence and her support group We are writing this open letter to inform you about events of rape [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":555,"href":"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions\/555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commacct.uber.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}