Last weekend saw a rally organised by the group ‘Let Women Speak’ in Carlisle Park, Morpeth. Driving past you could see a number of mainly women wearing what looked like the suffragette colours of green, purple, and white. You could also note a fairly large counter-demonstration. What was this all about? What was the demonstration and what was the counter-demo?
Let Women Speak
Let Women Speak (LWS) is “a global movement that creates space for women to centre women”, as its website says. So far so good. It goes on to explain further, that the focus is on the word “women” and that the purpose of the campaign is to “raise funds in order to promote the fight back against this global assault of women”.
Reading further, and listening to some of the speeches, it becomes clear that what is seen as the global assault is all about the acceptance of trans women. This seemed to be the main focus of the speeches, some of which were deeply personal and anecdotal.
The audience was encouraged to join in with statements such as:
“No woman has a penis” and “No man has a vagina” and
“There’s no such thing as non-binary”.
Throughout the rally there were many references to the counter-demonstration that were negative, perhaps unsurprisingly, and even fairly aggressive.
After the rally there were some sharing of views between some in LWS and counter-protestors. Some of this became quite heated, and some of the counter-protestors felt targeted, and even bullied.
The counter-demonstration
The counter-demonstration, of around 20 was peaceful, but vocal. What prompted people to join in?
One woman told me:
“Morpeth is the proud home of Emily Davidson, a suffragette who died beneath the hooves of the King’s horse when trying to attach suffragette colours. The leaflet promoting the ‘Let Women Speak’ event, which was delivered through my door, seemed to suggest an ideological link. On reading, however, I could see that the promoters of the event were pushing a strong anti- trans agenda. I went down initially with the idea of having my turn with the mic, and voicing my concerns. However, when I got there and saw the large police presence and the noisy but peaceful counter demonstration, I left”.
Northumbria IWW joined the counter-protest. A spokesperson commented:
“Members of Northumbria IWW were proud to join the organisers of the counterprotest against the transphobic LWS organisation in Morpeth on 13 October. These groups have proven links with the far right. As workers, trade unionists and feminists, we’re proud to combat their attempts to normalise hatred. We were glad that on this trip to the North East, they managed to avoid publicly quoting Mein Kampf, but we’d want to set the bar a little higher than that.
“We’re extremely grateful to the varied crowd, especially to the other locals and the families who stood with us, none of whom deserved the abuse and bullying they later faced online by LWS members. The motto of our trade union is ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’. Trans people in this country are facing appalling discrimination, including in the workplace, and all of us need to play our parts in building a strong movement that counters the transphobic and reactionary narrative peddled by groups like this. Solidarity forever!”
Conclusion
Does ‘Let Women Speak’ speak for all women?
On the face of it LWS is trying to be a voice for women, but it became clear from the group’s website and the speeches that this is only in a narrow and restrictive way. Trans women are clearly not included, nor are any women with more open and liberal views.
I therefore have to come to the conclusion that LWS does not speak for, or even attempt to speak for all women.
A more accepting, tolerant, and kind position would seem to be a better way for our society to work.
