A-Infos (en) Britain, SolFed* Statement about sexual assault within the anarchist/activist community

This statement comes from recent discussions within South London and North London 
Solidarity Federation locals, and in response to a recent case of sexual assault which 
took place in the wider activist community. Following the actions taken by North London, 
South London and Brighton Solidarity Federation locals, this statement was written by the 
South London Gender Working Group. -- We want to state clearly a number of things. --- We 
believe that in the event of sexual assault it is necessary to take action, and that it is 
appropriate to look towards processes of community accountability. In exploring how to 
deal with such situations, we have looked at the experiences of other activist and 
political communities, and the literature that has stemmed from these. We strongly support 
other groups who have initiated these processes; these enact a sense of responsibility and 
care we should have for and with each other.

It is entirely appropriate to exclude the perpetrator from spaces which the survivor may 
wish to be in, so as to avoid creating a platform for the particular abusive relationship 
to continue. It is clear that for many people, activism and politics are the environments 
in which they seek to form abusive relationships; therefore we exclude them from our 
spaces and events. In light of this, excluding a perpetrator from our events and meetings 
is a likely initial response that we will make to an account of abuse, and we defend our 
decision to do so.

In one particular recent case, a number of SolFed locals and members have come under 
attack for taking such a stance. It is our understanding that within similar situations it 
is fairly common for the survivor who calls someone out, or those who support them, to 
come under attack. It is not uncommon that this is in the form of endless questions around 
language and the very foundations of accountability processes.

In this statement we want to express our continued commitment to processes of community 
accountability. While we believe that all processes within a political community such as 
ours should be subjected to critique, we take seriously recent expressions of groups 
intent on disrupting any of these processes. We encourage those who have stated this as 
their intention to reconsider their position. This case of sexual assault comes out of a 
wider background of gendered violence, misogyny, sexism and patriarchy which are 
perpetuated within activist communities and often go unchallenged. As such, neither this 
individual case, nor our responses to it, can be seen in isolation.

At the same time we call for solidarity with all processes of community accountability. We 
invite the wider activist community to engage with the feminist tradition of these 
processes. It is of huge importance for political communities to maintain the safety of 
the spaces they create, and address questions of privilege.
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* Anarchosyndicalist federation
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