Mick Hartley

Coming for the lesbians

We heard about Allison Bailey last autumn. She's a founding member of the LGB Alliance, which broke away from Stonewall in protest against what they perceived as its - Stonewall's - obsession with trans rights and gender identity. 

Bev Jackson, a co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front, said: “LGB people like us have been writing to Stonewall for over a year – trying to set up a dialogue with them. It’s about the fact that they have chosen to prioritise trans people and have almost abandoned their original mission: protecting people who are same-sex attracted.

“Sadly, we do still need protection. Young lesbians in particular are suffering; experiencing huge social pressure to transition to male if they do not conform to traditional gender stereotypes. 

“Almost 10,000 people have signed our petition – asking for calm, respectful discussion. Stonewall has stonewalled us every time. So it’s time to set up an alternative organisation.”

The new group said that it was formed following a refusal by Stonewall, which was originally set up to fight legal discrimination against gay men and lesbians, to respond to a petition asking it to acknowledge the range of valid viewpoints around sex, gender and transgender politics.

As a result Stonewall and its trans allies have been busy branding the LGB Alliance as a transphobic hate group - and, as far as Allison Bailey's concerned, with considerable success. In October we heard that she was under investigation by Garden Court Chambers, where she works as a barrister:

Bailey was subjected to a torrent of abuse and death threats after she posted on social media: “Gender extremism is about to meet its match.”

The LGB Alliance has said its mission is “asserting the right of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men to define themselves as same-sex attracted”. Its stance that “gender is a social construct” faced immediate opposition from trans groups.

Garden Court said on Twitter that it was “investigating concerns” raised about the comments in line with Bar Standards Board policies. “We take these concerns v seriously & will take appropriate action.”

Bailey said her chambers had “simply gone along with what the hate mob want” and were “offering me no support whatsoever”.

She pointed out that Garden Court, which handles many transgender cases, had signed up as a Stonewall “diversity champion”.

The story continues. Jo Bartosch in Spiked today:

Allison argues that lesbian, gay and bisexual people should be ‘free to organise and campaign around sexual orientation and not trans rights without apology or permission from Stonewall or anyone else’. Her employers clearly disagree: four lever-arch files of data requested by Allison revealed that Stonewall and Garden Court Chambers had colluded in ‘eliciting complaints… from third-party organisations’, in effect building a case against her.

Righting wrongs takes cash, and so on Friday 26 June Allison turned to the popular crowdfunding platform, CrowdJustice, in order to raise the money to pursue a claim at the employment tribunal. Within a day she had raised £60,000 – clearly a testament to how many ordinary people are fed up with being dictated to by the likes of Stonewall. But with predictable alacrity, as soon as her fundraising campaign was launched CrowdJustice began to receive complaints from trans activists. The fundraising page was then unpublished.

Over the weekend, the page was republished with a statement from CrowdJustice’s chief executive, Julia Salasky, stating: ‘We allowed Ms Bailey’s CrowdJustice case page to launch before ensuring its content in its entirety met the high standards that our community expects of us… We have had complaints about some of the content of Allison Bailey’s case page and because of the serious nature of the complaints we followed our policy to take the page down while it was reviewed in detail against our terms.’ The page remains live, though it is closed to further donations....

Identity top trumps can be pretty odious, but it seems relevant to note that Allison Bailey is a black lesbian from a working-class background who is simply fighting for the right not to be discriminated against for her beliefs. To have the weight of the woke, and overwhelmingly white, middle-class establishment come crashing down on her for stepping out of line reveals the power and influence of the transgender lobby....

Whoever you are you cross the transgender lobby, it seems, at your peril.

On the road again

More Americana . Well, nothing wrong with that - it's a big country. Enough images to go round. The only odd one here is that grim Kansas meeting room. Portraits of politicians on the wall, I think. Do I see Nixon, George Wallace...maybe Hubert Humphrey? 

From photographer Kim Llerena’s “American Scrapbook”:

Uvalde, TX © Kim Llerena

Jasper County, IA © Kim Llerena

Detroit, MI © Kim Llerena

GlenRio, TX © Kim Llerena

Spokane, WA © Kim Llerena

Calexico, CA © Kim Llerena

Norton, KS © Kim Llerena

Shamrock, TX © Kim Llerena

A campaign of sterilisation surgery and contraceptive implants.

As the Chinese are willing to imprison over a million Uighurs in prison camps for the purposes of "re-education" - in reality cultural genocide - this latest horrific claim, marking a shift to what is in effect actual genocide, is alas only too believable. 

China has been accused of displaying an “utter disregard for the sanctity of life” after a German researcher claimed Beijing had used mass sterilisation and forced abortions to suppress birth rates in its restive Uighur minority by as much as 80 per cent.

The report, based on leaked Chinese communist party (CCP) documents, suggested that up to 34 per cent of married Uighur women of reproductive age had been targeted with a campaign of sterilisation surgery and contraceptive implants.

The authorities in the province of Xinjian aimed to sterilise at least 80 per cent of women who were capable of having children in four southern districts, according to Adrian Zenz, senior fellow in China studies at the Victims of Communism foundation in Washington DC.

China has dismissed the allegations as “baseless” but Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, has begun rallying an international campaign to end the “horrific practices”....

Lord Patten of Barnes, the last British governor of Hong Kong, told Bloomberg that the campaign “arguably” amounted to genocide. [...]

Dr Zenz, who played a leading role in uncovering human rights abuses in the camps, has previously argued that this campaign was tantamount to “cultural genocide”.

His latest research argues that the government deliberately set out to reduce Uighur birth rates through intrauterine devices (IUDs), contraceptive tools that are inserted into the womb, and tubal ligation surgery, where the fallopian tubes are blocked in order to prevent a woman’s eggs from being fertilised.

One prefecture in Xinjiang allegedly intended to use this “family planning work” to almost entirely eradicate its birth rate, reducing the number of births from 11.45 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2018 to 1.05.

Birth rates in the two largest Uighur-majority prefectures of Xinjiang fell by 84 per cent from 2015 to 2018 and may have declined further since, according to Dr Zenz’s calculations.

More, from the BBC:

Mr Zenz's report was based on a combination of official regional data, policy documents and interviews with ethnic minority women in Xinjiang.

It alleges that Uighur women and other ethnic minorities are being threatened with internment in the camps for refusing to abort pregnancies that exceed birth quotas.

It also says women who had fewer than the two children legally permitted were involuntarily fitted with intra-uterine devices (IUDs), while others were coerced into receiving sterilisation surgeries.

"Since a sweeping crackdown starting in late 2016 transformed Xinjiang into a draconian police state, witness accounts of intrusive state interference into reproductive autonomy have become ubiquitous," the report says.

According to Mr Zenz's analysis of the data, natural population growth in Xinjiang has declined dramatically in recent years, with growth rates falling by 84% in the two largest Uighur prefectures between 2015 and 2018 and declining further in 2019.

"This kind of drop is unprecedented, there's a ruthlessness to it," Mr Zenz told the Associated Press. "This is part of a wider control campaign to subjugate the Uighurs."

Former detainees in internment camps in Xinjiang said they were given injections that stopped their periods, or caused unusual bleeding consistent with the effects of birth control drugs.

"Overall, it is likely that Xinjiang authorities are engaging in the mass sterilization of women with three or more children," the report said.

The Chinese deny it all, but then they denied the existence of the camps - of which there is now incontrovertible evidence.

Wing prisms

Australian artist and photographer Christian Spencer has lived near Brazil's Itatiaia National Park since 2001, and one of his delights is the phenomenon of sunlight passing through hummingbirds' wings, creating a prism effect that turns their feathers into rainbows. So he took pictures....no added effects:

Rainbow Ballet © Christian Spencer

Divine Light © Christian Spencer

Hummingbird Geometry © Christian Spencer

Stardust © Christian Spencer

The Ballerina © Christian Spencer

Wings of Light © Christian Spencer

The Eclipse © Christian Spencer

Winged Prism © Christian Spencer

Still slavery in Mauritania

Slavery is in the news - statues being toppled, talk of reparations, and so on. Let's try this, then:

Mauritanian anti-slavery activist Maryam Bint Al-Sheikh of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) said in a June 18, 2020 interview on BBC Arabic (U.K.) that there is still slavery in Mauritania, and that ownership of other people can even be passed from generation to generation. She said that 20% of people in Mauritania still suffer from slavery, and she named the Beydanes cast, which she said constitutes 10 percent of the Mauritanian population, as the caste of “masters” that controls Mauritania, its economy, and its people. Explaining that the Beydanes caste arrests and tortures people who speak out against it, Al-Sheikh said that in the past, she herself had been arrested, tortured, and forcibly separated from her child and her family. In addition, Al-Sheikh listed the Haratins, the Fulanis, the Wolofs, and Soninkes, the Bambaras, and Lamalmins, and the Igaouen as the persecuted ethnic groups in Mauritania. Furthermore, she said that the IRA has created awareness surrounding slavery in Mauritania, and that it gives people the courage to protest slavery and racism. She added that slavery and racism can only be abolished through protest. 

See also, from 2012....Activists Arrested in Mauritania Following Burning of Islamic Jurisdiction Books Legitimizing Slavery.

Family outing

On the Lea, Hackney:

A series of literary works focused on the Pyongyang General Hospital

Frustrated in her campaign to start a new Korean war - big brother eventually stepped in to quieten down her inflammatory rhetoric - Kim Yo-jong has found herself a new project:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, has ordered the creation of a series of literary works focused on the Pyongyang General Hospital project, Daily NK has learned. 

The works are expected to depict Kim Jong Un’s love for the people and the ideological fervor of Pyongyang General Hospital (PGH)’s construction workers, a source in the country told Daily NK on June 25.

“On June 20, comrade Kim Yo Jong instructed the Propaganda and Agitation Department to produce 75 volumes, including full-length and short novels and poetry collections, by the 75th anniversary of Party Foundation Day on Oct. 10,” the source said. 

“The April 15 Literature Writing Group, which is under the Korean Writers; Alliance, has been tasked with the writing, while the Munhak Yesul Chonghap Chulpansa will be responsible for printing and publishing,” he added. 

Specifically, Kim Yo Jong ordered the creation and publication of ordinary books that describe the Supreme Leader’s great love for the people and outstanding leadership in directing the construction of PGH, as well as the significance of the construction project. 

In her order, Kim stressed the importance of the role played by writers, stating that “workers in the literary arts must play their part in making Oct. 10 a great celebration of victory that will be remembered as another proud moment in the party’s history.”

She instructed that the written works should highlight the fact that soldiers and laborers working on the site have an “unwavering belief” in following the orders of the Supreme Leader and that they are employing “our own style [North Korean-style] construction methods and creative new ideas” to erect PGH even in the face of the “severe sanctions of the imperialists and their allied forces.”

Sounds inspiring. We saw the hospital just a few days ago, and it is indeed a noteworthy addition to the Pyongyang skyline - even if there have been an unfortunate number of casualties falling to their deaths as safety rules are ignored in the rush to complete the building on time. Something to do with “our own style construction methods and creative new ideas”, no doubt. A small price to pay...

As I've noted before, in North Korea there's no culture beyond regime propaganda.

Raw, rank misogyny

Last week Labour's Shadow Environment Minister Lloyd Russell-Moyle had an article in Tribune under the heading "Labour Must Stand with Trans People Against a New Section 28. Tory plans to scrap Gender Recognition Act reform have come alongside a demonisation campaign against trans people which threatens years of progress. Labour must fight back".

The reform would have allowed people to change their sex just by saying they've changed their sex, but wiser counsels would seem to have prevailed. Russell-Moyle, however, sees this as a move by Tories and other nasty right-wingers to stall the march of trans progress, and compares it to the notorious Section 28 which sought to ban anything deemed to promote homosexuality. 

And that demonisation campaign against trans people? Up, predictably, pops a familiar name:

Recently, of course, we saw people like JK Rowling using her own sexual assault as justification for discriminating against a group of people who were not responsible for it. Trans people are no more likely to be rapists; in fact, they are more likely to be victims of sexual assault themselves. That’s why, despite JK Rowling’s hate towards them, hundreds of trans people wrote to complain to The Sun when it trivialised her domestic abuse on a recent front page.

JK Rowling's hate towards trans people? Where? But no need to read what she actually wrote for a man on a progressive mission and full of self-righteousness....just climb aboard the bandwagon.

In the face of some hostile comments - and Rowling herself on Twitter - Russell-Moyle has since apologised and asked Tribune to remove that passage (they didn't: against editorial policy).

Harvey Jeni notes the misogyny:

Russell-Moyle has since apologised, but it is worth noting he is not alone in his point of view. The idea that women are cynically using their experiences of domestic and sexual abuse as justification for the supposedly unspeakable belief that sex based exemptions currently contained within the Equality Act ought to be upheld, is gathering apace. The Guardian columnist Owen Jones made a similar accusation when he tweeted a thread in condemnation of JK Rowling, attacking her apparent portrayal of herself as a “martyr”. He then went on to retweet a female actor who declared that: “…suffering domestic violence does not remotely justify denying the rights of trans people…”

We can take it to mean then, that according to men such as Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Owen Jones, women best not dare imagine that being traumatised by male violence is any kind of excuse for rejecting mixed sex spaces. We are to accept them without murmur, and if we don’t we are oppressive bigots. They couldn’t give a shit what we’ve been through, nor do they want to hear any more of our manipulative whining about it. So there, shut up.

In 2017, James O’Brien held a phone in on his radio talk show to discuss the concerns voiced by women about gender neutral spaces. A female caller was interrupted by O’Brien no less than seventeen times as he mocked and lectured her, refusing actually to let her speak. James, it turned out, just could not understand what all the fuss was about? This reluctance to share fitting rooms with male bodied people was just paranoid and unreasonable wasn’t it? He imagined a scenario in which he was in the next flimsily curtained fitting room along. “Would you feel comfortable getting changed in a room next to me?” he demanded. “What do you think I’m going to do?”

This failure of empathy and denial of the scale of men’s violence, harassment, and offending against women is a clear example of male privilege. In the many conversations I have had with friends regarding the conflict of rights between women and trans people, I have watched even perfectly decent, well meaning men struggle to understand what on earth I might have against mixed sex spaces. They just don’t see it because they have not lived it.  [...]

This idea that women are always making a bloody fuss; that we disclose our experiences of male violence in a bid to malign all male people; that we are ever manipulative and have an agenda; that the reality of our lives is not of any great importance, is as old as the hills. It is the raw, rank misogyny of our grandfathers. In putting forth this view, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Owen Jones, James O’Brien and all the rest, expose themselves for what they are. Always pulsating under the skin, their misogyny finally breaks through in all its ugly, weeping glory.

Women’s fear of male violence is an entirely rational response to living in a world in which violence against us is epidemic. Our concerns regarding mixed sex spaces are therefore both valid and relevant. If Lloyd Russell-Moyle has neither the wit to grasp this, nor the compassion to care, he surely has no place on the shadow front bench.

The Faces

Iranian photographer Meysam Hanrang:

In the afternoon of the sixth day of Muharram, the month that Shi’a Muslims mourn for Imam Hussein, a traditional ceremony is held in the historical village of Masuleh called ‘Alambandan’. This traditional and religious ceremony, which has been going on for more than 800 years, is held in Imamzadeh monument of ‘Oun-ebne-Muhammad-ebne-Ali’ in Masuleh.

[Photo © Meysam Hanrang]

Different to other infectious diseases

Further to the debate on the re-opening of schools, and, in hindsight, the folly of their closure in the first place....this:

Coronavirus does not “as a rule” pass from children to adults, a leading doctor specialising in infectious diseases among children has told the JC.

Dr Karyn Moshal’s “counter-intuitive” finding, she said, should help parents assess the risks involved in keeping children away from school against the far smaller risk of their children contracting Covid-19 and passing it on to others in their family.

“We’ve found that Covid-19 is different to other infectious diseases, such as influenza or pneumococcal disease, where children can be carriers who pass it on to their families,” said Dr Moshal, a senior paediatric infectious diseases consultant at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in central London. “It’s counter-intuitive, but it’s really good news.”....

Experience in the UK backs up international data showing that children are unlikely to pass Covid-19 to their parents or to other adults, Dr Moshal added.

Dr Moshal said the number of children being admitted with Covid-19 at the hospital had itself been low, suggesting that children are less prone to Covid-19 than adults. “There is mounting worldwide data confirming this,” she said.

One of the most recent studies she cited was carried out in a coronavirus epicentre in Israel.

In crowded households where a majority of adults had the disease, only one in ten children under five years old were infected, and fewer than one in three children over 5 had it. “This study indicates that the virus passes from adults to children and not from children to adults, as a rule,” she said.

The risks for parents sending their children to school would come almost exclusively from any contact between the parents themselves, or between parents and the school staff.