{"id":642,"date":"2019-09-12T14:32:39","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T12:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?p=642"},"modified":"2019-11-01T13:36:18","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T11:36:18","slug":"violence-against-women-how-should-organised-workers-respond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?p=642","title":{"rendered":"VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN – How should organised workers respond?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marxist Workers Party statement<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rape and murder of student Uyinene Mrwetyana was the final spark that lit a new wave of protests demanding an end to violence against women. Uyinene\u2019s body was discovered following a slew of reports of murdered women. Many of them had police protection orders against the abusive partners that killed them.[1]<\/strong><\/a> In 2016, out of every 100,000 women and girls in South Africa, 12.5 were violently killed. This was five times the global average of 2.6. In 2017\/18, this increased to 15.2 \u2013 2,930 murdered women; the slain bodies of an additional 291 women and 29 girls.[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst men are five times more likely than women to be murdered, itself a social crisis, it is the number of women being murdered by men who feel entitled to control and possess women, treating them like personal property, that has led to the outpouring of anger. Uyinene and the other women should not have been abused, raped and killed! The sexist attitudes of their male murderers led them to assume the power of life and death over their victims \u2013 to commit femicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gender inequality\nis rooted in class inequality and emerged with class society. Under capitalism\nwomen are frequently paid less than men, concentrated in low-paid sectors such\nas cleaning and retail and precariously or casually employed by contractors or\nas domestic workers. Women are also most likely to be the main carers for\nchildren and the elderly and perform the majority of domestic work in the home.\nFor capitalism, this helps keep labour cheap and taxes for social services low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foundation\nof capitalist economy in commodity production \u2013 where everything is for sale \u2013\ncommodifies women\u2019s bodies, turns them into objects and encourages the idea\nthat women only exist for the entertainment and pleasure of men. The social\nconditions of capitalism are a breeding ground for the sexist attitudes that justify\nthe many forms of violence against women \u2013 rape, assault, domestic violence,\ncat-calling etc.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Protests<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protests have\nbeen mobilised under the banners #AmINext, #TheTotalShutdown and others. Young\npeople and students have played a central role. Significantly, protests are\nbeing called using appeals to working class methods of mass struggle, e.g.\nshutdowns and stay-aways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This points the\nemerging movement in the right direction. However, at this stage, this language\nis symbolic, and not based on a conscious strategy to mobilise the working\nclass. For example, #TotalShutdown\u2019s 2018 call for women to stay-away from work\nwas not linked to appeals to workers and their trade unions for the mobilisation\nand shutdown of workplaces, i.e. united strike action. In reality this limited the\ncall to an appeal for women workers to take the day off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the protestors are rightly suspicious of the willingness of the ANC government, the political parties in parliament, the police and the courts to seriously tackle gender based violence (GBV). They are right to be. The ANC\u2019s Traditional Courts Bill will reinforce gender inequality for millions of women. This continuation of apartheid-era policy would legalise the oppression of more than half of all women in the country by denying them the right to legal representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one of the\nmain demands of protesters outside parliament was for the government to declare\na state of emergency. Whilst this was a demand for a gesture from the\ngovernment that it \u2018gets it\u2019, it was nevertheless incorrect. It would be\nsuicidal for the movement to support increasing the repressive powers of this\nANC government and the state in general, including giving any support to the\nidea of re-introducing the death penalty in the name of combating violence\nagainst women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last time a state of emergency was declared was in the 1980s by the white-minority regime and used to suppress the mass movement against apartheid. An \u2018undeclared\u2019 state of emergency existed in the North West in 2012.The ANC government used the army to suppress mineworkers\u2019 meetings, protests and strikes. In Johannesburg the police have fuelled xenophobia with their brutal \u2018crack down\u2019 on so-called \u2018criminal elements\u2019. Outside the World Social Forum last week, protesters against GBV were attacked by police with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ideas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The confusion on\nthese issues reflects a lack of clarity over which force in society has the\npower to make the decisive difference in the struggle to stop violence against\nwomen. Is it women alone? If so, who should they look to as their allies? Is it\nthis anti-women and anti-poor ANC government? Is it the repressive capitalist\nstate? Is it the super-rich leaders of big business whose quest for profit has\nentrenched poverty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer to\nthis question determines the tactics and strategies that different\norganisations will pursue. At this stage it is the middle class, especially the\nNGOs, which are setting the ideological tone of the movement against GBV. They\nlook to work with<\/em> big business, the\ncapitalist politicians and the state. Protests are to pressure them but not to\nchallenge their control of society and the capitalist class structure they\ndefend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In #TheTotalShutdown\u2019s\n\u201824\nSteps to Stop Gender-Based Violence<\/a>\u2019, the demands are entirely limited to\nlegislative reform, improved compliance with legislation, for greater\naccountability of government departments and some improvements in social\nservices. There is nothing to oppose in these demands. But they do not even\ntouch the underlying class inequalities, mass unemployment and poverty that breed\nsexist attitudes and violence against women. The press release for the\n#SandtonShutdown protest planned for Friday appeals to \u201cbusiness to realise\ntheir moral, ethical responsibility to the communities where they operate\u201d and\ncalls on \u201cbusinesses to close their doors and join womxn\u201d on the protest. This\npoints the movement in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Marxist\nWorkers Party we argue that the many women and young people radicalised by the\nstruggle against gender oppression and GBV should rather look towards a united\nmovement of the working class. It is only the working class which has the power\nto fundamentally transform society, abolishing capitalism and the class\ninequalities that gender oppression is rooted in. Under the leadership of the\nmiddle class \u2018shutdowns\u2019 and \u2018stay-aways\u2019 can never be much more than symbolic.\nThey can only be given flesh and blood by the powerful social position of\norganised workers in the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Workers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June,\nmineworkers at the LanXess chrome mine in Rustenburg \u2013 members of the NUMSA\nunion \u2013 organised\na strike and occupation<\/a> in protest against the sexual harassment of a woman\nmineworker. Her manager was demanding sexual favours in exchange for a\npermanent job. This has set a shining example for how workers can take up the\nissue of harassment and violence against women. Workers have the power to force\nthe removal of perpetrators from the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But crucially,\nbecause of their position in the economy, workers have the power to improve the\nposition of women in society more generally. Every workplace demand and\nstruggle for equal pay, higher pay, against gender discrimination in promotion\nand job opportunities, for housing allowances, transport allowances and longer\npaternal leave, increases the independence and choices available to women. Wider\nworking class movements on healthcare, housing, social services, childcare and\nschooling do likewise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mass working\nclass movement can lay the real social foundations upon which gender equality\ncan be built. The struggle for women\u2019s liberation is part of the class struggle\nand needs to be re-written on the banner of the workers movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But workers will not limit themselves to moral appeals to the bosses on issues of GBV any more than they do in wage negotiations. GBV will be transformed into a class issue that depends on organisation and struggle. This will expose the hypocrisy of the capitalist class. In the name of defending their profits, let the bosses refuse workers\u2019 demands for pay rises, increased housing allowances etc., when they are linked to the struggle to improve the lives of women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tendency in\nthe middle class-led movement toward encouraging separate organisation\naccording to gender, whilst not inappropriate in every instance, only plays\ninto the hands of the bosses in the class struggle by weakening the bonds of\nworking class unity and dissipating the strength and striking power of workers.\nIt will make no sense to workers. The need for a united working class movement\nwill be obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To prepare the way\nfor such a working class movement the trade unions should launch a Campaign Against\nSexual Harassment, Domestic Violence, Rape and Femicide to raise the level of\nunderstanding on these issues amongst all trade union members \u2013 women and men \u2013\nand ensure the unity of workers on this issue. Workplace meetings should take\nthe initiative and begin the discussion, passing resolutions to create pressure\nin the structures and upon leaders. With the poor record of some existing trade\nunion leaders on gender issues, such a campaign will help rejuvenate the\nleaderships with a fresh influx of militant working class women in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nworkers\u2019 programme to end gender based violence:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n