Statement by Socialist Alternative Political Committee
25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Gender-based Violence. Such violence is rife under capitalism, with a third of women experiencing physical or sexual abuse. In many cases, this has deadly consequences, with one woman every 10 minutes killed by a partner or close relative.
This is only getting worse. Last year, 51,100 women were victims of femicide – up from 48,000 in 2022. 350 trans people have been killed this year, rising from 321 last year. All this is only exacerbated under the shadow of right-wing reaction, state repression and a rise in misogynistic and queerphobic ideas. Socialist Alternative stands in solidarity with women and LGBTQ+ people taking to the streets in rallies, demonstrations and further activism against the rampant violence bred by this system.
A violent system
We live in a tumultuous period where all the ugliest features of capitalism are on full display. War and imperialism are increasingly at the forefront of events, with disastrous impacts for women and the working class as a whole. The Israeli state has continued to wage its genocidal campaign in Gaza, where sexual violence has been systematically used as a weapon of war. Women and pregnant people have been forced out of their homes into refugee camps, facing famine and disease on top of the continued military escalation. The Ukraine War has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions, mainly women. Numerous other conflicts and massacres are taking place around the world, including in Sudan where sexual violence from paramilitary groups is widespread.
On top of all of this, the climate crisis is ramping up, with capitalist powers ditching their ‘green’ facade in order to feed the profit machine. This has only further fed a refugee crisis, with 36.2 million displaced by climate-related disasters in 2022. Over 60% of refugees come from countries most affected by climate change, as the ecological crisis further amplifies existing crises even as it creates new ones. Half of refugees are women, who face the risk of assault and abuse in their precarious conditions. And far-right threats and violent attacks exacerbate this situation, as refugees find themselves used as scapegoats for the deep social crisis in society by right-wing influencers and politicians.
Rise of the ‘manosphere’
Vile figures like Andrew Tate exploit the deep sense of alienation felt by a layer of young men who feel they are being left behind, and misdirect their anger into violent misogynistic and right-wing ideas. One in six young men think feminism has done ‘more harm than good’, and 35% of 16-17 year old men in Britain said they would have voted Reform UK at this year’s elections if they had the right to vote.
This trend is part of a rightward shift, particularly from a layer of young men. The victory of Trump in the US is a setback for the rights of all working and oppressed people. His appointment of an assortment of known abusers and perpetrators of sexual violence highlights the reactionary nature of his incoming government. At the same time, Trump’s victory has emboldened even more sinister far-right forces. In the days following the election, socialists, feminists and other activists confronted an anti-abortion ‘men’s march’ in Boston. Arch-reactionary influencer Nick Fuentes gloated “your body, my choice” following Trump’s victory at the polls. These disgusting ideas in the public sphere, in turn, are closely linked to rising rates of gender-based violence in the private sphere.
The string of right-wing electoral gains this year highlights the enormous political vacuum that exists around the world right now. This is the product of a crumbling political establishment, and the failure of reformist left leaders to offer an alternative for ordinary people. In the absence of a genuine fighting, working-class alternative, figures like Trump are able to find support based on rhetoric against the establishment and false promises of economic opportunities for young men.
But this shows that we can’t look toward that same establishment to fight for our interests. In the US, Democratic Party candidate Sarah McBride became the first trans woman elected to the House of Representatives. In response, the Senate passed a reactionary ban on trans women using women’s bathrooms amid a flurry of transphobic verbal abuse. However, in the face of this right-wing offensive, McBride has meekly accepted the ban. Pro-capitalist politicians are completely unable to mount the kind of struggle necessary to defend women and queer people – we need a socialist feminist movement of our own to fight the right-wing backlash!
State violence and oppression
In this world of crisis and instability, the capitalist class are forced to rely on the repressive state to prop up their system. This has taken the form of attacks on our right to protest, police violence and state control of our bodies, to name but a few of their methods.
The Iranian state’s repression of a woman for protesting strict dress codes is the sign of a rotten, crisis-ridden regime, racked by fear of mass opposition. The regime is still haunted by the legacy of the Women, Life, Freedom movement of 2022 – the biggest anti-government protests in many years which challenged the Ayatollahs’ grip on power. In Afghanistan, women sing songs of resistance on social media in defiance of the Taliban government’s ban on women’s right to have their voice heard outside the home.
In France, the high-profile trial of Gisele Pélicot has lifted the lid on the reactionary role of the capitalist courts which act against those who come forward to challenge their abusers. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets, sparking wider discussion on consent in country where law defines rape as only involving ‘restraint’ and ‘intent to rape’. Meanwhile in India, massive protests and strikes of doctors faced down brutal police repression, following the rape and murder of a woman doctor in Kolkata.
For socialist feminist struggle against this sexist, violent system
Keir Starmer’s government is no friend of women and LGBTQ+ people. While Starmer has postured as a defender of women’s rights with anti-trans rhetoric about ‘women’s spaces’, rape crisis centres are facing closures as the government refuses to fund services for the survivors of abuse. While this government preaches financial responsibility and ‘tough choices’, working class people – especially women and queer people – are the ones made to bear the brunt of Britain’s economic decline. This is opening up the way for dangerous right-wing forces to paint themselves as an ‘anti-establishment’ alternative.
The new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch represents the most backward and reactionary wing of the Tory Party, trying to copy the success of Nigel Farage and Reform UK, by whipping up anti-trans and anti-migrant ideas to gain support. These ideas have a concrete effect, with the murder of Brianna Ghey highlighting the deadly conclusions of this divisive rhetoric.
The backlash against the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people around the world carried out by right-wing and anti-working class politicians like Trump, as well as his imitators in the UK like Nigel Farage, are symptoms of a sick system.
We need a fighting socialist feminist movement to take on this system and all the manifestations of misogyny and queerphobia it breeds. This means fighting against the closure of services for survivors and taking the wealth off the super-rich to massively expand services, as part of a programme of revolutionary socialist change.
We need to resist the right-wing misogynistic ideas spewed out by the likes of Andrew Tate. This means building a struggle in schools, workplaces and local communities against all manifestations of misogyny, transphobia and racism – mobilising workers against the far right and the Labour government which allows these ideas to grow.
This also means fighting for an education system under democratic control and an end to the funding crisis in schools. Our fight is one for comprehensive education, including trans-inclusive sex education for all. This has to be part of a broader fight against capitalism’s ‘exam factories’ model which exists to reinforce the ideology of the ruling class. We need to take the media and social media companies out of the hands of the billionaires, and placed into democratic public ownership. These companies, which are making a fortune by churning out hate-filled content for clicks are breeding massive alienation and adding fuel to the fire of a mental health crisis in society.
To win such change, we need a new left party, rooted in the struggles of the multi-racial, multi-gendered working class. On that basis we can cut across the toxic ideas of the reactionary right struggle for a socialist alternative to poverty, war and the climate catastrophe, and an end to the social crisis which is felt at all levels of society – fuelling both the right-wing threat in society as a whole, as well as violence in the home.
Capitalism is a system rooted in violence, oppression and exploitation. Rising gender violence is just one way in which this system shows it is unable to defend the rights and lives of LGBTQ+ people, women, and working-class people as a whole. Only by eliminating this system and fighting for revolutionary socialist change can we build a world where gender-based violence is ended for good.
