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News :: Education |
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Open letter to the radical community: |
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by Henri
Email: henri.lapham (nospam) gmail.com (unverified!) |
15 Nov 2009
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In late 2008, it came to the knowledge of some members of NEFAC in NYC that one of its members, Michael Gould-Wartofsky, was guilty of sexual assault. Also, that this event had taken place one year prior and that there was an attempted mediation process within the group (i.e. NYC-SDS) that both Mike and the survivor were involved in at the time. |
This letter is intended to state our position with regard to a former member of NEFAC. This is in no way intended to be a polemic or to make condemnations. Its purpose is to simply bring a certain situation within our community to light that has been hidden or spoken about under the cover of whisper and to state our position on this situation as a political organization. We believe that as an organization and as individuals we are responsible to the community at large and a letter of this manner is necessary in order to fulfill that responsibility. It is unnecessary to embellish details of the events, so only what is minimally necessary will be revealed here.
It is of utmost importance that within the community an environment is created which is less alienating than the society at large. A community where comrades feel safe and not intimidated by the power dynamics which affect us on the day-to-day is what we should strive to create. This is not to have illusions; our community exists within the totality of capitalist social relationships and will be prone to reproduce these dynamics regardless of what name it gives itself. We believe that these dynamics will not disappear without the revolutionary change of capitalist social relationships. This includes all the oppressions that affect us: racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.
One oppressive dynamic that seems to manifest itself often within our movement or community is with regard to sexual relationships. It is not uncommon for it to be revealed that a case of sexual assault has taken place within the community. We are all susceptible to this, either as survivors or as perpetrators. We should refrain from also reproducing the way the established society deals with such problems. As a result, many different procedures, processes, caucuses, etc. have been developed over time within the movement to find other more constructive ways to deal with such problems; attempting to create processes that are a learning process and refrain from the moral judgments, ostracizing, and stigmatization that marks so much of our contemporary society. It is here that we see the main problem and where we will discuss a particular situation with regard to a former member.
In late 2008, it came to the knowledge of some members of NEFAC in NYC that one of its members, Michael Gould-Wartofsky, was guilty of sexual assault. Also, that this event had taken place one year prior and that there was an attempted mediation process within the group (i.e. NYC-SDS) that both Mike and the survivor were involved in at the time. The reason why knowledge of this situation was delayed for members of NEFAC-NYC was because it was an agreement within this mediation group that it would be kept quiet to all outside the group, so long as Mike agreed to follow through with the conclusions of this mediation process. But it turns out that not only were the agreements not followed through, but an attempt was made to use this secrecy to his advantage by jumping to other groups. When it became known to members of our organization from a number of the women involved, a discussion within our organization took place. We took care to respect all the parties involved and to find out more about the whole situation. During this time Mike became very defensive and felt this to be an attack on him personally and reacted against our organization, sending a letter to us denouncing his former comrades and attempting to clear his name in a purely defensive manner. His former comrades saw this as a betrayal of trust and camaraderie. Many of those in the organization took offense to this since they had done whatever they could to respect the privacy which was entailed in the mediation groups' agreement, but every time he had previously been approached with regard to this situation he would react defensively and deny all such accusation, instead accusing the women involved as liars, vindictive and out to ruin his name. As if he were someone of such importance that it was worth going to such lengths. We just wanted to respect the decisions made within the mediation process that Mike was a part of, not to add any conditions of our own.
The movement is a whole, regardless of organizational differences. We can not allow a situation where someone is victimized within one circle of the movement while the perpetrator evades his/her collective responsibilities by simply disassociating from said circle and working with another group.
With this background we as an organization would like to stress the following points:
1. Michael Gould-Wartofsky has been expelled from the Northeastern Federation of Anarchist Communists. He should in no way be permitted to portray himself as a member, supporter, or in any way affiliated with NEFAC. If he does, it is without the consent of our organization. This is for betraying the trust and collective responsibility we find of primary importance within our organization.
2. We still continue to press for the honoring of the agreements made by Mike and the SDS-NYC mediation group. It is important in the creation of a libertarian society that we can have functioning alternatives to bourgeois justice and morality. The success of these processes require the sincerity of those involved or else they are meaningless. We would like to encourage in any way possible the creation of an effective accountability process.
3. We would strongly discourage all groups or organizations within the radical movement, both in the U.S. and abroad, from allowing this individual to do political work amongst them until he follows through with his accountability process. We suggest this with regards to the safety of the movement and the honesty necessary.
We hope this letter will in some way create a situation where this individual will follow trough with his responsibility. One which he, and all of us, have with regards to the movement at large, not just to our respective organizations. We also hope that it will make this issue something more discussed in the movement, and not one that is pushed under the rug. The furtherance of the revolutionary project depends on these practices.
In solidarity,
The Northeastern Federation of Anarchist Communists
This letter is to be translated and distributed to organizations which are associated with MGW abroad. |
This work is in the public domain |
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