IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Wanneer: 01/05/2021 - 00:30

We arrived at the demo 10 min before the announced start, which was originally planned at 14:00h, however, the organizers already started marching. As a consequence some comrades and other groups that arrived a couple of minutes later, found themselves at an empty square. The march itself was good, we contributed to a loud and angry anti-authoritarian block that was visible to bystanders.

After the march we arrived back at the square, where music and speeches started. One of our comrades asked the organizers from the Marxist-Leninist organisation Rode Morgen whether it would be possible to read our statement, however, the request was declined. That was due to the fact that we weren't initially in the organisational committee. Our anarchist comrades from Vrije Bond gave their time slot to our organisations in solidarity, It appeared to be the last time slot of the demo. Most of the speeches took up to 15-20 minutes. Near the end more than 80% of the organisations/groups left.

Having finally the possibility to contribute our stance on the capitalist crisis system, our comrade read our statement and after that a statement of an associated political group, Anarcha-Feminist Group Amsterdam. After two minutes of speaking time from the feminist manifesto, one of the organisers from the above-mentioned group came up to our comrade and disrespectfully told our comrade that she should round up already, showing his watch into her face. She kept reading but a lot faster to finish as soon as possible. After 2-3 minutes another man came up to our comrade and demanded, now more aggressively, to stop reading, almost pushing the watch into her face, when she had only one paragraph left. After another minute the first tankie came again and ordered to stop the speech immediately, despite the fact that our comrade showed them a text with only 2 short sentences left to be read. The man then violently ripped the microphone from comrades hands. When comrades from Anarcha-Feminist Group Amsterdam came up to organisers to say that it is not ok to do that, they have been told that they take up too much space, that they are anti-social and don't show solidarity to others due to the fact that reading the statement took more than 20 minutes, when everyone else was given only 5 (which is not true, as they themselves sang a song and read very long statements, not to mention other groups) and after that we were aggressively asked "to leave and don't ever come back". Our comrade took around 15 min on two statements from two separate groups, meaning that the Anarcha-Feminist group only took 7-8 minutes. She was wearing pink. And read a paragraph with the headline "sex-work is work" at the moment the male Rode Morgen organizers came up to her and violently tried to stop the speech. Almost all participants already left the demonstration, and the ones who didn't were sitting on the ground. But when our comrade started speaking people stood up and listened, some bystanders
stopped walking and came
up to listen and some were filming. Having created attention for a radical feminist perspective on a busy square in the city, the worst thing that could happen was the male part of the organisers to not let her finish the statement whilst ripping the microphone out of her hands in front of everyone, thus disrespecting and humiliating not only an individual but the whole political group she represented.

The anti-fascistanti-capitalist movements that are attempting to forward progressive visions of society, are linked to various emancipatory movements and are viewed as places that are more inclusive and where social relations of domination are less visible. In our everyday life, unfortunately, we find out again and again such on this first of may in Rotterdam that a lack of equality exist in these places too. That is why we want to come forward and challenge those in our movement too and ensure that the oppression we experience does not persist in our spaces. Sexist, authoritarian and patriarchal attitudes, actions and behaviours are still very present in our movement and within ourselves. The patriarchy lives here too, these systems of oppression are structural and we need to hold each other accountable. While more women, non-binary, trans and other genders are active in our movement these days, the roles they are assigned, the way they are treated, and the disrespectful comments they face are not all that different from the reality of mainstream patriarchal society.
Such behaviour is not acceptable. We are expecting a public explanation from the Rode Morgen Rotterdam ASAP for the anti-feminist and sexist behaviour of their comrades!