Dare to question?
The CPI and gender issues
“Comrades of the Communist Party of Ireland participated in a demonstration against Posie Parker, who was in Belfast on Sunday 16th April to spread her violent anti-trans message.
“Trans people do not stand apart from the working class and we oppose these cynical attempts at dividing the working class by spreading hate against a small group.“
“We are also proudly anti-fascist and have noted that Posie Parker has associated with white supremacists and holocaust deniers.“Trans rights, workers rights: same struggle, same fight!”
It is hard to know where to start with untangling or understanding this statement, so let’s begin not with a pro or anti-trans position but with an objective analysis of this CPI statement:
Spreading “her violent anti-trans message.” Violent? What is violent about her message? While she has a completely opposite position to the author of this piece, surely she is entitled to have such a position, is she not? If somebody’s position is to be presented in a particular way then, at least, some evidence should be presented to back up the statement.
What is “anti-trans”? Is having an opposite view the same as being anti-trans or the same as being transphobic? Is it accepted that people can disagree with trans issues without suffering any phobia about the issues?
“Trans people do not stand apart from the working class and we oppose these cynical attempts at dividing the working class by spreading hate against a small group.” Indeed, many trans people do stand apart from the working class and are clearly not of the working class. It must be news to a lot of middle-class trans people, not to mention the very rich trans people that they are working class or that they stand with the working class. So, how can Posie Parker be engaged in a cynical plot to divide the working class if her message is not directed solely at working class people? Since when did gender or trans become a solely working-class issue?
In addition, there is the argument that engaging in sectional interest campaigns is the very essence of creating divisions in class struggles. Perhaps these are the conundrums that arise when a ‘communist’ party is riddled with middle-class adventurers?
Furthermore, it appears – and we say this guardedly – that Parker is accused of spreading hate simply because she holds an opposite view. Again, if somebody is accused of something then provide some evidence.
“…and have noted that Posie Parker has associated with white supremacists and holocaust deniers.” Again, not a shred of evidence is presented to support this claim or to place these alleged associations in any context.
“Trans rights, workers rights: same struggle, same fight!” What does this mean? If they are the same then why distinguish between them in the first place?
Even if all the claims above against Posie Parker are correct we are still left with a couple of problems:
Are people entitled to hold views contrary to those who are generally described as ‘pro-trans? Are they entitled to express those views without being branded with all manner of derision and abuse without corroborating evidence?
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Either Parker’s positions are valid or they are not just as the positions of the pro-trans lobby are valid or they are not. Dismissing or promoting positions using bullying tactics is neither helpful nor constructive no matter which side you are on. On the question of taking sides, it should be clearly noted that most people in Ireland have little or no interest in these issues at all.
The fact is that on the issue of gender there are many problematic areas. The main one is fear and many people are silenced by that fear. The impression given in the statement above is that the fear is generated solely by the violent and hateful anti-trans campaigners. It can be argued that most of the fear is generated by the pro-trans campaigners in the reactions many of them have to any questioning of their position.
The consequence of this fear is that those with questions cannot turn to the pro-trans campaigners for answers without fear of being branded as transphobic, homophobic, or, whatever the latest phobia happens to be. So, where do they turn to? They turn to where they will either get a hearing or to where their views or prejudices will be readily accepted. They will turn to the right – just as people did during the Covid experience.
When will we ever learn?
So, for a little perspective, we offer you a glimpse into a world of conflicting views:
“Your rulers do not care what race you are. They do not care if you are gay, transgendered or nonbinary. They do not care how many bullets you are allowed to have in your gun. They do not care whether you are allowed to have an abortion or not. They do not care if you are racist, sexist, ableist, ageist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic or fatphobic. They do not care about diverse representation in politics or media, and they do not care about any lack thereof. All they care about is that we all keep thinking, speaking, working, consuming and voting in ways which keep them rich and powerful and keep us poor and powerless. And they will happily keep us arguing as intensely as possible about the things they do not care about so that we don’t turn our attention to the things they do care about.
“This doesn’t mean those other issues aren’t real concerns, and in fact our rulers stand everything to gain by exacerbating the injustices involving issues they don’t care about in order to keep attention in those convenient areas. But the solution to the problems our rulers don’t care about is the same as the solution to the problems our rulers do care about: overthrow our rulers.
Caitlin Johnstone – Australian journalist
“Never let your worry over being “canceled” or called transphobic [sic] outweigh your desire to protect children and stop the erasure of women.”
Mickey Z – American author and activist
“We are a global constituency of women. We focus specifically on the word “woman”, and other female language that clearly defines us, and our rights. The purpose of our campaign is to raise funds in order to promote the fight back against this global assault of women.
“Throughout the legal framework of women’s sex based rights and protections we use the word “woman”. It is essential that this word is retained to mean “adult human female” only. Without this word all of our rights and protections are lost. Our rights were never created for our “gender” but our sex.
“Our sex is female. The sex that bears children. The sex that requires maternity rights, privacy rights, equality with the male sex in the work place, specific health care issues, reproductive rights, and so on. If our rights become dependent upon “gender” then they are no longer women’s rights, they are “feminine” rights.”.
Statement of the Posie Parker campaign – Standing for women Home | Standing for women
Final words to Caitlin Johnstone:
“If the culture war looks like a psyop to you, it’s because it is. I’ve seen some people calling it a “distraction” — and to be sure it serves the powerful to keep everyone arguing about subjects that threaten the powerful in no way — but it actually goes a lot further than that. The imperial propaganda machine uses culture war wedge issues to herd us into mainstream political factions like a shepherd uses sheepdogs, always keeping us too evenly divided to accomplish anything and reinforcing echo chambers to aid in propaganda.
“Culture war wedging is a big part of the way they herd people into the ideological funneling system I’ve been talking about lately, which keeps the overwhelming majority of politically engaged people thinking, speaking and voting in alignment with the empire. As many people as possible are herded into two mainstream factions of equal size which both prevent all meaningful change and serve the interests of the powerful. Anyone who can’t be herded into either of these mainstream factions is instead herded into fake “populist” factions, which eventually corral them back into the mainstream factions. Those few politically engaged people who can’t be herded toward any of these groups are so small in number that they can simply be marginalized and denied any sizeable platform from which to spread their ideas, and “democracy” does the rest, because the majority are supporting the status quo.
“Care about protecting trans rights? You get herded into this mainstream faction over here. Trans people freak you out a bit? You get herded into that mainstream faction over there. In this way people are corralled into political parties that are designed to serve the empire.
“If you can suck someone who’s critical of militarism and empire into the culture war, suddenly they start believing absurd things like that opposing “the woke agenda” is as important as opposing war, or that electing Ron DeSantis would be a devastating blow to the Deep State. Now instead of focusing on the US empire’s nefarious behaviors and critically viewing all mainstream politics, that person is focused on Dylan Mulvaney and will throw their support behind any mainstream politician who says Target needs to stop selling rainbow shoelaces during Pride Month.
“You see people herded into both mainstream political factions over and over again with this stuff they keep hammering day after day after day, thereby bolstering the power structure the parties which represent those factions are designed to support. They do it because it works.
“None of this means the issues raised by the culture war psyop are unimportant, it just means it’s a psyop. It’s something the powerful leverage to their advantage, and it’s important for us to be acutely aware of that and direct our political energy and attention accordingly.”
In the particular case of Posie Parker and her campaign, it has to be questioned if the way to challenge her positions is through pickets and demonstrations. Have any of these demonstrators consider using rational argument? What purpose was served by this demonstration other than the personal satisfaction of the participants that they had ‘done something’?