Hrafn
23rd November 2014, 18:07
[Trigger warnings for sexual violence abound. Take heed.]
I have previously (http://www.revleft.com/vb/triggers-socialist-justice-t188591/index.html) brought to the attention of Revleft a "scandal" within the Socialist Justice Party (Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna, RS), in which a regional chairman and top-ranking member of the Committee for a Workers' International-connected party - which is a significant force within the Swedish left - was found to have committed several counts of rape. Additionally, the leadership of RS Gothenburg was found to have participated in a cover-up of these events. I also described, over the following weeks, parts of the consequences of this revelation - a very poor management of the case by the party, intentionally so.
Over the last few days, new developments in the situation have come to light, and I've been allowed to hear several new stories of atrocities (I do not use that word lightly) committed by the RS leadership, and tales of how badly these acts and others have been handled by the leadership. In one of these cases, the person involved has decided to come forward publicly, and talk about what happened to them. They asked for their story to be shared with others, and I have received permission to translate the text on their behalf. The translation has been subjected to review by the original author.
The following was posted on 22 November 2014 by Patricia Degerman, a former member of the Socialist Justice Party. I will add some context at the end of the post.
I want to start off by saying that you are very welcome to share this status. The more people that read it the better, and hopefully it can save someone from joining the cult! As some here know I have been a member of the Socialist Justice Party. The last year's rape charges have disgusted me deeply and I am ashamed that I ever was a member.
Anyway, there are a lot of women right now who have had to suffer a double humiliation in the form of leading male members claiming that what has happened didn't happen, and a massive smear campaign going on against those women who try to bring it up. One of the arguments for it all being lies is that most of the women have wanted to be anonymous. The repulsive assholes in the Socialist Justice Party have no understanding whatsoever as to why someone might chose to be anonymous in such a situation, instead they have - as said - been running massive smear campaigns to discredit the women.
I have in mind to remove the assholes' ability to point at that argument any more, and to go public with my own story. It is pretty mild compared to all the other shit that I have heard from different women, but it still shows fairly well what the Socialist Justice Party actually thinks of women.
In 2010 I was in Luleå (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lule%C3%A5) and campaigned for the election (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_general_election,_2010). There was also a fairly recently recruited member called Aden there. At one time a couple of us were out, and he missed his bus home so I offered him to sleep at our place. During the night I was woken by him putting his hand between my legs, beneath my undergarments. I asked him what the hell he was doing. He didn't say much, just left the room. I thought to myself that it wouldn't happen again since I wasn't sleeping on my own in the room. And I'd be damned if he didn't do it again when I had fallen asleep. I then threw him out of the apartment. I never brought this up except for with a few people, but yesterday I found out that Jonas Brännberg knew but chose not to do a damn about it. This made me extremely mad, so I emailed him and demanded an answer. I am still waiting for a written response from him, since he seriously thought I would agree to talk to him on the phone. I also have in mind to publish the entire email conversation in case he responds, because I am so very tired of hearing about disgusting stories that women in my vicinity have been subjected to, and I think it is time to out all these assholes in public and humiliate them as much as they have humiliated us. By the way, I would be very happy if this status was shared as much as possible.
(For the record, for those of you here who are not as inclined towards outing patriarchal traitors within the workers' movement as I and others are, I can say that I have seen other people verify at this was the course of action taken by Brännberg. Choosing to ignore sexual abuse enacted against a comrade and fellow party member, in order to keep a new recruit in the party.)
Some context.
Jonas Brännberg is a very important member of the Socialist Justice Party. Holding a seat in Luleå Municipal Assembly, he is one of only four municipal councillors belonging to RS. He is also a member of the national party board as far as I know. He has been visible in regional and national media, such as this (http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=98&artikel=5937666) interview by Sveriges Radio (state-owned radio). Here follows an excerpt from an interview (http://rslulea.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/rs-viktigaste-fragor-i-lulea-kommunval-2014/) conducted on 8 August 2014, by the party newspaper Offensiv:
Questions like the environment, anti-racism and feminism are important issues right now, especially since the EU elections. RS is usually visible in these questions, but how would you briefly describe what you believe to be the solution?
"Feminism and anti-racism, yes all movements against oppression, must be struggling to win. We fight against gender discrimination at a grass roots level [...] One demand which we raise in the election is that there is a need for special courts in rape cases, at the same time as helplines/shelters for women need to get more resources."
Other examples of his work includes this (http://offensiv.socialisterna.org/sv/940/inrikes/6539/) 11 March 2011 article, partially about a woman who was sexually assaulted by a stranger while sleeping in her apartment. The title is "The judicial system frees sexual criminals", and Brännberg puts forward - among other proposed measures - this demand: "To give victims of abuse support throughout the whole process." This (http://www.lulea.se/download/18.4743542213c82a1eb1327fa/1359551257751/2007-08-27+%C2%A7+170+Medborgarfo%CC%88rslag+om+sja%CC%88l vfo%CC%88rsvarskurs+fo%CC%88r+killar+och+tjejer+pa %CC%8A+ho%CC%88gstadiet.pdf) 2007 municipal document shows that Brännberg was the only Luleå councillor to support the introduction of self-defence classes in school, in relation to increased levels of sexual violence. Etc. Countless other examples of his apparently intense hypocrisy can be found online.
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/images/98/3397340_2048_1152.jpg?preset=article
I have previously (http://www.revleft.com/vb/triggers-socialist-justice-t188591/index.html) brought to the attention of Revleft a "scandal" within the Socialist Justice Party (Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna, RS), in which a regional chairman and top-ranking member of the Committee for a Workers' International-connected party - which is a significant force within the Swedish left - was found to have committed several counts of rape. Additionally, the leadership of RS Gothenburg was found to have participated in a cover-up of these events. I also described, over the following weeks, parts of the consequences of this revelation - a very poor management of the case by the party, intentionally so.
Over the last few days, new developments in the situation have come to light, and I've been allowed to hear several new stories of atrocities (I do not use that word lightly) committed by the RS leadership, and tales of how badly these acts and others have been handled by the leadership. In one of these cases, the person involved has decided to come forward publicly, and talk about what happened to them. They asked for their story to be shared with others, and I have received permission to translate the text on their behalf. The translation has been subjected to review by the original author.
The following was posted on 22 November 2014 by Patricia Degerman, a former member of the Socialist Justice Party. I will add some context at the end of the post.
I want to start off by saying that you are very welcome to share this status. The more people that read it the better, and hopefully it can save someone from joining the cult! As some here know I have been a member of the Socialist Justice Party. The last year's rape charges have disgusted me deeply and I am ashamed that I ever was a member.
Anyway, there are a lot of women right now who have had to suffer a double humiliation in the form of leading male members claiming that what has happened didn't happen, and a massive smear campaign going on against those women who try to bring it up. One of the arguments for it all being lies is that most of the women have wanted to be anonymous. The repulsive assholes in the Socialist Justice Party have no understanding whatsoever as to why someone might chose to be anonymous in such a situation, instead they have - as said - been running massive smear campaigns to discredit the women.
I have in mind to remove the assholes' ability to point at that argument any more, and to go public with my own story. It is pretty mild compared to all the other shit that I have heard from different women, but it still shows fairly well what the Socialist Justice Party actually thinks of women.
In 2010 I was in Luleå (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lule%C3%A5) and campaigned for the election (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_general_election,_2010). There was also a fairly recently recruited member called Aden there. At one time a couple of us were out, and he missed his bus home so I offered him to sleep at our place. During the night I was woken by him putting his hand between my legs, beneath my undergarments. I asked him what the hell he was doing. He didn't say much, just left the room. I thought to myself that it wouldn't happen again since I wasn't sleeping on my own in the room. And I'd be damned if he didn't do it again when I had fallen asleep. I then threw him out of the apartment. I never brought this up except for with a few people, but yesterday I found out that Jonas Brännberg knew but chose not to do a damn about it. This made me extremely mad, so I emailed him and demanded an answer. I am still waiting for a written response from him, since he seriously thought I would agree to talk to him on the phone. I also have in mind to publish the entire email conversation in case he responds, because I am so very tired of hearing about disgusting stories that women in my vicinity have been subjected to, and I think it is time to out all these assholes in public and humiliate them as much as they have humiliated us. By the way, I would be very happy if this status was shared as much as possible.
(For the record, for those of you here who are not as inclined towards outing patriarchal traitors within the workers' movement as I and others are, I can say that I have seen other people verify at this was the course of action taken by Brännberg. Choosing to ignore sexual abuse enacted against a comrade and fellow party member, in order to keep a new recruit in the party.)
Some context.
Jonas Brännberg is a very important member of the Socialist Justice Party. Holding a seat in Luleå Municipal Assembly, he is one of only four municipal councillors belonging to RS. He is also a member of the national party board as far as I know. He has been visible in regional and national media, such as this (http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=98&artikel=5937666) interview by Sveriges Radio (state-owned radio). Here follows an excerpt from an interview (http://rslulea.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/rs-viktigaste-fragor-i-lulea-kommunval-2014/) conducted on 8 August 2014, by the party newspaper Offensiv:
Questions like the environment, anti-racism and feminism are important issues right now, especially since the EU elections. RS is usually visible in these questions, but how would you briefly describe what you believe to be the solution?
"Feminism and anti-racism, yes all movements against oppression, must be struggling to win. We fight against gender discrimination at a grass roots level [...] One demand which we raise in the election is that there is a need for special courts in rape cases, at the same time as helplines/shelters for women need to get more resources."
Other examples of his work includes this (http://offensiv.socialisterna.org/sv/940/inrikes/6539/) 11 March 2011 article, partially about a woman who was sexually assaulted by a stranger while sleeping in her apartment. The title is "The judicial system frees sexual criminals", and Brännberg puts forward - among other proposed measures - this demand: "To give victims of abuse support throughout the whole process." This (http://www.lulea.se/download/18.4743542213c82a1eb1327fa/1359551257751/2007-08-27+%C2%A7+170+Medborgarfo%CC%88rslag+om+sja%CC%88l vfo%CC%88rsvarskurs+fo%CC%88r+killar+och+tjejer+pa %CC%8A+ho%CC%88gstadiet.pdf) 2007 municipal document shows that Brännberg was the only Luleå councillor to support the introduction of self-defence classes in school, in relation to increased levels of sexual violence. Etc. Countless other examples of his apparently intense hypocrisy can be found online.
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/images/98/3397340_2048_1152.jpg?preset=article