Report: How did the people of Glasgow, Berlin and Novosibirsk fight back to the misogyn
Text: Daria Suharchuk, Julia Krivonosova
This Saturday in a dozen cities around the world passed protests against sexism and misdiagnosis - and one troll called them, known as Roosh V. For the last few years, Darius Valizade (his real name) wrote and published instructions on how to sleep with women in different countries. His uncomplicated but aggressive pickup technique is based on the idea that at a certain stage of intoxication, girls can agree to have sex with anyone. On his website and on twitter, Valizade promotes other ideas - not only sexist, but also racist and homophobic. Over the weekend, his fans were supposed to meet and exchange experiences in different cities of the world, from Novosibirsk to Washington, but the news flowed out of the boundaries of the framed community, prompting a legitimate protest.
All past week, Western media and politicians have stated that they would not like to see meetings of apologists for violence in their cities, while supporters of women's rights planned to organize protests. By the middle of the week it began to seem that the meetings of the fans of Valizade and his website “The Return of Kings” would turn into open conflict with feminists. Both sides discussed protection measures and called for taking photographs of opponents. On the Internet, several petitions against Valisade were scattered, calling on Amazon to withdraw its book from sale or demanding to ban its entry into the country (including Canada, Australia and the UK). British opponents of misalignment, moreover, wrote to Member of Parliament Chi Onvura with a request to raise this issue at the official level. The deputy did not miss the opportunity to laugh at the "pickup guru", hinting that he was "trying to compensate for something."
The video with the jokes of British ladies in parliament gained more than 23 thousand views, and the deputy Onvura published a triumphal column in a local newspaper, where she reiterated the importance of the struggle for women's rights. By that time, the hackers “Anonymus” joined the Internet harassment; they poured the home address of the parents of Valisade into the network, and the Toronto women's boxing club promised to go to the nearest meeting of his fans. Shortly after this statement, Valizade canceled the planned meetings and told the Maryland state police about the death threats he had received.
Toronto Women's Boxing Club has promised to appear at the meeting in full
It was then that the Daily Mail photo report scattered around the network that the self-proclaimed “king of the pickup truck” allegedly lives in the basement at his mother’s house. Despite the fact that the text itself was written in the “inciting” style characteristic of the tabloid, its very appearance suggests that the general direction of discourse in English-speaking countries has turned towards feminism. Valazade, with his repeated allegations that he just wants to help “heterosexual masculine men lost in this world” meet for a beer, turned out to be a scapegoat for the whole world - even for the Daily Mail, where it is not accepted to be too reverent human rights.
However, the statement of Valizade about the cancellation of meetings of fans did not cool the fervor of his opponents. In many cities, demonstrations have already been agreed with the police, and no one wanted to cancel them. In Russia, Valizade fans decided to meet in Novosibirsk - VKontakte activists warned women about this, also urging male allies to "resolutely oppose this evil with all their might." The protest actions in Novosibirsk as a result did not happen - as, it seems, the meetings of the followers of Valalzade (at least, none of this was discussed in any of their communities). Fortunately, in Russia this was the case, despite the love of the followers of Valisade for President Putin and Russian conservatism.
The Scots perceived the appearance of the most on the horizon of the Vaalzade: the threats to their fathers began to take shape, the militant-minded committees of the fathers began to take shape, the local media actively replicated the story. The idea to hold a demonstration against violence at the meeting place of the followers of Valizade was proposed by the women's organization of a new electoral bloc, which united left-wing political movements and parties in Scotland. In addition, the electoral bloc had a bearing on the creation of the petition: its author is the main candidate from this party in the upcoming elections to the Scottish Parliament in May 2016.
"Our party is feminist. But we raise a wide range of issues: the problems of migrants, the introduction of a progressive tax scale, pension reform. In the political discourse of Britain, it is believed that feminists are not interested in these issues, but this is not so: all questions are women's issues, because the woman is also a man, ”said Jenny Gunn, one of the founders of the electoral bloc.“ At first we thought that our demonstration would be a collision: we would come to the square at the same time as the mysogines, and the confrontation would begin We will show that we can stand up for ourselves. But then we realized that we should not respond with aggression and threats. On the contrary, we should show that we are not scared, and our demonstration should be held in the style of Glasgow - brightly, with music, dancing, laughter Therefore, we offered everyone to wear all the brightest and most brilliant, so that it was a carnival and a celebration of equality. "
As long as men are not involved in the rape discussion, the problem will not be solved.
And it really was a carnival. In the evening, the protesters gathered in the main square of the city, took out posters, turned on the music (among other things, sounded Pussy Riot). There were also men on the square - and, what is indicative, not a single supporter of Valisade. “It was important for us that not only women come to this demonstration, because rape is not an exclusively female issue. As long as men are not involved in the discussion on rape, the problem will not be solved,” explained Jenny Gunn. "I am glad that after statements by Valizade, we finally raised the issue of rape. Prior to this, the problem of rape was ignored in mass public discourse, despite the fact that every year there is a demonstration against sexual harassment in Glasgow," on a demonstration with children, husband and grandmother.
“I also came to the rally to protect the square. In this square we advocated independence, we came to this square to mourn after the failed referendum of 2014. This is our symbol, and I will not allow it to be polluted with such vile ideas.” said another participant in the action.
No less violently reacted and Berlin, whose residents are known for their left-wing views and love for the demonstrations (this weekend there were as many as four in the city - one right and three leftists). About 200 people came to the action against the Return of the Kings, about half of them were men. Almost everyone learned about the demonstration from social networks thanks to two protest organizers - British women working in the center of assistance to victims of violence. Some participants of the rally came with false mustaches and rainbow wigs and unfolded a sheet with the slogan "We do not need your kingdom!".
The men joked and said that they felt like they were in high school when a fool from the back row shame the whole class in front of a new teacher. “We just wanted to show that not all men are such bastards who are ready to pounce on any girl if she drank a little. We don’t want Rusch and his ilk to think that they have the right to speak on behalf of all men. And we don’t want it was this square in Berlin that became the meeting place for men who approved violence. "
“I am very glad that such a motley crowd has come,” said Amy Poko, the protest organizer. “Demonstrations like this are very important - this is our way of telling everyone that sexual abuse cannot be part of a healthy relationship. Many people don’t Understand. Sexual abuse is a very important topic, which cannot be silent about, and it’s great that they have started talking about it all over the world. And I am very glad that I organized this rally - so many wonderful people came, and by the way the police reacted to us with more understanding and upport. "
The followers of Valizade never came close to the demonstrators - one of them shot a video standing on the other side of the street, and four more threw a squib from a nearby roof. The flash of a firecracker was followed by several flashes of cameras, and the policemen from the attire on duty in the square, screaming and screaming at the crowd, climbed to the roof - but nobody was there.
Photo: Shutterstock