Post AzYmFpRCQ7h2qymFrk by Gabble@spinster.xyz
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(DIR) Post #AzXq54EDIJoECNrq1g by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2025-10-24T19:56:16.475607Z
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https://unherd.com/newsroom/jess-phillips-has-betrayed-grooming-gangs-survivors/There is likely another reason for Phillips’s apparent contempt for victims, however: a fear of Muslim opposition. At last year’s general election, her lead in Birmingham Yardley was cut from over 10,000 to under 700 votes thanks to pressure from a pro-Gaza Workers’ Party candidate. She alleged that his supporters harassed her over the course of the campaign, and looked scared out of her wits as she was heckled with cries of “Free Palestine” during her victory speech. In a 2019 interview with Stylist magazine, Phillips said of the various threats she had received: “Fear and hatred can be the things that drive you. I don’t always think of fear as a bad thing, it gives you fight-or-flight.” I think we can safely say that she is in the “flight” stage right now. The irony is that she too has been threatened by Muslim men; unlike the survivors, with all her advantages, she does not appear to have the guts to stand up to them. Her “safeguarding” title now seems like satire, with victims accusing her of “a betrayal that has destroyed what little trust remained”. According to Fiona Goddard, the inquiry was always “a box-ticking exercise […] we have been failed, over and over again.” Labour politicians have consistently played down the horror of the grooming gangs, with Lucy Powell — now running for the party’s deputy leadership — dismissing it as a “dog whistle” issue. In January, Starmer himself accused those calling for an inquiry of “jumping on a bandwagon” led by the “far-Right”. Clearly, the Government wishes these atrocities had never come to light. Phillips will probably end up as a sacrifice, as Labour women frequently are. That’s a shame, as I still think she’d make a good leader of the party. But I probably don’t mean that as a compliment any more.
(DIR) Post #AzYmFpRCQ7h2qymFrk by Gabble@spinster.xyz
2025-10-25T06:54:55.895468Z
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@HebrideanHecate There’s also five survivors who’ve said they will quit if Jess Phillips stands down from the role.There are people who have been gunning for Phillips her entire career, because she has always talked about male violence and femicide. They have always spoken of her with the contempt that men use to speak of women who bring this stuff up: she’s stupid, she should talk about other types of men only, she’s unfit for the job, etc. That is the background noise of most political media talking about her for her entire career, because she opposes male violence and speaks out against it. Most political media, and most political social media, is very male. And, of course, the angry men of the so-called ‘Labour Left’ hate her, because she didn’t support Corbyn. If she ‘bravely’ speaks out against Islam or makes some comment about different cultures and patterns, and she loses her ‘job’ as an MP for Birmingham, it isn’t just her losing her job: all the women of Birmingham lose her as an MP, and some crazed Islamist man gets in. Who does that help? This is a different sort of decision to making a decision about your own career and life. Staying in her role, running for election, being credible political opposition, is taking a risk with her life. This isn’t hypothetical. Based on comments Phillips made in interview with Helen Lewis, for which she got a ridiculous amount of flak, I’m pretty sure Phillips is capable of letting the inquiry go where it needs to and finding the truth, even if the way any conclusion gets written up has to be couched in careful language: this is how you get it done. She grew up in Birmingham: she knows. Also, consider again her not supporting Corbyn: she is not in that mindless group.If Jess Phillips stands down from this role, I don’t think there’s anyone else who can be found who is capable of the role and willing to put themselves out there. The inquiry will collapse, and who will benefit? Everyone who would be implicated by the inquiry will benefit, as will media who benefit from chaos and anger, and bored people online who like exciting outrage to get angry about but who don’t really care about the issues. And, of course, the violent wife-beaters who march in things like ‘Britain First’ will benefit, because they can pretend this is about the establishment covering it up: they’ve always hated women like Jess Phillips, who talk about male violence and try to do something about it. And all the men who have spent her entire career saying how much they hate the stupid bitch for talking about male violence. And all the angry men of ‘Momentum’, who hated her opposing Corbyn and want revenge.
(DIR) Post #AzZklj37hZynYaYdoO by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2025-10-25T18:04:38.055996Z
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@Gabble I loathe the woman, she is a two faced maggot who shits on other women and panders to a toxic religion who would slit her throat too in a heartbeat. Not to mention her tranny pandering, and her laughing like a donkey at the grooming gangs thing in parliament, she was caught on camera. The dismissal of the Cologne sex assaults too.
(DIR) Post #Azb0jA7aNx0B4iP9JA by Gabble@spinster.xyz
2025-10-26T07:43:02.553256Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@HebrideanHecate I’m not saying you can’t loathe her: I’m saying a lot of the hate on her has come from a general hatred of her which gets boosted by people who have always hated her working against violence against women and girls. It gets picked up and boosted in weird ways. It makes me think of the people who try to tell me that Germaine Greer isn’t a feminist and doesn’t take rape seriously: our internal discussions get turned into simplistic outraged takes by people who don’t understand any of the context, and have no desire to see things improve for women. And that her “tranny pandering”, which then gets dismissed as “cowardice”, can also be seen as a tactical decision. And it might not be the decision you or I would make, but then we aren’t in the position she is in. And we can rage that this is wrong, and admire the courage of women who spoke out and so are not in the position she is in, but then she is the person who is in this position and can use it.There are actual substantial issues to be raised about the inquiry, which are important to raise and get sorted. It sounds like some issues around how much secrecy people need, and how to handle that without making it feel more frightening or suggesting shame, for example. But turning it into “Jess Phillips is a horrible person and should be removed” is how you end up with no inquiry and nothing done. There is nobody left who could take her place.