Statement of Solidarity with Survivors of Gender-based Violence and Condemnation of the PLP’s Defense of Rape

In Solidarity with the Fellow Workers of the Boston General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, The Los Angeles / Ricardo Flores Magón General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World support the following Statement of Solidarity. The Los Angeles GMB of the IWW supports the Boston GMB’s positions of solidarity with the Fellow Worker who was raped by Seth Miller, member of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP), and will integrate region-specific methods of solidarity with our Fellow Worker. Furthermore, the LA GMB will assess and deconstruct patriarchal elements from within our branch’s functions and promote outreach to survivors of gender-based violence.

Background Information:
A few years ago, a Fellow Worker was raped by Seth Miller, a member of PLP in Los Angeles. He and the Fellow Worker had been friends and had done organizing together prior to this attack. Last year, the survivor decided to go public with what had happened and approached PLP hoping that they would help her hold the perpetrator accountable. The response of the PLP has been appalling: obstructing the survivor’s desired accountability process, and requiring only a self-evaluation and a drinking partner for the perpetrator. Worse still, they have started an insidious misinformation campaign intended to undermine the credibility of the survivor, her account, and her allies. In their official response they claim to fight “sexism, patriarchy, and misogyny in every aspect”, and then promptly continue with slandering the survivor and her allies as “informant-provocateurs” acting in collusion with the “fascist police state.”

We at the Los Angeles/Ricardo Flores Magón General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World condemn the Progressive Labor Party’s response to the Fellow Worker’s demands for justice against their rapist. It is our duty to recognize and take action when those that call themselves revolutionaries perpetuate gender violence by protecting rapists, ignore the survivor’s demands, and attack the survivor for demanding justice.

Resolution
Whereas the Los Angeles / Ricardo Flores Magón General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World is determined to fight rape culture and patriarchy in our union and in
society at large, and

Whereas a Fellow Worker was raped by Seth Miller, a member of the Progressive Labor Party, as described at: http://necessarymeansfight.blogspot.com/2012/12/progressive-labor-party-defends-rapists.html, and

Whereas the response of the Progressive Labor Party to the survivor’s efforts to have them hold Seth Miller accountable has been abhorrent, and
Whereas the Progressive Labor Party has sought to undermine the credibility of the survivor and has sought to protect the rapist, and

Whereas the survivor, a Fellow Worker, has asked that we a) exclude PLP from our organizing campaigns and spaces, b) warn our allies, c) examine and address patriarchal behavior in our organizing communities, d) actively support and defend survivors of sexual violence, and

Therefore, be it resolved that the Los Angeles / Ricardo Flores Magón General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, in solidarity with the survivor and in support of her wishes, will no longer collaborate in organizing campaigns or share organizing spaces with the Progressive Labor Party, or any other organizations which protect rapists and promote rape culture through their words or actions. This proposal and accompanying documentation will be made available to groups that we organize with, and to the stakeholders of venues where we meet regularly. We pledge to stand in solidarity with all victims and survivors of gender-based discrimination, assaults, and other forms of violence, both in the “revolutionary left” and in the broader society. We recognize that the only way to do that is to listen to survivors and to honor their wishes.

- The Los Angeles/Ricardo Flores Magón General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, January 27, 2013