[Peace-discuss] [SDaS] In response to recent emails and IMC case

Tue Nov 13 19:27:42 UTC 2012

Julianne et al,

Thank you for your e-mail and calling for a mindfulness and sensitivity on
an issue that
many of us have relationships to or personal experience with in one way or
another.

I was privileged to be able to listen and feel heard with folks who came
together last night to
discuss our concerns and urge support and I encourage those of us who are
able/willing to
continue to build dialogue in our community in order to seek healing,
accountability, and
encouraging coming together, not tearing apart, in moments like these.

These issues don't exist in isolation and if we're concerned about
injustice, we must remain
ever vigilant about how important it is for us to support one another where
possible. While
denial around these issues are commonplace everywhere, I've seen outrage,
care, support,
love, and a desire to heal. Let's grow those efforts. Our strength as a
community, and more
importantly as an activist community, will be demonstrated through our
ability to hold many
concerns at once--refusing to allow legal and social structures to tear us
apart and away from
those concerns.

I've been recommending *The Revolution Starts at Home* as a great resource.
The zine is online
here<http://www.incite-national.org/media/docs/0985_revolution-starts-at-home.pdf>,
but it will soon be published as a book for purchase with additional
chapters, etc.

Julianne mentions community accountability and I think this is key to
helping us stay strong
and to continue to build our power as a community, so* here's some
resources on community*
*accountability*:

INCITE Women of Color Against Violence "Community Accountability"
http://www.incite-national.org/index.php?s=114

Transformative Justice
http://www.transformativejustice.eu/?page_id=16

Creative Interventions Toolkit on Community Accountability
http://www.creative-interventions.org/about/ci-projects/community-based-interventions-project/

Generation Five
http://www.generationfive.org/

There is talk of creating a reading/practice group that will explore
community accountability. This,
I'm hopeful, will present us with an opportunity to ask for accountability
both from ourselves and
each other--not as a supplement for more formal redress from folks in
leadership positions, but
because we all have a role in creating safe, supportive community.

Additionally, I'd like to ensure everyone knows how to access *local
resources** addressing
sexual assault, advocacy, anti-violence, and healing after violence:

Rape, Advocacy, Counseling and Education Services (RACES)
http://www.cu-races.org/
24-Hour Rape Crisis Hotline: 1.217.384.4444

Women's Resources Center, University of Illinois
www.go.illinois.edu/wrc
Tel. 217-333-3137

A Woman's Place/Center for Women in Transition
http://www.cwt-cu.org/html/dv_services.html
Tel. 217-352-7151

Cognition Works
http://www.cognitionworks.org/
Tel. 217-239-0142

*This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I wanted to list a few
important resources.

Thanks for listening.

Rachel

On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 10:18 AM, Julianne Panagacos <
julianne.panagacos at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Bob,
>
> I think the research you are proposing is important work though I find
> it triggering to have emails in my inbox everyday with rape in the
> title, especially when it is so close to home. On other listservs that
> I am on when there is policy of putting something along the lines of
> "potentially triggering material" in the title so that people can
> choose to read it when they are ready to read about alleged sexual
> assault. Are you (and others if you want to answer) willing to start
> doing that?
>
> I think it is important to acknowledge that a lot of people that care
> about and use the IMC are mourning and in shock, which does not imply
> denial. In other radical groups and scenes I've been part of and heard
> of, there are community accountability processes that have been
> created and executed in order to use different models of justice than
> the model of justice imposed on us by the state. That is also not
> denial, though you may not hear about it in a news paper. Being that
> this allegation is already being pursed legally, I think it is most
> important to make sure that there are resources for people- the
> victim, defendant, families of those two parties and community
> members,  to talk and process and support each other.
>
> I hope emails to come are in the spirit of supporting ourselves though
> a hard time.
>
> Best,
>
> Julianne
>
> On Nov 12, 2012, at 11:45 AM, Robert Naiman
> <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org> wrote:
>
> > According to the News-Gazette, the next court date in the IMC rape
> > case is November 20:
> >
> > Urbana man charged with sex assault
> >
> >
> > I heard a report that someone was trying to organize a "cheerleading
> > squad" at the courthouse in support of the accused rapist.
> >
> > Can anyone tell me if there is any truth to this report?
> >
> > I'm writing an expose for a national progressive website on rape
> > denialism on the left, and the IMC rape case is going to be my case
> > study.
> >
> > If anyone would like to be interviewed for this article, please let me
> know.
> >
> > --
> > Robert Naiman
> > Policy Director
> > Just Foreign Policy
> > www.justforeignpolicy.org
> > naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
> >
> > --
> > School for Designing a Society listserv:
> http://groups.google.com/group/sdas-list
> > To participate, email: sdas-list at googlegroups.com
> > To unsubscribe, email: sdas-list+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com
> >
> >
>
> --
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>
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