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

Wed Nov 14 01:49:12 UTC 2012

Insofar as the incident that brought all this discussion into play, I find your response at best equivocal, mushy if I may say so.
Yes, we should always be sensitive to the complexities of race, poverty, crime and gender. But sometimes one must address the issue at hand, which you do not do, presumably for fear that the IMC will be compromised.

This said, I personally do not know what the facts of the matter are; they seem to be hidden behind ambiguous comments.

Yes, long live the IMC, but…?

--mkb

On Nov 13, 2012, at 1:27 PM, Rachel Storm wrote:

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<http://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<mailto: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<mailto: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<http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/>
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org<mailto:naiman at justforeignpolicy.org>
>
> --
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