Events in Cologne NYE

a gang of wankers sexually assaulted women. No more needs to be said does it?

While living in Kerala for a few years i sometimes witnessed this group assault strategy. Indian male day-tippers are not culturally accustomed to the degree of female bare flesh shown at the beach resort and a common strategy was for several youths to encircle a female bather who was frequently unaware and ogle her, then someone would be dared to grab a grope...sex-pesting was the local and legal term for such behaviour. The underlying cause is probably the extreme social sexual suppression men in India face, no courting or pre-marital sex (except with prostitutes). India women are much more often the (hidden) victims than white female tourists.

I cannot comment on Cologne but other women who had experienced such assaults said a good slap across the face was sufficient humiliation in front of the offenders friends to deter any further or more serious assaults from developing.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/180448/World/International/Reports-of-sexual-assaults-spike-at-US-military-ac.aspx

Are there any migrant feminist groups in Germany?

Is this the nationalist feminist response to patriarchy?

1. Closing borders/forcing such men to go 'back over there' where other 'lesser' women are
2. 'liberatory' war & occupation* (if the country is geopolitically useful)

*leaving domestic patriarchy untounched

Merkel is announcing any asylum seeker who breaks the law will be deported. Any law? And where will that be to exactly?

Follow the example of these groups?
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/09/egypt-women-anti-sexual-harassment-post-revolution.html

How would that help this particular situation? I dont understand.

Were they not group assaults? Or is it different because it's not during protests? I don't know anything, so I'll slip out this thread.

http://www.okwonga.com/how-to-deal-with-the-sexual-assaults-in-cologne/

Well, first, this incident should be treated as an act of sexual violence, not of a court on immigration. l have read a number of good responses and a couple point out that we should be talking about sexual violence in general. There is also the rape culture of the Octoberfest, when there are rapes each year, more sexual assault and more suspected rapes. As far as l understand, another problem in Germany is the underreporting of rape because in order to people to be convicted of it, a victim must prove that he or she fought back. (Although it is mostly she, but for example, men also got raped at Octoberfest.) So, if this is the understanding of rape, then, for example, people who were completely drunk, passed out or otherwise could not consent, would still not be able to "prove" they were raped ... hence Octoberfest becomes really ideal for this type of assault.

As far as a good slap in the face being "enough" to deter a group of men who want to attack you, l don't like this comment. l was groped once in Egypt and actually knocked the guy down... and was soon surrounded by a whole group of people shouting. l probably would have been really frightened by this if l weren't so angry and shouting myself. That said, l suppose the reality is that l was just scary enough myself that nothing else happened. But l don't think it is generally wise to think that slapping a person who wants to sexually assault you will be enough. Especially if this is a group attack.

That said, there obviously is a problem with attitudes towards women and sexual violence that needs to be addressed, be it among German men or immigrant men. A good step would be to attack all the ideas that support the objectification of women, a general attack on some of the root causes of the problem. All teenagers should also be included in general discussion against sexual violence and what causes it. Besides such educational work and public discussion, it is hard to know what else can be done. l don't believe in puniative measures being able to solve problems like this.

I know that the police chief of Cologne has now resigned his post but whether the forces under his command were ordered to turn a blind eye to the criminality that was occurring is unknown to me.

When I was in Morocco this happened to the women in the group when we went to the square after dark. There were two of us men and two women (one in her sixties) and they wer eboth being relentlessly groped, I think it's a similar situation to that in India, it's also just sheer opportunism. And it's hard to know what to do when it's basically an entire crowd, you can't just slap the guy because a group of guys have crowded around you. Weirdly they weren't aggressive with us, even when we tried to block them, they just went round us.
In a similar note the non-sexual version happenes in England quite regularly, they call it steaming at funfairs and simialr events. I remember similar stories about groups of banlieue youth doing this in France on trains and even going to the beach to commit mass muggings. This also happens in the USA at loads of events, such as the new woodstock. LAst year there was a series of assaults in Central park where groups of men would surround women cover them in water and demand that they strip. There's also the aggressive Mardi Gras stuff...
This seems like a crime of opportunity on a base of misogyny. I think cultures that heavily police 'access' to women and also have a culture of men spending a lot of time in public space are likely to see more of it.

edit: also I think that there's a large proportion of young men amongst the refugees as a lot of them are fleeing the draft so that creates problems in itself. But as Joe, Akai and others have said just because this case seems to be connected to migrants that doesn't hide the fact that it occurs fairly frequently elsewhere.

jef costello

In a similar note the non-sexual version happenes in England quite regularly, they call it steaming at funfairs and simialr events.

Even the sexual version; Sussex Uni rugby team was suspended in 2010 after the squad stripped [themselves] and assaulted a woman on-mass on campus: http://thebadgeronline.com/rugby-club-faces-suspension/ [edit: the details of the 'incident' weren't reported afaik, which probably contributes to people underestimating the frequency of things like it]

I think akai's point that this is foremost a sexual assault(/robbery) and not a referendum on migration is wise; hence laws that discourage reporting need to be opposed, people who experience sexual assault need to be supported, etc. There is something to be said for creating a culture of consent, but pretending that maps onto a 'West vs East' culture clash is obviously bollocks (see the rubgy team example, or that Tory twat George Lawlor whinging about consent workshops, with the support of the same papers who demonise migrants - e.g. the Daily Mail painting him as the victim of "consent zealots").

This happens a lot, sexual assault and similar things are assumed to be rare, and then attacks are portrayed as a problem caused by people who are 'other' in some way. So racism or other kinds of discrimination are backed up and the fact that sexual violence is massively widespread is not dealt with.

** content warning **

I dunno, having spent time with western women abroad in countries like morocco, India and Bangladesh, there levels of sexual assault mainly groping is a much more common event, much more than other countries ive visited, including other 'muslim' countries. An ex girlfriend was sexually assaulted by a gang of bengali students on NYE one year in Dhaka, I was pulled away from her has a gang of 10 or so men pulled her towards an ever larger crowd, Im surprised she (and I) got out alive to be honest. The girl who we were staying with was sexually assaulted as well, another girl was raped by the police when she went to report a robbery in the middle of the night. Women don't feel safe at all by themselves, which is a completely different phenomenon than what ive seen in other countries.

Some of that mentality, that entitlement and fucked up attitudes does migrate, and I really dont think that this behaviour is at all representative of Asian/North African men, but its there and it needs to be tackled by education, by working with young of lads of Asian heritage and making them see that white women are not whores, are not easy, and women in general are not inferior.

That's not to say that it's a problem of the 'other' and not to whitewash misogyny and fucked up ideas boys and men often have, but it is a problem, and needs and is (slowly piecemeal) being confronted (from knowing people who work doing exactly that) and tackled within those communities.

are not whores, are not easy, and women in general are not inferior.

Last time I was on Kao San rd (Bangkok), a farang felt up a Thai trans sex worker and she was having none of it. My point being, one i'm sure everyone here agrees with, is that people deserve respect regardless of their promiscuity.

l would agree there are places in the world where the generalized level of disrespect towards women, and violence are higher than other places. However, l am really appalled about what happens to people in this country. l mean, people who wear hijab who are afraid to go out of their houses (literally) because they are bothered, including being touched or subject to agressive behaviour, l mean rape victims who are treated like they are making up things or got into trouble because they were personally stupid... My general knowledge of how it looks is that a young woman here is probably 1000 times more likely to be raped by a young white boy than any immigrant, but the right-wingers are making fearmongering... well, l guess everybody knows what l mean.

akai

1000 times more likely to be raped by a young white boy than any immigrant.

But say an asian woman living here say in the UK has more of a chance of being raped and sexually assaulted by an asian man than a white man.

Thing is it shouldn't really be a numbers game, as well as a general zero tolerance there is also a need to have people and organisations in (for want of a better word), 'communities' that take that on. BME outfits like the Angelou Centre, (run by black and Asian women for Black and Asian women), up here in Newcastle, actually at the end of my street do that kind of job, and the interventions, support etc, is qualitatively different than with say working class white girls/women.

I found this article raised some issues that could be discussed

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/01/10/after-cologne-we-cant-let-bigots-steal-feminism

(just to be clear, Akai, i was not suggesting a good slap was a universal solution to sexual assault everywhere and certainly not in the case of Cologne but simply indicating that in the particular situation of sex-pesting i was referring to in South India and having talked about such events with some women who were subjected to it, this minimal self-defence was sufficient to deter it.)

I think more might need to be said if this sort of narrative is to be countered.

Statement by german feminist and left activists: http://ausnahmslos.org/english

Against sexualised violence and racism. Always. Anywhere. #ausnahmslos (“noexcuses”)
On the night of New Year’s Eve numerous women were sexually attacked in Cologne and other German cities in public spaces. These crimes demand thorough and comprehensive investigations. The prevailing impunity regarding crimes of sexualised violence must end.

We demand that the survivors receive the best possible care and support. We are in solidarity with those who have experienced sexualised violence and harassment.

Who we are
As feminists specialising on a variety of issues, we have been campaigning for gender equality, a fair and open society, and against sexism and sexualised violence for many years. We have learned, how important it is, to stand firmly against racism and other forms of discrimination.

Our demands
The sustainable fight against sexualised violence of any kind is of highest priority. It is harmful for all of us if feminism is exploited by extremists to incite against certain ethnicities, as is currently being done in the discussion surrounding the incidents in Cologne.

It is wrong to make sexualised violence the subject of discussion, only when the perpetrators are allegedly the perceived ‘others’: Muslim, Arab, black or North-African men, i.e. those who are perceived as ‘non-Germans’ by extremists. It must further not only be taken seriously if white cis women are the alleged victims. Sexualised violence must be the political priority every single day, because it is omnipresent. In 2014, a study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights found that more than 1 in 2 women experience sexual harassment. One in 3 women have experienced physical and/or sexualised violence since the age of 15. Statistics by the German Federal Police count more than 7,300 reported rapes and sexual assaults in Germany every year, equating to more than 20 every day. Not to mention the many more that are never reported.

We want a society in which everyone, independent of ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion or the personal way of life, shall feel safe and be protected from verbal and physical attacks: be it on the streets, at home, at work or on the internet. These are the fundamentals of a free society.

We advocate for:
Political solutions:
1. Counselling services and rape crisis centres must receive stronger support and their service must be extended. They must be fully accessible to everyone.

2. Laws must be adapted and changed: Sexual harassment is not a criminal offence in Germany yet and the constitution of rape depends on the victim’s behaviour.

3. More educational work and awareness campaigns help to prevent sexualised violence and to let the survivors know where they receive support. We want to sensitise society to the fact that sexism and sexualised violence is most likely to occur in the close social environment and in all groups of society.

4. A gender-sensitive education can further prevent (sexualised) violence.

5. Police and the law-enforcement must receive gender and sexualised violence sensitive trainings to ensure prosecution and appropriate behaviour towards survivors.

Societal solutions:
6. The discussion on sexualised violence must be led in an open and differentiated way, including the focus on sociocultural and ideological reasons for violence, and the stigmatisation of survivors.

7. Survivors of sexualised violence must be taken seriously. Victim blaming must stop.

8. Sexism and racism are no problems of ‘the others’: All of us are shaped by structural discrimination and we have to learn to reflect upon our prejudices.

9. Witnesses of sexualised violence must not turn a blind eye on the incident but intervene – from direct support in the case of sexualised violence to opposing sexist statements such as rape jokes.

Media related demands:
10. Reports about sexualised violence must not ridicule the survivors and trivialise the crimes such as through describing rape as a ‘sex-crime’. Because sexualised violence has nothing to do with sex.

11. Sexism and other forms of discrimination must be understood as the basis for sexualised violence and as real problems. It must be acknowledged that media sexism is directly linked to sexualised violence.

12. Sexism and sexualised violence must not be portrayed as a problem solely existent amongst certain ethnicities.

13. Images used in media must not serve racist or sexist stereotypes.

14. More diverse editorial staff are needed to ensure that problems of discrimination are addressed in news reporting.

I think this is more or less the best response to the events we could hope for, no?

Cologne sex attacks: Syrian refugees take to streets to condemn mass assaults by migrants on New Year's Eve

Very recent leaflet (English version) by Mouvement Communiste about the Cologne events, which ends with a series of general remarks about the liberation of women and proletarian revolution.
http://mouvement-communiste.com/documents/MC/Leaflets/BLT1602ENVF.pdf

The issue is what the people, women, involved in these attacks on them want to happen?

Personally I don't believe in anything to do with the state, or the european union.

Cologne Carnival coming up. Anyone else want to get on the immigrant bashing band wagon? Or shall we leave that to the BBC this time?

I do however believe that if any woman, or man, is attacked they should expect full public support at all times. Anyone physically or sexually abusing another person should expect and get the full force of other peoples anger. We are not fools and shouldn't be treated so.

Some history:
http://notchesblog.com/2016/01/19/the-cologne-sexual-assaults-in-historical-perspective/

And of the mass expulsion of Germans:
http://daily.jstor.org/largest-forced-migration-european-history/