If I’ve got it right, the court decided that Sarah Jane Baker’s “punch Terfs” words in her speech at Trans Pride were no more intended or likely to lead to violence than the banners of the old Class War anarchist group like “We Must Devastate The Avenues Where The Wealthy Live”. And they were a soon-regretted heat-of-the-moment outburst, not a planned banner.
We campaign against Sarah Jane being jailed (indefinitely and despite being acquitted!). Despite Keith Road (Solidarity 684) it won’t help to define away the (“rhetorical”) call for violence against opponents or doubters who are feminists. Not againstall women, of course, but specifically against women opponents or doubters.
Workers’ Liberty resolved in 2018: “We advocate that... issues be discussed in a rational and empathetic way and are addressed through such debate rather than through bureaucratic moves, censorship, no-platforming and violence related to this issue. There are a number of terms which are sometimes used unhelpfully, either to shut down debate or used inaccurately, simply for rhetorical force…”
“Terf” is now irredeemably a scattergun swear-word. The call to “no-platform” “Terfs” remains current and should be opposed.
Martin Thomas, London