Women spoke in Belfast despite attempts to silence them
Gearóid Ó Loingsigh
17 April 2023
The Let Women Speak rally in Belfast (16/04/23)
Kellie Jay Keen a.k.a Posie Parker came to Belfast on April 16th as part of her Let Women Speak rallies. The rally was well attended with lots of women there and also a number of men too. And it had the usual counter rally made up of Trans activists, who had sabotaged the sound system and tried to drown out the message from the women.
It followed its usual format of allowing women to come forward and speak on the issue, with no attempts made to hinder or censor them. And that is one of the great positive aspects of the Let Women Speak rallies. Various centre right figures, such as the former leftie Billy Bragg and others have tried to cast aspersions on the rallies and on the person of KJK claiming that these are far right rallies. A look round those in Belfast it was clear that this is not the case. Many of those were long time feminist activists, socialists and young people who were concerned about where things are going for women and they got to speak. The fact that an anti-abortionist was also allowed to speak on the trans issue does not take away from it. As socialists we support the idea that refugees are welcome, the fact that the Catholic Church also says that, does not make us any less socialist nor does it make the demands of women any less valid.
That is the great positive to be taken from the event. In a world where women are threatened, censored, silenced, victims of violence and losing their jobs, this afforded an opportunity to speak. One young woman spoke, explaining that she had come in disguise fearing that she would lose her job, but decided to show her face and speak. She was not the only one. I spoke to other women who also feared losing their jobs but had decided to attend the rally nonetheless.
Speakers spoke about the assault on women’s rights and also the threat that female prisoners faced with the continued imprisonment of Gabrielle Alejandro Gentile a.k.a Barbie Kardashian in Limerick Women’s Prison. Later that day it was announced that he is to be moved to another unit as staff fear for their own safety. A small mercy for the women prisoners, he should have never been put in there ever, due to the danger he represents to women.
Anne Conway was one of the speakers and she started off by stating that women would take no lecturers from the trans lobby on love or on their stereotypes of women. She spoke as a Socialist and lamented that most of the organisations that she had worked with over the years on issues such as abortion, contraception, divorce were now on the side of Men’s Rights. She pointed out that this was not about the far right. The far right had never supported women’s rights and it was the trans activists who behaved like the far right, silencing women. She also remarked that not since the foundation of the southern state had there been such a campaign against women. On that point she is of course correct and it is something that so called socialists in ROSA who turned on the day and PBP who supported it but dared not show their faces on the day, should reflect upon. She also called for the removal of men from Limerick Prison and called on the GAA to reverse decisions to allow men to participate in women’s GAA sports.
Organisations that sponsored the counter
rally to Let Women Speak.
After the rally, many of the participants went to Robinson’s / Fibber Magee’s bar in Belfast in front of the Europa Hotel. The bar was empty and quickly filled up. After an hour and a half of serving all the staff informed us that women with Suffragettes colours or the T-Shirts would not be served as it was a trans positive part, whatever that means. One man who challenged the manager over the decision, was head butted and left bleeding. It was a downer on an otherwise great day. Actions should be taken against Robinson’s including pressing charges, opposing the renewal of their licence and an organised boycott with pickets. Women came out of the shadows on Sunday, now is not the time for ignorant management at Robinson’s to force them back into the shadows.
KJK has said she will come to Dublin, as her visit there was postponed due to a lack of Gardaí to provide security for her, as those who wish to silence women resort to any tactic to do so, as they did in New Zealand when the mob tried to lynch her. The look of fear on her face was palpable and the threat was real. Perhaps it would be a good idea to go to Limerick Prison where the assault on women is played out in all its ugliness, with sex offenders being housed alongside women in the name of inclusivity.
Video of the address by Anne Conway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mx9R6_OfuE
The full event can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LF5Nn-rNfY