pic: futureswithoutviolence.org
The Left party began its congress this past Friday in Göteborg. Although the final decision on the wording of the party platform won’t be taken until May, suggestions for changes have been circulating in Left party circles for a while. One of the suggested changes has met with a lot of critique, also from Jonas Sjöstedt, the Left party’s leader.
In the platform suggestion in question, neither “honor based violence” (hedersvåld) nor “honor based oppression” (hedersförtryck) are mentioned. Instead, the issue is tucked into the larger section with the title Gender Power Hierarchy (könsmaktsordning) where it states “Disparagement takes different forms, and its legitimization can be more or less hidden by everything from the exercise of authority and honor-related concepts to social norms” (SvD.se/honor). The term “honor-related concepts” is a pretty heavily watered down variation on honor-based violence and oppression, people are saying.
The Left party has been accused of being soft on honor-based violence before. In August, representative Amineh Kakabaveh was forced out of (or stepped down from, depending on how you see it) the Left party. According to her, her party made it impossible for her to remain a representative by ignoring her at meetings: It was punishment for speaking out too strongly on women’s behalf, and for criticizing the party for not doing nearly enough to support women (see this post).
Similar critique is now being aimed at the party, and this time from another long-term party member, Jonas Lundgren. The phrase honor-related concepts “relativizes” honor based violence, he says. “It’s like trying to prettify the control and oppression that many suffer in honor’s name” (SvD.se/honor). “We have a feminist platform that declares that these questions are big and important. And yet, dammit, (lik förbannat) there have been people in central positions in the party that have questioned that analysis, wondering if it isn’t an instance of racism” (DN.se/honor).
“This was a mistake in the program” said Jonas Sjöstedt. “It’s likely that there will be rewrites, and the words honor-related concepts will be changed” said Hanna Cederin, the party program committee’s convener (DN.se/honor).
That sounds like an excellent idea.
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