Any half-decent lefty, indeed any half-decent human being, is a principled opponent of violence against women. ALL women.
If we only oppose violence against *some* women, those who share our politics, for example, we aren’t half-decent lefties or, indeed, half-decent humans.
An elderly, vulnerable woman, subjected to an attack of any kind, never mind one of such sickening ferocity, is no cause for celebration.
Yes, she was a fash-adjacent, hate-filled bigot whose contribution to the betterment of humanity might be accurately described as non-existent. Her cruel & spiteful injunctions against pregnant women, when Prisons Minister, earned my undying contempt, as did her unashamed homophobia. Her reinvention, in recent years, as some sort of celebrity eccentric & loveable old dear was utterly baffling. And nauseating.
All that said, any progressive society of the future, to which, one assumes, we all aspire, will be judged by how it treats its enemies. We should start now. By opposing violence against women. ALL women. Meaningfully & not with lip service.
If your socialism isn’t informed first & foremost by humanity, it isn’t socialism.
Here endeth the lesson.
Harry Paterson
