Recently a man popular in so-called "tankie" spaces known as Barry Lyndon had been outed as a pedophile and a sexual predator. Many of his victims shared his politics. In fact, Lyndon used his politics to convince everyone that he was trustworthy and indeed a good comrade. Prior warnings of Lyndon's behavior had gone unheeded by the community unfortunately, and he was allowed to roam free, sending sexually explicit messages to several people, including minors.
I will not detail Lyndon's crimes though I suggest Chicago comrades ban him from any and all revolutionary spaces--sexual predators are not radicals, ever, no matter how solid their politics appear to be. Rather, I am writing this to highlight just how poorly sexual abuse is handled by the left in general.
Firstly, I have to admit that I was one of the people Lyndon had been messaging. I am one of the victims. I've spoken to others affected by this, and while I can only speak for myself on the matter, I can confirm that we are all deeply shaken and upset that this has gone on for so long. How could a man posturing as a leftist escape scrutiny for so long?
The Marxist-Leninist community on Twitter and Facebook as a whole was both fooled by Barry Lyndon and enabled him. There is a shocking silence with regards to sexual abuse from most of the men in the community. It appears that the topic only comes up when it's time to reap the social capital that comes with being #woke and a feminist "ally."
The problem with this is that it doesn't ever seem to be put into practice. It's not like I am looking for saviors. I simply want people to hold each other accountable and make supposedly revolutionary spaces safer for vulnerable comrades. A possible solution would be to open channels of communications; leftist men should make themselves available for discussing other men people feel are abusive.
I never said anything about what Lyndon had done because I felt shame, like I had invited him to speak that way with me. I thought I was far too hard on men who were trying to unlearn toxic behavior, not realizing that the discomfort I felt during our conversations was actually unacceptable. Thus, I ended up keeping it to myself--this is how predators operate.
I would also like to discuss how many leftists are now celebrating the outing of a pedophile among our ranks not because our community is safer, but because it somehow proves that Marxist-Leninists have some propensity for abusive behavior. As a Marxist-Leninist and a victim of this sexual predator, this strikes me as victim blaming. In fact, most of his victims were comrades--natural, since we opened our hearts and even our homes to someone we considered a true comrade. Anarchists and ultra-leftists somehow think that blaming our ideology is a great way to prove the superiority of ultra-leftism.
My own community refused to listen to warning signs, which as a victim, is hurtful. Then there are these people who believe that pointing out Lyndon's political ideology is somehow important to his abusive behavior (nevermind that his victims shared many of his politics) and that naturally, bringing up his politics:
I am very glad that @BarnesEPowell made these tweets as I can properly show you these two kinds of male leftists in a single person. Someone who believes ideological beef and semantics are more important than minors being targeted by other leftist men should not fucking be calling themselves a leftist.
We fear abusive situations because often times this requires involving the police. We are sometimes vulnerable, drawn to radical politics because of prior experiences of abuse and assault. We are marginalized members of society--queer, women, of color/black--in a space that should prioritize us but instead provides cover for cishet white men and their abuses.
I do have to applaud just how strong the response to Lyndon's abuse has been, however. Chicago comrades are currently taking action against this man and it has been made clear that he is forever unwelcome in all leftist spaces. Many people, including men, have come forward in support of his victims and my hope is that during this chaotic moment, we can come together as a community and figure out how to best avoid patriarchal attitudes that lead to gross sexual abuse.
I apologize if this seems rushed. I have to admit that this has shaken me deeply. I feel that had I come forward with what he was doing to me sooner, I would have been able to prevent minors being harmed by this man. Even though Lyndon deserves all of the blame, I feel dirty and guilty for what he did to me. And that feeling increases every time so-called leftists declare that of course Lyndon was a predator--he was a Marxist-Leninist! And naturally, no Marxist-Leninist can be a victim.
I will go so far as to say that the politics being displayed right now are reactionary, an attempt to paint the victims as less sympathetic in order to hail their own brand of leftism as most correct. To be honest I don't give an actual fuck about anarchists or ultras but they seem to care very deeply about my politics, so much so that they'll go against everything they supposedly believe to slander victims of sexual abuse.
This is about the victims, and yet attention is constantly being diverted from the topic of sexual abuse so that no leftist man ever needs to self criticize and evaluate his own possibly dangerous behavior.
To those of you rolling your eyes and saying "ugh typical tankies" I hope you understand that you have no claim to the term "leftist" because you are just as reactionary as the conservatives you hate, and that you are just as unsafe as Lyndon himself because you provide cover and excuses for his behaviors.
To all those affected by Lyndon, my heart goes out to you and I truly hope we can heal.
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