Contributions from 18 Sept, part 2: Joining Left Lockdown Sceptics

We’re pleased to publish a sequence of edited transcripts from selected panel contributions given on 18 September First we published VC’s Marxist analysis of the lockdown. Next up, here is radical feminist Emily Garcia’s contribution on why she joined Left Lockdown Sceptics and a radical feminist perspective on the freedom movement.

Joining Left Lockdown Sceptics

EG: I joined Left Lockdown Sceptics in Feb this year after I submitted an article ‘Germ Theory Extremism in a Post Covid World: Some Holistic Health and Feminist Perspectives’ and was invited to join the supporters group. 

My previous involvement in politics has been in the women’s movement. I identify as a radical feminist, so I have ideological points of divergence from Marxism in that I would tend to see the ownership of female bodies and control and appropriation of female reproductive capacities and labour by the male sex class as the original and primary form of exploitation, out of which patriarchy and the capitalist system emerged. I like American feminist writer and academic Marilyn French’s definition of patriarchy as: ‘institutionalised male dominance guaranteed by a set of interlocking structures that perpetuate the authority of an elite group of men over all humans and grant all men power and authority over women of their same class.’ 

Although second wave radical feminism or the women’s liberation movement largely rejected male political framings, it did emerge out of the left, and from Marxist understandings of disparate class interests and class hierarchy. 

I appreciate that this group is open to a plurality of perspectives, in which we obviously converge in our opposition to the new normals and the desire for a fairer, and more equal society. I am grateful to have been welcomed into this community of intelligent, courageous and heart centredness individuals. I feel like I learn a lot from our discussions and reading articles shared in the group and published on the site.

My reaction to lockdowns

David asked me to share a bit on feminist perspectives, and my activism around this. I feel I should preface this by saying that I’ve contributed very little to the pro Freedom movement compared to other speakers today or likely many in the audience.

My reaction to the announcement of the first Lockdown was an immediate hard no, principally because of my beliefs around health & Germ Theory, as well as a strong disinclination to take orders from Boris Johnson or any other man in government! The diagnosis of my chronic illness some years previously started me on a journey of searching outside conventional medicine for things that could help, because there was almost nothing on offer within it. I have gone to quite extreme efforts on my healing path, and yet none of the things I’ve done have ever involved controlling the behaviour of others or impinging on their wellbeing in any way. This whole paradigm of continuing to take no personal responsibility for one’s health and immunity, but instead attempt to obsessively control the movements, behaviours and bodies of strangers remains completely alien and horrifying to me. 

I don’t really have an explanation as to why, for many people, actions of personal responsibility and self care towards better health and immunity is almost the only step too far in protecting against serious consequences from respiratory infections. Surely cutting down on smoking, drinking, being less sedentary, eating less of the dead, processed, profiting promoting but health depleting shelf stable foods of industrial capitalism and so on should be there in the toolkit above steamrolling children’s right to education, vulnerable elderly people’s right to human touch and contact, small business owners right to retain their livelihood and so on.  

I suspect maybe deep unconscious fears and contempt for anything health promoting that exists outside the ‘medical system’ of the patriarchal industrial capitalism, including the power and intelligence of Mother Nature and the wisdom of the body, is a factor. And in my opinion and experience sadly, almost anything genuinely health promoting or restorative does exist outside this system of disease management. 

Rewinding to the 23 March 2020 when I received the Stay at home order by text message, I went into a Chicken Little panicked state. It was obvious to me that we had entered into a new phase of overt tyranny by the state and there would be no coming back from it, at least without the fight of our lives.

I had a definite sense that I needed to set clear boundaries and refuse to comply from the very beginning to withstand the attacks on my sense of self and sense of truth and reality. I‘ve reluctantly worn a mask & put chemicals on my hands on only one occasion- to see my elderly relative in a care home- but haven’t taken a PCR test, given my contact details to any establishment or been injected.

I have friends and loved ones who have continued travelling, socialising, protesting, and meet-up and conference organising throughout the restrictions who have failed to catch any symptoms or have anyone they know get ill after contact with them. So they have either been very lucky or the Germ Theory Extremist measures serve no helpful purpose. And I know which theory I’m incline to favour. 

The feminist movement’s response

A few months after the onset of quarantining of the healthy, I started connecting with feminist friends from the anti sex self ID movement who were having serious questions about what was going on. We created online spaces to discuss the issues, which gradually morphed into activism focused on raising feminist concerns with what’s going on including conferences, meetings, articles, YouTube show discussions and speaking out at feminist events like Standing For Women’s Speakers Corner meetings.

Although the number of ‘new normal questioning’ feminists is slowly growing, we are sadly still minority voice in that community. There has been mainly a resounding silence from radical or socialist feminist journalists, academics, authors and campaigners, with a sprinkling of real enthusiasm for Covid fascism and just the occasional dissenting voice. The outspoken critics are almost always grassroots women, usually from lower socio economic bands and mostly without wider platforms or influence.  

Lockdown and new normal’s harms to women & girls

All this despite the clearly catastrophic harms to women and girls that lockdowns and other elements of the draconian response have engendered. 

If radical feminists oppose structures and systems of power that uphold and further male dominance, then shouldn’t we de facto be objecting to a massive expansion in that power over our lives? If we understand the number one means by which females are oppressed and subordinated is economic impoverishment, how can we support public health policies that have systematically immiserated hundreds of millions of women and girls globally?

If we fight against gendered coercive control and psychological abuse in interpersonal relationships, why are the same tactics used by abusive husbands and pimps the world over a-ok when perpetrated by the state?

And if we really believe ‘my body, my choice,’ where is the outrage over vaccine mandates or ‘no jab, no job’ policies starting with the largely working class female workforce of care home carers?

Women have however stepped up

Whilst the feminist response to the global medical-techno totalitarian push is as disappointing as the rest of radical or progressive political corners, I do want to give credit to the important role that women have played in the UK pushback. Off the top of my head, I can think of Liz Evans who founded Medical Freedom Alliance, the 3 mum team campaign group ‘Us For Them’ who advocate for school children, Silkie Carlo Director of Big Brother Watch, Louise Creffield of Save Our Rights, Fiona the UK founder of Stand in The Park, the many women involved in the HART group, Cheska of Outreach Worldwide, Jo Rogers of Lawyers For Liberty, Helen Gray of the Cake and Liberty blog and campaign, Fiona Diamond of Oracle Films, Debbie Hicks of Stop New Normal currently facing a court case for filming hospitals last year, Karen Dodd of The Freedom Hub network and Rise Up conferences, Samantha Goody of Freedom Education, Nickita Starck campaigning for women’s agency giving birth with When Push Comes To Shove. And I’m sure there are many others I’ve omitted from the list.

And I will end my contribution on that positive note. Thankfully many women do understand there is ‘nothing in this’ for us, our children or grandchildren, and will continue to fight for freedoms on behalf of the younger generations that we birth and nurture.

Next up, read the contribution from Dr Jenny Goodman, ‘The politics of Immunity’ in part 4.