The transqueer bloc was not there in solidarity- read their statement- it was protesting against seperatism by forcing themselves onto a march against violence against women...to protest against women only spaces.

The transqueer bloc were certainly not considered a supportive allie, more of a reminder that women only spaces and feminism are under attack from the queer lobby.

well to have a march on a topic like this in the second biggest city of the country with only 150-ish people cannot be considered a success.

on another point, i noticed that a group of young men walked right through the mixed / transqueer bloc shouting "hey ho, i'm a ho" some meters in front of me and nothing happened. i mean NOTHING. nobody shouted at them (from what i heard and saw) nobody went to confront them in a group nobody even told a cop (which i would not encourage, but which others should be free to do). i'm a bit ashamed i didn't manage to get to them myself, but i wonder why this was not made public by the people right next to the men shouting, or via the stewards or people with the microphones. applied anti-sexism should probably look a little different.

Us queers/trans people were there in solidarity with the women, to reclaim the night for everybody - especially trans people who are more vulnerable than women, and to call for an end to the sexism that the seperatist-feminists were espousing.

The march as a whole claimed to be non-violent, there were placards saying "proud to be non-violent" and there was much chanting about how violent every man is. Clearly not all men are violent, and clearly not all women are non-violent - as was demonstrated at the end of the march when one of the queers was set upon by one of the more hardcore seperatist-feminists.

The chants from the queer block included:

"Hey ho, sexist bullshit has to go"

"2,4,6,8 Queer and trans against the state"

"We're here, we're queer, we will not live in fear"

"no cops, no stewards, gender is fluid"

Not once did I hear anybody say "hey ho, i'm a ho" - you may have confused our discussion on whether you should be using the word ho - don't you normally find it offensive?

A small walk around Manchester, led by stewards and police and with women kept seperate from the rest of the world is not reclaiming the night. If you really want to reclaim the night then we should all work together to form a much larger group of people, by keeping yourselves seperate and using the state to protect you you are simply demonstrating your fear.

This paranoid ranting about "the queer lobby" is straight out of the conspiratorial pages of the hetero-supremacist Daily Mail, who use a similar strategy: play minority groups against each other - feminists vs Muslims, African-Caribbean Christians vs LGBT people, working class householders against travellers and so on. They can't stand any of these groups of course, but it suits their purposes to stir. Beware of the deliberate wrecking policies persued by the straight male left also: to some factions, feminism and queer politics have been a source of hostility for nigh-on 40 years now. Trying to pit female and gay activists against each other is an old CP style tactic which can only weaken the feminist and queer movements.

Many turned out to last night's Reclaim the Night march, organised by the National Union of Students' women's campaign, despite the heavy rain.


Source: Evenings News online

HUNDREDS of students marched through the streets of Manchester to demonstrate against violence towards women.

Around 400 people came from across the country to take part in the city centre demonstration organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) Women's Campaign.

The Reclaim the Night marches have taken place in different cities across the country since beginning in Leeds, in the 1970s, when women protested against a police curfew to keep them indoors after dark while the Yorkshire Ripper was murdering prostitutes in the area. They said they did not want to be kept off the streets by the threat of male violence and were no more at risk than men.

Saturday's march, which set off from Manchester University students' union, in Sackville Street, at 6.30pm, aimed to decrease women's fear of street crime and raise awareness of domestic violence, which happens behind closed doors. Organisers also hope to put pressure on the government to improve conviction rates and provide uniform support for female victims, claiming one-in-three local authorities have no specialist services to help them.

NUS national women's officer Kat Stark said: "This demonstration is called Reclaim the Night but we'll be highlighting the fact that most violence against women actually occurs behind closed doors. We are demonstrating simply because not enough is being done to significantly reduce levels of violence against women today."

RTN

what about female (often domestic) violence to men?

what about men reclaiming the night? the majority of violence occurs to men by men.

sexism comes in two ways folks, this binary of male - bad, female - good looks worryingly like the inverse of patriachal values. Sexism is a form of power relationship that affects everybody.....

I was a little dissapointed to see a seperate womens bloc, with any men that wished to come along marching at the back...

is this what gender equality looks like?

z

Everyone knows the NUS goonies are New Labour puppets in waiting... all their pretend attempts to 'do good' are attempts to impress their future advocators into roles within politics so ignore anything they stamp their feet on and go against the grain. Another NUS Womens person called 'KAT' beware of this one folks! She'll be polishing her heals for a high paid job in the public sector in no time.

My understanding is that women were reclaiming the night as part of international WOMEN'S week. I feel saddened that this has turned into a competition of whether women or transfolk are the most oppressed, when we are both oppressed in similar and DIFFERENT ways. Please respect my identity as a woman and my right to have women only space (& a sanctuary from patriarchy) for an hour a year without being branded as a divisive and oppressive separatist! The confidence & solidarity i have gained in feminist & women only spaces has actually helped me to have a voice and take my space more in mixed activist circles (& life in general!) rather than less. I support all oppressed groups rights to mobilise autonomously & collectively and i respect individuals' rights to self-define. Please respect mine!

Ps We didnt ask the police for permission to march last year and so it was more empowering. There's a horrible irony in policeMEN (as far as i could see) protecting/allowing/policing women in reclaiming our streets!

Transgender people are being dropped from many 'LGB' events and organisations. So it's sad to see them also being picked on by some women. The irony of anyone being assaulted on a march against violence... The individual who did that should be deeply ashamed and excluded from any further marches.

There is video of the transgender block on Saturday, so people can see for themselves what was being shouted.

"Manchester Reclaim the night March a success,
despite threatened 'transqueer' counter protest." (part of main article)

should read:

"Was Manchester Reclaim the night March a success
even with self-labelled 'feminist' attacking queers"?