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Whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no.
Yesterday morning, impassioned chants echoed around Bristo Square and, ironically, off the walls of the university’s Health and Wellbeing centre. These chants came from a place of grave disappointment, directed at an institution that in fact demonstrates disregard for our ‘wellbeing’ in one of the most sensitive and troubling areas: sexual violence. Assault of this nature is endemic at Edinburgh University, a fact supported by the indisputable 50,000 signatures on Aarti Mukhedkar’s petition against the university’s redressal system.
The main problem with this system appears on page 8 of the university’s ‘Code of Student Conduct’. It stresses that in order to initiate an investigation into student misconduct, the university must believe there is adequate evidence. As Sharessa Naidoo pointed out during her speech at yesterday’s protest, this mindset displays undeniable ignorance towards the very nature of sexual assault. She concluded by asking ‘who does this need for evidence serve? Because it sure isn’t serving the survivors’.
In Aarti’s speech, she made a point of placing the inhumane redressal system of the university in stark contrast with the crowd’s (and her own) unwavering resilience, sensitivity and humanity. For me, this illuminated the power of activism: I was standing in the beating heart of the movement. This gathering was the physical manifestation of the humanity that Aarti was praising, but that the University fundamentally lacks. Whilst pointing out that systems like these will try to make us bitter and cynical, she concluded with the following plea: ‘I ask you to cling onto your vulnerability, your humanity, your sensitivity. It is something that the university cannot defeat, and it is what is fuelling this movement today’.
Yesterday, we witnessed real action, setting an example to the leaders of Edinburgh University, who have proven to favour empty words. One impromptu speaker also raised the importance of male action in this feminist cause. He offered positive, constructive advice to the male audience; ‘As much as men are part of the problem, men have to be part of the solution as well. We can’t end this with just women alone…men are overwhelmingly the perpetrators in this, but men can also be the people with the kindness, the respect and the dignity towards women, queer, trans and non-binary people, to actually stand forward and call the bullshit out…women deserve better.’
To be a part of this movement was special, but activism isn’t just meant to create an uplifting feeling of camaraderie. In reality, it was hard to hear the raw truth behind that 97%, spoken from the mouths of survivors. Many tears were shed, so we protested in the hope that the generations of Edinburgh students to come won’t have to.
It seems obvious that Edinburgh University’s concern for their reputation lies at the centre of this redressal system. Yesterday, our wonderful speakers contested this reputation by telling their stories. This fostered an intimate atmosphere at the protest, making other survivors feel heard - it was acknowledged that there were likely to be members of the crowd with experiences they hadn’t yet come forward about. The speaker from Amnesty International summarised this as the protest drew to a close, reassuring these invisible victims that ‘there are people who will believe [them]…Their story, their pain has power. We cannot do this without them’.
Thank you to Girl Up Edinburgh, Amnesty International Society, and all the speakers who lead such a powerful display of activism yesterday.
SIGN THE PETITION - Sexual Violence at The University of Edinburgh: The Redressal System Needs to Change - https://www.change.org/p/edinburghuni-sexual-violence-at-the-university-of-edinburgh-the-redressal-system-needs-to-change
Protest report written by Anna Emmett Martin
Video footage by Cameron Mackay (@_cameron_mackay_) and Luke McGlinchey (@luke_mcg42)