The Green Anticapitalist Front, as stated in its Aims and Principles is committed to organising in a way that is supportive and inclusive, and therefore to driving out abusive or bullying behaviour wherever it presents. This includes the challenging of perceived tolerance of sexual violence and/or covering for abusers.
Recently, allegations of such nature were brought to the attention of GAF London regarding the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG), who have organised under the GAF banner. Link 1 Link 2 Link 3
In light of this, GAF London agreed to investigate further and subsequently publish a statement on the findings. The evidence was discussed at length, dominating a large part of the majority of five consecutive GAF London meetings. At the penultimate meeting of these 5, it was agreed through a consensus process to stop working with the RCG and to proceed with publishing a statement as intended.
Despite the subject matter of these meetings being transparent as well as fully accessible to everyone including RCG members, none attended the majority of these meetings, though apologies for absence were sent from at least one RCG member. It was only afterwards, and just before the meeting on 17th February, that concerns about the ongoing investigation were raised by RCG members to others in GAF London.
At the meeting on the 17th, a group of RCG members attended, which was out of the ordinary – all but one of them had never organised within or attended actions under the GAF banner. When the prior ratification of the statement was discussed, the RCG members in attendance railroaded the topic itself by resorting to uncomradely behaviour that was like bullying tactics – ignoring the stack, interrupting and talking over others, and generally conducting themselves in a hostile and defensive manner. As a result the publication of this statement was held off.
It was fairly pointed out that someone should have directly approached the RCG about these accusations and indeed, the comrades responsible for this task accept that they failed to do so, and that this was an avoidable and regrettable mistake. However, it should be noted that the whole process of discussing and writing the following statement had been open and accessible to the RCG.
Nevertheless, none of this changes the fact that through this investigation, GAF London concluded the overlying issue of sexual abuse within the RCG to have been managed inappropriately, especially given that the abuser remains in the organisation. Additionally, attempts to discuss this with attending RCG members (on February 17th) were not successful, as they refused to engage beyond pointing out that information on the accusations and accountability process can be found on their website. Furthermore, when it was put to RCG members that some individuals feel unsafe organising with them, RCG members brushed these concerns aside, showing no interest in understanding or even willingness to consider the seriousness of the matter.
Both the failure to deal with sexual abuse, as well as the hostile and oppressive environment that RCG members were responsible for creating at the described meeting, violate GAF’s Aims & Principles.
Following is the original statement that GAF intended to publish, addressing the outcome of the investigation:
“The Green Anticapitalist Front, as stated in its Aims and Principles is committed to organising in a supportive and inclusive way – free from bullying or abusive behaviour. This includes sexual harassment and abuse, as well as covering up and tolerating such behaviour. All the aforementioned are actions that the RCG (Revolutionary Communist Group) has been accused of.
While we understand that not all members of the RCG are complicit in this abusive behaviour, we believe and support survivors and have seen no evidence that satisfactory steps have been taken by the group as a whole to bring justice to those survivors and create a safe environment for all. Because of this, GAF London has determined that the RCG is in direct conflict with GAF’s aims and principles and thus is no longer a group that we wish to have any affiliation with, nor to be part of GAF London’s organising from this point onwards.
We therefore ask that the RCG, and any other groups with a history of not providing a secure environment for their members, or who do not deal with such issues effectively or intentionally, do not organise under the GAF banner or in its name. This decision is planned to be in place until it has been proven that the issues, of which RCG and certain members have been accused, have been resolved to the satisfaction of those survivors and those of us who wish to organise in a safe environment.
However GAF is open to individuals who stick to our aims and principles. Thus any RCG members who are not involved or complicit in the aforementioned case of abuse, or any other similar cases, and agree to abide by our aims and principles and code of conduct, are still welcome to organise with us on a strictly personal capacity and not as representatives of the RCG.
GAF is an inclusive front for action that trusts survivors and their testimony. If anyone organising under the GAF banner does not abide by the aims and principles then further action will be taken to remove them from the Green Anti-capitalist Front banner.”
GREEN ANTI-CAPITALIST FRONT – LONDON