It's December 6. First mourn. Then Work for Change

Hello Everyone, I wanted to write to you all on December 6, the 27th anniversary of the day 14 women, most of them engineering students, were killed at the Université de Montréal by a man who said he hated feminists and "career women." I was an MA student at Carleton University, and the events in Montreal came very close to us. I remember overhearing two guys at school talking about how they wish they could have done it themselves. That marked a watershed day for me as a feminist, as I realized just how far-reaching misogyny could be, and how violence is a culture, not just an act. One of the slogans at the time was "first mourn, then work for change." It doesn't get said a lot anymore, but it meant a lot to us then. The phrase reminds us that it's okay to mourn, and we'll always remember, even if we were not yet born in 1989. Then we have to get to work. Out of mourning and loss, comes resolve to keep working to end violence against women and minorities, to believe those who speak out, to do what we can to support survivors. 27 years later and I still believe that. One of the things we can work for is the continued push-back against the UBC Accountable letter. We're still seeing signatures come on the counter-letter--sometimes people are having problems signing on, but I just add them to the website if they let me know. We're well over 520 now. But signatures are not coming off the UBC Accountable letter any more. I think that some writers find the individual apologies on the UBC Accountable site to be enough. But I don't. Not all writers made them, and not all statements say anything about the continued hurt that the letter causes survivors of sexual violence, and students at UBC. Statements don't take away the chilling effect the letter has on young writers, students and even the people who want to support them. The statements don't change the power dynamics at work in the CanLit industry, and the entitlement some of its stars seem to feel. Chelsea Mooney, one of the complainants, wrote about what happened to her at UBC on Twitter in an effort to write back against UBC Accountable. The things she said were powerful--she was assaulted by a visiting male writer at UBC, who then became part of the staff. She wants the UBC Accountable signatories to know about that and to know how the letter makes her feel. If they are really principled, she says, they should take their signatures off and just let their statements stand. But the signatories aren't all on Twitter, and the ones who are appear to be in complete denial about what she is saying. I've been thinking about what else to do. A book boycott? Direct letters to all signers? An invitation to the signers to have their statements collected on the Counter Letter site if they take themselves off UBC Accountable? I don't know. But if you want to do any of these things or something else, let me know what you're planning and I'll support you in what you do. Below I have provided a link to an article for Huffpost by Karyn Freedman, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph and the author of "One Hour in Paris: A True Story of Rape and Recovery", which won the 2015 BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. It's powerful, and it links the Day of Remembrance to the violence of the UBC Accountable letter, and of Joseph Boyden himself. First mourn, then work for change. Love and peace to you all. Regards, Julie Rak