When we discovered that Theresa May was receiving an award for justice on behalf of the Trinity College student body, a mutual outrage was felt amongst students. We believe it is her inherent disregard for victims of imperialism, austerity, anti-immigration policy and of war mongering that Theresa May is most known for. If we wish for people of all genders in politics and beyond to be treated equally, we must hold them all to the same level of accountability. Last Thursday we held Theresa May accountable for her wrongdoings listed above — if this constitutes an award for Justice on behalf of Law Soc we must question what exactly justice means in our university.
In response to the recent article “Protest or Misogyny”, it is necessary to make the following clarifications given the accusations that were made. We would most importantly like to clarify our reasons for protesting at Theresa May’s award ceremony, hosted by Trinity’s LawSoc. What is about to be explained provides undeniable grounds for our actions.
Within the first breath of this article the author has claimed that a co-attendee of hers was shouted at or “harassed” at the door upon arriving at the event. Given the fact that we, the protestors had arrived after the talk had begun and due to the fact that we discovered the location after the event had started, it would be near impossible for any of us to have shouted at any attendees.
Statement from Lawsoc
In a statement to The University Times regarding this event, James Ryan auditor of Lawsoc stated: “The aims of Law Soc are to advance legal and general discourse and to promote social activities for our members. By inviting guest speakers via the Praeses Elit and Alii Proelio awards we strive to ensure we provide a wide range of opinions to fulfill those aims. As such, this year we are proud to have spoken to a huge variety of guests ranging from Labour Party MP Chris Mullin, activist Natasha O’Brien, Philosophy Tube, and Kneecap. We were also successful in inviting First Minister of Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill, but this event unfortunately had to be postponed due to a scheduling conflict near the day.”
“Overall, we feel these guests show our dedication to ensuring as wide a spectrum of thought as possible was exposed to our members. Our event two Thursdays ago was a continuation of this. We absolutely accept the right of students to protest the event and their reasoning to do so. We also regret that An Garda Síochána became involved, this was something that was not wanted or initiated by any member of Law Soc but rather was done by a member of staff at the venue without our consultation. Criticism of the event in the spirit of debate is obviously fine, however targeted personal comments made towards committee members go well beyond that remit.”
Protestors’ Point of View
We were protesting the outrageousness of presenting a former British Prime Minister with the Praeses Elit award for justice – specifically her receipt of an award for justice in the fields of LGBT+ policy, workers rights, and her role as an advocate in her mission to end modern day slavery. Given that some of the previous guests of Law Soc include; Kneecap, the anti-imperialist artists who put Irish self-determination and cultural expression at the forefront of their art, Natasha O’Brien, a survivor of violent assault who was failed by the Irish judicial system but remained fighting, and Katriona O’Sullivan: Irish author and working-class activist. We find it shameful that Theresa May was presented the same award as these individuals. Unlike the previous recipients we believe she has done very little as an activist – or on behalf of workers.
Theresa May’s premiership was also directly involved in the war crimes of Saudi Arabia against the people of Yemen, with the UK providing £4.7 billion worth of arms in a three year period, May being in power for two of those three years. Saudi Arabia under May’s rule was the British Military Industrial Complex’s “best customer”. These same arms were used to bomb a Yemeni school, killing 40 children and 11 adults in 2018 – hence our titled award for Excellence in the Field of British Imperialism.
Theresa May’s political career has seen her at the forefront of anti-immigration policy, deporting 48,000 students as Home secretary. Her time in politics also saw the rolling out of vans stating “In the UK illegally? Go home or face arrest”, which was signed off during her time as Home Secretary. May’s implementation of an Overseas Domestic Workers’ Visa trapped workers into exploitative employment, leading to the necessity of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, a solution to a problem she contributed to.
During her term, May proudly announced her support of Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring she was proud of Britain’s “pioneering role in the creation of the State of Israel.” Inviting someone as openly supportive of Netanyahu and awarding them for Justice is abhorrent, and is certainly deserving of protest. The award May was presented with also mentioned workers’ rights. After the Grenfell Tower tragedy where 72 working class people died, May refused to meet any of the survivors. 17 families were made homeless and after she promised immediate housing within two weeks, the families remained homeless for up to two years after, during her premiership. Through this lack of action, May displayed that the working people are of no concern whatsoever to her.
Ireland’s fight against imperialism was also directly undermined by May’s rule during the trial of the soldiers who murdered the victims of Bloody Sunday 1972. Not only did her government pay for all of the legal fees of these child murderers but in a statement May’s official spokesperson stated; “Clearly, we are indebted to those who served with courage and distinction to bring peace to Northern Ireland”, displaying acute ignorance to the terror British imperialism and the Tory government wreaked upon the occupied six counties.
The article also references our “tasteless joke” drawing parallels between Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher. There was no joke involved. Many are aware of the havoc and economic destruction wreaked on Britain by Thatcher during her tenure. She privatised many national bodies such as British Gas, British Telecom and British Airways as well as parts of the NHS. Her government defended Britain’s colonial legacy, sending troops to the Falkland Islands backing Argentina’s colonial effort there, and to ensure it as a British territory, as well as backing Ronald Regan’s interventions in Latin America. She decimated British industry by closing down many coal mines, steelworks and manufacturing plants upon which the livelihoods of many working class families were built. 1.5 million jobs were lost, leaving a lasting impact on working class families today, especially those in the North of England, Scotland and Wales. This comparison of two former Tory Prime Ministers was a matter of legacy and recycled neoliberal politics. It was a matter of drawing attention to the modern day relevance of such policies and how they are not singularly a feature of past Thatcherism. The relevance of gender is immaterial and one drawn on solely as an attempt to sensationalise, and centralise an issue which was heavily considered by our majority women organisers in ensuring it did not play a role.
It is urgent and necessary to address this article’s claim that our protest was a display of blatant sexism – let it be noted almost all of the main organisers of this protest were women, speech writers were women, the flyer design and statement and the design of our award were done by women, and our statement at the protest was read proudly by a woman. We as women are intensely aware of the sexism that can be encountered in politics, as a result we ensured no single criticism of May was gender-based. From our chants to our speech, we addressed Theresa May as a war criminal and leader of imperialism first and foremost. By making this protest a gender issue, the author actively undermines the legitimacy of the feminist struggle, overshadowing offences committed by Theresa May while in Downing Street.
We are in fact glad that such a baseless op-ed was written, as it only reinforces the fact that the Law Society still does not understand the gravity of awarding a war criminal for Justice. The uproar that was felt across campus when this event was announced did not spawn from some collective misogyny, but from anger at how little the idea of justice is being valued at our college. Stating “Sexism is not some cheap springboard to making your argument heard” and labelling our protest as misogynistic is a weak argument.
The author of the article to which we are responding is representative of a broader issue within the feminist movement, one which is even more apparent on International Working Women’s Day. The movement for Women’s liberation was fought by the working class and not by Etonians or Duchesses. We do not strive for the integration of women into the ruling class of imperialist society; to see a woman, rather than a man enabling war crimes or murdering refugees. People are tired of the girlboss-ification of feminism, the kind that this article attempted to use as a crutch. This is not feminism, but the aesthetics of it being used to justify the system which oppresses women all over the world, from the six counties to the West Bank. We stand by our conviction that awarding a War Criminal for Justice is wrong, whether that war criminal is a man or not. We treated Theresa May just like we would’ve treated any other controversial former Prime Minister being paraded around our college. Gender based criticism never held a stake in our protest, our conviction lies in the legacy of Theresa May who is no friend to the workers, the students or Ireland.
