by CLARE WALTON
Sisters Uncut activists protest the Suffragette Premiere during the Opening Night Gala during the BFI London Film Festival at Leicester Square on October 7, 2015 in London, England PHOTO/Tristan Fewings/Getty Images/Independent
London-based Sisters Uncut grabbed headlines across the world late last year when they ‘invaded’ the red carpet at the premiere of the film Suffragette, chanting ‘Dead women can’t vote!’ The dozen women staging a ‘die-in’ on the red carpet, accompanied by more than 100 other women supporting the action from behind the barriers, wanted to draw attention to the deadly cost of the government’s cuts to domestic violence services and make clear that the battle for gender equality has not yet been won.
Janelle Brown and Vicky Jones of Sisters Uncut are clear that the action wasn’t a protest against the film itself, though they do criticise the absence of women-of-colour Suffragettes. Rather, they say that with the world’s media on their doorstep, the film premiere presented the group with an ‘unmissable opportunity’ to get their message out. Their plan worked, with coverage as far away as Australia and the film’s stars praising the protest during interviews.
Sisters Uncut formed in 2014, during the last year of the coalition government, which pushed through 30 per cent cuts to domestic violence services, leading to the closure of 32 refuges – with specialist refuges for ethnic minority women disproportionately bearing the brunt. These cuts have serious consequences on women fleeing life-threatening violence, with two women a week killed by their partners or former partners in the UK.
The group has grown rapidly over the last year, but established its core demands at an early stage. These include stopping cuts and restoring funding to domestic violence services; ending the policy of ‘no recourse to public funds’ for migrant women, which makes it even more difficult for them to leave abusive relationships; and improving social housing provision, making it easier for women to get safer homes of their own. These demands are all winnable, says Brown.
Sisters Uncut’s radical edge comes from ‘the way that we organise’, she says. First, it is for self-defining women and non-gender binary people only. ‘Liberation struggles have to be fought and won by the people whose liberation is at stake . . . it’s not like the cavalry was coming anyway,’ she insists.
There are numerous benefits to the group being a space without men, Brown and Jones explain. Many of the group’s members work in the domestic violence sector and among the organisers are domestic violence survivors who have disclosed their experiences to the group, meaning a priority is given to mutual care, with a deep solidarity and ‘sense of community’ having developed among the group members.
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