Join us in Oxford on April 4th to oppose the EDL and their exploitation of the child abuse issue to promote their racist agenda.

Full details to follow nearer the time. Check the Facebook event

Child abuse doesn’t have a race.

• Accountability for misogyny and rape apology in the police, council and government
• Protection and prioritisation of girls in care.
• Immediate review of Grooming laws, OfSTED regulation and LAC regulations.
• No to the EDL’s racist drunken marches and hijacking of abuse for hateful agenda.

Join us in solidarity, strength and support of survivors. April 4th, Oxford.

Oxfordshire has seen the government and local authorities fail working class girls in a way that is not uncommon but widely unreported.

The privatisation of children’s care alongside the heinous and lazy regulations poorly enforced by Ofsted mitigate against those in care. In conjunction with institutional misogyny and rape culture further enforced by the police. In particular their hugely flawed missing persons system for children; especially those in care. This has led to a systemic marginalisation of working class children. Equally the patriarchal platform of victim blaming and the sheer lack of protection of women have facilitated the abuse of children.

To ignore these massive failings and simply focus instead on the race of the perpetrators, shows, again, that there is no compassion or sincere focus on helping survivors.

Looked after Children (LAC, a term used for children living in governmental or private external care) continue to be pushed to the side-lines. More often than not they are treated as statistics and so disenfranchised that the abuse they, as a group are most vulnerable to, is wholly ignored.

A report following the latest reported cases in Oxfordshire cite the following as some of the failures of the police and social workers:

“A culture of denial. Blaming the girls for their precocious and difficult behaviour. Blaming the girls for putting themselves at risk of harm. Tolerance of underage sexual activity by the girls with older men. A failure to recognise the girls had been groomed and violently controlled.”

This is a clear indication of patriarchal misogyny and victim blaming. The police allowed this to happen. Councils allowed this to happen. Yet society continues to blame women and hold THEM accountable for the violence and sexual abuse they face. The grooming laws in the UK are weak and often unworkable. The Chief Executive of Oxfordshire Council, Joanna Simons, picked up a ludicrous £600,000 pay out when called to resign following the exposure of this scandal, whilst childrens services are under funded and ignored, much like the council ignoring warning of abuse years ago.

The NSPCC states “Child sexual abuse is committed by men, women, teenagers, and other children. There isn’t one ‘type’ of person. Offenders come from all parts of society, and all backgrounds”.

So why is it then that the focus is so heavily framed toward race? The fact that a group of people of a particular background have come together in any social, family related or otherwise related group to commit such crimes would not in any sense lead to the assumption that some kind of racial, cultural or genealogical link is between any group and becoming abusers.

This is not only logically and factually wrong: but it damages survivors. It strips abusers of any autonomy as individuals who must be held directly accountable and only seeks to serve the violent agendas of the far right. Where is the support for survivors?

Why is it then that our white celebrities can abuse children with full immunity? Our organised politicians can run child abuse gangs with no accountability whatsoever. Why are there no demonstrations or rallies to protect the children being systematically abused in the Scouts and the Catholic Church? The police force which fails women and is notorious for its misogyny? Surely these are organisations, these are calculated groups which use their positions to hurt children? Or is it a question of white paedophiles for white children?

The EDL attempt to make their inherent racism and hatred somehow palatable by pretending that they only take issue with ‘radical Islam’. However this kind of exploitation of abuse as an excuse to incite racial and religious hatred further proves their agenda. This group has constantly been proven to be run by extremely racist and violent thugs; making no attempt whatsoever to help and support survivors. As the EDL prepare for another alcohol fuelled rally: no comfort will be bought to survivors and no justice will be served against the perpetrators and the authorities responsible. The EDL will allow this to become a racial issue, whilst girls continue to be exploited and harmed.

We as the AFN, stand against this. We stand against: patriarchy, against all abuse, against racism and the marginalisation of women and the working class. We will not succumb to bigoted, dangerous and hateful hijacking of the experience of survivors of abuse.

For more information on signs of abuse, how to facilitate conversations around suspicions of grooming and more, please contact NSPCC: www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse / 0808 800 5000