Women supporting refugees have been abused, followed and threatened by men in anti-immigration groups who claim they want to protect women. Now there are calls for big tech to do more.
Women have been leading the fight against the far right in Scotland but anti-racism activism has come at a high personal cost with at least 14 having been publicly abused and threatened. But they are resolute in the face of intimidation and say they will continue defending human rights.
The UK Information Commissioner is facing criticism for endorsing the Ministry of Defence’s insistence on concealing issues with nuclear weapons because of growing threats from other countries. Secrecy allows “fake news” to fester, say campaigners.
Women supporting refugees have been abused, followed and threatened by men in anti-immigration groups who claim they want to protect women. Now there are calls for big tech to do more.
Social media companies should be held legally accountable for threats of violence made against women on their platforms, say Scottish campaigners.
Organisations supporting women have also called for “more effective” policing at anti-asylum protests in Scotland while claiming there is a “clear lack of understanding of just how much of a threat the far right” is to women's safety.
They commented following a Ferret investigation which revealed that women supporting refugees have been attacked, followed and threatened by men involved with anti-immigration groups who claim they want to protect women.
At least 14 women have been abused including one anti-racist campaigner who was “threatened multiple times with multiple gang rapes, in multiple orifices”.
Our investigation followed a Ferret story last December revealing that neo-Nazis and white supremacists were exploiting anti-asylum protests in Scotland, amid a rising tide of violence and far right activity.
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Commenting on our findings, Talat Yaqoob, co-convenor of Women Against the Far-Right Scotland, accused social media companies of making money by “encouraging hate” and of failing to protect women despite people repeatedly reporting online threats.
“The billionaire owners of these platforms need to be held to account and those who are threatening violence or harassing the women involved in our campaigning should be banned and dealt with properly by policing,” said Yaqoob. “We also need to take this more seriously across Scotland as a whole – this is not something on the fringes to dismiss, this a real threat causing division and harm across our communities.”
Tara Lillis, chair of the STUC women’s committee, said trade unionists and anti-racism activists have faced “significant personal impacts” for campaigning against “racists and fascists” both online and in person. She argued there is a need for both “individual and corporate responsibility” for the “sustained psychological abuse” of women online.
“We must reform our corporate criminal liability laws, including corporate manslaughter regulations, to ensure those platforms who routinely turn a blind eye to the online abuse suffered by women are taken to task,” Lillis added.
Rape Crisis Scotland echoed calls for better online protection for women and said many have joined protests because they feel that some politicians and groups are “exploiting fears” about violence against women and girls and “spreading lies about who is responsible for it to divide communities and further their own popularity”.
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A spokesperson for the charity told The Ferret: “The irony is not lost on us that these women [who spoke to The Ferret] have been threatened, harassed and harmed in the process of standing up for themselves and others.”
They added: “We need more progress from justice agencies there, but we also need to think about social media platforms which continue to facilitate this type of abuse and engage algorithms which appear to actively encourage it.”
According to Dr Judith Sijstermans, a lecturer in politics at the University of Aberdeen, Scots far right groups have adopted an ideological world view that includes a “traditional, binary understanding of gender” and they consider migrants as threatening to women, whom they portray as victims requiring protection.
“Far right groups in Scotland portray themselves as 'patriots' and defenders of the 'homeland',” she added. “We regularly see AI-generated images that portray their members as warriors, almost exclusively male. Some groups have sought to turn this into action by trying to organise street patrols aimed at protecting women and girls.”
Police Scotland said its role is to “ensure public safety while balancing the rights of protesters” who wish to peacefully demonstrate. Anyone involved in an offence may face arrest and potentially a jail sentence, a spokesperson said, adding that “even if you are not caught on the day, we have significant evidence-gathering resources at our disposal, and you will be identified.”
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Women have been leading the fight against the far right in Scotland but anti-racism activism has come at a high personal cost with at least 14 having been publicly abused and threatened. But they are resolute in the face of intimidation and say they will continue defending human rights.
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