The PSL just released two documents related to the recent Marissa Sanchez post detailing her experiences at the national level of the PSL. I'm going to be posting both of them as well as their full text for archival purposes.
I should note a couple things before I link these things:
- At multiple points, the report mentions that Marissa was reportedly fine and thankful during and after the immediate events of this incident and it's cover up. This is shown to be an example of proof that she was fine at the time, and leads into building the case that this is a factional decision. However, I am not convinced that this means she is cynically using this to split the party for her own ends. Betrayal Blindness is a collection of responses and symptoms broadly related to a person being betrayed by someone whom they rely on for financial, personal, romantic, or political needs. In order to come to terms with my experience of the same exact tendencies on a local level I read the book "Betrayal Blindness" by Jennifer Freyd, and I implore everyone to read it as well.
- Repeatedly they claim this is the result of a factional dispute. That might even be true in some ways, perhaps Marissa saw that there was a different way to organize going forward and it gave her the ability to be able to accept the abuse she faced. This, however, doesn't have to only come from a sense of macabre cynicism, being able to finally use her trauma as a loaded gun to split the party for her own selfish ends as described in the article. For myself, when I stepped away from the party for my Leave of Absence, I was able to begin to be engaged in mass organizing work that I wasn't in prior, that I didn't have the time for. This has given me the courage to be able to stand up and say that I don't think is acceptable at all.
- I am not in a faction, have not been in communication with anyone in a faction, and my disgust is only colored by my own similar experiences and emotional waves being thrown right back in my face as someone who's faced the exact same tactics myself. I'm genuinely just a trans woman by myself, I have some friends and comrades, but our local branch is still up in the air
The party routinely expects things like this to be leaked, so they prepare for the possibility. Given they already know we're going to do this, I'm just going to share the documents here for you and others here, and I leave it up to you and your comrades to decide how you feel about the party and it's current leadership. For me, the emphasis on how this fits into factional warfare is not only not convincing, but honestly disgusting.
Comprehensive Report from the Central Committee in Response to Marissa Sanchez’s Letter
NDC Statement (Sept. 2026), the password is ndcstatement
c\main so main
Wait wdym several???
To be honest, with everything said, I don't think the issue is that it occurred. We're organizing among the working class, and the working class will inevitably inherit many of the flaws of the world it is in as well as the world that came before. That there is a struggle, desire, and need to do better is a good sign. But the issue is that this statement doesn't reflect the struggle to become better, it reflects a desire to bunker down and not engage with this on the level that is required as its considered dangerous to hold leadership to account; fucking somehow
What exactly do you want to see happen? To live in a perfect world where nobody is ever harming anyone? You're seriously ???ing an organization establishing structures to handle disciplinary action to deal with sexual abuse and using those structures to appropriately deal with them when it happens?
I'm wondering how endemic the sexual predators are in PSL
I think to start I'd like to see them publicly oust anyone that admits they're a sexual predator for the sake of women in the movement knowing who to avoid
Not to pile on here but I do think it's really important to recognize how common a problem this is. Any organization needs to have robust procedures for investigating and addressing this sort of thing. If anything it is a lack of a strong and transparent process that caused this issue in the first place. If you haven't taking the time to read the statement in full you may want to do so. The second time I read it I did so from the perspective of how could this particular situation, not the groping but the statement and counter statement, be avoided. It seems to me that better accountability and transparency would go a long way.
Sexual abuse can occur with any group of more than 1 person. It's going to happen at some point or another when you have thousands of people together in proximity. That fact doesn't mean it's "endemic" any more than it is in society at large. What's important is that the organization has structures in place to address it when it does happen.
So if you'd read the statement, you'd know that this is the actual official policy.
If that structure only leads to a half year suspension from a leadership position then it’s not an adequate structure and it’s reasonable to conclude that this organisation is not safe for women.
That structure isn't what came up with that suspension because it didn't exist yet. It was created at the first party congress after it happened when it was clear a stronger structure was needed.