This is a quote from Alison one of the organisers of the protest last Saturday against the BFI's retrospective on child rapist Roman Polanski. I felt it needed to be shared [and is shared with permission]:
Just a quick line about why I am helping to organise this protest. Polanski has fled from justice for the rape of a girl, and is living freely in Europe - this sends a clear message (one of many) that men remain free to rape women and girls with little consequence, especially if they are rich and powerful, and there will probably be minimal attempt, if any, to stop them. Far from being rejected by the mainstream film industry, he is embraced, he continues to have a successful career, and the satisfaction of being lauded as a brilliant director. He continues to benefit financially, personally. So there is the issue of Polanski and his failure to face justice, as well as drawing attention to the misogyny of the industry and individuals within it who are happy to ignore abuse of women and girls particularly when it is carried out by powerful or 'brilliant' men. There is also the timing. When the Savile scandal is so fresh, with investigations continuing into sexual abuse of women and girls at the BBC, or by well-known media personalities, another institution, the BFI, sticks its fingers up to that and goes ahead with a two month retrospective of Polanski's work, making no reference to the fact that he is a child rapist. (and actually in the year prior to the rape for which he was convicted, I have seen it reported that he had a 'romantic relationship' with the 15 year old Nasstasja Kinski (he was 43), so raises a question of whether he, like others, had a pattern of pursuing very young women and girls. He married his current wife when she was 23 and he was 56.
Outside of that, there are many stories every day of rape and murder of women and girls, or of misogyny and sexism, and so at the same time it isn't that this story is remarkable. I wanted an idea to take along to the last London Feminist network meeting, something current, something we could develop into an action. And I became aware of the retrospective on a forum where women were expressing their anger about it, encouraging each other to complain to the BFI, and wondering what other actions they might take, and so I could see that there could be support for a protest. But it is quite random in that sense - it could have been so many issues.I wanted to share this because it demonstrates just how effective one small piece of activism can be. It feels like we are constantly fighting a war that we will never win and I get so tired of the same thing coming up over and over again. These protests, organised by so many amazing women, inspire and motivate me. As someone who can't physically take part in many protests, being able to support these women is a privilege.
