The Umbrella Project celebrates diversity (Pic: Printkick Ltd on flickr)
I really loved the article about neurodivergence in Socialist Worker last week.
I am neurodivergent and have worked in special educational needs departments in schools.
And I have felt deeply how the lack of funding and support for neurodiverse people raises barriers for us.
I think a big thing is to point out is how much of the struggle for neurodiverse, and broader disability rights, centres around the issue of bodily autonomy and how this is linked with other movements.
The trans+ rights movement is a clear example. The attacks on disabled people and the attacks on trans+ people are about limiting their rights to do what they want with their body.
Much of the rhetoric that is used to stir up fear around gender-affirming care also removes the agency of neurodivergent people. By creating a narrative of “vulnerable autistic girls” being “tricked” into thinking they are trans, gender-critical movements not only demonise trans people.
They make the already difficult process of getting gender-affirming care even harder.
At the same time they are also denying autistic people the right to make their own decisions. And it’s a shame because there are interesting conversations to be had about the socially-constructed nature of gender and how this can feel as an autistic person.
But all of this is swept aside in favour of a narrative that takes away both groups’ autonomy.
It’s imperative that the trans liberation movement and disabled rights movement stand together. We are both fighting for the same thing—the right to make our own choices. As we chanted when we took to the streets, “Our bodies, our lives, our right to decide”
Áine Eastwood, Manchester
Yvette Cooper vows to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws. The group is accused of using red paint to damage warplanes at RAF Brize Norton.
Last week, Cooper proudly wore suffragette colours in parliament.
The right to vote is a cause for celebration. But how was this achieved? Petitions, demonstrations and lobbying MPs were all tried and failed to achieve votes for women.
From 1912-1914 suffragettes held a campaign of bombing and arson attacks, during which at least four people died and 24 were injured. Actions included an arson attack on the Tea Pavilion at Kew Gardens. A suffragette attacked prime minister Winston Churchill with a horsewhip.
Palestine Action’s use of red paint to damage planes or climate activists’ use of orange paint are not acts of terrorism but a way to try to get politicians to listen and act.
Millions of people have engaged in peaceful protest against the genocide committed by Israel. Politicians are not listening. So some campaigners are using direct action, and we defend them for doing so.
Maggie Falshaw, East London
Israel’s insatiable aggression towards the Palestinian people and the wider Middle East has taken a dystopian turn with the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Israel’s warmongering towards Iran has seen the use of AI-generated propaganda in the battle for ideas.
With over 100 million views across multiple social media platforms, these videos exaggerate Iran’s military force. Others showcase public support for Israel within the streets of Iran.
The use of AI within capitalism is well established. It creates unemployment due to its cost-effectiveness over human labour. And it nourishes the cultural hegemony of mass consumerism.
It is now being used in times of conflict to create an ideological worldview that serves to maintain bourgeois interests during moments of volatile and seemingly erratic actions.
AI in warfare is a powerful tool for those at the top of society, while so many at the bottom suffer a never-ending nightmare of imperialist slaughter.
Elias Boyne, Glasgow
Opinion polls across 12 European countries show majorities in favour of conscription.
However, while those aged 60 years or older support the idea, those between 18 and 29 are against. Just 27 percent of the younger age group are in favour of conscription.
If older people are so in favour of conscription let them join up.
I can see it now, infantry divisions with machine guns mounted on Zimmer frames. And armoured mobility scooters whizzing over the battlefield.
John Curtis, Ipswich
Plus readers on the Palestinian genocide, supporting the RNLI against racist attacks and standing up to Rupert Lowe
Plus: readers on why no socialist should back George Galloway in upcoming by-election
Leeds activists defying state repression
Plus: readers on union safebuarding and the Bayeux tapestry
