They Came For Me — Women’s March Bergen, 20th of January 2018
“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a communist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Martin Niemöller wrote this in 1946. Today, we live in 2018. How much, since then, have things really changed? How much have we really learned?
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the day an openly misogynistic, sexist, racist and bigoted individual got inaugurated as president of the United States. But tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the historic day over 5 million women around the world marched in protest of this. We had had enough. This day marks the birth of Women’s March.
In October 2017, the hashtag #MeToo started spreading like wildfire. Women, from all over the world, sharing their stories of everything from sexual harassment to sexual assault. Its originator started the hashtag to show victims that they were not alone, and to demonstrate the prevalence and pervasiveness of sexual misconduct and abuse.
At the very beginning, before the hashtag had grew as large as it eventually did, I saw it on my timeline, and I tweeted “#MeToo.” Because this happened to me too.
But not just me too. My friends too. My sister too. My mother too. My grandmother too. My great-grandmother too. All the women around me too. And I’m sure, a lot of you women here too.
“Me too” is women being free enough to work, but not equal enough to have their bodies respected at their workplace. “Me too” is women having to put on “uniforms” to protect themselves against possible predators, while men just put on clothes. “Me too” is women being expected to prevent sexual harassment and assault by the choices they make; despite every bit of evidence pointing to the fact that, at the end of the day, there really are no “right choices.” “Me too” is women being blamed when they’re victimized, even though they did not choose this, but their perpetrator did.
“Me too” is 99.3% of Egyptian women reporting that they have been sexually harassed. “Me too” is women being told that we should talk about “what part women play in all of this,” despite the only thing all the #MeToo women have in common, is the fact that they’re women, and that most of their perpetrators are men.
And I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again until this is no longer true: “Me too” is 1 out 10 women in Norway being raped. “Me too” is expecting your so-called “progressive” nation to give you justice when that happens, only to find out that this only happens in 1% of the cases. “Me too” is Amnesty and the UN criticizing Norway for violating women’s human rights for this exact reason, and being dismissed by men — and some women — as “radical” when you bring this fact up.
“Me too” is seeing powerful men, politicians and celebrities, like falling dominoes, being exposed in the media as sexual harassers and abusers. ”Me too” is the victim of these men, being attacked, threatened, shamed and blamed — even by other women. “Me too” is people trying to guilt-trip the victim into sympathizing with their own perpetrator, because it’s “hard” for him to face the consequences of his own actions. “Me too” is being told, by multiple men who called themselves “feminists,” that the sexual harassment I’ve experienced “weren’t as bad as I made it out to be” or that they were “all in my head.” “Me too” is living in Norway under these circumstances, and still being told that we live in a “gender equal country.”
But it’s not just women who are under attack.
During President Trump’s first year in office he explicitly and implicitly expressed that women aren’t good enough, Mexicans aren’t good enough, black people aren’t good enough, LGBT people aren’t good enough, disabled people aren’t good enough; scienceisn’t good enough, the news aren’t good enough, and facts aren’t good enough. He has essentially gone to war on everyone who are not like him, who do not think like him, and who are not in favour of him.
And just a couple of days ago President Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries,” and said the U.S. should want more people from “countries like Norway.” But what defines a “shithole country?” Because I was born and raised here by a Norwegian mother, but my father is from one of those “shithole” nations that he talked about, and I look like my genetic heritage. So, although I am half white, I am not white-passing. I am a person of colour. And the amount of racism, prejudice and microaggressions I, and other people of colour around me, have experienced here in Bergen is shocking; and it stays with me and affects me every day. So, if this is paradise, whom is it paradise for? Privilege is invisible to those who have it.
But this not just about Trump. Trump is just a symptom. A symptom of a greater disease in our society. A symptom that we can no longer afford to ignore.
Today, black African refugees are being sold as slaves in Libya. Women from Western Europe, Africa, Asia, Arab Nations and North America are being forced into sex trafficking. Rhohingya Muslim women and children are raped, tortured and massacred in Burma. Men are being tortured and killed in concentration camps for homosexuals in Chechnya. Drug users are being publicly executed in the Philippines. And last year, Russia made domestic abuse legal — AGAIN, and Poland tried to completely outlaw abortion.
First they came for women, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a woman. Then they came for people of colour, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a person of colour Then they came for LGBT people, and I did not speak out — Because I was not an LGBT person. Then they came for the disabled, and I did not speak out — Because I was not disabled. Then they came for the Muslims, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Muslim.
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me. “Me too,” misogyny, sexism, racism, homophobia, bigotry, discrimination, oppression, marginalization and human rights violations, have been going for decades. And not just for decades — but for centuries. Enough!
#MeToo has not only started the conversation, it has changed the conversation. It has shifted the onus from the victim to the perpetrator — at least for now. So, let’s take this momentum and carry it forward, and transform our words into actions that will make this into a permanent shift instead of a fleeting one.
Let’s not wait to do something until it’s our sister, our brother, our mother, our father, our daughter, our son; our partner or our friend. Because we ARE someone’s sister, we ARE someone’s brother, we ARE someone’s mother, we ARE someone’s father, we ARE someone’s daughter, we ARE someone’s son; we ARE someone’s partner, and we ARE someone’s friend. Let’s do something about this NOW.
To the people listening to this, saying “me too:” I hear you, I see you, I feel you — I am you.
Your pain and stories saddens me; but your strength, power and resolution moves me.
Now that we have taken a look back, it’s time for us to march forward!
Thank you.
