October 2021

 Good evening everyone, thank you for being here with us tonight – this is our second monthly vigil here by Amelie Delegrange’s bench, which was installed here to remember her after she was brutally murdered on Twickenham Green in 2004.

We have new faces here today – so welcome, thank you for coming. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Caroline Rayfield, I am the leader of the Richmond Branch of the Women’s Equality Party, I was our candidate in the 2018 local elections standing in Twickenham Riverside – which is just up there where I live – and I intend to stand again in the election next year.

Why this vigil and why now?  Following the murder of Sarah Everard in March, we all watched and worried as the police and her family searched for her, we were all heart broken when they found her body in the woods, miles from home. We were all outraged as the news circulated that she had been murdered by a police officer – a policeman. I wondered if her tragic death was to be the catalyst that would spark change – the me too moment, the black lives matter, our arab spring – but no. Here we are 7 months later, another 81 women have been murdered (or suspected to be murdered) by men since Sarah was killed, a total of 110 so far this year.  And so we will stand here, every month, and we will remember those women until we don’t need to stand here any longer.  Since our last vigil a month ago – 10 more women have been killed by men.  Let’s take a moment to remember them:

·        Sharron Pickles, 45

·        Helen Anderson, 41

·        Jade Ward, 27

·        Maddie Durdant-Hollamby, 22

·        Fawziyah Javed, 31

·        Ingrid Matthew, 54

·        Sabina Nessa, 28

·        Terri Harris, 35

·        Sukhjeet Uppal, 40

·        And finally, a women who’s name has not yet been released by police.

<Pause for reflection>

Thank you everyone and thank you to Karen Ingala Smith and her Counting Dead Women blog where these women are named and counted.

Ending male violence against women and girls cannot be solved by putting up more street lights, it cannot be solved by handing out rape alarms and it certainly cannot be solved by asking women to question if Police Men that approach them are legitimate. Would you have got in that car?  I know I would have done.

Let’s think about this for a minute – a man who was called The Rapist by his colleagues because he was known to make women uncomfortable – a man who had indecently exposed himself – repeatedly – three days before using his warrant card to kidnap, rape and murder a woman – would he have been stopped if Sarah had asked him to prove who he was?  We can only guess.  What WOULD have stopped him – was the organisation he worked for having a ZERO tolerance to misogyny, investigating the many, many red flags that we now know about, removing the warrant card that allowed him to falsely represent himself. Where were the other men, the ones who knew about the nickname, who knew about the whatsapp group where he exchanged racist and misogynistic messages with colleagues, where were they and why did they not have a voice in an organisation that is supposed to protect us all?

The men who shared that whatsapp group with him are now being criminally investigated and yet REMAIN ON DUTY, they still have their warrant cards…

We call for all public organisations, not just the metropolitan police force, to think about misogyny and the impact it has on how women are treated. We demand zero tolerance towards men who demonstrate threatening behaviour – there can be no more whatsapp groups where men make jokes about raping us. This is why we are pushing for Richmond Council to become White Ribbon accredited, committing to ending male violence against women and girls, working with employees to build a zero tolerance culture and create channels to flag concerns and report problems.  The only way we can protect women and girls is by all of us, men and women, building a society where misogyny is simply unacceptable.

I urge you to go home tonight and visit WriteToThem.com. Send a note to your local councillors asking them to support White Ribbon, ask them what they are doing locally to protect us.

Visit the White Ribbon website, encourage your employer to take a look, write to the head of your local schools asking them to consider accreditation just as Teddington School have done.

White Ribbon 2021 starts on Thursday 25th November followed by 16 days of action. We plan on making our voices heard in those 16 days so get in touch if you’re interested in participating.

Finally – thank you again for being here tonight, our next vigil will be on Monday 1st November.

I’d like to finish by making the White Ribbon Promise.

I promise to never commit, excuse or remain silent about male violence against women.

Thank you all and see you next month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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