Katie Simpson, Northampton Socialist Party
“Women unite! Reclaim the night!” was the prevailing chant roaring down the road as women of Northampton took to the streets to protest against sexual and domestic violence on Friday 22 November.
The march occurred just a week after the discovery of the body of Harshita Brella, 24 years old, from Corby. Her husband was subject to a domestic violence protection order. He has yet to be located.
Harshita’s story was told to the large crowd that gathered in the market square. The sad reality is that she is one of many women killed by a current or former partner every year.
Northampton’s politicians of all parties are happy to blame misogyny for these instances while overseeing cuts and closures to women’s refuges across the county.
In fact, numerous services relied upon by vulnerable women are under increasing pressure. Last week I attempted to call the National Refuge Hotline on behalf of such a person. After being in a phone queue for over an hour, I called police who said they would come to meet us and investigate the issue. They never arrived and she returned home to her partner.
Until services are fully funded, staffed and equipped to handle the ongoing crisis of violence against women there will be no reduction in cases like Harshita’s. Keir Starmer’s Labour government claims to want to tackle violence against women and girls but has promised peanuts in extra funding to councils.
Until these services are fully funded and democratically controlled, with good-quality council housing and liveable benefits and wages so that women can rebuild their lives, people will continue to slip through the net with dire consequences.
Women can only truly be liberated when the economic and social conditions that have continued their oppression are dismantled and a socialist society is built.
