Call for action from ROSA & Ruth Coppinger after the brutal killing of Ashling Murphy, who was killed on Wednesday afternoon while on a run in Dublin.
We cannot begin to find the words to express our devastation for Ashling Murphy of Tullamore, and all those who knew and loved her.
A primary school teacher, aged just 23, Ashling appears to have been the victim of every woman and gender non-conforming person’s worst fear — a random, misogynistic and brutal attack.
Not even safe out in public at 4pm, this is another tragic example of the prevalence and cruelty of gender-based violence, a social scourge that has been intensified in the pandemic.
From intimate partner violence to cat-calling and sexist verbal abuse when we go out walking or running as Ashling was, to online harassment, to sexual violence and spiking — we need to bring this issue out of the shadows by coming onto the streets in solidarity with every victim of abuse, every victim of femicide and to exclaim that Not One More life can be taken.
Ashling was attacked in an area called “Fiona’s Way”, named after Fiona Pender, 25 years old and seven months pregnant, when she went missing in 1996.
This only serves to show the human face of what we already know, namely that successive governments over decades have failed to act on gender violence. This has to change and we demand emergency action now from the current government on the “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence.
This is not the first time a teacher has been a victim of femicide in this state. We remember Clodagh Hawe today. We call on the teachers’ unions and the trade union movement to begin a major discussion on launching a campaign and movement to end gender-based violence.
Any attempt to drum up racism from the tragedy in Tullamore cannot be tolerated. We know that people of colour and women of colour are particularly vulnerable to street harassment and attacks. We stand in solidarity against all forms of sexism, racism and transphobia.
Ruth Coppinger and ROSA Socialist Feminist Movement are making a call for Solidarity Stand Outs against gender violence; in solidarity with Ashling Murphy’s loved ones; and to call for emergency action on the shadow pandemic of gender violence to take place everywhere this Saturday.
In Dublin, we ask people to wear masks and gather in a socially-distanced way in Smithfield Square, D7 at 1 pm this Saturday 15 January.
