Free and Combative / Women / 03 September 2023
Nothing surprises us anymore. A few minutes after the start of the demonstrations called by Libres y Combativas (Free and Combative) last Friday afternoon, the Sports Administrative Court (TAD) exonerated Luis Rubiales.
This sports body has resorted to the regulations of the Sports Law of 1990 to classify only as “serious misconduct” his lack of decorum for touching his balls in front of the queen. Regarding the sexual assault against Jenni Hermoso, as if it were a bad joke, it resolves that there has been no abuse of power. This shameful ruling saves Rubiales from an immediate dismissal and gives new impulse to the rape culture that is in the DNA of the Spanish capitalist regime.
Acting as patriarchal and Francoist justice has accustomed us to, the TAD has decided to protect the aggressor and spit in the face of Jenni and the millions of people who demand that this corrupt sexist be removed immediately. Although this decision outrages us greatly, it only reaffirms everything we have denounced in recent weeks.
📸 Cientos de personas, convocadas por diversos colectivos feministas, protestaron ayer en diferentes puntos de España para mostrar su apoyo a las jugadoras de la Selección Femenina de Fútbol y su "repulsa" por los actos de Rubiales https://t.co/gicNCc5GaB pic.twitter.com/FnlAzm45Ol
— Europa Press (@europapress) September 2, 2023
The sexist football cavern, and the TAD as one of its most prominent representatives, had been preparing the ground for days: first asking for more documentation to study the case, as if all the statements of complaint, from those of the footballers themselves to the social repudiation that has generated, were not sufficient evidence. Then came that vomitive statement from the royal soccer federation, directly accusing Jenni and showing some photographs where the player supposedly lifted this individual. When the lie was publicly dismantled with videos that faithfully captured the images of the attack, the new acting president of the federation was quick to withdraw that statement that re-victimized Jenni.
But the TAD doesn’t care one way or the other. They do their thing, which is to protect the sexist and reactionary caste of which they are part and to continue ensuring their impunity. That is why, a few minutes after his ruling, Rubiales declared himself a victim and object of a “political and media lynching.” An emboldened statement, where he personally thanks all the deniers of gender violence, from those who work in the media to those who close juicy deals in the boxes of football stadiums, who have supported him. Abascal and the children of Vox, accompanied by the smiles of the PP leaders, are full of joy.
At the same time as this spectacle of shame continued, thousands of women, and many men, fellow fighters at our side, went out to the main squares of our cities to say that it is over. Students, workers, pensioners... with our posters and our purple flags, we make our voice heard in repeating that we are not going to remain silent anymore and that, although they want to put an end to this case as quickly as possible, combative feminists are not going to allow more sexist violence and impunity.
In Madrid, Barcelona, València, Bilbo, Gijón, Málaga, Seville, Cádiz, Motril... we said it loud and clear again: Rubiales was the aggressor, but he is not the only one to blame. He and the macho and fascist pack that accompanies him, claps and cheers him, are the best example of the rotten pond of abuses against women that is professional sports. But this summer has also been a massacre: since July 15 women have been murdered by their partners and ex-partners, and justifying sexist attacks, ignoring them or considering them just domestic violence has become a banner for this legion of reactionaries.
These sectors that enjoy great economic power, that have a decisive influence in the State apparatus, in the judiciary, in the police, in the army, in the high administration, in the media, which have the armed wing of the Catholic Church... are feeling the enormous pressure of an increasingly massive feminist movement, with more class consciousness and more combative.
That is why they resist tooth and nail to give up any position. Yes, when they have no choice, they cry crocodile tears to save their comfortable chairs and their million-dollar salaries, like the men's soccer coach, Luis de la Fuente, who we had to listen to at a press conference say that he was very sorry and that he didn't know why he applauded Rubiales. What cynicism!
All these respectable me , coaches, club presidents, businessmen, journalists from the sewers... have closed ranks with Rubiales just as the Popular Party, Vox and the media right have done. We are not surprised, after all, they protect each other and think alike: they believe that feminism is a great scourge because it shakes their privileges. That's the truth!
But if these sectors go this far it is also because there are other political actors who help them with their concessions and capitulations. These days we have heard ministers from the PSOE say that they are very indignant. Don't they remember that a few months ago they gave their votes to the PP to reform the Only Yes is Yes Act and removed consent as a fundamental factor in determining an sexual abuse? They act as if we do not have the statements of Pilar Llop and “little wound”[1]recorded in our memory, or the President Pedro Sánchez’s 40 and 50 year old friends, who are offended by the feminism that makes "noise."
Well, if you are so concerned about what happened to Rubiales now, after protecting him for so many years and looking the other way when he filled his pockets, we ask you a question: what is the Government going to do now? Are you going to abide by the TAD decision just as you have accepted so many patriarchal judicial rulings? The issue is concrete: six state lawyers, as if he grabs his crotch again, decide that Rubiales is a legitimate guy who has done nothing wrong, and the President of the Government just accepts it without further questions. Why don't they intervene in the Football Federation, dissolve it and reorganize it from top to bottom, and put an end to this sexist and corrupt pigsty?
They will tell us: it is not possible; we must respect the legal and institutional channels. Well, women are tired of waiting and “respecting” this capitalist and patriarchal order. It's over.
It is about our lives, our rights. We want a present and a future free of sexist and sexual violence, but we are not going to wait for anyone to give it to us. We do not trust the judges, the sports courts, the institutions of the '78 Regime, or the capitalist system. We trust in the strength we have when we organize and go out to fight, which is a lot. And that is the only thing that wins rights and opens channels to real equality.
[1] Pilar Llop, the Spanish Minister of Justice, declared that it is easy for the victim to prove that violence took place -and hence sexual assault- because she only needs a “little wound”.
