By Gerry Downing

What a shocking article by Eric London in the WSWS! [1] The real outrage in this trial was Harvey Weinstein’s misogynistic female defence council Donna Rotunno. The 80 odd women who complained about the actions of this gross sexual predator were all lying, and he alone was telling the truth, is their message. [2] You would have to be some outrageous misogynistic monster yourself to believe that.

And the tens of millions Weinstein spent in settlements with gag clauses over past decades were just false allegations, apparently. [3] As with Roman Polanski and Dominic Straus Kahn WSWS/SEP always displays its contempt for the victims of rich and/or powerful men. The Hollywood casting couch is just a myth against great artistic men and the victims are just little whores, they believe.

WSWS learned nothing from the expulsion of Gerry Healy from the Workers Revolutionary Party in 1985 for a decades’ long history of sexual abuse and rape of party members.  This is a truly shameful article in a history of shameful articles on this subject. Some of Healy’s victims were their own supporters whose harrowing testimony I listened to with initial disbelief, then with sympathy and finally understanding.

But David North and the WSWS have learned nothing about male power relations and women’s oppression. If they either refused to believe their own supporters or at least emphasise with them in any way it is very understandable why they would not listen to Samantha Geimer, the 13-year-old girl rape victim of Roman Polanski, a “teenage model” as they contemptuously dismissed her in defence of the rapist in a classic power relationship sex crime.

 Larissa Gomes writes her personal account in the New Your Times, “I was one of Harvey Weinstein’s victims. This is what I think of Donna Rotunno, the female lawyer called in to defend him.” [4]

When asked if she had ever been a victim of sexual assault, Rotunno replied, “I would never put myself in that position”. “What are we doing to women? Women have choices” she quotes Rotunno as saying, suggesting that the prosecution had inadvertently portrayed the women as just irresponsible. Gomes tells us:

“Harvey Weinstein groomed me. He gained my trust, took my talents seriously, then he assaulted me as if it was the most casual act in the world. The “position I put myself in” was about professional work prospects. Those moments of paralyzing fear — being trapped while figuring out the floor plan of my surroundings, how I might be able to get away, appeasing him just so I could get out safely — were nothing short of terrifying. I wanted choices in that moment. He took them from me.” [5]

She passed her judgment on Rotunno here:

“We should be less outraged about the fact that Rotunno is a woman and more outraged about her absolute detachment from the horror of sexual assault. When interviewed, Rotunno has consistently said that she has not been sexually assaulted herself because she has been responsible and careful. She appears to have little sympathy for victims. She has a surfeit of sympathy for men; she even said to the New York Times that if she were a man, she would ask all women to sign a consent form before sex. This kind of bizarre recasting of our cultural moment, where one can argue that the real victims of the #MeToo movement are men, is dangerous. It is dangerous for survivors now and it is extraordinarily urgent for future generations to challenge it.” [6]

That is the real outrage. If all women face such fascistic monsters as Rotunno in future trials – she reduced one witness to tears and a panic attack – then many will refuse to go through such an ordeal.

The real crime was the refusal of the Judge to protect the witnesses. But the judge was biased against Weinstein, the WSWS outrageously tells us:

“In the violently hostile climate in which the case came to trial, Judge James M. Burke’s principal responsibility was to insulate the jury from the extraordinarily prejudicial impact of the media’s campaign for Weinstein’s destruction.” [7]

With no duty to defend the victims and witnesses, of course, the WSWS hold.

Notes

[1] WSWS, Eric London, 26 February 2020, The New York Times gloats over the destruction of “the Monster” Weinstein, https://tinyurl.com/snvgw48

[2] Brooks Barnes and Jan Ransom, May 23, 2019, New York Times, Harvey Weinstein Is Said to Reach $44 Million Deal to Settle Lawsuits, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/business/harvey-weinstein-settlement.html

[3] Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, Oct. 5, 2017, New Your Times, Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-llegations.html

[4] Larissa Gomes, New York, 25-2-20, I was one of Harvey Weinstein’s victims. This is what I think of Donna Rotunno, the female lawyer called in to defend him, https://tinyurl.com/wzf6nlr

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] WSWS, Opus cit. ▲