Womens Land Camping

The Million Women Rise coalition are hosting a week of camping for women on Womens Land, Wales. This will be Friday 21st August until 28th August, after which is the Women in Tune festival nearby. For women unable to camp there is possibility of accommodation.

Also did you know…

There will be women camping in West Wales 1st-8th August, as advertised on Women’s Grid.

And…Copenhagen hosts a feminist women’s camp called Femo, for six weeks from end of July through to August. Check out their website!

*Pic taken from Femo wesite.

Anarcha-feminist intervention at anarchist conference

At the recent Anarchist Conference in London, six masked anarcha-feminists stormed the final meeting, turned off the lights and played the below video. The purpose to highlight sexism in the anarchist movement. That the movement is white and male dominated and this is rarely critiqued. The intervention has caused controversy in the anarchist community, which mainly serves to highlight how white men are uncomfortable with challenge to their privilege, even if they are anarchists.

Statement from the anarcha-feminists.

We have taken this space and projected this short film to show how we see sexism in ‘the movement’ and sexism in capitalist society. We have covered our faces in the same way we might do against the state and its agents – inspired by the tradition of our militant sisters who took back male-dominated stages, and political spaces.

Cool Women Performers

The Lake District is host to the Women’s Arts International Festival. The first one was in 2007 and included Patti Smith, Marianne Faithful, Germaine Greer… This year the full festival could not go ahead due to funding cuts, however they still were able to continue with a few fab women performers, as below:

Yusa

Totally gorgeous bluesy singer from Cuba

The Paperbirds, In a Thousand Pieces

The Paperbirds are a women’s collective theatre company. This theatre production told the story of a young woman whose journey to Britain to look for work ended in her being trafficked as a sex slave. This play was the most moving production I have seen (the you tube does have some scenes you may find disturbing).

It explored the naive expectations of eastern european women who wish to come to Britain to work, and also the shamefully ignorant and dismissive opinions Britons have to trafficked women. It was so disturbing in the way it forced you to admit that you know about such women, but ignore and forget them. It forced you to admit your guilt, in acknowledging that you too are guilty of sexualising their bodies as they stand before you near naked, or judging the size of their breasts compared to your own, even if only you thought it for a second. I cried as the women thrashed their bodies about as being raped in a brothel, and stared into your eyes with a tortured fear that still haunts me now. And as the production ended with the women standing half-dressed,and staring motionless back at us, we had to turn our backs and walk away, as we do in everyday life as we conveniently forget they exist.

Also part of the festival but who I was unable to see were the musicians Eliza Carthy and Julie Fowlis and the female led theatre company Foursight, who, as they state, explore history through the eyes of women.

Report of Autonomous Womyn’s Gathering

Approximately 270 women attended the Autonomous Womyn’s Gathering in Vienna in April. Workshops ranged from feminist anti-facist remberance, to anarcha-feminism, to sustainable agriculture outside of patriarchy… The event was followed by a demonstration in the city centre.

Liane who lives in the UK  attended the event and gives a brief report as below detailing the women-only issue of the event:

“First of all a big thanks to the womyn organizers who made this unforgettable  gathering happen.
The atmosphere was just great. There were lesbians and womyn from all walks of life and all ages which made the discussions to my surprise very positive in terms of the  dialogue between “older” lesbians( some were radical feminists including myself) and “younger” lesbians (who grew up with/in the queer politic society).

Women Only Events (…still exist!)

Last weekend I went to the Women in Tune Fundraiser in the fabulous lesbian village- Todmorden in Yorkshire. Women in Tune is a women only festival in Wales that promotes women’s involvement in music.

For any dykes out there who aren’t aware, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge are two villages in Yorkshire full of lesbians. And they are the cool sort of lesbians- the feminists, the politicals, the bohemians and the eco’s.

In an age where the gay scene is more or less gender-neutral, homogeneous (young and trendy), de-politicised and consumer-orientated, these two villages provide lesbians a rare opportunity to socialise in women only and socially conscious spaces.

Todmorden has a women only disco once month. Women come from all over just to go and even camp outside.

Hebden Bridge has a lesbian owned hotel that runs a monthly women only disco and a lesbian wine bar. In fact, go to any cafe or bar and it will be full of dykes! Hebden Bridge even has its own feminist reading group.

Nearby there is also the women’s holiday centre, that provides cheap holiday accommodation to women and children.

(Photo from Tod Facebook)

I used to go to Tod and Hebden regularly when I lived nearby. I had a radical feminist punk friend who was living on a canal boat at the time. The boat had no electricity and a compost toilet! There were loads of other lesbians living in canal boats nearby. We used to go to the discos and then crash on her boat after- those were the days!

Other great women only nights that I ‘ve been to are the Amazone disco in Lancaster, the Touch of Class disco in Bolton and the Women’s Aid benefits in Manchester.

The above women only discos are organised *by* women *for* women with often the proceeds going to a local women’s charity.  Pink Sofa usually has full details of the discos.

So if you’re fed up with Canal Street, the clones and the apolitical, non-gender specific, (hetero-influenced) sex obsessed ‘people’ bars, and want to socialise in a woman-loving and woman-orientated space, then head to the above.

Living our theory

International Women’s Day last year, I was featured in the Observer as one of the top thirty radical women to look out for of 2008. I thought it was funny at the time- what have I ever done, I said to me-self..?

A year on, I look back at my life since to feel ashamed but not suprised at how un-radical my life has been. But what is worse, is how I allowed myself to live a life that is not mine and to live a life by values that I despise. But as I return to a position of clarity, I am struck with the insight of how testing life can be in maintaining a life that is true to one’s politics. Having radical politics, is more than reading the literature and attending the protests. Having radical politics means that with conviction, one’s politics run seamlessly through one’s life, as a benchmark, as a vision, as guidance with all the risks that this takes.

I am a radical feminist and an anarchist, yet 9-5 I was an employee, a tea girl, the office skivvy, the young one who does not know what she is talking about. I was a women who said yes sir no sir and stepped in line to work formality.

I was also the girlfriend to a woman who threatened me with violence and manipulated me with suicide, for a long time.

How did I allow myself to get in this situation?

I now know that life has a way of testing us. Learning feminist and anarchist theory does not do away with the conditioning I have had into believing that violence is an acceptable part of a relationship and that one must obey authority or else. Undoing this conditioning is a long and painful struggle of self-reflection and moving forward. Ending an abusive relationship was my way of affirming that violence is unacceptable and saying no to the lesson I was given in the past. Quitting my job was my way of rejecting subordination to authority and again saying no to the lesson I was given in the past.

Oppression works in deep ways. And it takes alot to break free. What helped me was conviction in my beliefs as informed by radical feminism, but more importantly the support of my family and friends. Strangely I’ve found that it has been the mundane and normal part of my life that has given me strength to live by my principles- my family, my friends (largely non-political) and doing normal stuff like watching TV, going shopping and going to the pub.

Over this last year I have learnt the meaning of ‘the personal’ being truely ‘political’ and the importance of drawing synthesis between my politics and the way I live my life. I no longer want to be a closet radical feminist and anarchist, whereby I relagate my politics to the evenings and weekends when I’m not at work. I no longer want to have the division between my ‘normal’ friends and my ‘activist’ friends- I want to be true with both. I want to be able to express my feminist sentiment with my straight friends, my anarchist sentiment with work colleagues, and likewise, my love for sex and the city, clothes shopping, and my latest crush with my activist friends.

When I used to do alot of feminist campaigning, I believed change came through grand actions and protests. I now see that change can occur in ways subtle and unnoticed in the lives of individuals but is just as important. Organising a protest is easy, but challenging your boss because she is a bullying classist bitch, is hard.

I wish to build a life for myself true to my beliefs. I long for the day where I don’t have to switch on my computer to feel connected with other women who feel the same. I feel life would be much easier if I had radical feminists I could call in on and say ‘Hiya, fancy a cup of tea..?’.

Women in Tune Benefit Gig

Women in Tune organises a women’s music festival to encourage women to enjoy and play music. We have lost our funding, which has gone to the Olympics. Your help is needed to make it happen!

Women in Tune Fundraising Weekend
at The Fielden Centre
Burnley Rd, Todmorden
(Calderdale, West Yorkshire)

April 18th & 19th 2009

Sat
Workshops, Performances & Disco
Performance hosted by Belinda O’Hooley
Sun
Workshops and Market

Come along to support a woman-centered event! For more info see there website

http://www.womenintune.co.uk/

Autonomous Feminist Womyn’s Gathering

April 9 – 14, 2009 · Vienna, Austria

“At the beginning of 2008 about 70 women and lesbians from different countries, from both
autonomous feminist and mixed organised backgrounds, came together at Freiburg / Germany,
because “we are also in our countries involved in struggles against a patriarchal, capitalist and
racist system.” (from the summoning letter to the Freiburg gathering). In the end it was clear to all
who had participated: the time had been too short, the interest in each other too strong – there was a
wish for further gatherings. And that’s what we are having now.

What we want from this gathering
We want to meet feminist women and lesbians from different countries who are involved in
struggles against sexism, racism, homophobia, capitalism, fascism and patriarchy. We want to have
an exchange on radical-feminist theory and practices and discuss perspectives and possibilities of
action. At the same time we want to pass on and extend our practical knowledge in workshops and
carry out actions on-site.

Who we are
We are an organisational group consisting of seven feminists who are active in both women’s and
lesbian contexts and mixed organised groups. We come from different backgrounds as far as our
political experience, life and work contexts and ages are concerned. What we share is our
understanding of ourselves as parts of the Autonomous Women’s Movement and our considering an
independent and separate organisation of women as an indispensable feminist necessity. The
seperate organisation of women is a political expression of and means of struggle towards the
subjectivity of women and again and again an important source of inspiration for our feminist
analyses. And it is a practice shaping our relationships to each other as women. At the same time we
consider the exchange with the protagonists of other feminist approaches and forms of organisation
as important.

How the gathering will function
The gathering is self-organised, which means that all participants are asked to contribute actively.
This can happen in various ways: by preparing workshops, actions and discussions, by sharing our
skills, by taking part in discussions, by translating, cooking, cleaning etc.

Topics
The women who took part in the Freiburg gathering would like to continue dealing with topics such
as “The her-story of the women’s movement and present-day patriarchy”, “Feminist counterpublic”,
“Breaks, continuities and common grounds between radical feminism and queer
feminism”. Another idea is to take up again the topics discussed at the recent gathering in Italy:
violence against women, hetero-sexism, racism, precariousness and economy etc.“

Cilck here for more details.

(Please note that this event is different to the radical feminist gathering suggested in my previous post, this is still a work in progress

It’s the little things…

I’ve been involved in women’s rights for a couple of years, and have been involved in some confrontational and contentious stuff, but what I have noticed is that it’s the little things in my personal life that I find the hardest. Compared to giving pornographers or the police shit, you’d think that something like not shaving my legs would be easy…well not so…

I really struggle to feel comfortable exposing my hairy legs at work, in front of certain family members and when starting an intimate relationship. I like my hairy legs, and in a certain way I’m kinda proud of them, but still I feel their exposure takes courage. It seems like such a trivial thing, but I suppose it is telling to the extent of oppression of the female body. I’m fine exposing them infront of people I don’t know, but it’s when breaking out of the confines of body oppression to people who matter and who have a certain perspective of me, that’s when it takes courage for me. I think this is because in my reality, I would be sticking my neck out as a non-conformer around people that matter or people who have the power to affect my life and therefore I have to deal with the consequences of people thinking that I am strange or a ‘wayward’ female by stepping away from the confines of a sex object.

I really struggle being open about being a lesbian at work. This is one thing I am ashamed of- part of my job is to stick up for people’s rights in the face of social injustice, but to fight for my own I find hard. I think that because I’m from a working class background, it worries me the prospect of losing my job as I’m not privileged enough to be able to manage if I got the sack. Sounds irrational as I know there are laws to protect me as a lesbian, however this thought remains as a censor to my coming out as me at work.

I am very much anti-classist and anti-materialist. However, I am still shamed about my own poverty. I feel too ashamed to invite some people to my house because they are middle class and/or have expectations about standards of living. I keep telling myself, the only people who should be ashamed about poverty are rich people. But still at the back of my mind I feel shame.

One thing I have learnt is that you can fight for other women’s rights, but it is equally important to liberate yourself and to really *live* your politics by carving out a life for yourself from the confines of oppression and living as a free woman. I always felt that my life was insignificant to the cause of women’s rights- it didn’t matter that I wasn’t out at work, and that I was a closet feminist and anarchist, cos I was involved in campaigning for change. However, I have changed my mindset in thinking that my life is seperate from the politics I fight for. My life is political. If I can fight for other’s rights in the workplace, but not dare face up to injustice in my own workplace, then what change am I making..? If I am anti-classist, but dare not invite friends home to my shitty council flat as I am ashamed of being poor, then what change am I making and what values am I upholding..? I suppose what I am saying is that we can change the world one step at a time, and it can start, not necessarily with mass protests and law changes, but with being open about our beliefs to everyone in our everyday life and thereby courageosly deconstructing oppression immediately around us. Demanding that other rich people respect my lifestyle and home despite being poor, is a powerful statement. Demanding that people accept I am a lesbian, especially in arenas of power such as the workplace, again is a powerful statement.

I am continuously trying to break free from the above controls and to be true to myself, but as I said, it suprises me that class shame, body shame and shame of my lesbianism still get to me.

Age Concern

True and sadly common stories highlighting the lack of care for the elderly:
An elderly woman waits a year and a half to have a bath cos social services deemed her outside their criteria to provide her with a bath lift. In the end, a charity bought one for her.

An elderly woman is on the verge of suicide cos her home is due to be repossessed leaving her homeless. Her landlord sold up, she didn’t want to move so the bank gave her a mortgage. She couldn’t afford the repayments on her basic pension. She also fell behind in paying for her gas and electricity, so they came out during Winter and (illegally) disconnected her.

An elderly man with mental health problems falls into arrears with his gas and electricity. The police arrest him, hold him in prison while British Gas change his meter to pre-payment.

An elderly couple in their 80s have been living off £90 a week since they retired. They had no idea there was help from the government. They’ve been using credit cards and store cards to supplement their income. They are in over £50,000 debt and seeking bankruptcy.

Man calls up the DWP saying he is starving. There is a 3 month delay in processing his pension. He is unable to get a Crisis Loan for food.

Man goes into his local Pension Office and slits his wrists because he is starving- there was a delay in processing his pension and he has no money. Never got into the press.