Women's Liberation Party

[ISaySteadyOn]

There was a thread on this somewhere but I couldn't find it so decided to start a new one.

A lot of us on this board and possibly off it feel that none of the political parties represent us and that many are also anti woman.

Clearly, we need a new party. I am rubbish at organising things and don't quite know where to start. However, you are all rather clever and might be able to help.

Do we need a manifesto first? Can we start thinking about what WLP policies might be?

[QuentinSummers]

isay
//www.electoralcommission.org.uk/find-information-by-subject/political-parties-campaigning-and-donations/political-party-registration

First thing needed is people
Then some idea about financing/administering
Then manifesto I guess!

[PencilsInSpace]

Maybe worth getting in touch with A Woman's Place, Fairplay for Women, SAGES etc.

[IndominusRex]

I'm in.
Agree with above - get in touch with other groups. There are a lot of politically homeless women out there.

[IndominusRex]

Also, DM me about donations.

[ISaySteadyOn]

Right, well, there is a place to start.

[QuentinSummers]

I would be a supporter but I can't get involved - hubs would kill me!
There is also the option of standing independent candidates in certain seat collaboratively which might prove easier than setting up a party - but harder to publicise/get votes etc
Much as I hate to say It, UKIP might be worth looking at historically as they started as a single issue party initially (just look as a model for how to do It, not for their politics, yuck)
Maybe Heather Brunskell Evans and Ruth Serwotka would be worth a shout, they are both au fait with politics

[IndominusRex]

Worth contacting Anne Ruzylo too.

[ContemporaryPankhurst]

I'm in. If not a party a loose collection and organisation of independents? The biggest issue is financial - if one doesn't get enough votes or vote share at an election one looses one's deposit.

There was a political move and organisation pre-Trans to 'ask her to stand'? It had a stall at the WOW conference Southbank Centre. This could be worth looking up.

May I make a request please - as many of us are debating language & female erasure at the moment may we call it a 'womanifesto' or similar? A Vagenda?

[IndominusRex]

I love both 'womanifesto' and 'vagenda'

[IndominusRex]

WEP's early success (before they lost the plot) came mainly from their media links so once name, aims etc are agreed one of first actions should be to engage key media figures.

[QuentinSummers]

If not a party a loose collection and organisation of independents
I'm no expert but I think a party has a shared financial structure and a shared manifesto.
Independents do their own financing and have their own priorities.
By collaborate I mean candidates could encourage each other and share what messages they are finding are being well received.
Probs worth reading the advice about how to set up a party to see where the boundaries lie

[ContemporaryPankhurst]

Yes Quentin good point. I'm also thinking that having candidates run on a women's liberation ticket, maybe even a women is not a feeling but a reality and gender is oppression, will shift the political language even if no seat is won. It forces the political conversation.

I think that one major achievement of Corbyn & 'Corbynism' has been to move ideas which were (wrongly I believe) banished from public and political discourse claiming they were unworkable, socialist concepts back into the mainstream. It seems that Corbyn has shifted political discourse more to the left maybe and altered what can be considered a reasonable policy. Farage and UKIP made Brexit a mainstream topic, for a while, the only topic. The student fees protests of 2010 may have lost in terms of the fees being trebled but they won in that all parties now talk of their fee policy in their manifesto. It is still a topic of political discourse 7 to 8 years later.

[QuentinSummers]

Yes. And we have a great opportunity to start that debate about women's oppression now due to more media interest. Not just the trans reporting but also #metoo and the high profile recent cases. I think women standing on a women's issues ticket would be very interesting to the press.

If we made the issues ones of femaleness (I'm thinking about the prolapse thread and birth injuries, how the law is applied to sex offenders, family annihilation and the reporting of that, tampon tax and period poverty, enabling women from different cultures to fully participate in society) then we could sidestep some of the debates around trans issues while still being clear this is a movement for females.

Actually the other party that might be a good model is the green party

[QuentinSummers]

And i heard a woman on the radio the other day talking about the Suffragists and what they did (they were less militant than the suffragettes).
I did not know about this but they organised a march on parliament with women walking there from all over the country. It took 6 weeks

[CaptainWarbeck]

God yes I'd vote for this.

The only thing is I'd worry this party would just get lumped in with the Women's Equality Party. But perhaps like pp said it would force the conversation as to points of difference.

[Badgerthebodger]

I don’t think I’d be so good “front of house” but I would certainly have some time and energy to spare for contacting people, Facebook and organising. I don’t have lots of money either but again, I’d donate a bit as I’m sure many women would if we publicised it enough.

[IndominusRex]

Yes to everything Quentin has said.

[AssassinatedBeauty]

I was listening to Sophie Walker on Radio 5 this morning as part of a debate on Trump not coming to the UK to open the new US embassy. It was very frustrating because she spoke really clearly and calmly about why Trump is misogynist in the face of some quite aggressive calls from members of the public. I though she did a great job but I just could never vote for the WEP as they are just as bad as the LP for allowing the trans agenda to dominate.

[ReefAndRiz]

WEP target seats, why not as an independent GC feminist target the same seats, split the vote until they stop being male supremacist parties?

[IndominusRex]

WEP are such a disappointment. I was a founding member and really cheered by them at first until they started with all this bullshit.

[QuentinSummers]

WEP have tied themselves up being trans inclusionary I think. Sandi Toksvig seems to have distanced herself torally

[Elendon]

I'm in and can help set it up. I've been a women's officer, attended conferences and reported back on them. I've also been a town councillor (stood for both TC and councillor). I walked miles delivering leaflets. I achieved a lot during my tenure as a town councillor for my local community. I'm still asked for help when I'm in town.

You do need money though to set up a new party, it can't be done on a wing and a prayer. Hard work is essential for perhaps little gain and always be prepared for set backs and disappointments.

I have several still live contacts with women in my area who are feeling disenfranchised at the moment.

Feel free to contact me.

[QuentinSummers]

elendon round of applause!

isay are you going to take it further?

@anlaf was discussing this on another thread. Might be worth tweeting @glosswitch too

[ISaySteadyOn]

I should like to do more but mainly started this thread to get people talking. Today I are mostly been being a mother shuts shed

[Elendon]

Your shed is precious OP ISaySteadyOn and it's always said that politics is a tricky business for women.

It's not. Trust me. I've known many a 'sir' who has spent time in the shed.

Thanks for posting this.