Fuck Oxfam

Oh well done @GulesMeansRed - that must have been really hard. I have so much respect for you and hope you find another volunteering role supporting something you believe in and enjoy

Put any article into 12 ft ladder and it gets rid of the paywall

Well done, @GulesMeansRed - it was obvious from your earlier posts that you enjoyed your time with other volunteers.

Sriskandarajah came out fighting, writing in The Guardian that the reaction was “offensive and divisive”.

It was an awful article.

I must say that some of you have written excellent, succinct letters to Oxfam. I do wonder if it will result in them changing the way they communicate and advertise.

We can only hope so.

I have just emailed my resignation as a volunteer. 50% of the reason I am going is because our store manager is an absolute arse, he has a hoarding and control problem which translates into volunteers not being allowed to do anything other than the simplest tasks and him secretly guarding sales figures etc. You don't even get a please or thank you from him.

But I also wrote: I am very uncomfortable with Oxfam's campaigns and political stance around "inclusive language". My aim at volunteering at Oxfam was to raise money to alleviate suffering all over the world from famine, drought and natural disasters. Not to fund the production of a 92 page document which labels me a "cis-woman", or the production of a video labelling gender critical women as "terfs". It is very clear that a gender critical stance is not acceptable to Oxfam Head Office. The massive disconnect between the culture at Head Office and the culture in the stores was highlighted in the recent volunteer survey but I have no faith whatsoever that things will change; if anything, Oxfam Head Office will just double down on its attempts to educate volunteers into thinking "correctly". Enough is enough.

So I am looking around to see what other charity shops I can give my time to. We have a few choices locally.

Thanks Clymene. I cancelled my third sector subscription because of their unquestioning reporting of the woke agenda (you know, poor Mermaids and Stonewall being attacked by all those nasty people) and focus on who is coming and going at a national level that has absolutely no relevance to work going on on the ground. And it was expensive.

“During Danny’s tenure Oxfam has made real strides in addressing injustice and inequality and placed increasing emphasis on ensuring that our work takes place in a way that is consistent with our values. We wish him well in his new endeavour.”
Sriskandarajah, who is on a research and writing sabbatical at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics and will return in mid-August to continue until the end of this year, has faced some controversy in recent months.
In March, <a class="break-all" href="https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=www.thirdsector.co.uk/oxfam-boss-hits-back-onslaught-criticism-its-staff-language-guide/communications/article/1817225" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">he and Oxfam were attacked by critics, including Piers Morgan and the Daily Mail, who described the charity’s new inclusive language guide as “wokery”. The Mail ran a front-page ‘Beyond Parody’ headline.
Sriskandarajah came out fighting, writing in The Guardian that the reaction was “offensive and divisive”.
Earlier this month, Oxfam apologised and edited a Pride video after being inundated with accusations that the clip had included a derogatory caricature of the writer JK Rowling.

Hnmmmmmm

Well well well, this from Third Sector magazine "The chief executive of Oxfam GB, one of the UK's largest charities, today announced he is leaving at the end of the year. Danny Sriskandarajah, who succeeded Mark Goldring in 2018, will take up a new role as chief executive of the New Economics Foundation." - I can't get to the rest of it because it's behind a paywall, but hope he doesn't do the same to NEF as has been done to Oxfam.

I know that's the case now. I was imagining a future when people want to scrub from any record words they regret saying.

Ha ha, brilliant. Clever parody of the emotive stories used in charity fundraising ads.

Well done, Private Eye. So good to see a publication with integrity.

@borntobequiet you missed the bit above it! Hopefully this link will work: "Poor Steve is a PR Man for Oxfam"

I know someone who works for Hansard, and very hard, too - ensuring that every word isn’t just printed, but also now put online for everyone to consult. In fact I’ve just been enjoying reading all the crazy things Kirsty Blackman claimed on social media that she didn’t say (not-very-surprising spoiler: she did).

Genius!

Private Eye

A much narrower focus, but another good one is https://www.pc4r.org/ Entirely volunteer run, they focus on doing 1 simple practical thing for refugees living in unsafe conditions. Priority given to women and unaccompanied children.

I just unsubscribed from Oxfam emails.
I give to a small charity which helps women and children in Uganda. No mad TRA stuff that I can see on the website. https://www.awamu.co.uk/about-awamu

Concern Worldwide and Self Help Africa look promising, and I think other ones people suggested were Give Directly and Amref (the latter being apparently a bit genderwoo when it comes to comms but sound on the grounds, with projects on quite a few women's health issues).

Non-men means non-money. Late to the party here, but who else can I give my cash to that does the same sort of work as Oxfam - is there an Oxfem? Same thing, not misogynist?

Went past an Oxfam poster earlier which said "this F word is beyond offensive", it was "famine" but I think I could be forgiven for thinking it was something else!

Douglas Adams, a much missed voice of sanity. I often reference this quote , also from TRATEOTU

Great to be reminded of those Douglas Adams quotes - thanks!

😀

The whole gender madness often reminds me of this Douglas quote

Perhaps the only printed copy will be kept in a cellar with no lights or stairs, in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.