Who‘s coming to FiLIA?

I don't agree. Whatever statement FiLia put out at this moment in time wouldn't be enough or right because the women need time to sleep, process, listen, read, think, process, reflect, talk, think some more, discuss, think some more and so on.

It's Tuesday. They were still packing up the venue 48 hrs ago.

“And for the love of the gods i don’t believe in, when someone apologises, rather than sniding “not enough”, think “not enough but a step nonetheless in the right direction”, that’s how you build respect and tolerance and a community for all women.”

Not sure if this was a criticism of me saying that an unofficial sort of statement made by someone kind of representing FiLiA didn’t really help, but really, the offensive action took place on the main stage in the biggest event of the weekend, attended probably by the majority of attendees.

Any apology should have been official and made to all those who attended that event and may have been upset.

If, as was claimed, they had asked speakers not to do this, then it would have been perfectly reasonable (indeed sensible) to quickly state that the views expressed were not those of those running FiLiA and that speakers had been asked not to do this. They should have apologized to anyone who was upset and made it clear all women were welcome.

Any competent event organiser, having realised this was a risk (otherwise they would not have had to warn speakers) should have given thought to what they would do if it did.

I haven’t done events management, but I have done customer and client care. When something has gone wrong with your product or service and you are clearly responsible (they invited the speaker and are therefore responsible for how she acted) then a genuine apology and stating (and meaning) that you will be doing x, y and z to resolve it is one of the ways to create truly loyal customers/clients.

John Boyne showed how it was done. I bet he’s gained thousands of new readers after his genuine apology to Glinner.

Making excuses, mimimising, both sides-ing” and handwringing about how “it was awful she shat on our stage” are all ways of showing people you aren’t really sorry and have no intention of doing the right thing.

And if that’s the case, then your product will remain under that cloud.

They may have plenty of other clients/customers and don’t care about losing some. Maybe secretly, they agreed with the sentiments of the woman who “shat on the stage” and are glad to see the back of those who were upset. Or maybe they’re incompetent.

Their clients, present and potential, have no way of knowing which of those it was, or if it was something else instead, but not making that apology leaves the stage open for people to assume any or all of those reasons and to discuss it at length.

A swift statement of what went wrong, where they stood and what they intended to do to stop it happening again would have meant we would probably be discussing what a good time we had at FiLiA and looking forward to Blackpool. The failure to do so is the reason this thread is filled with pissed off people on both sides.

What are you havering about?

It is ironic.

SocFems: And to remind us that women come first, all women.
Also SocFems: not those women

I thought her speech at the opening ceremony was appalling, too - and she doesn't appear to regret it one bit.

I would add, though, that it wasn't the opening speech - she was one of a number of speakers. And she allegedly had been asked not to bring Palestine into her speech, and agreed, so this was a betrayal of the rest of the speakers and the FiLiA team as well as the rest of the attendees.

I spoke to the compere over the weekend - she'd been out the back of the stage between introducing each speaker, and she apparently knew there was a kerfuffle but not the details, so just thought it best to move the opening session along without trying to address it. Which - since she's not a trustee or a decision-maker, but a presenter - would I suspect probably be what she'd do even if she had heard the details, IDK.

This. Fights and piss ups, 'she said, she said' I'm prepared to overlook all that, but they platformed some seriously dodgy women (while banning others who've done amazing work). They need to look at their governance. I was really looking forward to next year as it's in my patch but there will have to be some serious changes before I'd go now. I would imagine, although they won't say so publicly that some of the organisations that attended are horrified at what they've been associated with.
And edited to add .. I thought the opening speech was appalling. No mention of the Jewish women who were raped and murdered, called Israel (the only democratic state in the region) fascist. It would have been so easy to condemn all VAW, both in Gaza and Israel and elsewhere in the world and for women to unite against it in sisterhood. But she did exactly the opposite. And yes I've read her speech and thought it was worse than Julia Long's description of it. The fact that she published it on X and couldn't see why people were upset by it is astonishing.

That is what FiLiA is for, to hold and defend the space to do that. To bring women together, of all faiths and none, even with our differences and disagreements. And to remind us that women come first, all women.
In Sisterhood and Solidarity,

This part of the statement is disingenuous at best. FiLiA is quite clearly NOT for all women it is not for KJK and anyone who dares to use a picture of her in some art, it is not for Jean Hatchett, it is not for Aja, it is not for TinselAngel, it is not, going on this weekend's events, for Jewish women.

FiLiA seems to be only for those the core group like and who hold the same views as them.

There is a distinct lack of Sisterhood and Solidarity on display.

If you are referring to the opening speaker, I was there and she didn't say that. She has put out a recording and transcript of her speech where she talks of 'the evil of Hamas' and 'evil of the fascist government that is running Israel'.

I absolutely agree it was, at the very least, ill-judged, and her attempt to lead a 'free Palestine' chant has caused a colossal amount of understandable distress (including within the FiLiA team). It also set off a chain reaction which has infected what was otherwise a moving, inspiring, powerful, thoughtful, event, and taken the spotlight away from the over 200 speakers - and the colossal amount of work undertaken by volunteers to make this happen.

I have been attending FiLiA conferences for the past six years, and more recently been involved as a volunteer. It's not perfect - how could it be - but I sincerely believe that the organisation does its absolute best to be true to its mission: to build sisterhood and solidarity; amplify the voices of women; defend women's human rights. If it doesn't always live up to those aims it's not for lack of trying.

Some of them were 'released' in coffins.
Remember Shiri Bibas and her two little boys?

This, I can’t believe how shabbily she is being treated.

No, me neither. But given that it was written in the middle of the night between days 2 and 3 of the conference, I'll take it for now.

Well said. Agree 100%

Members of TWV have been explicitly pro Hamas and were on panels at Filia.

Out of everything that went on, this is the most serious issue for me and the issue that Filia really need to address. How did women who explicitly support a proscribed terrorist organisation end up being platformed at the event.

It’s unbelievable that people (who should know better, being feminists and all) still fail to understand the huge risks involved in the work Tinsel does. ‘Difficult to deal with’ = She has very strong principles & boundaries, and has not compromised on those for anyone. Not for a platform, not for publicity, not for any reason whatsoever. Because she fully appreciates & understands the importance of the safeguarding required to do what she does. And that’s why many women trust her implicitly.

I think Filia would do well to learn from her strong principles & boundaries. They could have done with someone like her to deal with the clusterfuck at the weekend. They should have given her the respect she’s earned through her hard work. What they did was poor form & and indication of poor leadership & even poorer decision making by those with that responsibility.

For me, I think I’d say well done, tinsel, for sticking to your principles & boundaries, even if it does place you, in the ‘difficult women’ box, for some. I’d far rather be in that box with you!

The speech talks about 'our Palestinian sisters'. No mention of Jewish sisters though, or their unspeakable suffering on October 7th.

I was wrong about the hajib stall - I never saw that one. My bad.

I did see many calling the Women in Hebron stall a "hajib" stall which it isn't - it sells embroidered cushions & other crafts created by women.

Whatever my feelings about the hajib, I choose not to police what other women wear. Men do enough of that.

I've now read Gupta's speech. In my opinion it's antisemitic and unfeminist. It's specifically ONLY talking about the impact of the war on Palestinian women and children, not Israeli women and children - the omission is glaring. No mention of violence against Jewish women and states that there is a genocide, which is disputed, and critises Israel but not Hamas. It is very one-sided and brings what is essentially an irrelevant politcial dispute into the conference.

If I was a Jewish woman at that conference I would find that very upsetting I think, given the level of violence on Oct 7th and afterwards against the female hostages. Plus the recent terrorist attack against a synagogue in the UK.

please don't accept my account of things, but perhaps take your own advice and
don't "uncritically accept whatever anyone says when there are conflicting accounts."

https://x.com/BevJacksonAuth/status/1977367806514434329

I find it hard to consider Bev Jackson 'inflammatory'

This seems more convincing evidence of the hijab stall than the assertion of someone that it wasn't there.

I don't believe I've repeated falsehoods or lies, I've repeated what I've heard and I've stated that is what I've done. I don't trust your posts. You come across as condescending. Who are you to say this to me 'I point out where you have gone wrong' - I have no reason to assume you are speaking the truth any more than other women you claim are lying. In fact much less.

In contrast, when Tinsel calls women out (such as for platforming men like Hayton) she does it in a positive way. You should learn from her approach if you want to convince women.

All you've convinced me of is that supporters of Filia aren't very nice. I don't really see why I should accept your account of things more so than other women who say something else.

https://x.com/SalagreNuriaEnS/status/1976926709044986257?t=1IP6o7uqOFCNSgchM0Wesw&s=19

https://x.com/UltraUna986/status/1977128748417008086?t=1IP6o7uqOFCNSgchM0Wesw&s=19

Some of the most virulent anti semitic propaganda I've seen at a public gathering.

https://x.com/hogotheforsaken/status/1977387820512682362?t=1IP6o7uqOFCNSgchM0Wesw&s=19

"Women are simply discussing what is being reported. Correcting wrong interpretations is one thing framing that as women deliberately 'twisting and distorting' it is extremely unfair and frankly feeds into my distrust."

You have been repeating lies & distorting the truth, possibly innocently, but others are doing this disingenously.

I'm asking when there is an inflammatory situation its probably worth taking a moment to pause before sharing & fact check before adding fuel to the fire by spreading distortions & untruths.

I point out where you have gone wrong, & you move on without acknowledging the harm YOU are doing by repeating falsehoods that is stirring things up really unhelpfully. This is unfair and fosters distrust.

"it's not surprising that women aren't willing to uncritically accept whatever anyone says when there are conflicting accounts."

I agree we should not uncritically accept anything - in this particulary instance you could have taken a moment to read Guptas speech which is publically available and read what she said instead of contributing to the misreporting. You may well find plenty to criticise without misrepresenting her as a Hamas supporter, but you will be looking at & critising her actual speech.

This is the best explanation I have read of why Rahilia's speech was wrong. It is a Twitter thread written by a woman named Bea Jaspert

This is where you’re wrong RahiliaG.

The issue that is dividing feminists is not “Palestine”.

The issue is - that one side casts Oct 7 as “resistance”, and condemnation of Hamas/support of Israeli victims as “weaponisation” - whilst the other side thinks refusal to condemn rape/male violence against Israeli women = a) racist and b) the antithesis of feminism.

Somehow, your “conscience” allowed you to talk without mentioning the unspeakable suffering of your sisters and their children in Israel - without mentioning, let alone condemning, Oct7: the Hamas massacre, atrocities, kidnappings. A shocking betrayal of feminist principles.

You “will take no lectures about the evil of Hamas”. Yet you lecture about the “evil of Israel”. In this way you excuse the former while you damn the latter. The epitome of division.

You think tit-for-tat “from the river to the sea” will heal division? “Netanyahu said it so we’ll say it back”? Such skilled negotiation. I despair.

Israeli/Palestinian women’s collective, Woman Wage Peace had the right idea.

They fought for healing and an end to the conflict in both Israel and Gaza. They were at Filia some years back. One of their founders Vivian Silver was burnt alive on Oct7. Honour her memory.

If you don’t speak for ALL women who are victims and survivors of this conflict, you speak for none. Bias, onesideness, withholding of compassion from victims & survivors on the “other side” - such contempt for human suffering brings no peace, just inflames and antagonises.

The only hope is peace for Palestine AND for Israel, through a negotiated settlement based on recognition of shared humanity.

Yes: free, free Palestine. And free Israel too. Free these sibling states from the endless cycle of hatred, violence, and conflict.

Stand for peace between Israel and Palestine. Or step away please. You are only making things worse.

Personally, I think once the Palestine issue came up what was needed WAS an unequivocal condemnation, by Filia, of the specific, horrific torture of Israeli women and girls by Hamas. Because it's some of the most horrific violence against women I've ever seen.

Agreed, and if that had happened perhaps the drama at the disco wouldn't have happened, or at least would have been considered, risk-assessed and mitigations put in place after such an inflammatory start to the weekend.