Who‘s coming to FiLIA?

Hi @Shedmistress and @TinselAngel , I see you want me to explain why I think tinsel is a troublemaker, I thought it was self evident and I didn’t need to explain but here goes: The trans widows I know have found her impossible to deal with and so have people in the media who wanted to discuss this issue, consequently the voices of trans widows have not been heard. Tinsel resents it when any other trans widow speaks but she is extremely difficult with any media that want to speak to her. It’s a disaster and consequently trans widows are the one remaining group who are seldom represented in the media

But weren't some of the people refusing to condemn male violence when it happened to be Hamas against Jewish women actually speakers?

That's a bit more than some random nutter.

Were people really waving yellow ribbons, or were some jewish women simply wearing a lapel badge?

The Palestinian flag is very much associated ( and increasingly so over the last two years since October 7th) with anti Israel rhetoric and feeling; which easily bleeds into anti Zionism; which easily bleeds into generalised anti-semitism. It would be difficult to deny that, I'd say.

They put loads into grassroots work and also give many women free tickets and organise and fund their accommodation so that they can attend the conference.

And every FiLIA attendee has the option of donating towards these free tickets when she registers. I gave two "Solidarity" tickets, because I can afford to. It's well worth it.

Feminism has always historically come from the left - even the pre-Marxist left of Mary Wollstonecraft. It originated as an oppositional movement, in opposition to the status quo - very much aligned with the broad left and an ideology of going against the grain. (The concept of the "left wing" comes out of the political movements of the French Revolution, and Wollstonecraft was writing at the height of the Revolution and the new ideas percolating through from France to England).

@IwantToRetire your account of past women's liberation conferences is at odds with my experience from the late 1970s. There was no circulation of agendas or likely speakers! It would have been impossible to circulate that information to the 100s of women attending. In my experience of being involved in the movement since around 1976, the VOLUNTEER organisers just got on and tried to invite a wide range of speakers on a wide range topics of the moment & of interest.

And as I keep saying, there have ALWAYS been divisions in the women's movement. It's a grass-roots movement which covers 50% of the population. Of course there will be divisions and differences! Not all women think the same things!

Think of the division and deep differences between suffragists and suffragettes. When I was a baby feminist in the late 70s, it was between lesbian separatists and straight women ("sleeping with the enemy" accusations abounded). Other divisions ran along the lines of suffragists v. suffragettes - disagreements between those advocating change through gradual legal change eg equal pay, legislation against rape in marriage etc, and those looking at direct action and women's separatism.

FiLIA is one volunteer group. There are many others - WDI, WRN, Sex Matters, and so on. I think part of the issue is that more recently, a lot of women have come to feminism as an organised movement & way of thinking in the wake of the assault on women by the transactivist /gender ideology extremists. They're not really experienced in the much wider movement that came out of the second wave. It was telling at FiLIA that many of the activists speaking and attending were of the age of second wavers. A lot of women new to more organised feminism don't know a huge amount about past campaigns, and past iterations of the women's liberation movement. For me, it's the tiny fragment of silver lining from the storm cloud of transactivism, that it has re-vivified a very active women's movement.

But new converts need to understand that the women's movement has never had one ideological or practical throughline. And debate over both tactics and strategies is a constant in feminist groupings and organisations.

Yes, completely agree that the FiLiA disco was not the time or place for flag, scarf or ribbon waving.

And multiple women (5/6 of them) holding aloft their keffiyeh scarves on the disco stage. I was also there, they were selling keffiyeh at one of the stalls, alongside other woven/textiles but it was enough to stop me in my tracks.

The disco stage this was, not the main stage.

Whilst they weren’t shouting from the river to the sea, one woman was absolutely chanting free free Palestine over and over from the stage. I know because I watched her mouth moving but it in my hazy drunken head, couldn’t work out why the song didn’t match what she appeared to be singing.

So much work goes into organising FiLiA. I think it's perfectly right and proper as a feminist to be supportive of women in Gaza, but making a statement about it on the main plenary stage, knowing the divisions it would inflame, and knowing the headache it would cause for the organisers, is wrong. The effect is to sabotage the immensely hard work of Lisa-Marie and her colleagues, and I think it's a shame.

agreed.

But I am reading over and over how there were flagS plural being waved at the disco which is not true - there was one woman waving one flag.

While I found her actions to be in very bad taste I saw her actions as HERS alone.

But only a moron takes a political flag to a disco. And it only takes one moron to make it all about them. How organisers deal with fringe nutters should be factored into their event planning.

I was there.

There was ONE woman with ONE P flag at the disco.

Clearly there are HUGE costs in putting on an event such as FiLiA - and Filia makes a massive & constant effort to make the weekends accessible for working class and unwaged women. This is central to how Filia runs.

They provide a free creche, have a solidarity ticket scheme, fundraise to supply as many solidarity tickets to women as possible & offer heavily discounted concession tickets.

Filia also works in the local area with local groups extensively in advance of each event.

Encouraging a provocative chant, waving flags on the dancefloor; these are the actions of beered up football thugs spoiling for a fight at a provincial nightclub.

Been lurking on this thread, just commenting to say it's really sad to hear that some women made the conference about their own political activism.

They’ll go there and not even mention Charlene Downes.

No-one at the disco was shouting from the river to the sea.

Many people who hold Palestinian flags do so to support Palestine, not because they hate Jews.

There are enough heightened emotions without exaggerating, or making assumptions or sweeping generalisations.

Just on FILiA, as I am Sarah says, the CEO of Filia moves (in her van) to the city where the next conference will be held to spend a year (or 2 in the case of Brighton) working with groups who are already supporting girls and women there. They put loads into grassroots work and also give many women free tickets and organise and fund their accommodation so that they can attend the conference.

I do hope so, there are some great grassroots organisation but its such a poor town getting traction is difficult.

There are so many issues in the town that impact women and girls, poverty, sexual and other forms of exploitation, high levels of of girls on child protection registers, addiction, and the scandals at BVH in which women are harmed and killed.

There is much good that could be done, but they need to avoid it being hijacked by personalities (on both side) and politics. That would be beyond tragic.

Great post.

The cost of Filia will exclude many working class women, KJK's 'let women speak' doesn't exclude. I think that's possibly what they hate about her.

It's an important point that if you're organising a feminist conference in a particular town it's important to consider the feminist issues in that town and invite grassroots organisations. It might be a way to help keep the focus on women's rights and not some other random political issue too.

I think it's reasonable for women who paid money to come to the conference to complain if it doesn't do as promised. Which when it's more about Palestine than women's rights (in some sessions at least) it doesn't.

You're writing as if it was a free conference, it wasn't.

Lisa-Marie (FiLiA CEO) spent most of her time in Brighton in the 2 years before FiLiA. Each year she travels to a FiLiA city, to become part of local communities and build real connections with women and women’s groups across the UK.

I’m sure she will do the same in Blackpool.

Blackpool may help bring the focus back down to v specific problems of the area.

Julie Bindel wrote about the grooming gangs operating in Blackpool and the recent appalling incidents at BVH. I'm sure any panel she is on would be really well informed. But beyond that do Filia have any understanding of the experiences of women and girls in the area? Yeah sure some locals could attend but the vast majority wouldn't be able to afford it.

I say this from living in the town for many years that they need to be really careful how they structure 2026, who they invite to platform (local grassroots orgs would be great).

Also agree with this! I was at Cardiff and that’s how I felt too.