Sian Berry & the attack on FILA conference

Sorry they aren’t in higher definition! Yesterdays Argus I think

Thank you for those articles @SingleSexSpacesInSchools There must be some reasonable people in Brighton who are appalled by what happened last weekend. It’s crazy that in 2025 a newspaper article needs to be written with the title Women have every right to meet in safety.

Two articles about this in the local rag, neither supporting Sian, sorry for the photos also no online versions of the story!

I thought I'd seen all types of politicians' antics, but Berry's response here is genuinely shocking.

Surprisingly there was a letter in today's Metro from an attendee describing the masked vandals. No doubt tomorrow they'll print one of these vulnerable minoritised types explaining that they had to do it because women's rights are "provocative".

Yep, I was at both the Sat night fringe ,non FiLiA, session and the Sun lunchtime session at FiLiA.

I'm not Jewish. I'm not Muslim.

I'm not pro Hamas, or pro Zionist.

I stand with Women. Everywhere.

I stand against rape, torture, desecration, murder, bombing the shit out of

Women, Girls and Men, Boys.

By (mainly) Men.

On whichever "side"

And I was appalled at the pro Hamas shit I saw at FiLiA this weekend.

, not my first time, it's my 5th time,but after this weekend I'm not sure I'm giving them any more of my money or that I'll be attending, again.

Oh, and I'm going to email my MP and ask for reassurance that women's groups are welcome in this constituency.

Sian Berry's statement was so very "look at what you made him do". Absolute disgrace.

The meeting called last-minute on the Sunday for Jewish women and their allies was held in a room that took 400 people, and I'd say it was close to full, and included a woman from the FiLiA team and many FiLiA volunteers. It was very moving, and the two (incredibly disrespectful) women who tried to hijack it were marched out by security. There was a mailing list to sign up to, so I'll be keen to see where we go from here.

Oh good. ✊

Found it - it was Heidi Bachram's talk and they were hostage ribbons. The other person's reply about endometriosis seems to have been irrelevant/confused/muddying the waters.

https://x.com/HeidiBachram/status/1977051368956235975?

Ah, fair enough. The tweet I saw implied it was an Israel ribbon, and then there was a follow up saying endometriosis awareness was important - so I assumed it was a ribbon for the former at a talk on the latter. But may have misinterpreted either bit.

That's assault. What did the organisers and security do? Were you able to report it @EllieMary1984 ?

I was at Filia this year and there was a lot of antisemitism. I saw a Jewish woman being pushed by Pro Palestine activists and one woman was spat at. Many Jewish woman felt unsafe.

Sian Berry’s victim blaming after the latest trans violence is disgusting

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/750eded022ab8e9b

Oh

Yes, I pointed that out to her, with a "Siri, show me a ratio." comment.

The yellow ribbon is also the symbol for endometriosis….

Good to hear, the Omnicause adherents need to know they're not getting it all their own way, that there are people who stand with Israel, and the truth of the barbarity that was perpetrated against Israel on Oct 7th, and continues to be perpetrated against them 2 years on.

I agree there's a huge difference between individuals and an official conference position. I doubt (and sincerely hope it isn't) the latter. One of the events (on endometriosis, I think) had the 'bring them home' yellow ribbons on all the chairs.

This is what happens when people insist on seeing everything in terms of "systemic" oppression instead of what is actually happening between individuals. You get cognitive dissonance, and either you have to admit that the oppressors/oppressed model is inadequate and misleading or you end up, absurdly and despicably, construing rapists as "punching up" if they pick the right sort of victim. It's an absolute gift to male supremacists of various kinds.

Oh no, that's pretty awful 😞

However (again, I'm absolutely not condoning it) there's a difference between what's said by some delegates and what is officially the filia position / what's encouraged.

When you get a few thousand people all together in one place, some will say offensive things, some will behave like twats.

I'm not writing off the entire event over the actions of a few.

I’m here. I’m not Jewish. Antisemitism is rife I’m afraid. I was by the stall for the older feminist network, signing up for their mailing list. The woman behind the desk was in discussion with a few others and she said (paraphrased because I was so shocked) that she didn’t dispute rapes had happened but they were being “weaponised” to make Hamas look evil.

needless to say I didn’t sign up to their newsletter……

Thanks - I was about to suggest FoI requests go through here so the response is public.

I wasn't there... what happened?

I heard someone got chucked out for having a Palestinian flag and rightly so.

But the behaviour of one or 2 idiots isn't the same as 'Several speakers making antisemitic comments'. It doesn't help matters to exaggerate.

Edit to add: I'm not saying pro palestine automatically equals idiot, I mean it was a disco, leave your politics at the door.

Excellent 👏