Fuck Oxfam

[DismantledKing]

Anyone seen the tweet by Maya tonight about this little animation by Oxfam? Here’s the link:

https://twitter.com/mforstater/status/1665817901327085568?s=46&t=U7-xooKExwmFQ8mivn72lw

as I said, fuck Oxfam.

Thanks for posting that article ResisterRex. It's a real eye opener.

I saw a post upthread linking to a tweet suggesting that but then when I clicked on the link, I saw that the tweet had been deleted. The current CEO of Oxfam GB came from a South African organisation and doesn't seem to have Stonewall on his CV. Neither does the Executive Director of Oxfam International so I'm not sure where that suggestion came from.

It's a guy called Sam Dick @nettie434. He's co-head of influencing and Programme enablers. He's ex Stonewall

That's what sex positivity and queer theory gets us. Transactional sex is fine - choosing to trade sex for aid is fine.

@nettie434 this one works

twitter.com/jamesesses/status/1666337824096808960?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

When you interpret progressive politics as being entirely designed to help men to get their rocks off without consequences, they make a lot more sense! (I exaggerate, but only slightly)

It's all just hugely depressing. So many charities have become political campaign groups who no longer seek some sort of consensus to gain support from a broad sweep of the population. The good they used to do is then limited by their distraction onto various diversions (and possibly, as people wake up to what is going on, fewer donations and volunteers).

I think the sector is due an overhaul, and they're not going to do it themselves as that would mean the end of the gravy train.

Hey ho....Sam Dick

"Following a radical restructure I jointly share leadership for our influencing (campaigns, private sector) and elements of Oxfam GB programming. The aspiration is to connect our influencing in and from the UK with our partners, allies and programmes around the world and to do it in an anti-racist, feminist, partner led and safe way."

A previous role till 2015: Stonewall's Director of Campaigns Policy and Research

Lead the strategic development of Stonewall's campaigns - including aspects of policy, research and communications - as well as lead the organisation's parliamentary and political activity.

@ResisterRex @Needmoresleep Thanks both for those links. That explains it - not the CEO, but another very senior position. Looks like the influencing may not be going the the right way for him at the moment!

Also, thanks for the information about changes to what constitutes 'charitable objectives', Resister.

@Clymene Sorry you in my thanks.

If you're looking for an alternative to Oxfam to donate to, you could do a whole lot worse than https://amrefuk.org/

I know a fair amount about their work and it's fantastic, and heavily focussed on women - especially obstetric fistula, ending FGM, maternal and child health. They also train local health workers, tackle non-communicable diseases like diabetes, run mobile vaccination clinics, the list goes on.

I'd not heard of Amref - thanks. That's a good list of projects.

@persister what is their stance on woman? Biological women. Are they womanphobic & women haters like other similar organisations?

Ultimately the Trustees of charities have legal responsibility and they should be overseeing the overall charity direction and that the staff and Chief Exec carrying it out effectively etc.. so this is their failure really.
Looking at that quote though Dick has failed by his own admission. Misogynistic and racist hate caricatures generated to support charitable aims are not ‘safe’ for those portrayed

I see they refer to 'those who menstruate' on Twitter.

"Those who menstruate" so this organisation also doesn't support women. @persister sorry but no.. Not good enough. Obviously not your fault but that's a ridiculous statement to have on their social media. Those who menstruate have a label or title already we're women. Nothing else.

In 2014, Sam Dick wrote this article for the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2014/apr/24/charity-successful-lobby-stonewall

It's interesting that Sam makes no mention of the T; he refers to LGB throughout his article.
However, a couple of the comments that follow refer to LGBT. There's specific accusation that Stonewall has failed because it does not represent Trans.

Isn't that just the term that was in use been in 2014 @Tanith ? I think that was before Stonewall got all into trans issues and when it was still common to see the acronym LGB. He may also have been omitting the T deliberately because he was trying to make the point that they weren't the focus of stonewall.

That was likely one of the young interns. On their website it’s all about women and girls etc. I worked with Amref and they were excellent. Admittedly it was all long before GI was even a thing.

Is it 1 April again this year?

I was in a town with a nice Oxfam bookstore today. I walked on by

A small gesture but if their revenue goes down from the date of the video, perhaps the Board will join the dots…

India is also a very unsafe country for women.

All those small gestures add up quickly, especially if done en masses. They are also very empowering.

I felt so great removing Innocent smoothies from my rolling shopping list, every week without fail I bought them. After their championing of the "legends at Mermaids" I will necer ever purchase one of their products again & the choice empowers me. Also I'm quite smug that the Tesco version are much cheaper & taste the same. So I'm empowered & ever so slightly richer!

Or ignored.