Alloa Womans Festival - the radical feminist alternative to the curated feminism of FiLia?

[IwantToRetire]

Alloa Woman's Festival

Join us for the Alloa Woman's Festival, a vibrant celebration of women's achievements and empowerment! Taking place at the iconic Alloa Town Hall, this in-person event promises a day filled with inspiration, connection, and fun.

On Saturday, March 23, 2024, starting at 10:00 AM GMT, we invite you to come together with like-minded individuals to honor the incredible contributions of women in our community.
Throughout the day, you can expect an engaging lineup of talks and discussions from

Dr Julia Long, Fiona Broadfoot, Rhona Hotchiss, Kate Barker, Joan MacAlpine, Johann Lamont, Paula Boddington, Dr Em, Caroline McAlister, Rachel R Sanchez, Linda Thomson, Anne-Marie Ward, MurrayBlackburnMacKenzie, For Women Scotland, Womens Rights Network and so much more.......

War on Women's Bodies, Womens Spaces, Womens Representation are all up for discussion

Connect with fellow attendees, share your stories, and forge new friendships in a supportive and inclusive environment. This festival is an opportunity to celebrate women from all walks of life and to inspire one another to reach new heights.

Don't miss out on this empowering event! Mark your calendars and join us at Alloa Town Hall for the Alloa Woman's Festival. Let's come together to celebrate, learn, and grow!

Amazingly its free although donations are requested - full info here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/alloa-womans-festival-tickets-505950620927?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

@IwantToRetire Thank you for posting. I tend to find it six months later on YouTube ‘cos I live a long, long way away.

All power to your elbows, ladies. Thank you for your work.

I thought Filia was the alternative to mainstream feminist gatherings?

I've not managed to attend Alloa Women's Festival yet but it's great to see events like this being held in Scotland. Thanks to the organisers - I can only imagine the hard work involved in setting up such an event with so many good speakers.

Donated and booked. Scotland needs events like this. Great line-up of speakers 😊

We are spoiled in Scotland, Falkirk next weekend too. great line up

I'm going to both, and of course Women Won't Wheesht in Dundee, and wherever else they are this year.

I thought Filia was the alternative to mainstream feminist gatherings?

This has been discussed on other threads, and dont want to spoil this thread. But the problem with FiLia is that it presents feminism as a hierarchy, ie a few "special" women who get to sit on platforms, whilst the rest of us are consigned to passive consumers of the hierarchies words. ie calling FiLias about Women's Liberation is just ridiculous, as it is exactly the opposite of Women's Liberation which was about grassroots organisers, and certainly there were no speaker on platforms. Anyone who attempted to set themselves up to do that would have been slow handclapped on the stage.

But for all I know the structure of the Alloa Festival may also be hierarchical.

I just posted because it shows if you look around local women are still self organising, and we need to wean ourselves of the idea that being a feminist means waiting for someone to organise something you can consume.

By the way I am not in Scotland and imagine given public transport and cost would be difficult to get to.

But certainly hope the days goes well.

And great to see the Forth Valley Feminists event as well!

Thank you, @IwantToRetire , that is helpful. I've never really understood the "head girl" accusations, but it means that Head Girls are the ones chosen to speak?

I suppose a day event needs speakers but I must admit, the LWS format of every woman has a story and a point of view to learn from is appealing. Though, it is true that some women are better at presenting their argument than others, public speaking is not easy. Maybe there will be group discussion too.

I've never really understood the "head girl" accusations, but it means that Head Girls are the ones chosen to speak?

Well that could be a whole thread in itself. Those chosen to speak or those who presume to do the choosing (and why)!

But really it is the appropriating of the name Women's Liberation, which has or had, a particular way of working. ie no platform speakers, workers set up by local groups, campaigns etc.so that what is said heard and shared reflects what women are actually doing not what someone, a curator (or as Filia is known - the hostess with the mostess) thinks you should know about and be told how to think about it.

So for me it is always really great to see events that reflect that more grassroots representation of feminist activism.

I am sure there are many, but we dont always here. Some may prefer to be under the radar anyway.

The way your first post reads - ‘join us’ -it sounded like you were one of the organisers but later I think you say you might not get there as it’s far away. Is this cut and pasted from somewhere else then?

Alloa Women’s Festival is brilliant- but so is FiLiA. Other than scale, they’re very much arranged along the same lines; the organisers approach women to speak who they think other women will be interested in listening to.

FiLiA is a brilliant opportunity to hear from 100s of speakers/ panelists/ stall holders etc. No one forces anyone to go and they receive no conference funding. I’m very grateful for them doing so. It’s ran almost entirely by volunteers and the work these women must put it to making it happen is incredible.

Those who are critical should maybe organise the type of events they’d like to attend themselves.

The way your first post reads - ‘join us’ -it sounded like you were one of the organisers but later I think you say you might not get there as it’s far away. Is this cut and pasted from somewhere else then?

Yes, I think OP was just highlighting it for people, she's not one of the organisers.

Thanks. I was pretty sure it wasn’t written by one of the organisers but just strange to say ‘join us’ if you’re not involved in organising it - or going. Very glad the festival has been highlighted here as great for women to hear about it who might otherwise be unaware. The poster clearly has an agenda against FiLiA however and it’s not helpful to suggest this is shared by the organisers of Alloa

I don't understand what the difference is? Both conferences have speakers organised?

Genuinely asking, I'm not being sarcastic.

I've never been to either but I'd love to be able to attend a feminist event one day.

Alloa has a train station by the way, a short walk from the Town Hall, frequent trains from Glasgow via Stirling ( takes about an hour).

It sounds like a great event. But I think it's weird to post it as a dig at a completely different event.

If you don't like events where someone's taken the time to curate an agenda, brief and support speakers etc, don't go to them. 'Anyone can speak' events can be great too, but they can also be 'hit and miss'. At FiLiA I very much appreciated the time and effort which had gone into putting together an interesting agenda with lots of choice of topics and speakers. It looks like this event has also put in the same kind of effort and preparation, with an interesting list of speakers. I'm too far away to attend but will look out for video.

(Aside - there wasn't enough (indeed, any) space for self-organised networking in Glasgow, which I put in my feedback. That was largely an issue of the venue though - amplification across one huge space meant there were no quiet corners for get-togethers the way there had been in the Cardiff venue. I hope the 2025 venue is better for this, but venues are difficult. And lots are closing down, so the choice is getting more limited.)

I think there is a difference of views between the Alloa and Falkirk organisers but both work with Filia.

To be honest, I am not interested in inter-group rivalry, I want to hear women's perspectives and lots of them. I'm like a feminism sponge and can't get enough.

Love the notion of a feminism sponge! And definitely agree. The Falkirk festival is a split off from Alloa and from social media posts, the Falkirk group transferred the funds women donated for Alloa this year into one of their own bank accounts! Hope it’s being used to pay for the Falkirk event - but a shame it was taken from the Alloa festival. Fair play to the Alloa lot for putting this on despite having no funds to kick it off. Alloa had a stall at FiLiA and think they volunteered there. The Falkirk ones weren’t there and aren’t involved with FiLiA.

I loved FiLiA Glasgow - not just the amazing speakers but also the connections made with other women. Can’t wait for the next one

Great that this festival is happening. Room for plenty more every day/week/month across the UK and beyond. But no need to diss a festival that does what it does, sells out every year, has great speakers and participatory workshops attended by thousands of women and with which you are not in competition. The best conversations at FiLiA happen in the breaks. Where is your sisterhood and solidarity op?😡

I'm one of the women who helps organise this event. Thank you @IwantToRetire for highlighting #AlloaWomensFestival.

We're a group of grassroots feminists who do this as well as our day jobs and caring responsibilities because we feel passionate about women's rights.

I have to say it's been a whilst since I've been on mumsnet. I moved over to twitter, changed phone, lost my password and lost the habit of checking in. It was mumsnet that highlighted the issues for me, so many eloquent women on here #radicalisedbymumsnet.

FiLiA was amazing. Loads of great speakers and opportunities to network. Alloa is no where near as big, nothing in comparison! I'm sure the Gaithering will be good too.

We will try and live stream on the day (if the tech goddess is with us) and if not videos of the speakers will be up shortly afterwards.

Off now to a prison Protest. Thanks again!

Honestly, trying to pick holes in my OP for some reason, seems totally bizarre. The link was there, if you went to the link you would see I had copies and pasted the contents of the notice.

But next time, I will of course ensure that I spell out for those who dont want to have to think "this is a copy and paste of a public notice" - hoenstly.

As to my comments about FiLia they are not unique and have been part of many other threads on FWR.

But the main point is, FiLia has nothing whatsoever to do with the poltics of Women's Liberation. It is the diametric opposite. And it is unethical to badge itself as such.

Just as the web site that calls inself International Women's Day, but is in fact the project of a marketing firm, has nothing to do with IWD which, like it or not, is one of the UN's public days.

I'm not bothered that women want to go to events where the organisers decide who they should listen to. Its your choice.

And in fact I added that for all I knew the Alloa event may be structured in the same way.

Sadly the reality is that the bottom up structue of a Women's Liberation Conference wouldn't really be possible today because there isn't that network of local and shared interest grassroots women's groups who would set the agenda by coming to talk about what they are doing.

And I didn't "diss" anything. I was making a political point.

This is after all the Feminism and Women's Rights forum and some see it as one of the few places where radical feminism is acknowledged.

So hardly shocking to make a jokey reference to radical feminsim.

@Acatcalledprince hope the day goes well and really inspiring that so many women in Scotland are self organising. Or is that because things are so dire that there is no alternative? (Joke!)

Your post seems to pit one women’s festival against another. Not sure why you mention FiLiA if you just wanted to promote Alloa -and like other posters just looking for clarity. Other than scale, what do you see the difference as? Both ran by volunteers who themselves decide which women they will ask to speak / have stalls etc, neither receiving any conference funding and the same speakers have appeared at both. Why is one a ‘radical alternative’ and the other a ‘curated feminist event’?

Why is one a ‘radical alternative’ and the other a ‘curated feminist event’?

I'll say it one more time. Because FiLia keeps mis marketing itself as being somehow a continuation of Women's Liberation. It isn't.

I've explained above. It have nothing to do with volunteers, women or whatever.

It is about the POLITICAL concept of women's liberation which was grassroots autonomous groups, not about some self appointed curator/s saying this is what is important and / or this is want women want to consume.

And again. How is FiLiA different to Alloa?

Surely any festival/conference is curated, in that you plan an series of speakers/activities? It's rather what I'd expect from an event like that.

Surely any festival/conference is curated, in that you plan an series of speakers/activities?

Not a Women's Liberation conference.

The participants set the agenda. That's the whole point.

And yes it means that the organisers just get to do the boring venue booking etc., but absolutely do NOT set the agenda or the content.

Added to which no Women's Liberation Conference would have had any meeting where some women sat on a platform and presumed to speak while others sat and listened. If anyone had attempted to do that they would have been catcalled!

But you still only have room for X number of sessions, Y number of speakers. It's not going to be a complete free-for-all. Therefore there will be some selection/curating going on.