Who‘s coming to FiLIA?

[lanadelgrey]

I‘m starting to get excited.
Are there plans for a MN meetup?

I attended my first Filia in Cardiff (three years ago) I was so impressed with the speaker at that opening session who led the chant of “Women,Freedom,Life” at the end. There were also impassioned pleas to reject the Hijab (different speakers and sessions as far as I remember). Women have died and are still taking huge risks to abandon the hijab.

Now we have Free Palestine and a stall selling hijabs.
I’m so glad I’m not there - I couldn’t face coming to Brighton and also heard of certain women who had been banned from speaking.

I’d be interested to know how many hijabs the stall sells. My guess is it will be very few and the seller is there more to make a statement than a profit.

Jean Hatchet just tweeted her side of the story:

I’m eagerly anticipating the @FiLiA_charity spin on that debacle yesterday and last night. Going to be interesting being the “lying” bad woman again. It’d a popular smear by a bunch of bullies. I look forward to Jane Clare Jones releasing the footage she took of the women parading pro Palestinian flags on stage and me trying to stop them. I was NOT the only one filming. So that is bullshit. Was I angry? Oh yes. Security left a young lone security officer to tackle about 20 women which was getting progressively out of hand with their anti-Semitic display of flags and keffiyehs. Jewish women left in disgust. I am not ashamed I got on the stage to get them down and to help the officer take them down. When I saw she was out of her depth with no support I got calm, asked her what I could do to help. Then I stood in front of the women to block the display. One of them pushed me - almost off the stage. I grabbed her flag. I have no shame about my actions. The reason I have footage of JCJ is because she was filming me at the side of the stage. When I noticed I got out my own phone to film her in return as a defence. She grabbed my phone from my hand. I took it back. Forcefully. She was then helped by security who held me back. I’m sure she will be on her stall today. Nicely protected. Like the coward she is. Lucy Masoud arrived later when I was trying to get calm- I looked at her and she threw a pint over me. She then raised her fist at me and was restrained by a man. Security took her out. Then we were thrown out and banned from today. That’s what happened Filia. Proceed with your spin.

https://x.com/JeanHatchet/status/1977278880315580506

I think you’ve made the central point here. I wasn’t at the party but knowing a little about the people involved, there’s a fairly long-standing personal conflict between them. Drink etc may have played a part.

But there are many many sessions, stalls, and interest groups, and most of them not involved in this particular debate.

I'm a Jew. My problem is that 'feminists' are looking to a man to sort an issue between women and a zionist zealot to comment on an issue about Israel and Palestine.

But @FannyCann there are still the stalls to sign a petition for women judges in Afghanistan and send a postcard to the Moroccan lesbian imprisoned for wearing a T-shirt that religious authorities deemed blasphemous. And so on.

Yes, parts of the Left are anti-Semitic pro-Palestine agitators, but the exhibitors, speakers, and audiences are not just acquiescent sheep.

It’s a broad grass roots movement, as is Let Women Speak - which has equally antithetical views for some people.

Let’s not let these conflicts derail the broader momentum of the women’s movement or cloud all that we’ve all achieved.

FFS what a shitshow.

I live in East Sussex, and realise my decision not to attend was the correct one.

Who needs transactivists to disrupt events when the call's coming from inside the house? Shameful.

Aja now reportedly not allowed in

x.com/ajatheempress/status/1977336566277447970?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

This is getting ridiculous now, if you still support this racist, homophobic and antisemitic organisation after everything that has happened this weekend then shame on you.

Deplatforming Virago women’s arts centre because they wouldn’t retract a piece that depicted Posie Parker was the final straw for me. Terrible. Waving flags and chanting from the river to the sea outside the event, a woman reporting being spat on by a flag waver. Then the shameful embarrassing nonsense from last night, with an actual speaker at the conference throwing a drink over someone and having to be led out by security. Note she hasn’t been banned but Aja, who tweeted about it has. Disgraceful. There have been some amazing strong speeches and it’s all being tarnished.

Oh dear, this isn't looking good. Omnicause flags and hijabs. The tinfoil part of my mind wonders if there's been entryism from unrelated activists to undermine the biggest women's rights conference. Or perhaps activist mindset is very strong here, so it's natural that someone has decided this is the most important/trendy issue to crow about.

I think Lucy Masoud is a good speaker, but she should have been banned for that.

Wow. Looks like it’s not trans people we have to worry about. We can do a good job of tearing each other apart without any help.

I was really interested in being involved with this initially. The behaviours that have been spoken about though? I understand women with an antrong political stance are going to disagree but surely we can all have solidarity over rape etc? That seems like a red line.

I am sorry this has happened. It does nothing for women’s rights.

@Yawhati wondered that too.

What a fucking shit show.

I am left with a lot of lost respect for all those who took sides and escalated matters rather than knowing when to just walk away under the circumstances.

It wasn't the place for flag waving of any kind. All it's done has successfully undermined the entire feminist agenda and principal that all women shouldn't be caught up in the violence, whether it be state sanctioned, terrorist, sexual in nature or whatever form it is. It's a hard, none of this is acceptable.

Women are always harmed in these scenarios.

There will be a bunch of men laughing hard at the sorry outcome.

How many of you condemning FILIA were actually there?

I was - although not at the opening session or the party. But the sessions I was at were full of women interested in international matters, in women’s writing, in menopause, in women’s history - so many different issues and very many different perspectives.

More being reported.

x.com/freyavanadiss/status/1977368337907613873?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

Maybe imagine that you were at the opening session and at the party, and then maybe imagine you're a Jewish woman. Would you still be able to ignore what happened?

“You’re only allowed, as grassroots, to criticise events organised by the elite if you give them your money and time to attend their events. But at the same time, if you do attend their events you have to remember we’re all in it together and not criticise them “

I was there on Friday (not the opening conference), didn’t realise at all there had been a walkout, didn’t realise there was a stand selling hijabs (WTAF), had to learn here about it and the fiasco at the disco.
Very sad to see such a great event tarnished, what I experienced personally was awesome, there was so much to see and discover, but I share and understand the anger of Jewish women.
Effing omnicause.
Feminism is for all women, seeing it split by a male conflict between 2 different shades of religious sexist patriarchy in the Middle East, or here between the head girls and the ultras, it is enraging.

I agree, @inkognitha . I want to hear from the women who were surrogates, those are voices worth amplifying. So many brave and interesting women to hear from, but instead, we’ve got this conference reduced to gossip from the drunken disco. Filia need some PR advice.

It's irrelevant.

It's the messaging that's echoing across social media.

Damage done.

Half of social media is smoke and mirrors- first rule of the internet. Many people trying to pull Filia down were not there