Who‘s coming to FiLIA?

[lanadelgrey]

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

Give the tiny organising team at Filia a bit of time to make a robust statement. There was so much going on, not just what was in the building, but in the build up, what was happening on social media and other forums and the inevitable fallout.

Women who you'd hope would want to build not destroy like Julia Long, who was clearly delighted to find something to feel outraged about so early on and who took the cue to create some divisive action, and Jean Hatchet, whose modus operandus seems to be to provoke, then lie and paint herself as a victim on social media didn't help.

A few bad actors. Thousands of women there in sisterhood and solidarity. Choose who you want to lift up.

Calling Julia Long a “bad actor” is outrageous.

Agree, an awful slur on a fantastic feminist.

You should be ashamed of yourself @Shinyredbicycle

I didn't. I named her separately. To me, from what I observed, she appeared delighted to find something to be outraged about do early on which I believe runs counter to sisterhood and solidarity.

You're very welcome to a different opinion. This was just what I saw

Though, yes, if the shoe fits.
Attending a feminist conference to provoke, be outraged and set up a counter protest outside, call it bad acting if you will.

@ShinyredbicycleI stand with the thousands of women who attended FiLiA in sisterhood and solidarity to support victims and discuss how to achieve a better world for women and girls. Shame on all detractors!

Well if Julia is joining me in the FILIA “trouble maker” club, I couldn’t be happier with the company.

With you Hermiaxx!

Apologies from Sathi

x.com/sathixpatel/status/1977688939466203154?s=46&t=MSa_WGO2LsBzM9IOlCW9hg

Too little and too late.

And she is still banging on about how she trusts Hamas.

Filia will need to address this at some point, specifically why they platformed people who are vocally supportive of a proscribed terrorist organisation.

Im all for difference of opinion, but this goes way beyond that.

An apology to the organisation but not an apology to the attendees who may have had their experience at Filia tainted, or even ruined, by their actions.

It’s really inappropriate and it feels like the organisers dealt with these issues very poorly and not impartially. Jones and Masoud should also have been kicked out for “troublemaking”. And no I wasn’t there, I’m not sure it’s for me or people like me. I support the idea of it wholly, and I completely condemn the attacks on it by TRAs. But really, FFS.

Julia Long was on GB News last night talking about the rampant antisemitism that was present throughout the conference.

https://x.com/GBNEWS/status/1977460512146522325?t=bc7iCe_ERS3Td8d92DzIqA&s=09

JCJ is a very angry person who sniffs around for arguments.
Jean H loves a scrap

It was sad that they had to bring male security into the female disco
but bringing a flag to a disco is just mental

I don't think either of them brought flags to the disco? Certainly wasn't them waving them.

I guess that any event organized while the women who came with the intention of causing trouble were still present ran a risk of Jewish women being subjected to more abuse.

I hope FiLiA reaches out to the women who felt unwelcome with an invitation to take a platform next time. There’s a possibility that the rift, which was deliberately incited by a few bad actors, may still be healed and I hope it will be.

I’m glad that there were women who still found the conference healing. It would be great if they didn’t minimize others’ more negative experiences.

well the women who felt unwelcome this year are unlikely to come next because it coincides with the start of Yom Kippur. Imagine if FILIA booked it to coincide with the start of Eid?

I'm not Jewish but by paying attention to what was being said in various little groups around stands, and by sitting around talking to people, I personally witnessed two incidents of antisemitic hate speech. One stall holder claiming that Jew were "weaponising" the rapes of Oct 7th to make Hamas look evil(!) the other an attendee who confided in me that she thought the Israelis had orchestrated the massacre in order to invade Gaza.

FILIA was not, and is not, a safe space for Jewish women sadly. It could be - if it actually were a feminist space, but it's not a feminist space whilever it provides a welcoming home for rape apologists. It's actually not much to ask.

I’ve never attended FiLiA and by the sound of it, I’m unlikely to. I’ve been on the organisation committee of large events, and you really have to nail down the scope and taboo topics. If you have speakers and/or attendees who are known for their tendency to go off-piste then you have to risk assess and put potential mitigations in place (e.g. a signal for cutting the mike or having trusted minders assigned to de-escalate any situations). A strategy for dealing with strongly expressed opinions that may get equally strong responses.

Fighting at the disco FFS. Every single person involved in that situation from the flag wavers onwards should have a word with themselves. Grown women acting like teenagers and plastering themselves all over social media to get their version in first. I don’t want to hear who started it, a plague on both your houses.

On a different note, I also attended an event this weekend attended by thousands of middle aged women (and a few men), all positively encouraging each other, learning new skills at classes, listening to speakers and being excited to talk to the well known experts in the area. Knit&Stitch at Ally Pally, utterly fab and no politics.

Jean H, who was there just as a normal attendee not as security or a Filia representative, has said on Twitter that she took it upon herself to remove Palestinian flags and scarves from those dancing on the stage. In my opinion that is not a very tactful nor respectful way to deal with things and would certainly not deescalate the situation.

oooh have you come late to knitting then? missed the knitting wars of 6-7yrs ago? it was brutal.

colonialisation, cultural appropriation, you name the buzz word and it was there. Here's a glimpse. People lost livelihoods.

https://www.reddit.com/r/knitting/comments/af5wig/a_discussion_on_privilege_and_imbalance_in_the/

That passed me by entirely, possibly because I crochet more than knit these days. How ridiculous.

There were plenty of rainbows and pride themed merchandise at Ally Pally and a few transwomen and GNC men. Great to see actually, because fabric is fabric however you want to cut and fit it to your body, and crafts should be accessible to everyone.

FILIA was not, and is not, a safe space for Jewish women

Sadly, from the Jewish women I’ve spoken to, this is indeed the case. They won’t be attending again - and as an ally, neither will I.

Filia was in the category of 'something I might do one day'.

Was.

It's clear that those who were trying to make the conference all about Palestine weren't really interested in the conference's main focus, which is women's rights. The conflict isn't about women's rights. Women have been harmed, of course, on both sides, but that's not what they're fighting about. I'd say in general ALL extreme religion tends to be bad for women, so buying into the framing of what is ultimately a male religious fight seems really odd.

I find it utterly bizarre they were allowed to deflect from and overshadow the main purpose of the conference like this. Could they have been incognito TRAs?