Who‘s coming to FiLIA?

[lanadelgrey]

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

Hopefully the early start will have acted as an extra warning to police & security.

I just arrived. The protesters aren’t as bad as I expected. Maybe 20 of them shouting, and about the same number of police. They have smashed a couple of windows and sprayed a lot of paint though.

“We’re all on the same side” always seems to be used when the grassroots are being pressured not to criticise decisions of the elite.

I’ll be arriving later on carrying my AHF bag loud and clear. I’m not scared of those thugs.

I admire you Washing. I want to wear whatever I want and feel safe. I thought I was beyond having my clothing policed. But I do feel unnerved.

I'm glad there is a police presence. Although I think it's ridiculous we need them.

I’m in - no protests and cleanup nearly finished! Hopefully my message on the app gets through xx

It betrays poor judgement on the part of the organisers that they invited this person to speak. If you read the links I posted you might understand why I object so strongly to her presence and why I don't think she should be allowed to use the gender wars to whitewash her reputation. People lost their children because of her and her partner - and by people I mean working class women and men.

Does anyone know what happened? I don't want to comment without the details.

.

That is shocking! I’m so sorry Tinsel ❤️

I think, because a speaker at the opening session spoke from the podium, and before she finished made reference to Palestine?

KJK x post re Filia

Bash Back have helpfully posted video on X of them vandalising the Conference Centre if the police can be arsed to investigate.
https://x.com/TransBashBack/status/1976555969439223934

Well I'm with Julia Long on this occasion all the way. A feminist conference should condemn violence against women whoever the perpetrators are. I'd like to think I'd have walked out too.

Rather hope FiLiA will put out a statement about what happened across all their channels as reports are obviously of a concern for anyone who cares about ending MVAWG

I thought the speaker did condemn Hamas then went on to also condemn the Israeli government but I could have misheard.

However I was very uncomfortable with talk of genocide and chants of 'free, free Palestine' and most of the attendees seemed to feel the same.

Oh dear God

I was looking forward to seeing the bunting (when do we ever get bunting or any kind of welcome in a public place??) but for whatever reason 🤷🏻‍♀️🤔🧐 it’s no longer there.

The bunting was still at the station this morning!

I don’t know what talk JL walked out of - it certainly wasn’t the one I attended where a Southall Black Sister was talking (about the far right) and very eloquently. There were 12 other talks taking place at the same time though.

I think she might have been talking about Rahila Gupta in the opening session. If I heard correctly, RG acknowledged the violence on both sides, and then started calling out for Palestine. Some people joined in. A woman near me was obviously very upset by this and shouted back about the 7th of October. To be honest, it did feel rather inappropriate to have this chant as part of the presentation from the main stage in the general opening session.

Ah ok - I missed the opening session as I couldn’t get there until 11.

The Dworkin film session this afternoon was brilliant as were all of the speakers (including the wonderful Julie Bindel)

I enjoyed that one too. Especially JB’s rant at the end.

I'm not on this thread, and have expressed elsewhere why I think it is coporatised and not that feminist. Especially banning women who dont fit the correct politics of AGCL who seemed to have infilitrated the organising group. ie Julia Long being expelled is almost a yearly ritual. And one year she had a stall outside!

But find the reasons in this article calling for a boycott of Filia (a bit late) so implausible I feel I should somehow be supportive.

Just wondered if any of you there feel what this article says is in any way what you are experiencing.

https://bindelstockclock.substack.com/p/boycottfilia-how-filia-targets-jewish

See also https://x.com/unherdclock

You know those sites are nothing to do with Julie Bindel and Kathleen Stock

Yes I know that, and isn't relevant to what I asked.

If you are at FiLia do you experience these allegations that some women feel excluded not welcome.