Dear Comrades,
We are feminists who have come together from a number of groups to organise an event on Saturday 14 February 2009. We are excited and energised by the current resurgence in feminist activism in the UK, but we think that the kind of feminist movement we build and the kind of politics it has, matter.
We are committed to an anti-capitalist feminism which sees the interconnections between all struggles against oppressions and against capitalism, and we want to build an event that creates an open space to discuss this and develop our ideas. But we don’t want to just talk about our politics – we want to fight to actually change the material conditions of women’s lives, to fight misogyny and our own exploitation, and to involve as many women and men as possible in the campaigns that will be at the centre of this event.
We want the joint event to provide us with a forum to come together, participate in open debate, develop strategies to work towards our common aims, network, make alliances and inspire each other to build a strong and active feminist movement. We need to unite to challenge women’s oppression and exploitation. We want to fight for the rights of all women - and that includes the rights of sex workers and ‘illegal’ migrants.
We organise using non-hierarchical, consensus-based decision making. We recognise the power structures that exist among us, based on the inequalities of our society, which amplify some voices and marginalise others, and we will actively work to confront them. Decisions are taken at monthly meetings, which are open to feminists of all genders. There’s also the option to work autonomously in self-defined groups (e.g. women-only). We respect the fact that women have a diversity of experience and we see this as positive in that it enables us to learn from each other.
Key issues on which we want to organise include…
- Defending and extending reproductive freedom.
- Opposing rape and sexual abuse.
- Fighting racism and immigration controls.
- Building solidarity between women workers.
- Challenging all forms of heterosexism and increasing our freedom of sexual expression.
- Struggles against capitalist exploitation.
In Sisterhood and Solidarity,
anticapitalistfeminists@lists.riseup.net