(en) Britain, Announcing AFEM2014 - an AnachaFeminist conference

This year there will be an AnachaFeminist conference in the UK with national scope and 
international reach. It will be in London on Sunday October 19th (day after the London 
Anarchist Bookfair). There have been a couple of organising meetings and you can now visit 
the website (subscription feed here) to find out more. Expect us to be organising local 
events in support in the run up to October. ---- From the first post: ---- We are a group 
of anarcha-feminists of varying genders, backgrounds and histories, who have come together 
to organise an anarcha-feminist event. We want to use it to build concretely towards the 
transformation of our own experience, and towards toppling the institutions and ideas 
which oppress us. ---- What is AFem2014? ---- AFem2014 will be the first of what we hope 
will be a series of international anarcha-feminist conferences.

The need for this has been obvious for a long time within anarchist organising. Efforts to 
shut us down, belittle our ideas, and physically assault and abuse us have led to a level 
of anger against the masculinisation of our movement. We are not represented in equal 
numbers and often are not taken seriously. Whilst on paper we are equal, we sometimes face 
oppression even in our own groups and organisations. Barriers to our full political 
participation remain intact. This means that our anarchist movement is not truly 
?anarchist?. We will no longer tolerate this. We want to transform our movement.

Furthermore, in wider society, the supposed gains of liberal feminism have not brought 
equality. Mainstream reformers and authoritarian-left political parties achieve little for 
us. This is the case in legal, economic, social and political terms, and in personal 
relationships. As we work toward a feminist conference which will have class-struggle 
anarchism and the fight for economic equality at its heart, we know that capitalism is not 
the only enemy. We are kept down and divided by many different kinds of oppression, 
overlapping and intersecting in complex ways. Racism, ableism, trans*phobia, ageism and 
oppression relating to religion or culture are common forms we encounter, but there are 
many more. These can impact on us as much as economic exploitation, and sometimes more 
immediately so.

As such, we understand anarcha-feminism not just as a response to anarchism and feminism. 
Anarcha-feminism is an anti-authoritarian, anti-oppressive critique of the capitalist 
kyriarchal form, and a weapon we can use in our daily lives. We want to explore the 
intersections between oppressions, developing theory, learning from others and arriving at 
practical outcomes.

Who is the conference open to?

Although this conference is not open to cisgender men (men who are comfortable with the 
gender they were assigned at birth), it is open to people of all other genders and none. 
It actively hopes to engage with trans*, genderqueer, gender fluid and non-binary people, 
as well as with cisgender women. We will not take a policing stance around gender 
presentation at the conference, but we will not hesitate to challenge trans*phobic, 
cissexist or binarist language, behaviour and attitudes.

How will the conference be structured and organised?

We propose a structure of intersecting, thematic meetings and strands, with outcomes by 
the end of the conference which we can take away with us, use and build on. We invite 
people to initiate meetings and whole strands with a focus on anarcha-feminist analysis 
and activity. These strands should include those self-organised by people of colour, 
trans*, genderqueer, gender fluid and non binary people, sex workers, disabled people and 
people with mental health issues. We are committed to doing what we can to involve a 
diverse range of people in our organising, so such strands will be supported and resourced 
as a priority through the wider project. To support the full and free participation of 
those encouraged to attend, the conference will have an explicit and meaningful safer 
spaces policy.

Please get involved

The conference was the initiative of anarcha-feminists within the Anarchist Federation 
(AF, Britain) and the organising group now includes representatives of the International 
of Anarchist Federations (IFA-IAF) and its member federations, the Solidarity Federation 
(SF-IWA) and a growing number of non-aligned and autonomous anarcha-feminists. There are a 
lot of things that we need to do, and we invite you to get involved to help shape this 
exciting event, in terms of ideas, concepts, and practical organising.

Please get in touch if you agree with the approach above and would like to join the 
organising group, as an individual or as a delegate, including if you would like to 
participate in or help organise a specific meeting or strand.

Please also circulate this statement widely within your groups, organisations and 
networks, and get them to join the list of supporters and contributors.

Please help us raise money for the event. The more we get, the more inclusive and 
international the conference can be.

Looking forward to working with you?

AFem2014 Organisers

January 2014