Last weekend (17-18th August) saw UK Feminista’s third annual Summer School, bringing together 500 attendees and over 50 activists for two days of workshops, panels and idea sharing to, as the weekend’s slogan said, “organise for a world without sexism”.
The first panel of the weekend looked at one of the event’s most topical issues; feminism and social media. Chaired by UK Uncut’s Rosie Rogers, the panel featured some of the minds behind the year’s most prominent feminist social media campaigns. Shahida Choudhry of the Women’s Networking Hub described her campaign to get Malala Yousafzai nominated for the Nobel peace prize. Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project described the experiences that led up to the creation of the project and how the project gained momentum. Lucy Holmes of the No More Page 3 Campaign explained the rationale behind No More Page 3. And writer and blogger Suzee Morayef spoke of a bigger role that social media has played during the Egyptian uprising, one of saving lives.
Far from being a weekend that focused solely on campaigns which have gained significant attention over the last 12 months, UK Feminista’s Summer School played host to a diverse selection of activists, groups and charities.
Maureen Mansfield of Women in Prison demonstrated the setbacks that many women face upon being released from prison. The Arbour’s Jade Amoli-Jackson, Rahema Ndagire, Hana Ayele and Marchu Girma used Forum Theatre to open a discussion about migrant women’s experience of forced and arranged marriage. And Marcia Lewinson, CEO of Women Acting in Today’s Society (WAITS), delivered a session on community activism. Over the course of the weekend, workshop were also delivered by Disabled People Against the Cuts, NUS, Imkaan, People and Planet, Black Feminists, Zero Tolerance, London Refugee Women’s Forum, Campbell X and many more.
Alongside the workshops, panel discussions explored race, feminism and activism, the experiences of young feminists, the art of feminism, feminist economic activism and transnational feminism.
Further information about UK Feminista’s Summer School can be found on their website.