Statement from Rad Fem 2013
212013/04/20 by Cathy Brennan
Unsurprisingly, and for the second year in a row, men’s rights activists have bullied venue staff hosting Radfem 2013, into submitting to their terror tactics. Despite the fact that the organisers of this year’s Rad Fem 2013 were completely transparent about our intentions for the conference and the potential consequences of the London Irish Centre’s acceptance of our booking (i.e. harassment from men who don’t like us), the venue has been bullied by a bunch of men’s rights activists and the venue are considering cancelling our booking. Men’s rights advocates have harassed feminists online, bullied venue staff at the London Irish Centre (this year’s host of Radfem 2013), including putting the names of staff on websites and blogs. Staff were also shaken up by the theft of a laptop and mobile phone from staff. This is now under criminal investigation and we have no idea who was responsible, but what we do know is that it is us who are being punished.
The reality is that the men’s rights activists have behaved unacceptably in their harassment of staff at the venue, as they have to feminists organising the conference. The London Irish Centre should be standing strong with the women of the world who suffer male violence, silencing, bullying, threats, spreading hysterical malicious lies and perpetrating harassment on a daily basis because we are standing up and saying, “no.” Organisers of Radfem 2013 have gone out of our way to help the centre and its staff with criminal investigations.We will not be intimidated any longer. We will not be silenced any longer. We will not be hounded from our venues any longer. This is our ground. We are taking it. This is our space, these are our rights and if they won’t be given to us… we will take them. Women from around the world stand strong in the face of male terrorism. Submission is not an option when globally we are battered, prostituted, raped, objectified, our ideas, creativity and energy stolen, corrupted and undermined. Our identities colonised, broken and violated. This is our time. We are no longer forsaken, we are strong because we stand together in sisterhood.
The London Irish Centre may be unjustifiably considering cancelling our booking but this will not stop us from holding our event and standing our ground. The repercussions on our movement for liberation are too great if we allow ourselves to be bullied out of our rightful booking. We do not accept the London Irish Centre’s unjustifiable rejection of our booking. We have done nothing wrong and we will not accept being punished because of MRA’s using terror tactics.
Women are coming from all over the world to meet in strength and sisterhood. Some women have spent a lot of time, money and energy booking flights and accommodation from the US, Finland, South Africa, France, Australia, Canada and all over the UK. We come from all walks of life. We are many colours, many cultures, many races. Some of us have disabilities, many of us are poor, all of us are marginalised. Our program will focus on giving voice to women from all backgrounds and on a diverse range of important issues to eliminate violence against women.
We will have our conference. It will be at the London Irish Centre from the 8th – 9th of June. We are standing strong with our sisters around the world for our liberation. We will not be moved.
If you want to get on board with turning this around, for the rights of feminists to meet in peace, please contact us at radfem2013@hotmail.co.uk
Contact the London Irish Centre:
The London Irish Centre
50-52 Camden Square
London
NW1 9XB
UK
Welfare/Culture
T: 020 7916 2222
F: 020 7916 2638
E: info@londonirishcentre.org
Events and Venue Hire
T: 020 7916 2222
E: venuehire@londonirishcentre.org
Category: Uncategorized | Tags: Bullying, Canada, Finland, France, June, London, London Irish Centre, Radfem 2013
21 thoughts on “Statement from Rad Fem 2013”
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Organizing for Women's Liberation 
Your rhetoric notwithstanding, your proposed conference is in violation of anti-discrimination laws by excluding men. Me? I notice the hypocrisy of feminists doing the very things they accuse men of doing. They condemn men but consider themselves sanctified.
But I like the thought of media attention shining a light on the actions of feminists. Soon you will be as welcome as the Klan. And people will see through your claims of “oppression.”
Sure dude.
Actually, the MRA group who has protested this event have been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which puts the MRA in league with the clan, not feminists.
It is not against the law for women to gather together without men. It simply isn’t. Stop making things up.
They can’t stop making things up, because then people might have a chance to hear the truth.
“Actually, the MRA group who has protested this event have been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which puts the MRA in league with the clan, not feminists.”
Sure & right now i’m announcing you as a hate group… An you know what it means just as little as when the SPLC does it. The SPLC has no power to announce anything, especially given there own track record of infringing on peoples basic human rights.
“It is not against the law for women to gather together without men.”
You are 100% right, its perfectly legal for an event to be absent men… Its also perfect ILLEGAL for an event to exclude men, on the basis of gender. Don’t ever mistake absence for exclusion: They are not the same thing.
Sex isn’t gender. Have a nice day.
Oh, just so you know exactly what law its breaking, its specifically breaking the Equality Act (2010). Thats the reason why this group had its venue cancelled. Because the implicit actions of that group & there intentions strate up break the law.
“the MRA group who has protested this event have been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center”
Oh, just as a factual point MRA London was the one who brought the breach to the attention of the venue, not AVFM… So no SPLC has not actually branded MRA London a hate movement.
you sound threatened. what have “feminists” done to you? what has anyone done to you in the name of “feminism?”
the internal hypocrisy of your short statement amazes me: somehow, you both hate or fear feminism, but you also are whining about feeling excluded from a feminist conference. pick one, please, only one. because they are mutually exclusive. until then, it seems to me like you’re just throwing crap against the wall until something sticks….
If you hate us feminists so much, stay the f**k away from us. Problem solved all around.
I love how MRAs claim the SPLC is some little powerless nothing of an organization that weilds no influence. Sure, if you ignore the fact that every branch of law enforcement from local police to the FBI hires the SPLC to assist with tracking and apprehending perpetrators of hate crimes. Or the fact that judges would rather hand out guilty verdicts to these criminals when before they might have been more lenient because when the SPLC sues on behalf of families of victims, they usually win astronomical settlements. Oh, and they do it pro bono. So Kelly and any other women-haters can piss off. Alternately, avoid making silly authoritative statements on groups you know nothing about. Those are the only two options, really.
“Or the fact that judges would rather hand out guilty verdicts to these criminals when before they might have been more lenient because when the SPLC sues on behalf of families of victims, they usually win astronomical settlements. Oh, and they do it pro bono.”
An yet here we are, with the SPLC not having actually sued any MRA group at all ever… Its almost like the MRA hasn’t broken the law… Unlike Radfem 2013, who are in breech of Equality Act (2010) for the second year in a row.
I’m not sure that Kelly understands the equality act 2010. As we are not a ‘political party’ we are in fact legally entitled to meet, under the act as an ‘association, club or society’ We have unwritten rules about who is a member (ie a selection process) and sex is a protected characteristic under this law.In other words women are completely entitled to meet as an ‘association’ without including men, just as men are entitled to,or transexual people are entitled to. You should all stop spitting the dummy because you’re not invited into our club becuase you don’t meet the criteria.
EQUALITY ACT (2010)
I think one of us is certainly confused, but that person is you. Yes gender is a protected characteristics & “Direct discrimination: A person (A) discriminates against another (B) if, because of a protected characteristic, A treats B less favourably than A treats or would treat others.”
So right off the bat, you are discriminating against men & transgender people: As both are protected characteristics.
The only exclusionary clause for gender related to men being “(b)in a case where B is a man, no account is to be taken of special treatment afforded to a woman in connection with pregnancy or childbirth.”
Since that is not the case, you would be discriminating. This immediately puts you in breach of the act.
In fact, Part 7 subset 101(2a) clearly states: “An association (A) must not discriminate against a member in the way A affords B access, or by not affording B access, to a benefit, facility or service.”
You’ve objectively breached the Equality Act (2010) in over a dozen different places: Any one with even the most rudimentary understanding of law can see that. You can attempt to spin it anyway you like, but end result is always going to be that the organisation is in fact in breach of the law & no venue is going to break the law on your behalf, as they will also be held responsible & liable if anyone brings civil or criminal actions forward (and they will).
Maybe you should have actually read the Equality Act (2010), rather then just skimming it & pretending you knew what it meant.
I see that you have deleted a comment that you found, ah, inconvenient. I suppose that when facts are your enemy you do what you must.
?
I didn’t do a screen capture. But if you have forgotten, I posted about it on my own blog.
I’ve been home for days with a sick child. Sorry if I somehow missed your very important comment about something (along with the hundreds of other very important comments). People (and by people I mean your fellow asshole MRAs) can rush right over to your “blog” to read your very important words!
LOL, was it the derpy link to that WBT blog? Sorry, I generally don’t link to morons.
Yanno, also, da Google werks, not a kunspirasee that a mean lady spams yr stupid comments, m’kay?
I’m not talking about you not replying. I don’t really care whether you reply or not. I am talking about the use of admin privileges to delete inconvenient comments so that no one sees them. It may surprise you to know that a response of “yeah whatever dude” doesn’t mean much to me.
Strictly speaking, I am not an MRA. I am an outsider to most groups and this is no exception. But I think they have some valid points. But that is probably a level of nuance that you can’t be bothered with. To you, I am an “other,” and anything else is a trivial detail.
But you pretended to be confused and to have forgotten what comment you deleted. So I told you where you could find the information. It’s not that I think you care. But part of the feminist “playbook” is to claim that outsiders are “hiding” information they ask for.
You’re an idiot. Let me use my blog privilege to tell you that.