Watch latest films from Summer School 2012
Summer School 2012- What happened?
On 15-16 September, over 300 feminists came together in Bristol for a weekend of training, skill-sharing and planning for feminist activism. Participants chose from 30 practical workshops and inspiring debates, and facilitated their own skills-shares and action planning sessions in order to exchange ideas and tactics.
Speakers and facilitators included:
Rahila Gupta, Southall Black Sisters
Sonia Mitralia, (Via Skype) Initiative of Greek Women against the Debt and the
Dr Kalpana Wilson, South Asia Solidarity Group
Derinka Aleksic, Abortion Rights
Molly Solomons & Aisha Mirza, UK Uncut
Nimco Ali, Daughters of eve
Workshops and discussions include:
Save your local women’s service
Direct action
Feminists take on the global economy
Art and feminist activism
LGBT activism
Planning a winning campaign
The event prioritised the sharing of practical ideas and skills between individuals and groups, recognising that feminist activism must build on the rich diversity and history of the feminist movement and work in solidarity with other social justice movements.
Take a look at the full programme of the weekend
Open Spaces
All participants at the event were invited to facilitate their own skill-shares or action planning workshops as part of the daily ‘Open Space’ sessions. Many thanks to all of those who took part and volunteered to facilitate Open Spaces over the weekend. These spaces formed the energetic heart of the event and kick-started new campaigns and actions.
Open Spaces included: “Challenging Rape Jokes and Banter Culture”, “Taking Action Against Chris Brown”, “Feminism and Climate Change”, “Basic Social Media Skill-Share” and “Campaigning Against Page 3″.
“The summer school was a hub of activity from inspiring feminists, old and new- useful for aspiring or established campaigners- thanks so much. We needed you to bring us together- I appreciated the inclusivity”
“Brilliant- really inspirational session leaders & speakers. Workshops were fun, non-judgemental and thought-provoking”
Blogs and media coverage of the event
Training Feminism’s Next Wave, New York Times
By Amelia Gentlemen
State feminism: Co-opting women’s voices, Open Democracy
Jennifer Allsopp reflects on some of the themes of Summer School 2012
The issues that divide: Building a diverse feminist movement, Open Democracy
Rahila Gupta outlines her arguments made during the panel on ‘Building a Diverse Feminist Movement’
The do’s and dont’s of cross border feminism, New Internationalist
Amy Hall outlines key ideas from the panel on ‘Building Feminist Activism and Solidarity Across Borders’