Anarchafeminist directory and callout for anarchafeminisms reader (Addition to 'Anarchafeminisms are Everywhere' article in Issue 1)

* To download Issue 1 in .pdf format or see a summary of the articles scroll down *

With a Fist the Size of My Heart (tentative title)
-- an anarchafeminisms reader ---

A collection of contemporary work that looks at the connections, overlaps and conflicts between current anarchisms and feminisms.


This collection will follow internet links and trail of staples to gather together some of the unique and important writing on anarchisms and feminisms done over the last ten years. This will be combined with new work by people engaged in actions, spaces and analyses that create connections between anarchisms and feminisms. Together with this written content will be interviews, reflections, illustrations, photos, comics, poetry and experimental creative work. The collection will explore questions including:

-How do anarchist groups, practices and events relate to different feminisms?
-How does integrating anarchism and feminism influence gender, sexuality and transpolitics?
-How are privilege and oppression being confronted, reproduced and rethought in anarchist spaces?
-Are racial, class and ethnic differences being accounted for—and not accounted for—in anarchist and feminist spaces?
-What does feminism have to contribute to anarchists’ anti-racist and de-colonization work?
-What does anarchism have to contribute to feminists’ anti-racist and de-colonization work?
-How have activists rethought ‘ability’ and acted to create more accessible spaces that account for both visible and invisible differences in anarchist and feminist communities?
-Why are people and groups sometimes reluctant to take on the word ‘anarchafeminism’?
-What would (or does) a distinctly ‘anarchafeminist’ politics look like?
-Is an anarchafeminist world possible?

***Looking for writers, artists, illustrators, editors, cartoonists, designers, idealists and dreamers interested in collaborating on this new anarchafeminist reader***

To get involved contact: anarchafeminist [at] riseup [dot] net

ANARCHAFEMINIST DIRECTORY

This directory includes folks, events and spaces that merge anarchist and feminist politics. Some of the listings are directly affiliated with anarchafeminist culture and histories, while others share a similar ethos. This list is just a starting point for finding anarchafeminist and anarchafeminist-related stuff going on in the UK. There are way more anarchafeminisms to be found around the world, some of which you can track down through the web links listed below.

--Because anarchism and feminism are not always labels folks are comfortable using, this list might not reflect the politics of everyone involved in these groups. My hope is to give people access to information about people, spaces and places that fight oppression while cultivating social justice, freedom of gender expression and alternatives to consumer capitalism. To add, remove or update listings to this directory or to comment on the listings here email figtree [at] riseup [dot] net

FESTIVALS & EVENTS
The festivals and events listed here encourage folks to participate. You can join in already planned gatherings or start your own local group of organizers.

Feminist Health Gathering


Ladyfest
http://www.myspace.com/ladyfesteurope (current information)
http://www.ladyfest.org/ (archive of past festivals)
http://www.ladysquat.co.uk/ (Leeds Ladysquat – past event, model for future)
The first Ladyfest took place in Olympia, Washington in 2000. Since then Ladyfest has continued and proliferated in cities throughout the world. Each year a number of cities in the UK host Ladyfests, from Bristol to Leicester to Leeds. Ladyfests feature women performers as well as workshops ranging from knitting to self-defense. While most Ladyfests carry out a punk feminist tradition of DIY production and grassroots organization, some festivals have taken a more commercial route. At the 2007 Ladyfest Leeds, a LadySquat was set up, offering an anarchafeminist space that ran alongside other Ladyfest events. Because Ladyfest festivals have different organizers and take place in different communities, ideas about gender, feminism, anarchism and capitalism can be as different as the music they showcase.

Queeruption
http://www.queeruption.org/
London was home to the first Queeruption in 1998. Every year since, a Queeruption gathering has taken place that brings together Queer artists, performers, anarchists and other activists from many different countries. Queeruption is organized by and for queers and folks of all genders and gender identifications. The Queeruption gathering is a multilingual event that features shows and workshops, as well as skill-shares, communal cooking and spontaneous DIY creations. A number of cities and regions host groups linked to Queeruption that do local actions and benefits.



COLLECTIVES, GROUPS & SPACES
These groups are open to new participants and community-based support. If you are interested in working with one of the collectives, get in touch! Contact information is listed on their contact pages.

Women’s Anarchist Nuisance Café (London, England)
http://www.wanc-cafe.org.uk/
WANC is a trans-inclusive women’s space that fosters community through collective cooking, eating, music, performance and play. A café is held about once a month bringing together women with different experiences and perspectives in a relaxed environment where ideas, networks and friendships grow.

Brighton Women's Health Collective (Brighton, England)
http://www.geocities.com/anarchofeministhealth/
anarchofeministhealth-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com
This DIY anarchafeminist health collective fosters spaces for discussion and skill-sharing. They take a holistic approach to health as an emotional, spiritual, environmental, mental, political and physical issue. They look at the global politics of health and ways that differences of oppression and privilege—around race, nation, class and ability--impact health and issues of health care. They have facilitated a number of workshops on topics ranging from DIY feminist health to female ejaculation and written a book on DIY reproduction.

Women's Health Workshops @ ACE (Edinburgh, Scotland)
http://www.autonomous.org.uk/womensworkshop.html
These workshops at the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh work from feminist self-help traditions, freely sharing skills and information. Past workshops have been on herbal medicine, massage and reflexology.

Revolutionary Anarchafeminist Group – RAG (Dublin, Ireland)
http://ragdublin.org
Rag is a magazine created by a diverse group of anarchafeminists in and around Dublin. Rag sees anarchism as, in theory, a feminist politics and seeks to bring feminist issues into anarchist spaces. They are committed to working non-hierarchically, skill-sharing and mutual support. The collective, which changes along with its members, has also had book swaps, film screenings, a sticker campaign and organized workshops on anarchafeminist issues.

FAG club (Cardiff, Wales)
http://www.fagclub.net
Fag Club is a collective that works from a DIY feminist ethic, releasing records and putting on events. They create spaces for quags (queers of all genders and sexualities) to cultivate and share their creativity, politics and desire to play. Fag Club is open to performers and people interested in creating events that express the group’s mission.

Kaffequeeria (Manchester, England)
http://www.kaffequeeria.org.uk
Kaffequeeria is a collective working out of Manchester that brings together vegan food and DIY queer culture. In response to the commercialization of “gay pride,” they organize their own not-for-profit café night (or kaffe night), clubnights and workshops.

Café Kino (Bristol, England)
3 Ninetree Hill
Bristol, UK
http://www.cafe-kino.com
Located in Bristol, Café Kino is a non-profit, workers’ co-op that serves inexpensive, ecologically-friendly food. The café also hosts a range of musical and other performances. Café kino is also used for curated exhibitions of independent artists and as a meeting space for the local Stitch n’ Bitch.

Local Kid (Bristol, England)
http://www.localkid.co.uk
Bristol-based Local Kid is a diy punk feminist collective that put out a record label as well as organizing and promoting gigs. They are pro-queer, pro-girl and pro-participatory.

Manifesta (Leeds, England)
http://www.manifesta.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/manifestaleeds
The Manifesta collective, based in Leeds, aims to cultivate free self-expression, organising inclusive music, art and cultural events for folks of all genders and sexualities. Manifesta hosts the monthly club night ‘Suck My Left One’ (named after a Bikini Kill song) and has future plans for creating hands-on music workshops, as well as a record label. Also see Manifesta Distro listed above.

Wotever (London, England)
http://www.woteverworld.com
The Wotever team cultivates spaces for queer people of all sexualities and genders to come together. Bar Wotever hosts a weekly open mic and film screening night. Club Wotever, Club Fukk and Wotever Gig showcase genderbending DJs and performers. Wotever also hosts a number of workshops and talks serving the queer community. Wotever’s ‘no border’ ethos parallels anarchist ideals of a world without institutionally imposed and socially policed identity categories.

Feminist Activist Forum (United Kingdom)


LIBRARIES, DISTRIBUTORS, INFOSHOPS & PUBLICATIONS
This is a small sample of publications, distributors, libraries and infoshops where you can find anarchafeminist and anarchafeminist-related materials. To check out more spaces, follow the links on the pages listed here.

Handmedown Distribution
http://handmedowndistro.org.uk
A DIY, not-for-profit anarchafeminist distributor carrying zines that focus on feminist health, politics, parenting, self-defence, sex and sexuality. They also carry products like the mooncup and reusable menstrual pads.

Manifesta Distro
http://manifesta.co.uk/zines/
This not-for-profit distro run by Leeds-based collective Manifesta (see below) distributes zines, crafts and stationary. Re-assess Your Weapons and the Rag are some of Manifesta’s Riot Grrrl related zines. They also distribute recordings of Jean Genet (see above).

Freedom Press & Bookshop
84b Whitechapel High Street
London E1 7QX
http://www.freedompress.org.uk/
This anarchist bookshop in London has a large section of anarchafeminist books, histories of women in anarchist movements and collection of contemporary pamphlets, zines, badges, postcards and stickers voicing feminist and queer anarchisms. Freedom Press also publishes books that merge anarchisms and feminisms.

56a Infoshop
http://www.56a.org.uk/
The 56a infoshop houses a number of radical, anarchist groups and projects including Radical Practical Self-Defence for Women. The infoshop also runs a radical archive with women’s, queer and anarchafeminist materials.

Feminist Archive South & Feminist Archive North
(Feminist Archive South is moving soon, check the website for updates on how to access its collections) http://www.femarch.freeserve.co.uk/
Special Collections, Brotherton Library
University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane
Leeds LS2 9JT
http://www.feministarchivnorth.org.uk/
These ‘sister’ archives house loads of materials from posters and magazines to meeting minutes and activists’ personal letters and journals. They are great places to go to if you want to rummage through the dreams, debates and desires of women’s diverse activisms. You can find—and make—your own connections through the pages of feminist and anarchist histories.

The Women’s Library
Old Castle Street
London E1 7NT
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/thewomenslibrary
The Women’s Library in London has copies of thousands of books, pamphlets, journals and zines produced by and about women. While you need to register to use this space, it is open to anyone interested in the materials. The large reading room of journals and magazines includes the radical 1980s-1990s publication Shocking Pink that combined anarchist and feminist and emerging queer politics, as well as a zine library with tons of recent zines, particularly from around the UK.


LISTSERVES, WEBSITES & INTERNET NETWORKS
The resources below will connect you with many more anarchafeminists and anarchafeminisms past and present.

Anarcha
http://www.anarcha.org/
Anarcha is a people’s history project collecting together interviews with radical women and trans activists in the United States on relations between gender, feminism and anarchism. The anarcha website also hosts the SallyDarity Anarcha-Feminist & Gender Anarchy Resource Guide which is an extensive internet archive of anarchafeminist essays, interviews, groups and information. It brings together early texts with contemporary writing, offering the widest range of anarchafeminist materials available on the web.

Mujeres Libres
MujeresLibres-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com
Mujeres Libres (Free Women) is an international listerserve for anarchist women to exchange information, circulate information and establish networks. It is named after the women anarchists who fought in the Spanish Revolution.

Queer Zine Archive Project
http://www.qzap.org
Started in 2003, the Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) is a ‘living history’ archive of new and old zines by queer authors. This online archive was established to preserve the work of queer zinesters and make zines available to more people interested in queer communities’ DIY publishing and creative production. Much of the content, as well as the production ethos of zinemakers and distributors on QZAP, share with anarchism and anti-capitalist feminisms a commitment to non-hierarchical, non-exploitative, creative expression.

Grrrl Zine Network
http://www.grrrlzines.net
The Grrrl Zine Network is a web based network founded by Austrian feminist and zine writer Elke Zobl in 2001. The Grrrl Zine Network is a global forum that fosters transcultural dialogues between contemporary grrrls, ladies, queers and tranniess engaged in DIY (do-it-yourself) media projects. The network serves as an active meeting place, as well as an archive housing writing and interviews from zine-makers and distributors around the world. Like QZAP, much of the writing, ranting and interviewing housed here relates to anarchist thought and practice.

Nextgenderation
http://www.nextgenderation.net
Nextgenderation is a transnational European network linking activists, researchers and students interested in feminist politics and ways gender intersects with other forms of oppression. The Nextgenderation website archives writing on these issues. Nextgenderation also hosts a popular listserve that offers regular information on feminist actions and events across Europe. Many list members are affiliated with anarchist groups, making the list a great resource for anarchafeminists and anyone interested in merging anarchisms and feminisms.

Knowledge Lab
https://www.knowledgelab.org.uk
send email to knowledgelab [at] lists.aktivix.org
Knowledge Lab started in 2004. Many people located at the margins of their learning institutions wanted to generate collective spaces for anti-capitalist reflection. Since then there have been a series workshops around themes of care, art activism and hacking. Most include feminist topics and contributions. The events are open and planned by anyone who wants to get involved, making it a great space for exploring and debating different perspectives. Knowledge Lab is a possible forum for making anarchafeminist connections.

Anarchist Studies Network
http://www.anarchist-studies-network.org.uk/
The Anarchist Studies Network is an institutionally connected, though separately coordinated, research group of the Political Science Association. There have been a number of meetings and conferences organized in affiliation with the network, including a gathering on Anarchism and Sexuality in Leeds in 2006.

Anarchist Academics
send email to anarchist.academics [at] lists.mutualaid.org
The anarchist academics list is an open resource for anyone interested in the study and practice of anarchism. It is also a great place to connect with academic-activists, or, in the words of one list member, ‘academivists’. Many members are feminist activists and researchers, contributing information on events, ideas and new publications that combine anarchism and feminism.

Issue 1 is almost ready!

After many months of nagging for articles, and a frantic past few days, the first issue of A pause for breath is almost ready. We should (fingers crossed) have 100 copies ready at the Anarchist Bookfair on Saturday. Many thanks to all those who've contributed articles, to J for help with the layout, and to Pat for risography.

If you can't get to the bookfair and want a copy (or a few) you can download a .pdf version by clicking on the link below. Alternatively you can email us at apauseforbreat[at]riseup[dot]net and make requests for paper copies. We'll need a bit of cash to cover our printing costs so please consider giving a small donation.

Download the .pdf and cover image here.