women's march huddle
Feb. 11th, 2017 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tielan posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
thisfinecrewSo, the post women's march meetings are being called 'huddles' and I went to one last night.
(Side note: I'm Australian, but we're facing some of the same issues that the US is, and have been getting into the activist movement in parallel with the US liberals.)
I'm not sure if other people have been to the follow up huddles in their area, or how they feel about on-the-ground organisation, but I found it really helpful and reassuring to meet others who were willing to talk about the same feelings of frustration and anger, as well as how to work towards fixing things. I encourage people to connect with people in their local area if that's within your capability.
Brief: the Sydney Women's March was initially organised by American expats, and they were expecting maybe 800 people to walk. They got an estimated 8-9K. Australians are Not Happy, Jan.
So, the huddle. 15 people RSVP'd, 2 had to cancel, and 5 people turned up including the organiser, and one of them was the friend I met beforehand for dinner who didn't rsvp but came all the same.
(Then again, some people might not have been willing to look around the somewhat crowded pub for the group of women who are talking social justice on a Friday night during happy hour...)
We pretty much discussed the things that scared us in the world, things that gave us hope for the world, the world we would like to live in, and actions we could take in the coming 10 days. It was encouraging - while two of the women (the organiser and another) were in their 20s, there was a woman probably in her 60s - my mother's generation - who'd done marches in the 70s, probably anti-war ones, but almost certainly feminist centric ones.
We talked bout picking our battles based on 'userbase', what had worked here - and I shared what was working in the US based off the news from this site among others.
It was good to know that there are some people mobilising, and that while there may be women who believe they 'don't need feminism', there are women who are well aware of the flaws still in the world, and how they're not going to go away without a fight - and are willing and able to fight.
It's also encouraging and affirming to be able to develop a practical action plan, and look at organising small-size stuff and maybe drawing in more women as their time and schedules permit. And yes, we're going to be doing this in the gaps, because we're women, and that's how our time and efforts work, but we're also good at getting things done - busy people get shit done.
The upshot of this is that I'm going to talk to one of my local area friends on Monday about getting a group together and contacting the local member's office about our concerns on refugees.
Anyway, if you have any huddles in your area, I would strongly encourage you to join them, if only to know that you're not alone, and to access the resources of others, while being a resource to others yourself.
Worth noting: there will probably be more women's marches for International Women's Day - at least, there will be in Sydney. Check out your town/city for details of what's happening in your area, if anything.
And know that the US certainly isn't alone in this; other Western democracies are mobilising too, and while your media won't show it (and sometimes ours won't either), it is happening.
(Side note: I'm Australian, but we're facing some of the same issues that the US is, and have been getting into the activist movement in parallel with the US liberals.)
I'm not sure if other people have been to the follow up huddles in their area, or how they feel about on-the-ground organisation, but I found it really helpful and reassuring to meet others who were willing to talk about the same feelings of frustration and anger, as well as how to work towards fixing things. I encourage people to connect with people in their local area if that's within your capability.
Brief: the Sydney Women's March was initially organised by American expats, and they were expecting maybe 800 people to walk. They got an estimated 8-9K. Australians are Not Happy, Jan.
So, the huddle. 15 people RSVP'd, 2 had to cancel, and 5 people turned up including the organiser, and one of them was the friend I met beforehand for dinner who didn't rsvp but came all the same.
(Then again, some people might not have been willing to look around the somewhat crowded pub for the group of women who are talking social justice on a Friday night during happy hour...)
We pretty much discussed the things that scared us in the world, things that gave us hope for the world, the world we would like to live in, and actions we could take in the coming 10 days. It was encouraging - while two of the women (the organiser and another) were in their 20s, there was a woman probably in her 60s - my mother's generation - who'd done marches in the 70s, probably anti-war ones, but almost certainly feminist centric ones.
We talked bout picking our battles based on 'userbase', what had worked here - and I shared what was working in the US based off the news from this site among others.
It was good to know that there are some people mobilising, and that while there may be women who believe they 'don't need feminism', there are women who are well aware of the flaws still in the world, and how they're not going to go away without a fight - and are willing and able to fight.
It's also encouraging and affirming to be able to develop a practical action plan, and look at organising small-size stuff and maybe drawing in more women as their time and schedules permit. And yes, we're going to be doing this in the gaps, because we're women, and that's how our time and efforts work, but we're also good at getting things done - busy people get shit done.
The upshot of this is that I'm going to talk to one of my local area friends on Monday about getting a group together and contacting the local member's office about our concerns on refugees.
Anyway, if you have any huddles in your area, I would strongly encourage you to join them, if only to know that you're not alone, and to access the resources of others, while being a resource to others yourself.
Worth noting: there will probably be more women's marches for International Women's Day - at least, there will be in Sydney. Check out your town/city for details of what's happening in your area, if anything.
And know that the US certainly isn't alone in this; other Western democracies are mobilising too, and while your media won't show it (and sometimes ours won't either), it is happening.
Wait! I Have a Cunning Plan!
Date: 2017-02-11 03:25 am (UTC)Re: Wait! I Have a Cunning Plan!
Date: 2017-02-11 03:38 am (UTC)Good luck with the meeting on Sunday - I look forward to hearing how it turns out!
Re: Wait! I Have a Cunning Plan!
Date: 2017-02-11 04:23 am (UTC)Re: Wait! I Have a Cunning Plan!
Date: 2017-02-11 08:40 am (UTC)Oh dear. I think that's less likely to be an issue here, mostly because the Old Hippies have moved out of the cities and are currently more focused on environmental concerns.
Hopefully your conflicting groups work it out. One of the things that was talked about was different foci for the movement, like working on a patchwork quilt - we're all working on different sections, but the sections amount to the whole, and we're willing to lend our strengths to the other sections, even if it's not our main focus. I found that really helpful.
Good luck with Sunday and the scheduling!
Re: Wait! I Have a Cunning Plan!
Date: 2017-02-11 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-11 04:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-11 08:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-11 07:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-11 08:43 am (UTC)There was a group meeting in North Sydney on Wednesday, but I only found out about it about 5 minutes before it was due to end. North Sydney would probably be closer to her; but I'd be looking at action in my electorate, and a lot of the women are mothers and wives, so it's harder for them to get out any night of the week...