* What is the impact of withdrawing your labour as an educator, health worker, refuse collector, librarian or childcare worker; when the people most immediately affected are service users?
* What strategies can we develop to make a strike powerful in sectors where our workloads are increasingly privatised and/ or we are employed on a short term or freelance basis?
* How does taking industrial action fit into a broader struggle against austerity? How do we talk to our colleagues and service users about why our seemingly individual demands are collective concerns?
* How do we develop forms of sustainable workplace organising that extend beyond the current climate of reactive and top-down one-day strikes?

Many of us work in the public sector and took strike action on June and November 30th, or played a role in supporting this action in our communities. This experience threw up many of the above questions, as well as practical issues about the nuts and bolts of workplace organising. We have started to discuss these questions in our collective, and now are keen to work with others who have found themselves facing similar challenges – to share skills, ideas and experiences.

Join Feminist Fightback on 11th February for a day which will combine a morning of workplace organising training with an afternoon to discuss the wider themes.

All genders welcome.
The venue is accessible and a volunteer-run creche will be provided.

Please contact us if you want to come so we have an idea of numbers, and if you have any requirements that we can help with or if you can do a slot in the creche – feminist.fightback@gmail.com

Our speaker this month is Meike Ziervogel, founder of independent publishing house Peirene Press, which specialises in contemporary European literature in English translation.

She will talk about her experiences as founder of Peirene Press, and give tips for working with, and setting up, an independent publishing house. Meike is a German writer and journalist living in London. She grew up in Northern Germany and came to London in 1986 to study Arabic language and literature. She has worked for Reuters, Agence France Press, Financial Times TV and Routledge. In 2008 she founded Peirene Press. She is also a committee member of the Authors Club which annually nominates the Best First Novel Award, the Dolman Travel Book Award and the Banister Fletcher Award.

Date: 8 Feb 2012
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Savoy Tup Function Room 2 Savoy Street, London

Members: free
Non-members £5

All women welcome

27 January 2012
(doors open 7pm, 8pm prompt start)

The City Tavern, 29 Lawrence Lane, London EC2V 8DP
5 minutes walk from Bank or St Paul’s on the Central Line, or Mansion House on District/Circle

Tickets £20 (includes food)
For tickets, e-mail admin@womanstrust.org.uk or phone 0207 034 0303/0304.

PLUS
fantastic raffle!

Have a fun night: – impress old and new friends with your bottomless pit of knowledge, and support a great organisation.

Woman’s Trust helps women affected by domestic violence and abuse to rebuild their lives.

Two women in the UK every week are killed by their partners. One in four women has been affected by domestic violence. It is the most common cause of depression and other mental health difficulties in women. And its effects are felt by children and whole families. Woman’s Trust is urgently raising funds in order to be able to continue and extend the work it does with affected women

“Woman’s Trust helped me to deal with the bad things that happened and make sense of my life. My counsellor has given me so much of my life back, without her I don’t know where I would be.”

A protest against the Bill will take place outside Parliament on Friday. Speakers include:
* Abortion Rights Vice-Chair Kate Smurthwaite,
* Lisa Hallgarten of Parents and Carers for SRE,
* the British Humanist Association and
* Youth Fight for Jobs.

We’d love to see you there.
Date: Friday 20th January
Time: 10.30-12.30
Location: Houses of Parliament, St. Margaret Street, London, SW1A 2AT

Facebook event page https://www.facebook.com/events/195189847230161/

See also http://womensgrid.freecharity.org.uk/?p=8799
And http://womensgrid.freecharity.org.uk/?p=8801

The aim of the conference is to raise awareness on this vital topic and to bring attention to laws and legislations in countries practicing stoning and death penalty.

The conference includes presentations on topics related to Islamic Sharia law, politicization of religion and its effect on women, and it will end with a resolution.

Along with raising awareness, this conferences core objective is to empower and encourage women organisations and activists to fight against femicide, stoning and the death penalty.

Speakers include:
* Sebahat Tuncel: Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Kurdish Women Parliamentarian from Turkey
* Houzan Mahmoud: Political activist from Iraqi Kurdistan, Representative of Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq.
* A Speaker from Amnesty International: TBC
* Anna Cristin Kowarsch: International Free Women Foundation Representative
* Meral Cicek: Journalist, Ozgur Politika Newspaper
* Nezaket Khalifeh (Kurdish activist from Iran)
* Shokhan Faraj: (Kurdish women’s rights activist from Iran)

This conference is organised by:
* International Free Women Foundation
* Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq
* Roj Women organisation

For more information please contact us on:
* Munevver 07796378722 &
* Ilkay 07792360628

Lynne Harne on Violent Fathering and the Risks to Children

“Lynne Harne’s feminar – and her latest book ‘Violent Fathering and the Risks to Children’ – are most timely given dominant views within the Family Law System and society in general that men who commit violence against their current/ex female partners must continue to have child contact post-separation. The book is the result of Lynne Harne’s research on violent fathers; their justifications for perpetrating violence and reasons why they instigate pro-(male)contact post-separation with the children who have witnessed their fathers inflict violence on their mothers.

This feminar is most timely given the Government’s Legal Aid Bill is currently making its way through Parliament and, if passed, will have a devastating effect on women and their children who have been subjected/witnessed intimate male terrorism. The Legal Aid Bill effectively rescinds women’s and children’s right not to be subjected to systemic intimate male terrorism and male control.”

DATE: Wednesday, 11th January 2012
TIME: 7.00pm-8.30pm.
VENUE: Central London (WC1) – The venue is fully accessible (ground floor with ramp, no steps)

Refreshments will be available.
Donations towards venue costs most welcome.
LFN Feminars are women-only.

Please RSVP to jennifer.milligan@btinternet.com for venue details and to confirm your attendance.

LFN website listing: http://londonfeministnetwork.org.uk/feminar-lynne-harne

Join us on Sunday 18th December for an East London ramble on the trail of Sylvia Pankhurst and the radical women of East London

Meet 2pm @ Bow Road Tube Station – moving off at 2.15pm

Drinks after at The Half Moon – 213-233 Mile End Road, London, E1 4AA (from around 4.30pm)

All genders and none welcome

Over two thousand women will put their feet on the streets for women, to say NO to male violence and NO cuts to women’s services. The march marks the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of all forms of Violence Against Women.

Please assemble at 6pm in Whitehall Place, near Embankment. The march will leave onto Whitehall and march past Trafalgar Square to Tottenham Court Road and then on to the Camden Centre, Euston, for a mixed rally with speakers, stalls, hot food, bars and DJs until late.

Please be aware that alcohol may not be brought into the Camden Centre, and there will be door searches. However, once you’re inside a full bar will be available as well as food!

All women are welcome at Reclaim the Night, including: women of all colours and cultures, of all religions or none, women of any age, disabled and non-disabled women, heterosexual women, lesbians, trans women, bisexual women, refugee and asylum-seeking women and any other women you can think of! We would love to see you all there. Bring along your mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, nieces, and daughters. Join us for the rally after the march too.

There will be a collection at the door of the rally, your donations help to cover the costs of hiring the venue. We suggest a minimum donation of £2.

Check for updates at http://www.reclaimthenight.org/

In true WiP tradition we will be announcing the winners of this year’s Women in Publishing awards, and the nominees will be invited.

It will be a fun and inspiring evening in excellent company, with delicious food, including mince pies and a cash bar.

Free to members, £5 to guests. All women welcome.
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Savoy Tup Function Room, 2 Savoy Street, London, WC2R 0BA

Please help us by reserving tickets in advance if you can, this is so that we know how many to cater for. A reservation form is avaliable on our website at http://www.womeninpublishing.org.uk/events/?event_id=5

Women in Publishing Awards

Nomination for the awards is currently open, but will be closed on the 30th of November 2011. There are two award categories:
* The Pandora Award for significant and sustained contribution to the publishing industry and
* The New Venture Award, for pioneering work on behalf of under-represented groups in society.

Nominations can be made online or by post using the printed nomination form. Both forms are avaliable on our website: http://www.womeninpublishing.org.uk/awards/

 
Check for updates at http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1255