This event will take place in central Glasgow ‒ venue TBA.
Join Susanna Rustin, Susan Dalgety and Lucy Hunter Blackburn, with chair Johann Lamont, for an evening of discussion about their new books as a fundraiser to support our lesbian sisters in Kakuma.
Women’s history is a vital part of the women’s movement. Knowing about past struggles can inspire us and help us understand what is happening today. Recording current events is a key aspect of the feminist revival that is now underway.
Nowhere is that more urgent than in Kenya, where to escape violence and lesbophobia, lesbian refugees are sent by UNHCR to the Kakuma refugee camp. As they are seeking asylum due to their sexuality, they are put in the LGB&T Block 13. This makes them identifiable and vulnerable to further abuse from which the authorities do not protect them. FiLiA has been supporting them since July 2020.
On Friday 15th November, the authors will share their experiences of writing about women’s activism and the ideas that have inspired it – from the 1790s to the present day. We will cover suffragettes and suffragists, politicians, the Greenham Common campers and women’s activism up to and including the more than 30 women in Susan and Lucy’s book who risked their jobs and reputations in Scotland to make their voices heard. The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A.
Susanna Rustin is a social affairs journalist at the Guardian and author of Sexed ‒ a radical retelling of the history of feminism in Britain.
Susan Dalgety is a columnist for the Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News, and author of The Spirit of Malawi. She is the co-editor with Lucy Hunter Blackburn of The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht, which tells the story of the campaign against self-ID in Scotland in the campaigners’ own voices.
As well as co-editing the book, Lucy Hunter Blackburn is part of the Murray Blackburn Mackenzie. She used to be a senior civil servant in the Scottish government.
Johann Lamont is a former teacher who is still passionate about education. She is a former Labour and Cooperative MSP and has been a lifelong campaigner for equality and justice, and for the rights of women and girls.
Doors open at 6.30 p.m. for a 7 p.m. start.
£10 per ticket, available below.
We have a number of solidarity tickets available; please contact adminsupport@filia.org.uk for more information.
Access: the venue is fully accessible with lifts and toilets designed for wheelchair users.
#FiLiARaiseOurVoices