Meet FiLiA’s Newest Trustee: Claire Heuchan, Director of Anti-Racism

Claire Heuchan, FiLiA’s Newest Trustee and Director of Anti-Racism

My name is Claire Heuchan. I’m an author; award-winning essayist; Founder and Chair of Labrys Lit. I’m also FiLiA’s newest Trustee, which is the greatest honour I’ve ever received – and a responsibility I care deeply about living up to. As of today, I’m FiLiA’s Director of Anti-Racism and Lesbian Community Engagement. In the spirit of transparency, let me tell you how I came to this role and what I hope to achieve with it.

FiLiA was the first feminist conference I ever attended or spoke at, back in 2015 when it was still Feminism in London. I got the train down from Glasgow and connected with women I had previously only spoken with via social media – some of whom remain dear friends. For most of the weekend I felt like an imposter; though London has the highest Black population density of the UK, the city’s diversity wasn’t reflected in speakers or attendees. That being said, it was a remarkable experience. As well as finding voice, I listened and learned; tried Consciousness Raising for the first time; felt part of a sisterhood.

Over the next couple of years, things changed significantly – for me and the conference. I took a step back from feminist events and spaces, caring for my grandfather as he died from a brain tumour. I flew home after the European Women’s Lobby’s Young Feminist Summer School and learned how to feed him through a tube. Meanwhile, Feminism in London transformed into FiLiA, travelling to a different region every year. The conference opened itself to a much broader spectrum of women by letting go of London-centricity, building strong links with local feminist groups from across the country.

I was invited back to FiLiA 2017 – this time as Keynote Speaker. It was my biggest audience yet, and first public re-entry into feminist space in the aftermath of bereavement. Being a Keynote Speaker is undeniably a powerful position, but I was also vulnerable, talking about anti-racism and calling for interracial solidarity in an auditorium predominantly filled by white women. And later that day I walked out of a session because of the anti-Blackness displayed by panellists. I sat in a courtyard crying and composed a text to Lisa-Marie, FiLiA’s CEO, explaining the incident.

It might surprise you to learn that what happened in the aftermath of that racism is the thing that made me trust Lisa-Marie, and FiLiA as an organisation. But it was the beginning of something beautiful. I think white women can be afraid that if racism happens, that’s the end. Game Over. But racism is a feature of white supremacist patriarchy, not a bug, and therefore inevitable (until society is radically restructured). As a result, while racism is never pleasant to experience, I’m a lot more concerned with what happens afterwards. And how Lisa-Marie handled it showcases the very best possibilities of feminist leadership.

FiLiA accepted accountability. Lisa-Marie listened to my concerns. She acknowledged that the problem existed. She didn’t get defensive, but instead reflected on what needed to change within FiLiA – and did the work to make that happen over time, because meaningful change doesn’t happen overnight. Whenever she was in Glasgow, the two of us would meet for dinner, where I gladly shared my thoughts on anti-racism and FiLiA.

I came back to the conference in 2019, facilitating a Consciousness Raising group for Black women. And Bradford was wonderful in every way; one of the best weekends of my life. Survivors of the sex industry, refugee and asylum-seeking women – these were the voices amplified. Women at the margins of power, not the centre. And I think it was the most ethnically diverse conference we’ve yet held.

FiLiA began to feel like home. I have often said that witnessing FiLiA’s evolution has been the greatest joy and privilege in my life as a feminist. So, when I founded a lesbian book group in February 2021, it was a natural choice to run Labrys Lit in partnership with FiLiA. Being part of the volunteer collective has changed my life. FiLiA isn’t simply an annual conference to me, or a weekly team meeting; it’s a community and ethos.

Everywhere I go, I try to take a bit of FiLiA Magic with me – compassion for and confidence in women. But now, I would very much like to give something back to the FiLiA volunteer collective by continuing the mutual, collaborative work of building an anti-racist culture. I’m also keen to help improve the representation of women of colour within the conference, bettering their experiences as speakers and attendees. Which is why, as Trustee, I’ve agreed to become its Director of Anti-Racism.

There are some who dismiss anti-racism as a source of division between women. But racism is what prevents female solidarity, undermining trust between women of colour and white women. Anti-racism is a bridge that allows us to connect and build feminist community across difference. And what I mean by anti-racism is simple: creating a feminist movement that advances the rights and freedoms of all women and girls. Building sisterhood and solidarity is FiLiA’s first aim, and mine.

One of the many remarkable things about FiLiA is the educational sessions, where members of the team or external speakers come to tell the volunteer collective about their area of expertise. I’ve been lucky enough to witness sessions about data and analytics, the legal defence of lesbian spaces, how women are oppressed by the caste system... Sharing knowledge and supporting each other through developing political consciousness is part of what makes this community so special.

And I plan on utilising the education sessions to run anti-racist workshops. Some will cover concepts like solidarity or intersectionality. Others will spotlight the work of anti-racist feminists and organisations, like Olive Morris or Camden Lesbian Collective. But all will be collaborative in approach; something the women of FiLiA engage in as a team, learning and growing together.

My other objective is to start a book group for the FiLiA volunteer collective. We’ll be reading books by women of colour, and meeting to talk about them. Any and all members of the team are more than welcome. We’re going to start with bell hooks, Candice Carty-Williams, Meena Kandasamy, Abi Daré, and Celeste Ng – wonderful writers across a variety of genres. Once we get going, women in the group can suggest writers they’d like to share with the collective.  We’ll read these books not simply to learn, but to find inspiration and enrichment.

Women of colour have been writing about our lives and experiences for centuries, telling these stories through a feminist lens since the movement began. Yet we continue to be Othered and overlooked in a feminist context; whereas white women’s stories are often presumed to hold universal feminist significance, those written by women of colour are routinely dismissed as niche. This book group aims to redress that imbalance, in keeping with one of FiLiA’s core aims: amplifying the voices of women, particularly those less heard and purposefully silenced. It will provide women with community and encouragement, as well as fun.

I have also become Director of Lesbian Community Engagement, an extension of my pre-existing work with Labrys Lit. In this capacity I will carry on defending the right of lesbians to self-organise, building our own spaces free from misogyny and homophobia. And I will continue championing lesbian culture by connecting women with a rich literary heritage. From the book group, our members have expressed interest in a writers’ group, looking for community and peer-to-peer guidance as they author stories of their own.

Labrys Lit has come a long way in two short years, with an offshoot group and an international membership of more than 250 women. Facilitating has made it clear to me that there’s an intense hunger for lesbian space and culture – and my work in this area is only just beginning.

Anti-racism and lesbian rights have been central to my activism and writing as a feminist for the last nine years. And FiLiA is the place where I am confident of being able to do the maximum possible amount of good for women and girls through the continuation of this work. Because FiLiA is fully invested in building a feminist future; in bringing about the liberation of all women and girls from oppression.

The creation of this Anti-Racism role is not to say there’s anything uniquely wrong with FiLiA. Working alongside my fellow Trustees and the wider FiLiA team is intensely rewarding – if I didn’t trust and respect the women who make up this collective, I wouldn’t be such an enthusiastic part of it. Rather, it’s a recognition that better is always possible. If we didn’t believe this, we wouldn’t invest our time and energy – our hopes and dreams – in the women’s liberation movement. To be a feminist is to be an optimist. As Angela Davis once said, “'You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” That’s why I’ve been appointed Director of Anti-Racism.

FiLiA’s community is dear to my heart, and the conference has been instrumental to my growth as a feminist. Through participating in FiLiA, I’ve connected with an international, intergenerational sisterhood, learning and protesting and dancing with women from every imaginable background. By volunteering in the capacity of Trustee, I aim to help bring that same connectedness – the sheer joy of sisterhood – to other women.