Women, Are You Up for a Gathering?
You may have heard about a conference coming up in San Francisco called Libertopia.
Its purpose is to create a worldwide movement of individuals who choose their own form of governance – a voluntary society based on mutual respect for each individual’s dignity and ownership of his/her own body and property.
Sadly, it appears from looking at the list of speakers, that this voluntary society is going to be made up exclusively of men (men who can afford the cost of the conference registration, hotel, and cruise).
I tweeted a few complaints about the all-too-typical invisibility of women at anything remotely libertarian and ended up in a convo with @solidadrocks about these kinds of conferences in general.
Long story short, there are tons of women out there who aren’t just sitting around talking theory. They are doing amazing things to “create the new world in the shell of the old.” But we never hear about them. And women rarely take the time to step back and talk to each other about what we are doing.
So, I thought, why don’t we have a conference/gathering/meeting/whatever focused on anarchist/libertarian/anti-statist/whatever women who are doing amazing things? We could learn from each other and find potential collaborators. I’m thinking it would be:
- Women focused – I don’t think that means men should be banned, just that women, and what they are doing, would be the focus of the sessions.
- Activity focused – That doesn’t mean that we can’t talk theory at all, but I want to hear about actions. I want to attend sessions on organizing, cooperatives, alternative currencies, radical art…And I’d like to walk away with all sorts of ideas and plans.
- Inclusive and diverse – Transgender, intersexed, straight, gay, bisexual, young, old, differently abled, black, white, Latina, Asian, Native American…And massive effort would be made to make sure everyone would be included (outreach, accessibility, childcare…).
- Cheap – As close to free as humanly possible.
As far as location goes, I am in Washington, DC. I’d be willing/able to travel pretty much anywhere in North America. I’m thinking we can see who is interested and then decide which location makes the most sense based on that. (If there is a lot of interest, maybe we can plan on doing more than one for different areas. But now I’m getting ahead of myself.)
Step one is gaging interest, so what do you all think? Share your thoughts in the comment section. And, if you are interested, send an email to mel@broadsnark.com and let me know:
- Where you are (city,state, country)
- If you would want to be on a listserve for general info. And, if so, what email address to use. (Clearly, your email would not be sold, published, shared…)
Let’s see where this goes.
Wow, this is a fascinating idea. About time. I could tell you stories about how women have been ignored in the libertarian movement! I will announce to my feminist Facebook groups and to the Association of Libertarian Feminists (http://www.alf.org).
1Thanks Sharon.
2I'd go, if it were close to New Hampshire.
3Cool. I'm going to pop you a message on Facebook.
4For the libertarian/anarchist minded women, you need to visit
http://www.iamlola.org
About LOLA
The Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA) was founded in 2009 by a woman that noticed the lack of women in the fight for liberty. LOLA is a non-profit educational research foundation headquartered all over the US. We have no centralized location because there are leading women all over the country. We prefer decentralization to the extent of awakening others to the ideals of liberty and rigorously challenging them by means of educational techniques. LOLA is known for their brilliant yet beautiful yearly calendar. They are united by the ideals of true liberty and are fighting alongside other groups to achieve truth.
We encourage all women to join our movement!!
5A couple people mentioned LOLA to me. Thanks for the link.
6I don't know if I would qualify myself as libertarian, but this interests me. I could make it to Seattle. Women do need to work together to create change.
7I identify as anarchist, but I'm finding that women who identify as libertarian have a much wider range of views than we have been led to believe. (So what else is new.) I'll put you on the mailing list (if that's o.k.).
8There is nothing anarchist about this gathering.
These "agorists" are nothing more than free market capitalists.
9This is a really great idea. I hope it works out for anyone interested in participating.
Let's keep the men in the loop on how we can help!
10I'm in NYC and I would love to get involved if it'll be on the East coast.
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