Feminist Fightback are a feminist collective that aims to create an explicitly anti-capitalist space within the feminist movement and strengthen specifically socialist, anarchist and anti-capitalist feminist voices within left wing political organizing. We also aim to provide an organizing space for self-identifying women, non-binary people and anyone in need of feminist solidarity.
For us, ‘intersectionality’ – the idea that different types of oppression are structured by each other – is central. Racism, sexism and heteronormativity are structuring elements of capitalism; they don’t just exist in parallel to it. Key to our political practice is our reproductive justice activism. Although the legal right to end a pregnancy is essential to reproductive justice, this model goes further, placing so-called ‘choices’ about reproduction into the wider social context, and linking legal rights related to reproduction with social justice. It takes into account the economic, social and health factors that affect women’s ability to make and realise decisions about their reproduction, and shows us how class, race, sexuality and other systems result in a situation where some people have more ‘choice’ than others.
We use a non-hierarchical organizing structure with monthly organizing meetings with half the time dedicated to political discussion. We run a reading group to help provide political education and space for reflection open to those outside the group, as well as a bi-monthly film screening and discussion. We always have an ongoing campaign, often involving a direct action component.
We campaigned in support of legalizing abortion in the North of Ireland. Our reproductive justice campaigns have included disrupting the March for Life and blocking an anti-abortion group from harassing women outside an abortion clinic. We have also campaigned against social welfare cuts and against the hostile environment and the government’s racist immigration policy. The restrictive migration policies in general and the ‘hostile environment’ in particular are gendered, making the reproductive rights of migrant women a fundamental issue for feminists. The feminist issues here clearly intersect with racism as the combination of gender inequality with immigration controls can increase some women’s subordination and vulnerability.
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