An anniversary thread

Today marks four years since our first meeting in Cambridge, 23rd November 2017.

Even at this very first event, we had to overcome significant and sustained attempts to obstruct our organising. /1

womansplaceuk.org/2021/11/23/wom…
The impetus for this meeting came when Linda Bellos was ‘uninvited’ by a student society of a Cambridge college at which she had been due to speak.

We decided to invite her to speak in Cambridge and we were honoured when she agreed. /2
varsity.co.uk/news/13638
In the weeks leading up to the event, we heard of more women being shunned, intimidated, smeared and silenced for their views about gender and we asked them to speak too.

Helen Steel had been threatened at the Anarchist Bookfair. /3

helensteel12.wordpress.com/2017/11/22/my-…
Anne Ruzylo was subjected to an orchestrated campaign against her, prompting the entire executive committee of her Constituency Labour Party to resign in solidarity. /4 thetimes.co.uk/article/labour…
Just days before the meeting, Heather Brunskell-Evans was placed under investigation by the Women’s Equality Party. She came to the meeting and spoke without any notice at the event. /5 thetimes.co.uk/article/barred…
The meeting was a great success despite efforts to obstruct the event including vexatious bookings and complaints to the venue.

All three of the planned speakers were filmed and gave powerful speeches that moved and angered those present. /6 economist.com/britain/2017/1…
Linda Bellos spoke about her history in the movement as well as her preparedness to defend herself if attacked.

She later successfully defended herself against legal action for comments she made at a different meeting in York. /7
Helen Steel spoke movingly of the relentless abuse women are subjected to in our daily lives & how it restricts our freedom. /8
Anne Ruzylo spoke about her experiences of working in women’s prisons and the campaign to have her thrown out of the Labour Party. /9
Since then we have held 27 more public meetings across UK, 10 webinars & a conference for 1,000 people at UCL @UCLwomenslib

The meetings are open to men and women; respectful dialogue & debate are encouraged. Read a record of all our meetings here. womansplaceuk.org/2019/08/29/a-r… /10
Speakers include campaigners, women working in women's sector, academics, lawyers, journalists, sportswomen, trade unionists. Meetings have been subjected to intimidation, aggressive and abusive protests, pressure on venues to cancel & a bomb threat. /11 hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/police-in…
In the last 4 years, we have been astonished at the failure of civil, legal and political organisations to support this democratic right. You can read our submission to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights here womansplaceuk.org/2020/01/14/wpu… /12
Our most recent meeting on women in prisons was subject to an extremely aggressive and abusive protest organised by members of the Socialist Workers Party.

The protest did not deter us.

You can see films of the speakers here /13 youtube.com/playlist?list=… #WPUKPrisons
Thank you every one who has supported our events by speaking, chairing, volunteering, donating or attending. Together, despite authoritarian & anti-democratic attempts to silence us, we have asserted the right of women to freedom of expression and the right to self-organise. /14
We are currently planning our 29th public meeting.

/End
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More from @Womans_Place_UK

25 Nov
Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women #IDEVAW We are committed to campaigning for an to violence against women and girls, to ensure women can self-organise and that our voices are heard in policy/law-making and that the law works for women. /1
Here is a link to our manifesto which lists all our campaign demands. In this thread, we will post the actions we think are needed as a minimum to start to address the violence and abuse women and girls face on a routine and systemic basis. womansplaceuk.org/wpuk-manifesto… /2
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Woman’s Place UK is a group of women from a range of backgrounds who are united by our belief that women’s hard-won rights must be defended. This is our manifesto womansplaceuk.org/wpuk-manifesto…
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23 Nov
This time, four years ago, we were starting our meeting in Cambridge: A Woman's Place is on the platform. This event was organised to offer Linda Bellos a platform after she was 'uninvited' from speaking at a student event. This is the film of her speech
Anne Ruzylo had recently been subjected to an orchestrated campaign against her, prompting the entire executive committee of her Constituency Labour Party to resign in solidarity. She spoke about this and her work in women’s prisons.
And our final film from our first ever meeting in Cambridge which took place 4 years ago tonight: Helen Steel spoke movingly of the relentless abuse women are subjected to in our daily lives & how it restricts our freedom.

Read 4 tweets
23 Nov
Thread. Yesterday Lords debated the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, including amendment that to record the sex and acquired gender of alleged victims and perpetrators of crime 1/4 hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2021-11-…
We dispute government position from Baroness Williams, that recording sex of perpetrators would be unlawful. 2/4
We commissioned legal opinion on this issue which we shared with EHRC and other interested bodies 3/4 womansplaceuk.org/2020/12/11/ehr…
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23 Nov
Good to see this article on freedom of expression from @ucl President & Provost Dr Michael Spence: “UCL hosted the Woman’s Place UK Women’s Liberation 2020 Conference, which included gender-critical views that many in our community find unacceptable…” /1 uclporticomagazine.co.uk/spotlights-and…
“The event was able to go ahead and those who opposed it were able to protest and be heard, and that seems to me to be a victory for free speech.” /2
Details of the Women’s Liberation 2020 conference he refers to here womansplaceuk.org/2019/11/22/con… We were delighted to host this in conjunction with @UCLwomenslib /3
Read 4 tweets

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