Philobiblon

To a brilliant meeting yesterday to work towards refounding Women Against Fundamentalism. As the introduction said:

Women Against Fundamentalism is alarmed at the threat to and silencing of trade union, socialist, feminist, anti-racist and other progressive movements – in the mainstream as well as in Black, migrant and refugee communities – by the state’s ‘War on Terror’. It is alarmed, too, by the collusion of elements on the Left with fundamentalist religious leaders who are attempting to undermine rights and freedoms, including in their own communities.

The group was founded in the immediate aftermath of the Rushdie fatwa and worked in the Nineties with groups including Women Living Under Muslim Laws (a still highly active group), the anti-war Women in Black, South Asia Watch (with particular concerns about the rise of Hindu fundamentalism) and Catholics for Free Choice.

It produced an excellent journal – all the articles are on the website and many are still all too relevant.

Now, the aim will be, as one speaker put it, to “bring ideas from diverse places to the crossroads where race and sex and class meet”. The word “nuanced” was used a lot at the meeting – the need to recognise that struggles against racism can’t be allowed to empower repressive forces within minority communities. As another speaker put it bluntly: now if you resist fundamentalism you risk being called pro-imperialist.

(If you are interested in getting involved contact with me – natalieben AT gmail DOT com and I can pass on contact details.)

And talk did turn quite a bit to blogging and other Net 2.0 things – luckily I one half of Stroppyblog was also there – nice to meet you ! – so we could share that around…