The Union is strength for the sixty feminist collectives gathered on the site of the University of Rennes 2 this Saturday and Sunday. The feminist coordination organizes this national gathering, which is“unpublished for more than twenty years”. More than 200 participants are gathered. The city of Rennes was not chosen by chance. “It is the city in which there were the most active activists and who could organize this kind of event”, explains Elodie, member of the coordination and coming from Rouen.
Appoint spokespersons
Many workshops are organized around discrimination. The objective is to bring together collectives who usually exchange on social networks. “We always forget by being an activist on our side, that in fact, there are thousands of us in France. There, we feel sorority. We do not all feel more legitimate, and yet we are, because today ‘today, in the street, we are the victims of this violence and it is up to us to fight!”, launches Pauline, member of We All 35.
This gathering is also a communication tool. “The goal is really to strengthen and be visible, adds Elodie. It is also to have the most horizontal and most democratic operation possible. No external intervention is therefore planned during the weekend. Spokespersons for the coordination could, however, be appointed to allow greater media coverage of the movement.
No voting instructions for the presidential election
The organization of the mobilization for Women’s Rights Day, March 8 next, is at the center of the discussions. Feminist activists also want to organize a response to far-right ideas and “the fascist danger”. “These are ideas that are basically very retrograde, very backward-looking and which tend to leave us in roles that we no longer want, which date from another era”, underlines Anaïs, member of the sex work union (Strass). The coordination of the feminist movement will not, however, give any voting instructions for the presidential election.