„Sisters outsiders. Transnational solidarity and feminism” – a discussion

Saturday, the 27th of May, 4:30 – 6.00 p.m.; the Small Stage of Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw; meeting in English with translation to Polish. 

➤ moderators: prof. Ewa Majewska i Natalia Sielewicz

➤ participants: 
– Negar Nejad – representative of the Iranian Association for Supporting National Revolution
– Kacia Rumiantseva – activist and curator, representative of RAZAM Belarus
– Lela Tsiskarishvili – executive director of The Georgian Centre For Psychosocial And Medical Rehabilitation Of Torture Victims
– Val Voshchevska – activist and co-creator of the Ukrainian Spaces podcast.

The war in Ukraine, the revolution in Iran and the resistance to authoritarian rule in Belarus and Georgia have highlighted the fundamental role of women in the fight for justice and social change. The specificity of individual struggles has also revealed a crack in the perception of universal sisterhood – it showed different positions and value systems organizing contemporary thinking about feminism and liberation. It has become clear that where there is an anti-colonial struggle, women very often refuse to separate the issue of national independence from the issue of gender equality, which has often been misunderstood by Western feminists. This specific perspective requires us to rethink new alliances and build transnational solidarity.

The title of the debate, the Sisters Outsiders, takes its name from the book by Black author and activist Audrey Lorde, who in her moving essays demanded the recognition of difference, claiming that if she didn't define herself for herself, she "would be crunched into other people's fantasies".