Salvage collective forum Saturday 23 September 2017

Welcome

Outline of the day Time Session 10:30 The story of the salvage collective & what it could be (Julia) 11:30 Check in, introductions & what do you want out of today? (JJ) 12:00 B R E A K 12:20 Supporting survivors’ mental and physical wellbeing (JJ) 14:00 L U N C H 14:50 Creating our infrastructure e.g. points of unity, policies & processes (Hannah) 16:20 B R E A K 16:30 Check out. How did the forum match up to your hopes? (JJ) Remember housekeeping – toilets, lift, garden (quiet space), tea & coffee at 12 noon

The story of the salvage collective Connecting the dots The Revolution Starts at Home Oct 2014 First workshop Mailing list / Crabgrass Nov 2014 Set up blog Jan 2015 Developing a Research Project: Who is interested? Feminist Review Trust award ‘Gendered Harms in Activist Communities’ August 2015 + Workshops Zine-report, toolkit, launch Sept 2016 + Talks 'Victim-survivor led challenges to Violence and Abuse in Our Communities' 19 October 2014 Afem

Mission statement 2014: To bring together women, transgender and non-binary people who have experienced gender-based oppression, violence, abuse and harm in activist communities to share resources and  build communities of belief, support and action. 2017: The salvage collective aims to brings together women (cis, trans & intersex), trans & non-binary survivors & activists who experience gender oppression, violence and abuse in UK activist communities to nurture activist cultures of care, accountability & safety. We aim to provide a network to share experiences, resources, skills and build communities of belief, support and action.

What we have done so far Workshops: AFem 2014; LaDIYfest Sheffield; Women and Trans* Week of Action Against the Prison Industrial Complex (North West England); Peace News Summer Camp; Glasgow Autonomous Space; Next to Nowhere (Liverpool); YMCA (Cardiff); DIY Space for London; Broadacre House (Newcastle upon Tyne); Liverpool Anarchist bookfair; Queer Feminist Spring Fest (Athens) Talks: Engaged Scholarship (OU); Joxemi Zumalabe Fundazioa (Bilbao); Gender, Activism & Criminal Justice symposium (Brighton); CUP Revolutionary Summer School (Catalonia); European Group (Braga 2016; Lesvos 2017) Training ourselves: workshop facilitation; sustainable activism; challenging white supremacy; non-oppressive practice; strategy day Research: ‘Gendered Violence in Activist Communities’ launch, zine-report and toolkit Articles: Open Democracy; Peace News; Justice, Power & Resistance Social media: Twitter, Facebook page; learning group; blog

What we have learned so far The need for this work is very high – danger of being a ‘support service’ High expectations on us to ‘fix’ it and provide the ‘answer’ e.g. Novara Differences in confidence, knowledge and skills across the country It is frustrating, challenging and emotionally demanding work that is typically left to women and non-binary people to do It is hard to get the powerful to ’buy in’ to the need for fundamental shifts in how we ‘do’ activism and rethink what activism is How important it is to examine ourselves and dismantle systematic white supremacy What draws us to this work? Framework for survivors to work together; infrastructure

What it could be next… An umbrella collective: a loose network to link up individuals, groups and campaigns that could connect/support each other doing and developing work around sexual violence Quarterly forum events in different places Use slack to organise We have a collective bank account What do we need?

Check in & introductions Name & pronouns What brought you here today? What do you need to participate today?