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Five ‘hidden’ feminist initiatives in Europe and Eurasia [1]

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Date: 2023-04

Feminist groups in Europe and Eurasia are continuing to resist the far-right rollback of women’s rights. But the international media usually focuses on mass demonstrations for women’s reproductive and sexual rights, overlooking the budding intersectional feminist movements fighting for change.

openDemocracy spoke to five small-scale, grassroots feminist initiatives in Italy, Poland, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan – countries in which the authors have expertise and local contacts – which transcend mainstream narratives about women’s rights. From transfeminist alliances to disability rights and sexual and bodily autonomy, these groups aim to tackle complex forms of injustice.

Italy: transfeminism against the far right

While abortion is legal in Italy for up to 90 days from conception, it is often not accessible. In the central Italian region of Marche, which has been governed by prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party since 2020, 70% of gynaecologists refuse to terminate pregnancies on moral grounds.

In early 2021, Marche’s regional leadership decided not to apply a central government measure to allow health clinics to provide abortion pills. In response, local transfeminist activists launched Liberə Tuttə, an intersectional collective that advocates for the right to abortion and self-determination.

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Liberə Tuttə, which means ‘everyone is free’ in Italian, is the first group in Marche’s southern province of Ascoli Piceno to include gender non-conforming and trans identities in their activism, through a working-class and anti-fascist lens.

“We realised that in our territory there weren’t any groups that would frame their struggle in an intersectional way: some would talk about queer issues, but without looking at the social or working aspect,” said a Liberə Tuttə activist.

Liberə Tuttə uses the schwa symbol – ‘ə’ – to transcend gender binaries. “We use inclusive language because non-binary identities need to be named and exist through words,” they explained. “This doesn’t erase the identity of cis women. We talk about the right to abortion for women and pregnant people, we don’t exclude anyone.” The group has joined protest actions and campaigns calling for legal, safe and free abortion for all.

Despite some blockages from the local authorities, in 2021 Liberə Tuttə organised the first Pride event in the Piceno territory, to reclaim a space for LGBTQIA+ people. Through protests and public events, the group wants to involve local communities in a dialogue about transfeminist topics, as well as create networks of like-minded collectives within and outside the region. The hostile political situation in Italy makes their struggle even more urgent.

Liberə Tuttə says: “Anti-fascism stands at the core of our approach, and of transfeminism in general. Is there any worse limitation to people’s self-determination than the top-down imposition of power in such a radical way?”

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/feminist-initiatives-europe-eurasia-italy-poland-azerbaijan-kazakhstan-tajikistan/

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