It’s been a busy couple of months for #meTU and we thank all our supporters and allies. For the third year running, #meTU were invited to participate in the Reel News activist tent at boomtown festival in August. Hosting an array of grass roots community activists and artists – the right to food campaign, Parents for Palestine, The Red Shoes poster archive, Spycops and the under cover police operation infiltrating left wing groups, Justice for Moused Bashir campaign, Break The Code all female drum and bass collective, and many, many more – we ran a session showcasing our documentary film evidence of abuse in our movement and how #meTU has had a big impact in such a short space of time.

We also caught up with our wonderful allies, The Menstrual Cramps, who played the 404 stage. Formed in a broken bedroom in Bristol, on the verge of homelessness, and rife with anger, The Menstrual Cramps are DIY, loud, queer, anti-fascist, anti-racist, pro-choice, intersectional, and feminist – they are currently touring and we would encourage all our supporters to take the opportunity and get a dose of the Menstrual Cramps for yourself, you won’t be disappointed. Please feel free to write us a review if you get the opportunity to see this important band live.

Troublemakers at TUC conference and beyond

We also joined forces with the UCU Unite branch at TUC conference in early September to host an unofficial fringe meeting. Whilst the TUC general council and many others were getting excited about Starmers so called “New Deal for workers” and disgracefully giving him a standing ovation at the conference, over 70 principled trade unionists joined our meeting in solidarity with those facing abuse and victimisation for speaking out. Our friends at the Union Workers Union (UWU), an independent trade union for union staff, have written a fantastic report of the event. The UWU have recently merged with the Sisters to the Front campaign and are launching a women’s network with a series of workshops looking at the roots of sexual violence in our movement and what we can do to challenge it.

We continue to be invited to speak at staff union branch meetings and events and we continue to support survivors and challenge abuse. We will be participating in a session on Democracy, misogyny, racism and abuse in our unions at the upcoming Troublemakers at Work conference on 5 October in Manchester. Please join us if you can.

We continue to be inspired by the GKN factory occupation, the most important grass roots struggle taking place at the moment, in Florence, Italy. Not only are these workers taking over production, they are also building a solid international solidarity network in support of oppressed groups and against war. We encourage all our supporters to see what they can do to support this very important struggle for a just transition, to consider coming over to Italy, donate to the campaign or to become a shareholder. More details can be found here.

Finally, #meTU steering committee member Tracy Edwards featured on the Outa-Space podcast to discuss a new book by Toby Manning on Mixing Pop and Politics, a Marxist look at anglo pop music history from the 1950s onwards. We are in the process of getting our own #meTU podcast up and running in the not too distant future so this opportunity was a good practice run. Keep your eyes open for our Hotheads with No Politics podcast coming soon…..

The strength of our campaign depends on support and solidarity, but we also want our allies to take the initiative and organise events and meetings. We are pleased to report that plans are underway to establish #meTU support groups in Scotland and in Wales. If you would like to discuss establishing a #meTU group in your region or geographical area, please drop us a line at metuwomen@gmail.com