Thursday

Feminist radicals in Belgium


Feminist radicals have been active in groups like Next GENDERation and FC Poppesnor.

The Next GENDERation network is a European network of students and graduates working in various fields of women's, feminist and gender studies. It wants to stand for "a type of feminist knowledge politics, deeply concerned with the democratisation of higher education." On its site you will find many texts in English, French and Dutch.

The Feminist Café Poppesnor is not literally a café, but is a monthly info/discussion evening about a feminist topic. There have been similar feminist cafés in the Netherlands too, like in Amsterdam. Alot of the feminist radicals tend to visit these activities.
Following the example of the cafés in the Netherlands, FC Poppesnor decided to start its own feminist café in the city of Antwerp, Belgium, where there are little feminist initiatives.

"Feminism for FC Poppesnor is a contemporary notion and practice. It does not only examine gender-relations, it also questions other power structures and socio-economic and political/religious situations and issues in the world."
FC Poppesnor (the name) derives from (FC) 'feminist café' and (Poppesnor - a very rare, Dutch word) 'investigating spirit'. In Dutch, 'pop' means 'doll' and 'snor' means 'moustache'.
Themes the group has worked on during the past year : the history of feminism in Belgium, ecofeminism, Antwerp city, genderbending of musicians, islamophobia, Queer theory,...
You will find very little information on the site in English though.