MANCHESTER ANARCHA-FEMINIST COLLECTIVE

Welcome to Opuntia / Prickly Pears!
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We are a nascent autonomous collective of anarchists who are affected by patriarchal misogyny and want to do something about it.

Right here, right now, with what we have – and growing our power by coming together.

Why Opuntia?
It’s alive, it’s spiky, it’s fruity, it blossoms, it provides sustenance, and it’s hard as hell to destroy – come heat or come freeze, prickly pears survive and come back swinging. And look at the bubbling fruit – we also are many, we are full of life, and strengthened by each other’s presence and natural elements of a healthy planet. What’s not to love!

Why anarchist feminism?
We believe non-hierarchical society is our natural human state, and freedom from domination and coercion is our right and the goal of our political work.
No gods, no masters, no power-over. We want a world we actually want to live in, and however near or far that vision is, that’s the north star to keep our efforts focused and our dreams alive.

More —>> here

Strategy and efficiency
If you’d like to join us we suggest taking the time to read our political worldview pages, seeing what fits, what doesn’t, and having a conversation together in person.

More —>> Here

If we say “patriarchal misogyny” is the target of our work, we need to be quite clear and deep in our understanding of what is patriarchy, and what is a woman, before we jump to ideas of what to do. With our work and interpersonal interactions these understandings will grow and change. But here is what we have developed for our understandings so far:
→>> What is patriarchy // What is a woman

“To become free you have to become acutely aware of being a slave” – Assata Shakur
Let’s face our reality head on, taking strength from coming together and forming alliances with each other to both attack patriarchy and create/embody what we actually want our lives and futures to be. We need to feel and live through what we want as much as we need to fight what we don’t.

Every well-targeted thing we chip away at and thoughtfully chosen seed we plant will move us forward. Because creation and experiencing even single rays of true liberation is life-shifting, energising, inspiring, hopeful, and strengthening. It is essential and non-negotiable.

Coming into ourselves as we truly are and feel, reclaiming our natural state of freedom wherever we can – privately and publicly – is fundamental to liberation work. A society made up of liberated people will not sustain structures of dominance.

So, what do we do as a collective?

Our goal is liberation, our approach is humanising women, femmes and people expressing femininity. Because humans have inherent value, worth, dignity, and autonomy – and dehumanisation of a group is the tool of growing and maintaining violent oppression.

We choose deliberately what and how we do. There is no shaking our fists at the sky, photo-ops with funny placards, or begging powers-that-be to change.
We will do this shit ourselves and only grow stronger along the way. Anarcha-feminist work of Opuntia includes these key areas:

Burnout and efforts
Let’s be real, people are tired these days. Some of it we can’t avoid, but some of it needs some serious reflection on our part.

Part of this quagmire is why and how we set up Opuntia. Read more —>> here

Lifestyle, morality and respect
Speaking of emotions and morality. Let’s get some things clear —>> here

Identity politics – yes; Identarian politics – no
Honestly, this section is to weed out people who are on the left but leaning somewhere to mis-aligned to do political work together. See what you think, and ask us questions if something is not clear.

More —>> here

Our work is not abstract and theoretical and focused on holding correct ideas and announcing positions. It is material and very contextual. We are in Europe, in Manchester, in 2020s, this is what we got at hand, and this is what we want to achieve with this particular action.

This is also why we have a website and email, and our work is in person. You will not find us reposting infographics on Instagram or creating a brand.

Honouring those who came before us
As feminists we place ourselves in a lineage of those who experienced being classed as women by societal paradigm, or rejected from it despite being women. A lineage of resistance, vision, hope, fury, creativity, love, care, power, relentlessness, refusal, subversion, and struggle to be free and thrive. A lineage of brave and relentless labour for liberation which never finished. And we’re here to kick some ass.

Bit more —>>here

Some title

We focus on developing a sharp, reflective political analysis and strategy for all of our work so it is responsive to our times and challenges that morphing patriarchy under capitalism keeps throwing our way, oppressing us in ever-evolving ways. We are sharpening our focus, building initiative, confidence, solidarity, understanding, and political alignment with feminist goals. And we are going to be as alive and as human as possible doing this.

We do owe each other a world better than when we found it and a future worth fighting for.

This is big work and it’s calling our name. If it’s calling yours too, get in touch with the prickly pears: opuntia-anarcha-fem@proton.me

And if you wanna go about it differently, and form your own group, that’s awesome and get in touch too (or if you’re an existing group!) – let’s see where we align & can do some stuff together. The more of us and the more we embrace our authentic politics, the more powerful and real we are as a wider feminist movement.