WHEN you think about the task FiLiA, Europe’s biggest feminist conference, has given itself, you can see why it sometimes looks from the outside like one long argument. It is “for all women” and “amplifying the voices of women” and it aims to be “anti-racist” and to find the “voices less often heard.”

That is, FiLiA aims to peacefully platform a lot of women who disagree deeply and passionately on many, many issues and to handle the fallout that comes from the rest of the world really, really not wanting women to hold the views some of them hold.

Looking at the agenda as it came out this year, many socialist women feared the campaign to end the genocide and free Palestine was going to be “the voice less heard,” even at FiLiA. Thank goodness for Rahila Gupta, who I think was the only one who addressed the issue of Palestine from the main stage and Bronwyn Winter, who managed to organise a Zoom link to Hebron, where a Palestinian woman brought a voice of reality into proceedings, telling us that talk of a ceasefire was meaningless unless the zionist project was first brought to a close.

She also said that peace-building, if we ever reach a stage where it is possible, is something that needs to be led by women.

I was particularly impressed by the women who set up the fringe event “Palestine Liberation is a Feminist Issue,” which had speakers from Palestine and Iran, and a multinational audience which filled Afrori, the beautiful, black bookshop venue, to overflowing, so that some women sadly had to be turned away.

In a year when feelings on so many issues are running high, this event too was not without its conflict. Although all the women were there to seek an end to genocide and to the apartheid of settler-colonialism, it’s very difficult for feminists to address the subject of Hamas without hitting emotionally charged differences of opinion. I am proud to say though, that this meeting held itself together and resolved its moment of crisis almost to the satisfaction of everyone.

At least, the women who had been at odds expressed genuine concern for each other and debate continued, and was of a very high quality. The evening included a speech by Emily Garcia, the first women I’ve seen pick up a mic at FiLiA (well, near FiLiA) and join the dots between capitalism, global surveillance-and-control companies and the racist, unquestionably genocidal violence Israel inflicts on Palestine.

Our speaker from the Women in Hebron, told the story of the enterprise she had set up, bringing women together to make and sell embroidered items, working in spite of constant harassment and sabotage by the IDF to promote financial independence for the women.

She told us how the West Bank villages have now been isolated and existentially threatened first by Israel’s preventing anyone crossing into Israel to work, then by denial of access to power and water, and by the vast increase in the number of check-points preventing travel and trade even between nearby West Bank villages.

Maryam Namazie spoke about the undoubted harm that militaristic, Islamic organisations such as Hamas pose to women — that was the bit that proved contentious because, while there wasn’t much there to disagree with, it felt too much like the way the defenders of genocide have tried to push the blame for Israel’s crimes back onto Hamas.

Maryam Aldossari did much to soothe the tensions, reminding us that Namazie had been speaking out for Palestine all along and is in no way a genocide apologist.

Melissa Farley spoke about how some feminists either have forgotten or do not realise how important anti-colonialism work is for anyone seeking a world in which women and girls can thrive. She spoke about the extent and gravity of the harms Palestinians suffer from their illegal occupier — finishing with the example of water — saying that West Bank residents are not even permitted water-collecting cisterns now, let alone access to ground or piped sources of water — how can these actions not be genocide? It is not just in Gaza that people are dying at the hands of Israel.

Genocide continues apace in the West Bank, even as the “great and the good” sing the praises of Donald Trump’s “peace.” Aldorassi confirmed this view, and lamented the silence of so many feminists on the topic of Palestinian women and what they are suffering, and the lack of Palestine events on the agenda at FiLiA.

Heather Brunskell-Evans said (rightly, I think) that all the views expressed in our dispute were understandable, but that we need to remember that what’s happening to Palestine has nothing to do with any religious conflict (it’s a decidedly political, colonialist land-grab). She went on to speak with riveting eloquence about her experience of working in the West Bank. The part of the evening that will stay with me forever is her story of a young soldier getting on a bus she was riding, and proceeding to “check passes.”

She spoke about how interventions by the IDF could happen at any time, and how utterly unprotected Palestinians were from the unlimited harms that could result if they put a foot wrong — “how do you stand it?” she whispered to the young man next to her. He responded merely with a look, but that look told her — you stand it, or you get killed.

She then, almost as a footnote, spoke about her upcoming court case, as one of the first of the activists who put themselves on the line for Palestine by carrying pieces of card with illegal words on them. A true feminist warrior.

Back at the main conference the next day, I went to an intriguing presentation by Rahila Gupta and Beatrix Campbell about their project investigating the interplay between capitalism and patriarchy across the world, and the impact of the shift to neoliberalism. Then, with a signed copy of Planet Patriarchy clutched to my chest, I headed for my last session of the conference, “Why Must Feminism Include the Harms of Colonisation?” where we finally had what I think is the most important discussion women at an international conference need to be having.

The women who were from colonised countries told us that prostitution, community and environmental destruction, and all the other methods of de-civilisation — all the things capitalism and patriarchy like to tell us are inevitable — were brought to their countries by colonisers.

Are all these horrors inevitable? Studying colonialism tells us where they came from, but also that there was a time before and so if we keep at it, as women are so good at doing, perhaps there can be a time after. Let us hope that if we all keep talking about Palestine, we can force a space for there to be an “afterwards” for a people who have gone through the hell of illegal occupation for so, so long.

Well done to the women at FiLiA who, each in their own way, made it clear that Palestine liberation is a feminist issue. Of course there are rumours of violence flying around social media. Of course, mainstream reporting will blame you for everything. That’s what happens to anyone who pushes back against the defenders of colonialism. Hold your heads high. You are truly on the side of humanity.