Background

The Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF) first came into being in 2011, as an outcome of different conversations between APWLD and our members regarding the scarcity and near non-existence of feminist organising spaces in Asia and the Pacific. This meant that outside of international spaces, feminists in our regions lacked the kind of convening space which would allow us to exchange knowledge and skills, learn about our movements and resistances, and build feminist solidarities and friendships with each other. This was how in the year of APWLD’s 25th birthday, the first APFF took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand in September 2011.

Since then, the APFF has been organised by APWLD as a tri-annual event which brings together feminists, activists, and WHRDs from all regions of Asia and the Pacific, to participate in a three-day feminist convening. In those three days, feminists come together to celebrate our collective achievements, deepen feminist knowledge, and strengthen our linkages and solidarities with each other. The APFF does not take place in a vacuum, and each APFF theme is defined by the context of the world we are living in, a structural analysis of the issues we face, and the systemic forms of oppression which are the driving force behind these issues. 

What the APFF Looks Like

The APFF is more than a traditional conference or convention; it is a feminist gathering, one which is not only convened to celebrate our achievements and movements, but also to build our analysis of the critical issues we struggle against, and the systemic and hegemonic structural oppression underpinning those issues. 

Each APFF has an overarching theme, with a framework that guides the opening plenary for each day. For example, previous APFFs used the Anger-Hope-Action framework, with Day 1 guided by Anger, Day 2 by Hope, and Day 3 by Action. Thus, each day’s opening plenary sets the tone for the rest of the day, which is filled with different workshops, as well as side-events. The APFF seeks to bring to life feminist ways of work and play, and that is why our side-events include the Solidarity Space where participants can come together to plan and organise solidarity actions like protests and strikes; the Wellness Space which runs workshops and activities focused on sustaining our own energies, as well as sustaining a movement, through feminist wellness; the Feminist Bazaar where indigenous women’s crafts are brought in by our members to promote women artisans, and the Really Free Market which supports exchanging your unwanted items for other goods, to counter the consumerist ways of living promoted by capitalism; and a childcare space for participants with children. Art, music, dance, performance, and literature are an essential part of the APFF- after all, what’s the point of revolution if we cannot dance?

About Previous APFFs

The first APFF

The first APFF took place in September, 2011. At this APFF, our theme was “This is what feminism looks like!”  We hosted 130 participants, with 22 workshops spread across those 3 days. Since this was a historical coming together of feminist activists across our regions, this APFF focused on deepening our feminist knowledge and enhancing our analysis of the issues and challenges that our movements faced at that moment. 

The second APFF

The second APFF took place in May, 2014. At this APFF, our theme was “Creating Waves, Fostering Movements!” with the tagline, “Seizing the Moment, Spiking the Revolution .” This was yet another pivotal moment for our movements, as at that time, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were drawing to a close, and there were global and regional processes and consultations to find a way forward from the MDGs. APWLD members and the Secretariat engaged in a strong campaign to shape what we now know as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through advocacy, mobilising, analysis and movement-building. At the same time, APWLD and civil society groups also put forward a new framework for Development Justice based on five transformative shifts: redistributive justice, economic justice, social and gender justice, ecological justice and accountability to Peoples. In this pivotal moment, 300 participants joined us in Chiang Mai for APFF 2, with 32 workshops spread across 3 days, as we built our knowledge and skills on how feminist movements can effectively challenge and shape the global political agenda to centralise its focus on women, the poor, and the environment.

The third APFF

The third APFF took place in September 2017. This was an important point for our movements, as we were beginning to see a growing pattern of increasing fundamentalisms and authoritarianism, and a patriarchal backlash against our movements and our hard-won rights and freedoms. Under the theme of “reSISTERS, perSISTERS, Sisters” with the tagline, “Mobilising in the era of authoritarian, patriarchal, late capitalism”.   APFF would prove to be our largest gathering yet, with 350 participants, with 3 days filled with 43 workshops alongside our side-events as we convened to share and plan for  alternative visions that challenge the structural causes of the rise of authoritarian, right-wing patriarchy.