Events.

Fiona Holm and Naomi Hunte were killed by the same violent partner. Fiona and Naomi’s families are asking us all to come together to ensure that the police are held accountable for their failures and to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.

As friends, as neighbours, as concerned citizens, as campaigners for women’s rights and against racism, we need to support their fight for justice.

Come to this public meeting at Livesey Memorial Hall, London SE6 4HD, to learn more about the campaign and what you can do.

You can book and find out more about the speakers and the event here.

For more information about the campaign go to our website page here.

Pragna Patel will be chairing a discussion with the Director of The Conspiracists a timely and compelling documentary exploring the ideas and experiences of women in the MAGA movement, and has urgent relevance for all of us trying to resist the rise of far right and conspiratorial thinking.

You can join Pragna Patel and the film's director Liz Smith at the screening at the Phoenix Cinema in north London on Monday 27 April Liz Smith Page75 Productions

https://lnkd.in/e3NRDTBq

Never Forgotten: Violence Against Women and Systemic Failures to Protect, Investigate and Convict

Project Resist and the Centre for Women, Peace and Security  will be jointly hosting an in person event to highlight the continuing and systemic failure to address violence against women in the UK.

With a panel including families, practitioners and academics, they will focus on the brutal deaths of Naomi Hunte (2022) and Fiona Holm (2023) - both from African-Caribbean backgrounds, killed by the same abusive partner. Their preventable deaths are stark reminders of the depth of the ongoing crisis in preventing gender-based violence in the UK.

This public event will take place at the Wolfson Theatre, LSE, 25th March 2026 6.45pm to 9pm, you can get your Eventbrite ticket here.

If you can’t attend the meeting, please join the families in their petition for justice for Naomi and Fiona.

In advance of international Women’s Day,Project Resist Directors will be speaking at two events that focus on the intersection of the mainstreaming of the far-right and violence against women and girls.

2nd March Pragna Patel will be speaking at SSHE’s Religion, Nationalism and the Mainstreaming of the Far Right

6th March Rosie Lewis will be speaking at the GMB North West and Irish Trade Unionists at their IWD Day Event: Far Right, Domestic Violence and Trafficking- A Call to Action

Pragna Patel spoke at the annual Claudia Jones Commemoration Event at Highgate Cemetery 22nd February. Marking the 111th anniversary of Claudia Jones’ birth in Trinidad the event paid tribute to her legacy and her work.

In her speech Pragna spoke of Jones’ lifelong commitment to working class struggles and the social justice movement -“At the core of Claudia Jones’ life and times and indeed of the wider civil rights movement was the idea of collective resistance. History has shown that resistance based on need and the language of rights, justice and solidarity rather than victimhood and identity, is likely to provide the most effective weapon against oppression and authoritarianism”.

You can read more of Pragna Patel’s speech here.

To mark the beginning of 16 Days of Activism -the UN’s international call to end gender based violence, Project Resist and the Women’s Liberation Alliance are holding an online seminar to address the continued escalation of violence against women in the context of the far right.

Speakers include Professor Mary Davis, Rosie Lewis and Pragna Patel. The event will be facilitated by Charli Weinberg (whose guest blog is available here).

Project Resist will be speaking at the Phoebe Centre’s annual Gender Justice and Intersectional Practice Conference. Returning for the second time, Pragna Patel will be featured as part of the Conference plenary and will be running a workshop with Faty Kane the Director of the Angelou Centre (a member of the Resist Network) about the impact of the Far Right on black, minoritised, and migrant women.

The conference brings together activists, academics, policy makers and survivors to address the most urgent matters in relation to gender based violence.

You can find more information here.‍ ‍

The Suicide is Homicide campaign press conference was launched by Project Resist alongside bereaved families from across the UK, to discuss the systemic and ongoing failures on the part of the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the wider criminal justice system.

At the landmark press conference and parliamentary event at Portcullis House families demanded change and highlighted systemic and ongoing failures of the criminal justice system as domestic abuse related suicides outnumber homicides for the first time.

2026 will see the launch of the campaign’s video and research. More to be announced soon.

Project Resist are proud to announce that both Pragna Patel and Rosie Lewis will be chairing panels at the October 2025 FiLiA Conference, the largest independent feminist grassroots conference in Europe. Rosie will be chairing the Why do I Have to Hide Away? The Far Right Riots & the Feminist Fight Back panel and Pragna will be chairing Domestic Abuse: Learning Through Practice panel.

“On July 15th, the Angelou Centre and Project Resist launched Stories of Colour, a powerful, survivor-led and anti-racist initiative which centres black, minoritised and migrant women’s experiences marking one year since the far-right race riots that shook communities across the North East. Held at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, this was not just an exhibition—it was a call to action.” See Represent Women Article here.

Project Resist is excited to announce the forthcoming launch of Women’s Liberation Alliance (WLA) of which we are a member. The WLA is a progressive political coalition of women and women’s organisations from diverse backgrounds focused on rebuilding and sustaining a women’s liberation movement. Now more than ever, we find ourselves squeezed by the neoliberal economy and the rise and rise of the Religious and Far Right. We urgently need to find ways of escaping the simplistic and often destructive path of identity politics and instead recommit ourselves to building a grassroots politics of compassion, democracy and solidarity; one that is capable of offering us hope in these times of disillusionment and devastation.

Tickets are sold out, but you can join the waiting list here.

Project Resist, Her Name Was Chloe Holland & Domestic Abuse Related Suicides have launched their Suicide is Homicide campaign. 18 bereaved families together with Project Resist are supporting a campaign demanding justice for loved ones who have taken their lives in the context of domestic abuse. Testimonies from the families highlight systemic and ongoing failures on the part of the police, the wider criminal justice system and other agencies.So far the campaign has amassed 40 signatures from prominent women’s rights organisations and activists and support continues to grow.

More information about how you can join the campaign and participate in events can be found here.

Pragna Patel will be speaking at Northumbria University’s Modern Law Review sponsored conference: Gender-based violence across borders: challenges and opportunities to establishing routes to safety in a migratory world alongside Forced Marriage Unit, the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and academics, activists and legal professionals working in this field. This 2 day national conference will be exploring the nature, scale and forms of cross-border gender-based violence.

Pragna is guest speaker at AWRC’s Unlocking Doors: Sustainable Solutions to the Housing Crisis Facing BME Women with NRPF  “For many BME women with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), escaping abuse is just the beginning of an uphill battle. With no access to benefits, refuge spaces, or stable housing, they face an impossible choice—homelessness or staying with their abuser. These barriers are life-threatening and demand urgent action.”

Pragna Patel will be speaking at the Immigration Law Practitioners Association Conference 5th March 2025. The Current Issues in Immigration and Family Law Conference is an all-day conference bringing together experts from the worlds of immigration law and family law to discuss issues involving both sectors, as those fields so often overlap. We believe it is the first conference of its type that brings together the two disciplines.

Places are limited but can be booked here.

Project Resist is working in collaboration with the Girlington Centre in Bradford to support black and minority women who continue to encounter prejudices and obstacles when reporting domestic abuse and coercive control to the police. Yet again, we see systemic misconduct and incompetence in the police handling of such cases. Our work with Shareen and the Girlington Centre forms part of our advocacy work to improve women's access to justice.

You can find the full press release here.

Pragna Patel will be participating as a guest at the Resilient Democracy Conference that is being organised by Unlocking Democracy 21st and 22nd February. Project Resist consider the expansion of all women’s democratic rights in civic life to be a key pillar of our work. Unlock Democracy is a not for profit organisation which campaigns for greater transparency and accountability of the government in relation to a range of democratic mechanisms and needed reforms.

Project Resist, One Law for All and the International Bar Association have come together to mark International Women's Day on 6 March by convening a public meeting on the unconscionable practice of gender apartheid in countries such as Afghanistan and Iran and to demand that it be codified in international law as a crime against humanity.

See the press release for the event on our blog.

See here for more details and to register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gender-apartheid-a-crime-against-humanity-tickets-1234146167409

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Project Resist continued our Specialist Advocacy Training sessions with the incredible women from Ubuntu Women Shelter ( a migrant led women’s organisation based in Glasgow). The training was intense and joyous, we learnt so much from this powerful group of women. We have now delivered this training to 8 organisations and over 70 frontline black and minoritised staff and volunteers to strengthen frontline specialist intersectional grassroots advocacy. We have many more sessions planned over the next year. Watch this space!

In November Project Resist began our Resist Network specialist Advance Advocacy training with over 30 frontline advocates from 4 of the Resist Network organisations based in the North West of England. The training is grounded in rights based principles and aims to strengthen the work of specialist black and minoritised frontline organisations that are working in an increasingly hostile environment. More training will be delivered throughout early 2025, with further information to follow.

Project Resist joined other women in protest against the brutality of the fundamentalist Iranian regime organised in London by One Law For All and FEMEN. We stood in solidarity with Ahoo Darhyae and the women of Iran. Ahoo Darhyae is the latest in a long line of women beaten and arrested by the Iranian police for dissenting against the imposition of the hijab. We stand against the daily assaults, denigration and torture of women that is taking place and endorsed by fundamentalist power not just in Iran but worldwide See short blog piece here.

Pragna Patel will be speaking at the National Black Crown Prosecution Association (NBCPA) conference in Birmingham and running a workshop exploring the experiences of black and minority women in the criminal justice system within the context of violence against women and girls.

Pragna Patel will be speaking at P.H.O.E.B.E Centre's first annual Gender Justice & Intersectional Practice Conference Friday, November 29. The in person confeerence will take place during 16 Days of Activism for Gender-Based Violence along with sector leaders Naana Otoo–Oyortey MBE (FORWARD) and Wanjiku Mbugua – Ngotho, (BAWSO) and others. You can book your place here.

Pragna Patel will be the Keynote Speaker at the Faith to Faithless Conference in London. The conference will examine abusive behaviours such as domestic violence and coercive control through to so-called ‘honour-based’ violence, which can include sexual violence and attempted murder.

On Friday 16 August, Pragna Patel spoke at an ‘in conversation’ event to mark South Asian Heritage Month hosted by the National Black Crown Prosecution Association. Entitled ‘Free to Be Me’, she spoke about her journey as an activist over the last 40 years in support of black and minority women rights across the UK. She referred to a range of milestone cases and campaigns for equality and justice that she has been involved in, highlighting in particular the failure of state and community organisations to protect and deliver justice to some of the most marginalised and vulnerable women and girls.

On 10 July, Pragna Patel contributed to a panel discussion following the publication of Susanna Rustin’s book, Sexed: A History of British Feminism.She took part in a rich and stimulating discussion about the connections between the current struggle over women's sex-based rights and those conducted by pioneering women of the past.

Pragna Patel spoke at a conference on the state’s controversial immigration law and policy: “Contesting The Hostile Environment” organised by Social Scientists Against The Hostile Environment. Taking part in a concluding discussion on the way forward, she focused on the importance of legal challenges and political organising as a way to counter the despair and injustice created by the anti-immigration agenda pursued by successive governments. https://ssahe.net/

Pragna Patel will be speaking about violence against BME women alongside Womens Resource Centre, Refuge and Surviving Economic Abuse and other organisations- at the Westminister Insights conference in Manchester. Pragna will be focusing on the causes and consequences of VAWG.

Rosie Lewis will be delivering a workshop at the national Rosa Fund Conference for grassroots women's organisations across the UK. Rosie will be supporting sector organisations to increase their fundraising confidence and resilience. You can book a place here.

Pragna Patel spoke to an audience of funders and family court strategists about the issues experienced by black and minoritised women and children in the family courts. Both Project Resist and the Resist Network have raised our ongoing concerns about these matters in our recent submissions to Grevio and UN VAWG Rapporteur consultations.

Rosie Lewis will be speaking at the Women's Resource Centre annual 2024 "Currency of Change" conference in Manchester on the Economic Justice Panel. The panel's key themes will relate to women’s economic empowerment – at personal, community and organisational levels. Focusing on economic justice in terms of fairness and equality for all, the panel will discuss the unequal distribution of wealth and the many economic disparities that women experience.