The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
REBEL DYKES
A film telling the story of the Greenham Common activists takes centre stage in celebration of LGBT oral history, writes Nadia Vidinova
She was a self-described “rebel dyke” in the 1980s, living in squats around Berlin, London and New York while campaigning for gay rights and peace. Siobhan Fahey was part of a community who met at the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, which protested against nuclear weapons being placed at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire.
In the following decades, the Liverpudlian settled into a rather more sedate life as a nurse and moved to Edinburgh.
Now Siobhan, 56, has produced Rebel Dykes – a film that tells the story of the heady days of her youth at Greenham Common and its artists, musicians and activists.
Combining rarely-seen footage and LGBT oral history archive materials, the film will be screened at the DCA in Dundee tonight and on March 2 at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews.
The screenings will be followed by workshops providing an overview of what oral history is about, with participants encouraged to bring a smartphone and to have a go at collecting oral histories.
Directed by Harri Shanahan and Siân A. Williams, Rebel Dykes will also celebrate February’s LGBT History Month and Visit Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022.
“As a punk lesbian living in squats, I lived a wild life in the 80s,” reminisces Siobhan.
“I travelled all over Europe and America. It was a very exciting and interesting time – we were doing things differently for the first time.
“We also received a lot of negative attention though. In those days people would spit at you in the street if you had tattoos or a weird haircut, or if you were a lesbian.
“But when the world is against you, you band together and find community, and that’s what we had.
“When the 80s were over we were scattered to the wind and nobody ever heard anything about us again. I moved to Edinburgh and became a nurse. The other women went on to be teachers, mothers, performers, all sorts.
“We’ve gone on to do different things but we all feel a big sense of pride from having been involved in activism.”
A few years ago Siobhan started to revisit her radical past by collecting material for workshops, which she then turned into a presentation about the Greenham Common protests.
She toured around England presenting her work, and a chance conversation with a musician friend sparked the idea of making a film out of the material.
“One day I said to my friend, why don’t I film this and put it on Youtube, and he said ‘no, this is going to be a feature film!’,” adds Siobhan.
“So we set about making it happen, and seven years later we’ve got a film that’s been around the world at various festivals, including many LGBT film festivals, and won awards.
“It’s also been played in places where people have to really fight to have LGBT rights such as St Petersburg, Hong Kong, Romania.
“One of the amazing, beautiful things about this film is how it has resonated with young people – 20-somethings.
“In a way, that generation is fortunate because they have a lot of rights. They don’t get thrown out of home for coming out, for example. But many of them don’t really have a community and are lonely.
“When I was young there were so many gay bars where people of all ages went. Facebook and Instagram can’t really replicate that.
“That’s why it was very important to us to take this film to physical spaces where people can meet and talk to each other.
“It is an incredible opportunity to visit all corners of Scotland, it’s really a great honour, and I’m looking forward to coming to Dundee.”