khad
16th June 2010, 20:44
SAY NO TO PINKWASHING AT THE USSF!
We, the undersigned queer Arab organizations, are appalled by the US
Social Forums decision to allow Stand with Us to utilize the event as
a platform to pinkwash Israels crimes in the region. Stand with Us is
cynically manipulating the struggle of queer people in the Middle East
through its workshop entitled LGBTQI Liberation in the Middle East.
Stand with Us is a self-declared Zionist propaganda organization which
describes itself as an international education organization that
ensures that Israels side of the story is told in communities,
campuses, libraries, the media and churches through brochures,
speakers, conferences, missions to Israel, and thousands of pages of
Internet resources.
Stand with Us has no connection with the LGBT movement in the Middle
East apart from ties to Zionist Israeli LGBT organizations, yet it
claims to speak for and about our movements. It has no credibility in
our region, and as organizations working in and from the Middle East,
we condemn its attempt to use us, our struggles, our lives, and our
experiences as a platform for pro-Israeli propaganda.
Since Israels brutal wars on Gaza and Lebanon in 2006 and
particularly after the recent unprovoked attack on the flotilla of
activists going to Gaza, the Israeli government has found itself
increasingly marginalized by international condemnations and weakened
through the growing success of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) campaign. To remedy this, it has launched a massive PR campaign
using organizations such as Stand with Us to convince the world that
Israel is not a brutal settler-colony state, but rather a free
democracy where human rights in general, and LGBT rights in
particular, are respected and upheld. Stand With Us deceptively uses
the language of LGBT and womens rights to obscure the fact that
institutionalized discrimination is enshrined within the state of
Israel.
Our struggle is deeply intertwined with the struggle of all oppressed
people, and we cannot accept that we are being used as a tool to
discredit the Palestinian cause. Stand with Us would have everyone
believe that the Palestinian cause is an unworthy one because of the
homophobia that exists within Palestinian society, as if homophobia
does not exist elsewhere, and as if struggles for justice are
predicated on some sort of inherent goodness of the oppressed,
rather than on the principles of freedom, justice, and equality for
everyone, everywhere. Stand with Us would have us all compartmentalize
our beliefs, lives, and identities so that solidarity with the queer
struggle would preclude solidarity with others.
While Stand With Us is quick to point out the oppression of queer
Palestinians under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, it
conveniently forgets that those same queers are not immune to the
bombs, blockades, apartheid and destruction wrought upon them daily by
the Israeli government, and that Israels multi-tiered oppression
hardly makes a distinction between straight and gay Palestinians.
We refuse to be instrumentalized by anyone, be it our own oppressive
governments or the Zionist lobby hijacking our struggle to legitimize
the state of Israel and its policies, thus providing even more fodder
for our own governments to use against us. If you want to learn about
our movements and struggles, engage with us, rather than with those
who will use us as pawns in Israels campaign to pinkwash its crimes.
The inclusion of Stand With Us at the USSF is an egregious oversight
on the part of the forum. We ask the forum to justify this inclusion
given that it violates its own principles of anti-racism, uniting
oppressed communities, prioritizing marginalized voices, and opposing
US foreign policy. The USSF should be held accountable to its own
standards. We look forward to hearing its plans to address the
situation.
Helem
Lebanese Protection for LGBT
www.helem.net
Al-Qaws
For Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society
www.alqaws.org
ASWAT
Palestinian Gay Women
www.aswatgroup.org
Palestinian Queers for BDS
pqbds.wordpress.com
http://www.rashamoumneh.com/arab-queers-say-no-to-pinkwashing
We, the undersigned queer Arab organizations, are appalled by the US
Social Forums decision to allow Stand with Us to utilize the event as
a platform to pinkwash Israels crimes in the region. Stand with Us is
cynically manipulating the struggle of queer people in the Middle East
through its workshop entitled LGBTQI Liberation in the Middle East.
Stand with Us is a self-declared Zionist propaganda organization which
describes itself as an international education organization that
ensures that Israels side of the story is told in communities,
campuses, libraries, the media and churches through brochures,
speakers, conferences, missions to Israel, and thousands of pages of
Internet resources.
Stand with Us has no connection with the LGBT movement in the Middle
East apart from ties to Zionist Israeli LGBT organizations, yet it
claims to speak for and about our movements. It has no credibility in
our region, and as organizations working in and from the Middle East,
we condemn its attempt to use us, our struggles, our lives, and our
experiences as a platform for pro-Israeli propaganda.
Since Israels brutal wars on Gaza and Lebanon in 2006 and
particularly after the recent unprovoked attack on the flotilla of
activists going to Gaza, the Israeli government has found itself
increasingly marginalized by international condemnations and weakened
through the growing success of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) campaign. To remedy this, it has launched a massive PR campaign
using organizations such as Stand with Us to convince the world that
Israel is not a brutal settler-colony state, but rather a free
democracy where human rights in general, and LGBT rights in
particular, are respected and upheld. Stand With Us deceptively uses
the language of LGBT and womens rights to obscure the fact that
institutionalized discrimination is enshrined within the state of
Israel.
Our struggle is deeply intertwined with the struggle of all oppressed
people, and we cannot accept that we are being used as a tool to
discredit the Palestinian cause. Stand with Us would have everyone
believe that the Palestinian cause is an unworthy one because of the
homophobia that exists within Palestinian society, as if homophobia
does not exist elsewhere, and as if struggles for justice are
predicated on some sort of inherent goodness of the oppressed,
rather than on the principles of freedom, justice, and equality for
everyone, everywhere. Stand with Us would have us all compartmentalize
our beliefs, lives, and identities so that solidarity with the queer
struggle would preclude solidarity with others.
While Stand With Us is quick to point out the oppression of queer
Palestinians under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, it
conveniently forgets that those same queers are not immune to the
bombs, blockades, apartheid and destruction wrought upon them daily by
the Israeli government, and that Israels multi-tiered oppression
hardly makes a distinction between straight and gay Palestinians.
We refuse to be instrumentalized by anyone, be it our own oppressive
governments or the Zionist lobby hijacking our struggle to legitimize
the state of Israel and its policies, thus providing even more fodder
for our own governments to use against us. If you want to learn about
our movements and struggles, engage with us, rather than with those
who will use us as pawns in Israels campaign to pinkwash its crimes.
The inclusion of Stand With Us at the USSF is an egregious oversight
on the part of the forum. We ask the forum to justify this inclusion
given that it violates its own principles of anti-racism, uniting
oppressed communities, prioritizing marginalized voices, and opposing
US foreign policy. The USSF should be held accountable to its own
standards. We look forward to hearing its plans to address the
situation.
Helem
Lebanese Protection for LGBT
www.helem.net
Al-Qaws
For Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society
www.alqaws.org
ASWAT
Palestinian Gay Women
www.aswatgroup.org
Palestinian Queers for BDS
pqbds.wordpress.com
http://www.rashamoumneh.com/arab-queers-say-no-to-pinkwashing