Yeah... but really, really Not
Aug. 26th, 2009 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaI demonstrate with you.
You just don't know it.
I'm on the New Profile mailing list. Many of the emails we receive are articles regarding human rights violations, government response and opinion pieces that support the Palestinian right to self-determination, criticism of Israeli policy both in Israel proper and the Occupied Territories.
Sometimes, they're just way off the mark.
In Dafna Golan's recent Op-Ed titled "Come demonstrate with us", she commiserates and pontificates on the fact that the recent rally for solidarity with the LGBT community following the attack brought thousands of people in support of Queer rights, while the are barely any Israelis in the demonstrations against the un-ethical expulsion of Palestinian families from the Shiekh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.
She writes:
Enter the Oppression Olympics.
Basically, she's criticising one minority for not doing enough for another.
Not helpful and not okay.
Instead of laying the blame on the fact that the Queer Cause got more press, why not focus on the rhetoric that enables this.
Queer people go to the demos and are anti-Occupation activists.
They just don't do it through the LGBT orgs. of which Uchovsky and Co. are a part.
The newly formed Coalition of Pink Communities, which houses under it two of the queer Palestinian orgs. and other radical queer groups, does indeed intersect the various oppressions, homophobia, racism, misogyny and capitalism, just to name a few.
Queers are not visible at the demos for the families of Shiek Jarrah or at the Separations walls in Bil'in and Nialin.
Why?
Because the Big Orgs, like the Aguda, the Jerusalem Open House etc. do not deal with Israeli policy concerning the Occupation.
They just don't.
Many queer people oppose those policies, many queers do not care because they are not knowledgeable about anti-Occupation politics or the policies that enable the continuing Occupation.
Dafna Golan is picking on the fact that one Hate Crime brought thousands into the street while her cause remains small potatoes. This should not make her go all sour grapes on the LGBT's for not doing enough when it comes to the Occupation, because really, it just comes off as petty and alienating.
I've written before on the fact that the mainstream Queer movement isn't particularly political.
The mainstream LGBT movement, true to its character, is assimilationist. While many of its visible members will speak out against racism and other things, it is not a truly liberationists movement because we are still part of the Israeli mind set.
We're the only democracy in the Middle East, we're the best place for queers in the Middle East, yadda, yadda, yadda.
The problem is narrative and Dafna Golan is falling for it; She's saying what I've been saying, the inherent connection between the various oppressive structures in Israeli society and by default the effects on Palestinian society.
No problem there. However, when she's trying to argue that this issue is more important than that she's missing the point that no, it's actually our lives and not so much the "issues".
Saying the privileged in Tel-Aviv have it easy is obnoxious and just plain untrue, as she so callously ignores the intersection of queer identity along with Palestinian identity, just as an example.
Not to mention that trying to blame the fact that there aren't enough activists on the idea that there are other issues out there just reflects the fact that privilege still abounds.
That some rights are considered more important than others is not the LGBT Organisations' fault, nor is it their responsibility. The bubble burst a long time ago. What needs to be dealt with is the hot air blowing in every direction.
This Op-Ed came onto my mailing list as a "good" piece. Too bad it perpetuates the notion that LGBT fold are a monolith of opinion and that they're too selfish to think about the rights of others.
In the meantime, I'll continue to be an Israeli-Jewish queer who is pro-Palestinian.
Uncanny how those two notions go together!
Notes:
(1)Gal Uchovsky is a Big Name Gay. Considered one of the "leaders" of GLBT community by the mainstream, for the mainstream. He's a columnist, screen play writer and over-all celeb. Just fyi.
Back to text
You just don't know it.
I'm on the New Profile mailing list. Many of the emails we receive are articles regarding human rights violations, government response and opinion pieces that support the Palestinian right to self-determination, criticism of Israeli policy both in Israel proper and the Occupied Territories.
Sometimes, they're just way off the mark.
In Dafna Golan's recent Op-Ed titled "Come demonstrate with us", she commiserates and pontificates on the fact that the recent rally for solidarity with the LGBT community following the attack brought thousands of people in support of Queer rights, while the are barely any Israelis in the demonstrations against the un-ethical expulsion of Palestinian families from the Shiekh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.
She writes:
It's a shame Gal Uchovsky1 is not taking part in the demonstrations in East Jerusalem's Shiekh Jarrah neighbourhood. It's always a pleasure to see him, and if he took part, he would see that, compared to the handful of Israelis who come to protest the expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes so Jews can live there, his rally in honour of the dead and wounded at the Tel Aviv gay and lesbian center was a great success. If the tens of thousands of people who gathered at Rabin Square were to march through the small neighbourhood in the heart of Jerusalem, maybe the expulsion of the Palestinian families would stop, as would the construction in that neighbourhood of a new Jewish settlement, perhaps the most dangerous of all.
Enter the Oppression Olympics.
Basically, she's criticising one minority for not doing enough for another.
Not helpful and not okay.
Instead of laying the blame on the fact that the Queer Cause got more press, why not focus on the rhetoric that enables this.
Queer people go to the demos and are anti-Occupation activists.
They just don't do it through the LGBT orgs. of which Uchovsky and Co. are a part.
The newly formed Coalition of Pink Communities, which houses under it two of the queer Palestinian orgs. and other radical queer groups, does indeed intersect the various oppressions, homophobia, racism, misogyny and capitalism, just to name a few.
Queers are not visible at the demos for the families of Shiek Jarrah or at the Separations walls in Bil'in and Nialin.
Why?
Because the Big Orgs, like the Aguda, the Jerusalem Open House etc. do not deal with Israeli policy concerning the Occupation.
They just don't.
Many queer people oppose those policies, many queers do not care because they are not knowledgeable about anti-Occupation politics or the policies that enable the continuing Occupation.
Dafna Golan is picking on the fact that one Hate Crime brought thousands into the street while her cause remains small potatoes. This should not make her go all sour grapes on the LGBT's for not doing enough when it comes to the Occupation, because really, it just comes off as petty and alienating.
I've written before on the fact that the mainstream Queer movement isn't particularly political.
The mainstream LGBT movement, true to its character, is assimilationist. While many of its visible members will speak out against racism and other things, it is not a truly liberationists movement because we are still part of the Israeli mind set.
We're the only democracy in the Middle East, we're the best place for queers in the Middle East, yadda, yadda, yadda.
The problem is narrative and Dafna Golan is falling for it; She's saying what I've been saying, the inherent connection between the various oppressive structures in Israeli society and by default the effects on Palestinian society.
No problem there. However, when she's trying to argue that this issue is more important than that she's missing the point that no, it's actually our lives and not so much the "issues".
Saying the privileged in Tel-Aviv have it easy is obnoxious and just plain untrue, as she so callously ignores the intersection of queer identity along with Palestinian identity, just as an example.
Not to mention that trying to blame the fact that there aren't enough activists on the idea that there are other issues out there just reflects the fact that privilege still abounds.
That some rights are considered more important than others is not the LGBT Organisations' fault, nor is it their responsibility. The bubble burst a long time ago. What needs to be dealt with is the hot air blowing in every direction.
This Op-Ed came onto my mailing list as a "good" piece. Too bad it perpetuates the notion that LGBT fold are a monolith of opinion and that they're too selfish to think about the rights of others.
In the meantime, I'll continue to be an Israeli-Jewish queer who is pro-Palestinian.
Uncanny how those two notions go together!
Notes:
(1)Gal Uchovsky is a Big Name Gay. Considered one of the "leaders" of GLBT community by the mainstream, for the mainstream. He's a columnist, screen play writer and over-all celeb. Just fyi.
Back to text
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-27 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-27 07:50 am (UTC)Divide and conquer and all that crap.
As I wrote this post I realised I was way more pissed off than I realised, because seriously, seriously, she's harping about the fact that people aren't doing enough and blaming the fact that they should do more because they are gay and I'm... no no no!
Not a monolith!
no subject
Date: 2009-08-27 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-27 02:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-27 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-27 10:04 pm (UTC)One of my fave lecturers at Uni was a very active with them in the mid 00's