Over the past few months, Palestinians have been rising up to call for our liberation from all colonial powers. Protests erupted in Jerusalem, Haifa, Yafa, and al-Lidd, along with several areas in the West Bank, as the “Israeli” military continued its aggression and destruction in the Gaza Strip.
In recent weeks, this wave of resistance continued in the protests against the Palestinian Authority following the assassination of political activist Nizar Banat, and later as the PA carried out its suppression and violent assault against protestors.
As LGBTQ / gender-nonconforming Palestinains, our voices and experiences have often been excluded and marginalized in political organizing spaces. Yet, in this moment of collective resistance, we need to reflect on the political questions that we as a society need to tackle and address, from a feminist/queer perspective.
On Wednesday, July 14, 2021 alQaws organized a live instagram panel, where activists from alQaws and Tal3at (a feminist Palestinian movement) relfected on several political feminist/queer questions:
- What is our definition of “justice” as feminists and queers?
- How do we challenge gendered power structures in society, while working as a society to resist colonial control of our bodies and lives?
- How do we read the PA blackmailing and threatening women to sow discord among protestors?
- How do we center our feminist and queer voices in popular resistance in all its forms?
You can watch the live recording of the discussion here (in Arabic).
This Instagram Live is part of our discussion series Hawamesh (translation: margins).
Hawamesh discussions bring different social and political issues related to sexual and gender diversity from the margins of mainstream social/political discourse to the forefront, and encourages society to engage with them as issues that affect all of us in Palestinian society. alQaws has organized Hawamesh discussions for several years, and in different areas, including Haifa, Ramallah, Nablus, Yafa, and Jerusalem, among others.