Hello, After careful consideration of the community’s insight and opinions, we have come to the conclusion that cancelling the “LGBT Rights in Israel” event scheduled for next Wednesday, June 11 is in the best interest of our mission as an organization rooted in social justice. It was never our intention to corroborate with a colonialist government or contribute to the pinkwashing of decades worth of Palestinian occupation and oppression. We want to thank those who encouraged us to reconsider our collaboration on this event and helped to raise our consciousness, as an organization and as individuals, about this important human rights issue. We are committed to expanding our knowledge about the complexities of the Palestinian struggle to better stand in solidarity with all those who suffer from oppression and violence as people or color, queer or otherwise. We also wish to recognize an understanding that both class and political struggle, along with other factors, do much to inform the frameworks through which social justice is interpreted, and that our experience as people living in the United States, cannot comprise a fully rational basis for relating to queer people of differing nationalities. We hope to show our allies and our community that we are teachable. We encourage you to keep holding us accountable as we work towards a heightened acknowledgment of the intersectionality of social justice work and the concerns of all queer people and people of color, both at home and abroad. In this spirit, we would to like to ask the community and those who have voiced concern about the event if, instead, it would be beneficial for GALAEI to hold a forum in which to discuss pinkwashing and homonationalism. This could be an opportunity for you to share how the mainstream LGBT community, queer community, particular organizations, or Philadelphians in general have participated in or fought against these enterprises. We look forward to hearing from you. In solidarity, GALAEI
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:48:00 +0000