Hello hello hello, time for the next essay in Transgender Marxism!
The PDF is here - https://transreads.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021-07-15_60f0b3d5edcb7_jules-joanne-gleeson-transgender-marxism-1.pdf
The intro discussion with links to all the essay discussions is here - https://lemmygrad.ml/post/395378
Feel free to join in on the discussion, I hope we all have a chance to learn something new together <3
Today’s essay is The Bridge Between Gender and Organising by Farah Thompson.
Farah Thompson is a Black, bisexual trans woman who lives in San Diego. She advocates for anti-imperialism, LGBT rights, decriminalisation of drug use and sex work, and self-determination of Black and colonized peoples. Her writing is found on longpaleroad.com
Edit: The discussion continues with an essay by JN Hoad here - https://lemmygrad.ml/post/424986
“Expressions that were once tolerated, even cherished, in some pre-colonial societies are now subject to debates about them being ‘Western influences’ by reactionaries”
“The only way trans women can answer all these pressures is by force, force alongside other marginalised peoples, because force is all we are allowed to be defined by. Force from dominant actors sets the limits of our subjugated life. If every step we make forms craters anyway, why retreat? If we displace space and time, and a presumed peace, just by standing around, where can we really hide? In this shifting context, poverty and pathologisation become the only stable things, and from that ethereal ground, we blossom”
That line is so fucking stellar. “If every step we make forms craters anyway, why retreat?”
“As much as some may be repulsed by me using the canvas of force to help enact positive change, there are limits to eloquent words and gentle pleas. Not all our battles can be won through deflating conflicts, clearly worded reasoning, and reconciliation. Fascists respond to power more than they do other people being right”
“The gun control laws and the minimal amount of welfare US citizens get today are responses to the power of the Black Panther Party organising alongside drug users, children, mothers, and perpetually unemployed people in Watts and beyond, who mobilised people that orthodox communist parties in the US dismissed.”
“In this case the very concept of Che’s love for humanity is a verb, one I’ve had to carry with me into spaces much different to ones he probably had in mind. But largely on the same grounds of resistance to imperialism and colonialism. For Black trans women, there is always a tension between force and grace, between taking up too much space and being civil. Organising is confronting these interpersonal problems on a much wider scale”
“I await the reprisal for speaking up like I await my abuser’s words and fists. But a good group makes the discussion of the uncomfortable possible and for one to come forward, battered by alienation, yet still be able to learn and contribute.”
As I thought, wasn’t able to provide commentary too much in some this, especially the call to action particular to Black trans women in the US. However that was a really great personal essay, lovely to see people with both disparate and common experiences who have arrived at a class consciousness and believe the place of the most oppressed is front and centre in organisation and revolution.
Thanks for reading along!