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Title: Arm Trans Women Author: Sovereign Beast Language: en
There is an ongoing campaign to exterminate trans women.
It doesnât take a particularly attentive observer to notice this. Anyone
paying any attention at all has probably put it together, at this point-
between figures like Lily Cade and Robert Foster calling for the
execution of trans people and their allies, far-right conspiracies of
child abuse, and the rabid hatred visited on any random trans woman who
is active on social media, it is- if anything- harder to ignore than it
is to see it.
Much like the satanic panic, a reactionary witch hunt- âjustifiedâ
through accusations of pedophilia, abuse, and degeneracy- has spread
like wildfire, with trans women as the primary targets. This hatred
forms the heart of a reactionary political project aimed at destroying
queerness and re-affirming patriarchal gender norms as an unquestionably
normative way of being.
As we speak, fascist paramilitaries perform assassination drills,
training to draw and fire on unsuspecting targets before they are
noticed. Politicians pass laws against transition, against the use of
public spaces, against the very act of existing as a trans person. Trans
men- often erased in the reactionary propaganda, when they arenât
treated as the victims of trans womenâs supposed corrupting influence-
become targets as well, almost by accident, as the reactionary hate cult
targets any âunclearâ or explicitly queer gender presentation.
In light of our current situation, trans people must quickly adapt new
strategies to survive in a quickly changing social and political
environment which is opposed to our very existence. To fail could quite
possibly mean death.
So what is to be done?
It is easy to fall into various maladaptive coping mechanisms when
considering the extent of the dilemma we face as trans people. We must
oppose both the despair of believing it is impossible for us to act and
the illusion that we can succeed without first developing successful
strategies and organizing to implement them.
The first step is to come to terms with our situation. To do this, we
must understand our situation- both on the macro scale, and in our own
narrower individual conditions. Every one of us has our own context, and
in order to develop strategies which will succeed, we must take into
account both our individual and collective circumstances.
Begin by considering what resources you personally have available. How
much money do you have? What tools do you have- cars, first aid kits,
etc? What skills do you have? Be honest with yourself when making these
assessments- both underestimating and overestimating your resources and
capabilities lead to making poor strategic decisions long term.
After this, consider your flaws- the weaknesses you have. Again, be
honest when considering this. Ignoring a personal flaw or weakness is
bad- but so is hyperfixating on your flaws and becoming obsessed with
them. Your weaknesses and faults can be worked around, or even fixed if
given time.
Next, consider your social situation. What is your community like? Does
your community offer you resources? Do you have friends and allies who
would be willing to help? Can you make friends and allies? On the flip
side, what threats does your community pose to you? Do you have enemies,
or people who seem likely to become your enemies/opposition when you
begin to act?
If it helps, frame this analysis in terms of identifying Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This âSWOT Analysisâ is a tool
used by business schools to teach students the basic elements of
strategic analysis- although in their case, the focus is ostensibly on
identifying exploitable skills and resources for building a business.
Regardless, once you have a clear idea of your individual situation, you
can move on to step two- actually building your strategy.
You should already have identified the resources you have personally
available, the skills you have to offer, who your existing and potential
allies and enemies are, and what resources you can get access to in your
community. From here, you should attempt to reach out to your allies and
begin organizing.
The most simple form of an organization is an affinity group. The
affinity group is just that- a group of people, generally no more than
five or six, who share common goals and interests. To build this group,
you need to identify what your long term goals and interests are, and
the short term goals and objectives you need to accomplish towards these
ends. Given the context, we can safely assume that we all share a
primary long term goal of âsurvivalâ- but how we go about accomplishing
this is going to depend on our individual contexts. Someone who has few
immediate threats will be able to take a more long-term approach,
preparing for the non-immediate threats they face, whereas someone who
is in a dangerous situation will need to address that situation as
quickly as they can. This will, quite obviously, affect your goals- and
the goals of any affinity groups you form- quite significantly.
Over time, your situation will change, and organizations must change to
adapt to it. Some affinity groups will likely grow in size, and become
more centrally organized- at which point they cease to be affinity
groups and become some other form of organization. Others will split,
network, and form ties between themselves, other affinity groups, and
other organizations. Both approaches offer certain positives and
negatives.
Personally, coming at things from an anarchist perspective, I prefer the
decentralized organization over the centralized one, and oppose any
organization which would establish a hierarchical system of control.
However, we should avoid being dogmatic about the structure of these
groups, or attempt to restrict calls towards militant trans organization
to exclusively anarchist trans women. All trans people face reactionary
violence. I am not going to tell a liberal- or even conservative- trans
person that they shouldnât organize to resist the forces of reaction. If
there is a significant number of Maoist trans women who want to form the
Trans Red Guard, or a cadre of socially conservative cottagecore trans
preppers who form a militia, they are my allies in the fight against
those political forces which are calling for my extermination in that
they are quite literally fighting for their lives against the same
people who want to end mine.
While Iâm not interested in telling anyone what they should do, or
trying to define and control how they organize ahead of time, however, I
will note that in order to accomplish the ultimate goal here- surviving
a reactionary campaign of violence against trans women- any organization
must necessarily address the pressures of reactionary violence, social
ostracization, and the soft exile from âpoliteâ society which trans
women face.
It is my belief that in order to do this, our organizations must
prioritize building durable communities of mutual aid and support, as
well as a militant dedication to defending trans people from reactionary
violence.
Further, my own analysis of society shows that dedicated trans allies
are few and far between. The majority of allies- even ones which do
genuinely support and promote trans people- will not offer significant
assistance to trans causes. You will not find many allies willing to put
their bodies between trans people and reactionary violence. Hell- you
will not find many trans people willing to put their bodies between
other trans people and reactionary violence.
Because of this, it seems likely that the ultimate form of the
organization we speak of here will be primarily (but not entirely) trans
women who recognize that in order for them to survive, they must build
militant communities with strong frameworks of mutual aid and support.
So how do we get there?
The key here is mutual aid and the structure of the affinity group.
Mutual aid forms the basis of a strong social and material structure.
This structure lays the groundwork for a self-sustaining community- one
which can rapidly expand due to the structure of networked affinity
groups.
Even outside the immediate framework of the networked affinity groups,
the structure of mutual aid encourages the formation of community. In
this sense the framework becomes a backbone or scaffolding around which
community grows.
It is, however, of VITAL importance that this community- and especially
the framework of networked affinity groups- be able to defend themselves
against reactionary violence. In order to do this, the mutual aid
framework must be expanded with the understanding that mutual aid also
includes mutual defense and support.
So, what is mutual defense?
At the core of mutual defense is the recognition that we can not resist
reactionary violence on our own. There is no way for any single person
to develop all the skills necessary for the task, and even if such a
hyper-competent person were to exist, they would still need to take time
to rest.
Individuals form communities because supporting one another means better
support for themselves. In order to provide security for ourselves, we
must provide security for one another as well.
The forms this takes arenât fixed. Despite common misconceptions
propagated by right wing gun culture, defense and security security
doesnât just mean having guns or being âan operator.â Look at the
military. There are many skills and roles involved in providing
âdefenseâ beyond being a person with a gun, including (but not limited
to) cybersecurity, legal counsel, radar technicians, even intelligence
operatives. The context of âdefenseâ and âsecurityâ is situational, and
the necessary skillset for one set of security needs is going to be
entirely different from the skillset required elsewhere, for another set
of security needs.
Mutual defense is the recognition that security is a need which can- and
indeed, in some cases must- be provided through the framework of mutual
aid. The security needs of the trans community include the ability to
resist explicit violence- but also legal security, secure housing,
access to food, and countless other issues. Because the skills and
proficiencies involved can be learned, and the equipment and resources
required can be obtained, even if an individual or group does not
initially have these skills and tools they can develop them- but in
order to do so, they must first recognize the need exists.
Ideally, every individual will develop the essential skills of strategic
analysis to the point that they will be able to recognize security needs
and identify them. To be safe, however, it is probably a good idea to
deliberately foster a culture which promotes both this strategic
outlook, and a militant approach to security and defense.
Unfortunately, we do not have infinite time to organize. On the
âpositiveâ side, due to the nature of the pressures the trans community
faces, it is likely that people will be forced to organize- and existing
organizations (even ones of minimal size, like the affinity group) can
take advantage of the pressure to expand relatively quickly. Itâs hard
to predict what strategies, organizational structures, etc. will emerge
as things get worse, but donât get too caught up in worrying about
predicting or controlling things.
Build what networks you can, where you can. Donât be dogmatic, or wait
for the perfect opportunity to act- instead, try to make the most of the
opportunities and resources you have.
Above all else, there is a single goal you must keep in sight.
Survive.