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Title: Response to London Anarchist Bookfair 2017 Date: October 2017 Language: en Topics: transphobia, queer, bookfairs, identity politics, UK Source: https://londonbookfairopenletter.wordpress.com/
We write today as a broad collective of anarchist and activist groups,
networks and individuals in London and across the UK. We are writing in
response to events at the 2017 London Anarchist Bookfair (LABF).
We condemn transphobia of any form in the strongest terms, and we refuse
to support any event that condones transphobic behaviour or language, or
allows the distribution of transphobic materials and literature. We see
this as complicity, and furthermore, we are disappointed in the actions
(or lack thereof) on the part of LABF organisers following the events of
Saturday. It is disappointing that, once again, LABF has let down and
created an unsafe space for many comrades.
During the 2017 event various transphobic leaflets were shared and a
number of people attending the LABF made transphobic, transmisogynistic
and dehumanising comments in a very public manner.
This is unacceptable behaviour and a form of violence directed at trans
people. The contents of the leaflets are not simply a “perspective” or a
“viewpoint” but are a form of ignorance, violence and aggression
directed specifically at trans women. They are intended to humiliate,
harm and dehumanise trans people. The consequences of leaflets like
these are not discussion and debate but psychological trauma, terror and
death for women of trans experience. To allow these leaflets to spread
unchecked creates an environment in which transphobia is not only
allowed but encouraged and anyone who is affected by their contents can
no longer safely or comfortably access the space.
This is not a question of freedom of speech, or freedom of expression.
This is a question of feminist resistance. This is a question of
refusing to let trans comrades be terrorised. It is not about playing an
identity trump card, but granting the bare minimum conditions for trans
and gender-variant comrades to take part in the event – conditions that
many can simply take for granted. We are anarchists and activists and we
seek to dismantle hierarchies of oppression. As such, we stand in full
solidarity with those who resisted the spread of violent hate speech,
and those who acted to challenge the violent hate speech of both the
people distributing the leaflets and those defending the ideas contained
within. The dignity and humanity of our trans comrades is neither
debatable nor negotiable.
We understand the impulse to protect comrades who have earned our
respect through their actions in the past. We believe in having each
other’s backs and offering support and solidarity to those who we feel
are being attacked, assaulted or harmed. We believe in offering support
and solidarity to those who have been targeted and harassed by the state
and by the police. We believe that those who experience state violence
for their political work must stand in solidarity with those who
experience state violence for their existence.
We do not believe in allowing our trust and respect for those we have
struggled alongside to blind us to the harm they are doing with their
views and with their actions. We do not believe that ignoring racist,
transphobic or misogynistic views or actions is an act of support, we
believe it is an act of enabling harm.
Comrades we trust can have harmful views. Comrades we have organised
with for decades can have harmful views. Our trust in each other as
activists and as anarchists does not mean we can never be critical,
never challenge each other’s ideas. It does not mean we believe our
comrades can never be wrong, and it does not mean we blindly protect
each other from criticism.
Calling out harmful behaviour is about holding each other to the
commitment that we can do and be better. It’s important that if we are
to call ourselves a movement we cannot shy away from being accountable
to each other for the harms we can and do cause – this is the basis of
our mutual liberation.
While previously Bookfair organisers have insisted that any disputes be
decided amongst ourselves, this year, and for this issue, they chose to
step in and offer protection and support to people promoting transphobic
hate speech. This is part of a pattern of response from Bookfair
organisers where incidents of transphobia, anti-semitism, islamophobia,
racism and misogyny are ignored, or declared to be only resolvable by
those directly affected. We have repeatedly seen situations escalate –
sometimes to physical confrontation – because those being harmed and
marginalised are not offered support.
Worse still, as we saw this weekend, organisers have stepped in to
defend and support those who use oppressive, violent and dehumanising
language to perpetuate racist, colonial and patriarchal systems of
oppression. To be clear: this is not the first time this has happened
and this is not the first time these and other issues have been raised
directly with organisers and those involved with the Bookfair.
We write today as anarchists, kin and comrades; as people who have
tabled and run workshops at the bookfair; as people who have attended,
supported and felt an investment in the Bookfair over many, many years.
It’s valuable to us that there is a space where anarchists and their ilk
can meet each year and celebrate our strengths, achievements, and
ongoing struggles. To share knowledge, invest in friendships and build
new ones.
We also write as people who have also been progressively alienated over
the years by the culture of the Bookfair, who believe that a commitment
to anti-capitalist struggle involves a responsibility to think about
colonialism and imperialism, about patriarchy and gendered oppression,
about racism and white supremacy. Resisting capitalism lies in resisting
these forms of oppression, not in reproducing them.
When a space allows for transphobia and trans-misogyny to go unchecked,
and furthermore, when it allows racist imperialism, anti-semitism,
Islamophobia, misogyny and ableism to ingratiate themselves as part of
the culture of the Bookfair, it no longer acts as that dreamed of
utopian space, but rather as merely yet another space for enacting the
same societal oppressions and aggressions. If the Bookfair cannot evolve
beyond this, it is unfortunately no longer a space that we can be a part
of.
With this in mind we lay out the following demands on the organisers of
the Bookfair:
with the United Friends & Family Campaign Annual Demonstration and to
actively promote attendance at the annual UFFC March.
what kinds of behaviour and views are unacceptable and unwelcome at the
Bookfair, and what action will be taken by organisers if these
boundaries of acceptable behaviour are ignored by attendees or speakers.
boundaries and that speakers, those hosting meetings, and those with
stalls must clearly commit to in order to be able to participate.
the program of the Bookfair by providing space for workshops and
meetings and actively seeking out local black, brown and people of
colour led groups to work with and run these meetings.
program of the Bookfair by providing space for workshops and meetings
and actively seeking out queer and trans lead groups to work with and
run these meetings.
making sure that workshops and meeting spaces are able to be physically
entered by people using wheelchair or mobility devices and that movement
through and around the buildings is not reliant on having to wait for an
organiser to open a door or operate a lift. Secondly, by incorporating
into the program workshops relating to accessibility and disability
struggles led by those directly affected by these issues.
without exception given.
Meeting these demands will be a starting point for re-engagement and the
possibility of rebuilding trust with organisers, it is not a guarantee.
Until these demands are meaningfully engaged with we will no longer
participate in or be associated with the London Anarchist Bookfair. This
means we will not host a stall, have any meetings or workshops, take out
advertising space in the program, or in any way promote the event.
Further, we will encourage our members and associated groups to picket
the LABF in the future and provide material to those attending about the
problems we have identified and the demands we are making.