Solidarity Trip Expenses
Donation protected
We are two queer/trans* diasporic South Asian activists and artists. Collectively we compose the performance duo DarkMatter. We are planning a solidarity visit to Palestine this summer to work with the queer Palestinian organization al-Qaws as well as build connections with other anti-colonial activists (particularly young organizers) in Palestine.
We are headed to Palestine for two reasons:
1) our frustration that the queer, transnational solidarity movement with Palestine has been dominated by white voices, and
2) to explore connections between our colonial histories and those in Palestine, and how those connections can be mobilized in contemporary struggle.
While in Palestine, we will be focusing on writing workshops and performances centering the experiences of colonized peoples. This is about writing as resistance and as healing; it is about documenting narratives in the face of erasure. We will also be reflecting more broadly on what south-to-south solidarity looks like, and how to build collective resistance between queer people of color in the United States and Palestine, both of whom face particular anti-colonial struggles on occupied land. We intend to produce writing in the form of blog posts, poetry, and essays on the same.
Our trip is not funded. We are asking for community support to defray our out-of-pocket expense, which includes flight costs, ground transportation, and food during our stay. We're requesting a $20-30 base (but really, whatever you're able to give). For folks who can give $50 or more, we'll send you a copy of our latest e-book. If you're able to give $100 and up, we'll write you a poem (on anything you like).
Feel free to share this page privately with folks in your network who would be willing and able to contribute. Thank you so much--we can't do this without y'all's support!
Bios:
Alok is an artist and activist currently dreaming in the Bay Area who is committed to bridging the gap between queer theory and queer activism, building anti-racist and bodies and movements, and building transnational solidarity. In the the past they have traveled to South Africa and India as a solidarity activist to organize with queer/trans movements. Most recently they edited Toward Gender Inclusivity a groundbreaking text on transgender feminism in India.
Janani is an artist and agitator living and working in the Bay Area. They apply creativity and transformative design to food systems--in other words, helping to establish the material conditions by which peoples are able to participate in their own political struggles. Janani thinks about decolonizing science into poetry and using poetry as the building blocks of liberatory futures. They're Assistant Editor over at blackgirldangerous.org, an online forum for queer and trans* people of color. They're currently working on their first queer sci-fi novel, H.
We are headed to Palestine for two reasons:
1) our frustration that the queer, transnational solidarity movement with Palestine has been dominated by white voices, and
2) to explore connections between our colonial histories and those in Palestine, and how those connections can be mobilized in contemporary struggle.
While in Palestine, we will be focusing on writing workshops and performances centering the experiences of colonized peoples. This is about writing as resistance and as healing; it is about documenting narratives in the face of erasure. We will also be reflecting more broadly on what south-to-south solidarity looks like, and how to build collective resistance between queer people of color in the United States and Palestine, both of whom face particular anti-colonial struggles on occupied land. We intend to produce writing in the form of blog posts, poetry, and essays on the same.
Our trip is not funded. We are asking for community support to defray our out-of-pocket expense, which includes flight costs, ground transportation, and food during our stay. We're requesting a $20-30 base (but really, whatever you're able to give). For folks who can give $50 or more, we'll send you a copy of our latest e-book. If you're able to give $100 and up, we'll write you a poem (on anything you like).
Feel free to share this page privately with folks in your network who would be willing and able to contribute. Thank you so much--we can't do this without y'all's support!
Bios:
Alok is an artist and activist currently dreaming in the Bay Area who is committed to bridging the gap between queer theory and queer activism, building anti-racist and bodies and movements, and building transnational solidarity. In the the past they have traveled to South Africa and India as a solidarity activist to organize with queer/trans movements. Most recently they edited Toward Gender Inclusivity a groundbreaking text on transgender feminism in India.
Janani is an artist and agitator living and working in the Bay Area. They apply creativity and transformative design to food systems--in other words, helping to establish the material conditions by which peoples are able to participate in their own political struggles. Janani thinks about decolonizing science into poetry and using poetry as the building blocks of liberatory futures. They're Assistant Editor over at blackgirldangerous.org, an online forum for queer and trans* people of color. They're currently working on their first queer sci-fi novel, H.
Organizer
Dark Matter
Organizer
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