A trans Palestinian twitter user was posting that it didnt sit right with her and we had a little (polite) discussion about it.

  • Maoo [none/use name]
    ·
    10 months ago

    I think the invitation to contrast existential oppressions is risky because so many people subscribe to binary thinking. They start a thought process of, say, "X is a genocide and I think Y is a lesser oppression, so it's not genocide". Is that a useful or helpful thought process? I don't think so.

    Instead, we should emphasize our commonalities. Your Twitter user is both Palestinian and trans, facing both oppressions. They come, fundamentally, from the same sources, from capitalism, whether it's reinforcing normative gender identity to build a false consciousness for its own protection (fascism) or creating Lebensraum for its ethnic supremacists carrying out an ethnic cleansing project in the interests of empire (fascism and imperialism). Both are reactionary and violent. Both rely on appeals to ancient authority and tradition to justify their violence. Both rely on the dehumanization of their targets. Both will only be opposed through solidarity and building power as durably and quickly as we can.