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• Demand grows to take Cuba off list of terrorism sponsors
• Build National March for Trans Youth!
• Good riddance to Pat Robertson: Preacher of bigotry came from the ruling class
• Teamsters fight for union rights
• Longshore workers to review proposed union contract
• A trans person reflects on Cuba and Florida: 90 miles and a world apart
• ‘What do we want? Reparations!’ Celebrating Juneteenth in Newark, N.J.
• Galveston reenacts Juneteenth
• The propaganda of history
• No pride in genocide: Boston rejects Zionist pinkwashing
• Honduras: Derecha perpetua ataques terroristas contra el pueblo
• Honduras: Expose right-wing attacks against the people
• Gobierno de PR intenta sustituir la población

June, 21 2023

We are writing as queer, trans, Two Spirit, non-binary, Palestinian, Arab, Black, Indigenous, white, Latinx, and Jewish people living in the Boston area on occupied Massachusett, Wampanoag, Nipmuc, and Wabanaki lands.

We were disappointed to learn that Boston Pride for the People chose to co-host a Pride event with the Israeli consulate and other zionist organizations. This event, framed as a celebration of the experiences of queer Jewish community members, centers the experiences of queer Israeli settlers living on top of Palestinian villages stolen through violent expulsion and colonialism. This event is part of a broader strategy of recruiting support for the Israeli state by rebranding itself as queer-friendly in an effort to mask the Israeli state’s ongoing violence against Palestinians—known as “Brand Israel.” The Brand Israel campaign intentionally markets Israel as a “gay-friendly” country and a gay tourism destination, a strategy that queer Palestinians and those in solidarity have termed “Pinkwashing.”

The Pinkwashing narrative that Israel is gay-friendly is not only harmful to Palestinians, it is also disingenuous and false. LGBTQ+ marriages are not legal in Israel. Egregiously, the Israeli military threatens and attempts to extort Palestinians based on private information about their gender, sexual history, and medical needs. This practice, which can include threatening to “out” LGBTQ+ Palestinians, displays the violent character of zionism that is antithetical to queer liberation. As Al-Qaws, a queer Palestinian organization writes, “The open inclusion of gay officers in the Israeli occupation army is used as proof of liberal forward-mindedness, but for Palestinians the sexuality of the soldier at a checkpoint makes little difference. They all wield the same guns, wear the same boots, and maintain the same colonial regime.”

Despite being told why this event would be harmful, Boston Pride for the People still chose to co-sponsor this event with the Israeli Consulate. While professing to be progressive and inclusive of oppressed communities, BP4TP has chosen to exclude Palestinian queers and their allies, including other Indigenous people, members of other communities of color, and anti-zionist Jews from the local LGBTQ+ community through their sponsorship of this event.

The harm behind this event is further illustrated by the actions of its cosponsors. For example, Combined Jewish Philanthropies actively funds Israeli settlement projects and has provided $661,100 to the Boston Police Foundation. Wider Bridge, whose events have been protested across the country, explicitly aims to build support for the state of Israel among queer communities in the US.

This event, along with all pinkwashing and Brand Israel events, obfuscate the daily violence committed against Palestinians. This week, nearly 100 Palestinians were wounded and six were killed by Israeli forces invading Jenin. Just last week the Israeli state raided the Ein Beit Al-Mai refugee camp in the city of Nablus, demolishing a home, injuring six Palestinians, and killing twenty-year-old Palestinian Khalil Yahya Anis. At least 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of this year, at least 21 of them Palestinian children.

As queer and trans people and colonized people who are allies of the queer and trans struggle, we know that our history is a history of struggle and resistance. We are still resisting attacks on trans youth and violence against Black and Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+. Our struggle is also against imperialism and colonialism. Upon their arrival to Turtle Island, European colonizers not only attempted to destroy Indigenous connections to the land; they violently criminalized Two-Spirit, non-cisnormative, non-heteronormative, non-nuclear, non-monogamous experiences, reframing these natural ways of being as “deviant.” Resisting transphobia and homophobia means resisting colonialism, solidarity with Indigenous peoples, and rejecting these ideas that have been forced on us.

As Marsha P. Johnson said, there can be, “No Pride For Some of Us Without Liberation For All of Us.” We cannot claim to support queer and trans liberation while passively or actively supporting Israeli violence and colonialism.

SUPPORTERS OF THIS LETTER LISTED BELOW

Organizations supporting this letter:

Adalah Justice Project
Al-Awda New York
Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine
Boston Revolutionary Socialists
Brown Students for Justice in Palestine
Catalyst Project
Communist Workers League
Falastiniyat
Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice
Jewish Voice for Peace Boston
Jewish Voice for Peace Ohio
Malaya Movement Massachusetts
Massachusetts Bail Fund
Massachusetts Trans Political Coalition
MIT Coalition Against Apartheid
Muslims for Just Futures
North American Indian Center of Boston
Palestinian Feminist Collective
Palestinian Youth Movement Boston
Socialist Unity Party
Stonewall Liberation Organization
Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return at University of Washington
Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine
United American Indians of New England
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
Wellesley Students for Justice in Palestine
Women In Struggle-Mujeres En Lucha
Workers World Party Boston

Individuals supporting this letter:

Evelyn Lillemoe
Aaron Kirshenbaum
Randi F
Jill Charney
Zho Ragen
Darakshan Raja
Leah Muskin-Pierret
Clara Lincoln
Sandra Tamari
Bob McCubbin
Susie Lepow
Rhonda Davis
Rochelle Watson
Hope Denese Freeman
M Liebert
Melinda Butterfield
Bijin B
Heike Schotten
Lux Trevelyan
Jillian Ferreira
Kevin Heaton
Emmaia Gelman
Saif R
Lita Kelley
Meriam I
Ali A
Haya Aldoori
Graciela Berman Reinhardt
Shannon Lawler
Jeff Melnick
Elizabeth Ruckus
S Flynn
Aicha Belabbes
bob bowes
Owen B
Molly Tunis
Alexander S
Ankush B
Johannah Murphy
Aliza Shapiro
Pam Rogers
Jordan H.
Anthony Davis-Pait
Ron Davis
Molly W
Aliyah Chutkan
Jake Pettigrew
Amahl Bishara
Emery Jeffreys
William R.
Tara A
Kathy Roberts
Evan Greer
Sara Driscoll
Evan G
Jadyn L
Rory P
Ester S.
Robin Ruhm
Chase Spearance
Lilienne Rapoza
Isaac Rodriguez Zuniga
Sara Amin
Eleanor Roffman
Safiyyah Ogundipe
Cat Knarr
Maggie Vascassenno
Sharon Black
Susanna Bohme
Leo G
Jude G
Cameron R.
Dina Jacir
Johnny Lapham
Alice W
Evalynn Davis
Elizabeth Endo
Steve Lord
Sibelle Grisé
Madeline Poage
Mairead Skehan Gillis
Ava Ladd
Ali Blake
Will H.
Susan K. Jacoby

SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 2023 AT 12:00 PM EDT
Join Baltimore Pride March Contingent
34th Street & N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218

The Peoples Power Assembly will be participating in the Baltimore Pride March under the banner of “Protect Trans Youth and People” “Black Trans Lives Matter”. You can join us in the March by meeting at our staging area at North Charles and slightly above 34th Street by 12 noon. Organizers will meet at 11 am, so you are free to come earlier. But don’t be late or you will not be able to get in. All genders and sexual orientations are welcome. We are supporting the Oct 7 national March in Orlando to Protect Trans Youth & People — so help is also needed to distribute literature. The March is short — from N. Charles St and 33rd Street to 23rd Street (10 blocks) and will end at the Block Party. Our office will be open during the Block Party for refreshments and literature.

Pride Month Webinar – Cuba’s Queer Rights Revolution – Eyewitness Cuba

Just 90 miles from Ron DeSantis’s Florida, socialist Cuba is making huge advances in LGBTQ+ rights with its new Families Code.

• How did Cuba achieve the ‘most advanced policy in the world’? *Why isn’t the U.S. media reporting it?
• Why does Biden maintain Trump’s punishing blockade measures and keep Cuba on the state sponsors of terrorism list?
•  Hear from LGBTQ+ activists from across the U.S. who went to Cuba to see for themselves.
• Learn how queer rights are being prioritized from the grassroots to the National Assembly.
• Why U.S. queers should work to end the U.S. blockade of Cuba, and how you can join next year’s delegation.

PANELISTS

• Lizz Toledo, Women in Struggle-Mujeres en Lucha • Atlanta
• Serena Sojic-Borne, Real Name Campaign & FRSO • New Orleans
• Jordan David, Lavender Guard • Los Angeles
• Deirdre Deans, Women in Struggle • Atlanta
• Gregory Esteven, Socialist Unity Party • New Orleans
• Kiana Fok, Peoples Power Assembly & Friends of Latin America • Baltimore
• Melinda Butterfield, Women in Struggle • New York

HOSTED BY

Women in Struggle / Mujeres en Lucha
An affiliate of the Women’s International Democratic Federation

All Out to Support the struggle for
Justice 4 Palestinian Martyr Nizar Banat!
Join us on Sunday, June 18th at 4 pm
Bay Ridge Community Development Center,
9818 Fort Hamilton Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11209

Organized by Palestinian Assembly for Liberation & Al-Awda-NY,
endorsed by NY4Palestine, AMP-NJ, & PYM

“Traitors” is the actual voice of Nizar Banat talking about the Palestinian Authority. Hear his brother and their lawyers speak to their demands for accountability for his murder.

Sunday 6/18, 4 pm, Bay Ridge Community Development Center, 9818 Fort Hamilton Pkwy, Brooklyn, 11209

Join us in Brooklyn as part of the U.S. Speaking Tour for Justice for Palestinian activist Nizar Banat and all human rights defenders oppressed by the israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority. Two years after Nizar Banat’s brutal murder, Nizar’s family demands justice.

Nizar Banat was an outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority. He was killed after being beaten during a PA raid, as officers arrested him. Banat’s family say the focus has been on low-ranking officers and not the Palestinian officials who gave the orders.

The event will feature Ghassan Banat, Nizar’s brother, and Mohanad Karajah and Thafer Saadieh of Lawyers for Justice, who are documenting violations carried out to submit to the International Criminal Court.

Join our Facebook event for updates and more background information:
https://www.facebook.com/events/789490579379080?

On June 3rd The Palestinian Assembly for Liberation Unite To Return Conference hosted the brother of the honorable martyr Nizar Banat along with Education and Labor Expert Monadel Herzallah and Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) Omar Shakir to discuss mechanisms and third state and third-party engagement to protect Palestinian democracy activists from Zionist and Zionist-coordinated repressive, foreign and internal forces, within Palestine.

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• Workers at Target attacked by far-right
• ILWU to celebrate Juneteenth with a shutdown
• Cleophas Williams: My Life Story in the ILWU Local 10
• Solidarity and defiance at Trans Pride March
• ‘ Pride on the picket line’ for Writers Guild strike
• They stole us, they sold us, they owe us: Reparations must be paid!
• December 12th Movement shuts down Harlem’s 125th Street in honor of Malcolm X
• NYC’s biggest hate march protested
• LGBTQ+ delegation meets with Federation of Cuban Women
• War criminal Kissinger doesn’t deserve to be 100 years old
• South Korean prisoners of conscience: ‘They are still warriors’
• U.S. proxy war: Kakhovka dam and the weaponization of water
• Defienden educación pública
• NO causa para detenidos por el Gobierno de Puerto Rico

Saturday, June 10 – 2:00 to 6:00 p.m.
5278 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles
Free admission

Welcome back to the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice as we show how our space is an even greater representation of our movement — in both beautiful depictions of the struggle on our walls and interior design.

Plus, speakers who will show this space is a part of their community organizing and building of our working class and liberation movements … including your voice and activism. It’s a place to discover others who want to also build a better world and community with you.

Atlanta: All Out to Stop Cop City
Monday, June 5 – 11:00 am
City Hall, 55 Trinity Avenue SW, Atlanta, GA

On June 5, City Council will vote on the funding of Cop City. No matter the vote, Cop City will NEVER BE BUILT!

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2023 AT 6:00 PM CDT
Eyewitness Report: LGBTQ Rights in Cuba
2533 Columbus St, New Orleans

Join us at Parish Hall, 2533 Columbus St., Jun 22 at 6pm for an eyewitness report back on LGBTQ rights on this progressive island!

In May, a solidarity delegation organized by Women in Struggle traveled to Havana to bear witness to the achievements of the LGBTQ community there.

We saw the fruits of the new Families Code, a groundbreaking law advancing equality for all families, women, LGBTQ people, disabled people, and elders. Come learn about the country with us!

As Pride Month begins, last year’s anti-trans panic has grown into a full-blown campaign for trans extermination. We call on the whole movement for social and economic justice, against war and racism, for civil rights and immigrants’ rights, to join the mobilization for a National March to Protect Trans Youth and Trans Lives in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Queer people are under attack in the U.S. like never before, with Pride festivities curtailed and even canceled in Florida and other states at the instigation of bigots like Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, a candidate for the presidency in 2024 running on a platform of hate. 

Among a raft of hate legislation DeSantis signed into law on May 17 – the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia – is one that supports kidnapping trans children across state lines to forcibly detransition them.

Fear is widespread among trans people and the broad LGBTQ2S community across the U.S., especially in those states that have enacted laws cutting off lifesaving gender-affirming health care, revoking trans people’s civil rights and the very ability to exist in public without threat of arrest or violence. 

The murderous attacks by far-right governments in state capitals and by neo-fascist gangs in the streets must be met with militant resistance in the spirit of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and the movement to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. 

Waiting for the next election, banking on the protection of a president and Democratic Party that show no inclination to defend even the most basic rights of LGBTQ2S people, women, immigrants, and BIPOC communities, is not an option. 

Only the people, organized and mobilized in the streets in a way that threatens the profits of Wall Street and the billionaire class’s ability to govern, can turn the situation around. 

And it is possible to do so – we need only look at the massive outpouring of anti-racist resistance following the police murder of George Floyd three years ago, which shook the political elites and their billionaire backers to the core.

In school, before the current wave of book and history bans, many of us learned a variation of the poem “First They Came” by Pastor Martin Niemöller about the rise of German fascism in the 1930s:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.

Today they are coming for trans people – and the outlines of the next targets are already clearly drawn on the backs of cisgender queers, working women, immigrants, Black and Brown people, union members, socialists, communists, and ultimately every worker.

For many of our siblings, our rights and very lives are on the line today – and they are coming for you next. 

It’s time to fight. It’s time to resist with boldness and courage.

Join us in the streets – in the spirit of Stonewall!