Audio Smut is a long running program on CKUT. Tune in once a month for a sex positive, queer positive show about sex, personal storytelling, erotic daydreams, fears, kinks and fantasies.

Every 1st Wednesday of the month, 6 - 7pm (EDT)

December 6, 2023: Pinkwashing, Homonationalism, and Queer Solidarity with Palestine

December 6th will mark the 61st day of the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. To date, approximately 16,000 people have been killed by Israel, with estimates of up to 20,000 people whose bodies have not yet been recovered from the rubble. Gaza, which has been under blockade since 2007 and complete siege since October 2023. The combination of misinformation and editorial bias that circulates in mainstream media, has made it difficult for many people in the West to fully understand the extent and impact of violence of Israel's war on Gaza. In addition, a propaganda campaign is well underway that conflates criticism of the state of Israel and anti-Zionism with antisemitism; despite a growing movement of Jewish anti-Zionist activists who have decried "not in our name."

Since the early 2000s, gay politics have become a key strategic branch of Israel's foreign policy approach, with the development of what many queer and trans activists have called pinkwashing. Pinkwashing is a public relations strategy to divert attention away from human rights violations, or even to justify these violations, by arguing that Israel is the only safe haven for queer and trans people in the Middle East. The Israeli state's systematic persecution of Palestinians is then justified by labelling all Palestinians as violent homophobes, fueling racist and Islamophobic tropes of Arabs and Muslims as exceptionally violent towards LGBTIQ+ people. This distorted representation erases many complexities in queer and trans rights globally, especially erasing the experiences of queer Palestinians. I encourage our listeners to read this Liberatory Demand from Queers in Palestine before listening to our next episode. From Shatzi Weisberger to the P!NK BLOC montréal, many queer and trans voices have made and continue to make themselves loud to demand a different kind of "not in our name".

How can queer and trans people outside of occupied Palestine not only resist the lure of pinkwashing and what scholar Jasbir Puar has called homonationalism, but also ignite and fortify their transnational solidarity towards the liberation of all Palestinians? For our December show, we are honored to interview Natalie Kouri-Towe, who has researched, published, and participated in queer solidarity movements with Palestine for almost two decades. Tune in this wednesday at 6pm on CKUT 90.3FM for a condensed yet thorough summary of what queer solidarity with Palestine is and could be.

Natalie Kouri-Towe is an Associate Professor and Program and Practicum Director for the Interdisciplinary Studies in Sexuality program at The Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University. She has published her research in both academic and non-academic venues on topics related to sexuality, solidarity, pedagogy, kinship, and attachment within the contexts of social movements, gender and sexuality studies, and activist responses to conditions of war in the Middle East.

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