The World Social Forum: Free Palestine [1] to be held in Porto Alegre, Brazil from November 28 to December 1, 2012 will bring together activists from around the world organizing for justice in Palestine. Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (PQBDS) [2], Pinkwatching Israel, and alQaws: for sexual and gender diversity in Palestinian society [3] invite activists, social movements, and queer groups to endorse Queer Visions at the World Social Forum: Free Palestine [4].

We oppose the attempt to coopt LGBT/Queer communities into Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. We aim to promote an analysis of sexual politics as inherent to Israeli settler colonialism and occupation, explore the linkages between the struggle for queer liberation and the struggle for Palestinian liberation, and mobilize local and international activist and social movements around BDS, pinkwashing, and queer politics. We stand by the goals of the forum. These goals are to:

1) End Israeli occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;

2) Ensure the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality;

3) and Implement, protect, and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

We will gather in Porto Alegre to discuss future goals and strategies, to create strong local and international networks, and to mobilize a comprehensive global movement for Palestinian self-determination and radical queer politics.

Our goals are to:

ESTABLISH a link between sexual politics and queer activism as inherent to the Palestinian Liberation Struggle.

BUILD a queer discourse and activist practice that does not separate itself from struggles against colonialism, racism and neoliberalism.

CREATE a platform of exchange for activists who work on pinkwashing and queer BDS.

STRATEGIZE around the next two years of local and international anti-pinkwashing and queer BDS activism, campaigns, and actions.

ENRICH BDS analyses, strategies and politics by presenting a comprehensive vision on the sexual politics of Israel’s occupation and apartheid system.
NETWORK with activists from around the world and forge new connections with social movements and activists in Latin America.

EVALUATE the work of queer activism for Palestine, examining challenges and issues that have come up over the past few years and discuss ways to overcome them.

In order to achieve the above goals, we aim to provide two main activities:

A WORKING CONFERENCE for anti-pinkwashing and anti-racist activists to exchange and strategize around future work on BDS and pinkwashing.

OPEN PUBLIC EVENTS AND PLENARY SESSIONS to present BDS work in queer and LGBT communities within the broader structure and work of the World Social Forum and emphasize the intersectionality between different struggles.

We ask you to show your support by endorsing our initiative. We ask you to share your endorsement on your media outlets and send it to the international organizing committee via queers wsfpalestine.net. We will collect all the support letters and publish them on Pinkwatching Israel.

We look forward to hearing from you!

The Organizing Committee

Taskforce for Queer Visions at the World Social Forum: Free Palestine

ENDORSEMENTS

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) – Toronto

Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT) – San Francisco

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) – International

The Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR) – International

KAOS GL - Turkey

Meem – Lebanon

Nasawiya – Lebanon

Muntada al Jensaneya – Palestine

GAYa NUSANTARA – Indonesia