March 21 International Day against Racism and Xenophobia
Translation from Catalan of the text read by Maria Giralt, president of Gender and LGBT Lab and director of this medium, representing the LGBTI community in the event organized by UCFR (Unitat contra el Feixisme i el Racisme) in Barcelona on the occasion of the day against racism and within the framework of the international call for #WorldAgainstRacism.
The extreme right has put the focus on the LGBTIQ community. The increase in attacks against gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and non-binary people in recent years, many of them at the hands of groups of young people, is a manifestation of totalitarian thought that is spreading throughout Europe and in the Spanish state.
Fighting against LGBTIphobia is not just the work of associations, which do their job very well, it is the responsibility of everyone, and from ALL areas. Whether or not they are LGBTIQ.
You don't have to be a woman to defend feminism. Nor black to fight against racism. Nor immigrant to fight against xenophobia.
But at the same time, we have to ask ourselves if it is enough to fight fascism go out with a banner, as we have been doing for the last forty years.
we have to find new tools to confront the totalitarian thought of the extreme right and the «deep state».
They have power, money, media, digital media and advisers like Steve Bannon.
It is necessary to develop new strategies to deal with them. "They will not pass" is no longer enough. The European and Spanish left has the obligation to correctly and adequately communicate its message to avoid the nihilism of society and the advance of fascism.
Inequalities have increased with the pandemic and we are losing rights without realizing it. (Where are the mobilizations against the Gag Law?).
Hate speech, pandemic, wars, biological laboratories, arms sales, control of energy and food resources, control of information and disinformation, digital control, digital passports (be very careful with them). Everything, absolutely everything, is interrelated. The control of our material environment, on the one hand, and control of our mind, for another.
At technocapitalism these two forms of override critical ability. George Orwell (1903 -1950) and Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) already warned us. Watch out and punish (1984) o distract and alienate (A happy world).
Now these two dystopias converge!
I'm just saying this, let's be vigilant. We need each other more than ever. But we need the talent of the left.
It may seem to you that I have gone off topic, but no. Because fascism is based on patriarchy, machismo and heteronormative.
And defending the rights of LGBTIQ people is fighting against totalitarianism. And for that, we need critical thinking and all your talent, imagination and courage.
Oh, don't forget to address an unknown person in Spanish just because they are not white, it's also racism.
Thank you very much and go ahead.
#StopVOX #ILPRegularization #StopIslamophobia #StopAntisemitism #StopLGTBIphobia #WorldAgainstRacism
