Video of Conversation about Pinkwashing and Solidarity with WWU’s SUPER Chapter
For Israeli Apartheid week, I joined the SUPER chapter at Western Washington University and gave a talk on pinkwashing and how it emerged from a rights-based gay liberal inclusion politics, and what it looks like to resist that politics and center racial and economic justice in queer and trans liberation work. The first two minutes have some strange audio so I recommend skipping to 2:00 and diving in from there.
On Pinkwashing & Mainstreaming: Due to the efforts of vibrant social movements, attitudes have been changing about queer and trans people’s lives. Reform efforts aimed at increasing justice and survival for queer and trans people have become more visible. At the same time, mainstream institutions and governments have started to promote themselves as gay- or trans-friendly in order to get good PR, especially when they want to appear progressive to cover up harmful and violent practices. This process, called “pinkwashing,” raises questions for social movement activists about how we evaluate, understand, and respond to the reforms that emerge as our issues gain attention. How can we tell what will work to improve lives and what will just be lip service or good public relations for oppressive governments and corporations? In this lecture, Dean will share critical approaches being used by activists confronting these challenging questions.