ACT UP Campaigns on/for Drug Users; Chicago Dyke March Controversy

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Published: 04 July 2017

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In June, Out-FM co-sponsored a conference with ACT UP/NY titled: 30 Years of ACT UP/NY: Hidden Histories and Voices, Lessons Learned. In our continuing excerpts from that remarkable event, we'll play the panel on campaigns by and for current and former drug users and harm reduction programs, from the 1980s to the current day. The two speakers are former ACT UP/NY members Tim Santamour, a longtime member of the harm reduction group Moving Equipment, and Annette Gaudino, Hepatitis C Project Co-Director for the Treatment Action Group. Panelists are introduced by former ACT UP/NY member & longtime Health GAP board member Amanda Lugg.

Emma Missouri brings us sound from the PEN America's "The Reading for AIDS Remembrance" on June 22. It was the first Pride event in New York City with public space dedicated specifically to AIDS remembrance, including poets, storytellers, and performers. We'll hear from two poets, Timothy Du White, and Ethelbert Miller.

A furious controversy has unfolded since the Chicago Dyke March on June 24th over its organizers' decision to ask members of an LGBT organization that fiercely supports the Israeli government's policies, including its occupation of Palestinian lands, to leave after provocative actions against pro-Palestinian marchers. Critics claim the action was solely due to the group's carrying of a rainbow flag with a star of David, and was anti-semitic. Defenders say it was a reasonable response to a deliberate provocation at an event that the pro-Israeli-government marchers knew had a principle of opposition to all forms of oppression. Naomi Brussel explores the controversy with Stephanie, a member of Chicago's Jewish Voice and a Chicago queer organizer.

The Dyke March Statement on the matter follows:

CHICAGO DYKE MARCH OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON 2017 MARCH AND SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE

More here

June 27, 2017

On June 24th, 2017, a small group of individuals were asked to leave Chicago Dyke March for expressing Zionist views that go directly against the march's anti-racist core values. In the days following, articles have appeared in a number of major news outlets that put forward false reports based on testimony that is purposefully misleading. We wish to clarify the circumstances under which organizers and community members alike asked the group to leave.

The group in question was heard disrupting chants, replacing the word "Palestine" with "everywhere," saying: "From everywhere to Mexico, border walls have got to go." One of the individuals, Laurel Grauer, is the Regional Director of A Wider Bridge, an organization with ties to the Israeli government that was protested for pinkwashing at the Creating Change Conference in Chicago in 2016. It was later revealed that Laurel was aware of Dyke March's anti-Zionist position from pro-Palestine memes and art that were posted on the Dyke March page, and was also aware of the fact that her flag could be interpreted as being at odds with that position. The night before, she contacted an organizer to ask if her flag would "be protested." The organizer told her the flag was welcome, but reminded her that the space is one that supports Palestinian rights.

Upon arrival at the rally location in Piotrowski Park, Palestinian marchers approached those carrying the flags to learn more about their intentions, due to its similarity to the Israeli flag and the flag's long history of use in Pinkwashing efforts. During the conversation, the individuals asserted their Zionist stance and support for Israel. At this point, Jewish allies and Dyke March organizers stepped in to help explain why Zionism was unacceptable at the march. There was an earnest attempt at engagement with these marchers, and the decision to ask them to leave was not made abruptly nor arbitrarily. Throughout a two-hour conversation, the individuals were told that the march was explicitly anti-Zionist, and that if they were not okay with that, they should leave.

Read more: ACT UP Campaigns on/for Drug Users; Chicago Dyke March Controversy

Out-FM’s Annual LGBTQ Pride Special

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Published: 24 June 2017

Sunday, June 25 from 11 AM – 3 PM

This year, previously apolitical LGBTQ Pride Parades around the country, under pressure from grassroots activists outraged by the Trump regime’s oppressive policies, have reluctantly become Resistance Marches. The Out-FM collective covered:

•    Pride March resistance contingents here in New York and elsewhere
•    Trans Day of Action
•    Gays Against Guns
•    CUNY Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies
•    LGBT people in Indonesia
•    New queer music
•    and more.
PLUS excerpts of the June 18 conference:
30 Years of ACT UP, Hidden Histories and Voices, Lessons Learned

Below find the segments played on hours 1 & 2 of the special.

You'll find the segments from the ACT UP at 30 Panel on Drug Users & Needle Exchange/Harm Reduction further down the page in a separate box.

 You can play the link below if you have flash enabled or from a HTML5 device. Click the green arrow to download the mp3

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KEN KIDD - RESISTANCE CONTINGENT (Track 01)
Ken Kidd was active in negotiating with the Heritage of Pride Committee in persuading them to have a Resistance Contingent lead the 2017 NYC Pride March. Naomi Brussel spoke to him on June 12 about how that process was accomplished.

JOHN GRAUWILER - GAYS AGAINST GUNS (Track 02)
Naomi attended the lively Gays Against Guns meeting at the Manhattan LGBT Center, shortly after their successful rally and memorial for those killed in the massacre at the Pulse dance club in Orlando, Florida on June 12, 2016. The memorial had been held near the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village on June 12, 2017. The group was extremely enthusiastic as it prepared for the Pride march set for two weeks later.

RASHIMA KWATRA  - GAY MEN IN INDONESIA (Track 03)

Naomi Spoke to Rashima Kwatra about the recent persecution of Gay men in Indonesia. Why is this discrimination increasing now? Some factors need more investigation. Like other capitalist economies, Indonesia's had a downturn after the global capitalist crash of 2008, though not as much as in other developing countries. After the 1997-98 economic crash in Southeast Asia, the Indonesian dictatorship was overthrown. How economic factors affect the society at this point is not clear. According to the website Indonesian Investment, its level of poverty and near-poverty is around 25%. Also,  as Rashima points out, the influence of a more conservative form of Islam in the past few years is having an effect on social attitudes. Here's Naomi's interview with Rashima.

25th NYC DYKE MARCH (Tracks 04 & 05)
Naomi went to the march on June 24.  Here's a little of the sound of it.

 TRANS DAY OF ACTION

The Audre Lorde Project’s Trans Justice Program organized the 13th annual Trans Day of Action (TDOA) on June 23. Speakers at their rally focused on 11 Points of Unity:

1. full determination over our bodies
2. an end to harassment and brutality and police violence
3. justice for those who have been criminalized and brutalized
4. access to public and private spaces
5. full legalization of migrants and sanctuary for TGNC migrants
6. opposition to the prison-industrial complex and solidarity with TGNC people in prison
7. end of the "War on Terror"
8. the right to appropriate healthcare
9. respect for people on public assistance
10. equal access to employment
11. respectful and safe housing.

The first voices that Naomi Brussel brings from the event are Trans Justice members Terry Squires and Sapphire, who speak about housing issues and the homeless shelter system. Then you'll hear from other supporters and participants, including marchers from Services and Advocacy for Gay Elders (SAGE), the community group UPROSE (United Puerto Ricans of Sunset Park), the South Asian Group BAYAN, Outright Action International, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project.

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Conference Excerpts: 30 Years of ACT UP, Hidden Histories and Voices,
Lessons Learned

Below find the ACT UP at 30 Panels

You can play the link below if you have flash enabled or from a HTML5 device. Click the green arrow to download the mp3

(More at actupny.com)

On June 18, WBAI’s Out-FM program co-sponsored a daylong conference with ACT UP/New York, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, titled “30 Years of ACT UP/NY: Hidden Histories and Voices, Lessons Learned.” Three decades after the founding of the iconic direct-action group, and the spread of its chapters around the world, corporate media have rewritten the movement’s history to elevate a small number of white people, almost all gay men, as the heroes who supposedly saved the world from the AIDS pandemic. Meanwhile, the vast army of activists who did the day-to-day work – including many lesbians, people of color, and current and former drug users – have been ignored, and many of ACT UP’s most important victories have been forgotten. So Out-FM wanted to play excerpts from that conference, which brought together a remarkable set of voices rarely heard in the corporate media.

Read more: Out-FM’s Annual LGBTQ Pride Special