Video: QAIA w. Haneen Maikey + Saadia Toor on Islamophobia

 On October 25, QAIA joined with Haneen Maikey and Saadia Toor for a conversation about Islamophobia and pinkwashing -- and a fundraiser for al Qaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestine.  Here's the video!

This conversation will be the basis for thinking about our work going forward -- and for many more conversations. Please join us!

Please donate to Al Qaws' critical decolonizing work at their website.

Read more »

Video: QAIA & Sarah Schulman at the LGBT Center

On March 11, 2013, QAIA hosted Sarah Schulman for a reading at the LGBT Center -- the event that the Center had banned. The ban raised such an outcry that the Center was finally forced to deal with it... Here is the whole event!

Read more »

Connecting pinkwashing + NYC Islamophobia

QAIA cosponsored "Jewish Responses to Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Racism" this week, organized by Jews Against Islamophobia. The event a Congregation Beth Simchat Torah was
"a roundtable conversation about how we can strengthen our work as Jews committed to challenging Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism. We hope the conversation will help us think more deeply about how we can most effectively engage as partners and allies in one of the most pressing and important civil and human rights issues of our time." (JVP-NY)

QAIA brought this letter to add to the conversation:

Islamophobia and Queers: Exploring the Links

We thank the Jews Against Islamophobia Coalition for sponsoring a series of panels addressing the question of Islamophobia. These events have helped deepen the much-needed discussion of this issue here in NYC.

NYC Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, working in solidarity with LQBTQ Palestinians and in support of Palestinian self-determination, urges us all to look at how Islamophobia is embedded in the use of “gay rights” to promote Israel as a self-described democratic, open society. Ostensibly “gay friendly” Israel is always implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) contrasted to repressive homophobic Arab and Muslim societies, feeding on and fuelling Islamophobia.

Israel’s policies do not create a safe haven for Palestinian queers. Recognizing gay “rights” does nothing to advance or broaden a rights discourse in Israel. These are rights compatible with a “for Jews-only” sectarianism and with patriarchal structures that require women to get their husbands’ permission for a divorce.

Deploying gay rights is a cover-up -- referred to as pinkwashing. Israel has spent decades making Palestinian bodies disappear—the ongoing demolition of Arab villages, house demolitions in Jerusalem, expulsion of Arab Bedouins from the Negev, imprisonment for those who dissent.

Palestinian queer organizations have made clear that rights for gays in an overall situation of domination and disparagement of Arabs and Muslims do not advance freedom for any Palestinians.

We hope that all those who oppose racism will look at the links between Islamophobia and queers—from NYC to (the rising far right in) Europe to Israel/Palestine.

Specifically we ask you to join us in the boycott of gay tourism to Israel, as part of our support for the broader BDS campaign. The city of Tel Aviv alone has allotted $90 million dollars to promote itself as a gay paradise, including sending gay “diplomats” to the U.S. to enlist liberal gays to defend Israel’s power over and against Palestinians. In the coming months, QAIA will be working to challenge the promoting of gay tourism and we welcome your cooperation in this effort.

Read more »

Oct. 25 - QAIA with Haneen & Saadia: Queers, Islamophobia & Apartheid!

NYC QUEERS AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEID

host
HANEEN MAIKEY
alQaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society
and Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

and
SAADIA TOOR 
CUNY Associate Professor for Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work CUNY Associate Professor for Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, and NYC queer and Muslim activist

Moderated by Emmaia Gelman, NYC QAIA

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25th, 6:30-8:30pm

@ the North Star Fund, 520 Eighth Ave, 22nd Floor (near W. 36th St.)

Read more »

Immediate need: QuAIA's John Greyson & Tarek Loubani detained in Egypt

Many of us have met and worked with John Greyson of QuAIA Toronto. He's been detained in Egypt on the way to Gaza. He and Tarek Loubani, a friend who is detained along with him, need support. Needless to say, they're in danger as long as they're in custody.
PLEASE check http://tarekandjohn.com for information on simple, critical ways to help. Also please sign the petition to free John and Tarek.

How to contact US offices:
Egyptian Embassy: 202-966-6342 // embassy@egyptembassy.net
Canadian Embassy: Gary Doer, Ambassador (202) 682-1740 // enqserv@international.gc.ca


Information from the support website:
"Two Canadians, Dr. Tarek Loubani and filmmaker John Greyson, were arrested by Egyptian police on Friday, August 16 in Cairo.

They were en route to the Gaza Strip, where they are working on an academic and medical collaboration between the University of Western Ontario (UWO) and the main hospital in the Gaza Strip, the al-Shifa hospital.

Tarek Loubani is an emergency room medical doctor and assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Western Ontario (UWO). He is one of the architects of the Canada-Gaza academic collaboration, a project that has brought doctors from UWO to Gaza to train physicians in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS).

John Greyson is a professor at the Department of Film at York University and an award-winning film-maker. He is in the initial stages of working on a film to be produced in the region.

John and Tarek arrived in Cairo on August 15 with the intention of traveling to Gaza immediately. Given the volatile situation in Egypt, travel to the border with Gaza was problematic and they delayed their travel plan by one day.

We have heard through sources in Cairo that John and Tarek entered a police station on Friday evening, as they were lost and needed help with directions back to their hotel. At this point they were promptly arrested.  At 4pm Toronto time (10pm Cairo time), Tarek called his primary contact in Canada with the very short message: “we are being arrested by Egyptian police”.

Since their arrest, we have had no contact with either Tarek or John. Canadian consular officials have visited them where they are being held, and we have been told that they are “okay”.

Beyond this, we have currently not been able to confirm their status or condition, or speak to them directly. We are asking Egyptian authorities to release John and Tarek immediately.

We know there are many people eagerly awaiting news and their release, and we will distribute information as we know more."

Read more »

After the QPH forum: More straight people tell queers how great Israel is for us.

From Pauline, a heads up about the Queens Chronicle's reaction to the Palestine forum at Queens Pride House:

Attached are the news story & the editorial that the Queens Chronicle just published on the Israel/Palestine forum that we had at Queens Pride House on Tuesday. As you can see, the article is a pretty 'straight forward' news story, even if the reporter did get QAIA's name wrong. The editorial, on the other hand, is more like a scene from "The Empire Strikes Back." 

While the editorial is extremely misguided, just spewing talking points from the pinkwashing playbook, I think both the editorial & the news story represent something of a breakthrough, as they're the first instances I'm aware of that a Queens publication has published an article using the terms 'pinkwashing' & 'Israeli apartheid,' much less focusing on Israel/Palestine as an LGBT issue.

Read more »

March with QAIA in Brooklyn Pride! and other places!

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid @ Brooklyn Pride

Saturday, June 8th

Meet QAIA at 7 pm on 5th Ave. at Union Street, 

in front of the gym - used to be a bank

In past years, it has been particularly fabulous to march in BK pride. Folks on the sidelines and in the march understand why we're there, and are mostly really supportive and glad to see queer anti-apartheid activists on the move. Let's go to there!

The parade begins at 7:30 pm, but we'd like to form our contingent by 7pm. Some of us will march in the parade, and others will hand out our new anti-pinkwashing, anti-occupation flyers. Let's make our presence known!!

If you can join us on Saturday in Brooklyn, please let us know by contacting Brad Taylor either by email at btaylor013@aol.com or by phone at 917-287-5597.

Looking ahead, we're planning on leafleting at several more Pride events at the end of the month:

• Trans Day of Action and the Drag March both on Friday, June 28th
• Dyke March on Saturday, June 29th
• NYC Pride Parade on Sunday, June 30th

If you can join us for any of these activities, please also contact Brad to let us know.

And if you're going to other pride events during June and want to hand out our leaflets, that would be great!!

We'll be sending out more details about the activities at the end of June as we get closer to those dates. In the meantime, we hope to see you this Saturday in Brooklyn!! 

Read more »