Talking with Dean Spade about Israel's LGBT-focused pinkwashing of its human rights history.

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Air date: 
Tue, 11/10/2015 - 6:00pm to 7:00pm
On Preference, trans organizer, author, and anti-pinkwashing activist Dean Spade.
This Tuesday (November 10th), I'll be talking with Dean Spade. Dean is founder of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, which works to ensure that all people can "self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence."  He is a prolific writer, including the book Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law," as well as a hero of mine.

Dean will be joining us on Preference to talk about Pinkwashing, the term activists use to describe Israel's deliberate strategy of international marketing of the vibrancy of gay life in Israel, as a key component of Brand Israel, a larger marketing campaign to woo support for Israel in the face of its on-going deliberate disruption of Palestinian lives, community institutions, and politics.

The pinkwashing of Israel's human rights violations reaches into our community, as the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland has invited local LGBT folks to participate in a group trip to Israel next spring, under the moniker "See Israel with Pride." The trip is slated to include tours of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (Brand Israel markets Tel Aviv as an attractive, 'sexy' tourist destination for queer folks from outside the country), visits with politicians, entertainers, and military folks, along with workshops that seem likely to spotlight vibrant Israeli culture (Start up Nation, Israeli street graffiti, and so on).



In the past few weeks, the boycott/sanction/divest movement (BDS) has been active in Portland, led by the local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. Dean is a veteran of the BDS campaign in Seattle, which resulted in the film Pinkwashing Exposed! Seattle Fights Back.


Join us for a conversation on pinkwashing, states and human rights, and the BDS movement.





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