G20 Toronto -- SOAR Statement on Gender Justice

The forces of capitalism and the state work hard to keep us complacent and in our place in the status quo. This is especially true for issues of gender. Our resistance is not only in how we live our lives, but in how we live in our bodies and identify. We at SOAR have many different visions of the world we want, but agree that issues surrounding Gender Justice must be paramount in any struggle.

The capitalist and statist mega-institutions of our society are built to maintain oppression, domination and hierarchy in the name of social control. This includes the policing and domination of our bodies in order to reinforce power structures with medical doctors deciding when a transman or transwomen qualify for hormones, and turning our bodies into different parts for scrutinizing and evaluating. Currently the resurfacing of the debate surrounding abortion characterizes this domination, as reproductive choice is taken out of the hands of women and transpeople and into the hands of bureaucratic officials. The rights of women, queer, and transpeople are actively under attack by the state. The message is clear: we do not have control over what happens to our bodies.

Modern ‘western’ society is predicated on a patriarchal, white supremacist logic promoting the upward mobility of stereotypical white male to the exclusion of women, queer, and transpeople. A challenge to these patriarchal currents is a challenge to capitalist society. However, all too often, the aim of this struggle has been bringing women into the workplace and into politics with the suffrage movement's fight for ‘a vote for women’ meaning only “a vote for white able-bodied upper class women”. The movements of the past were too quick to leave certain people behind, and so their limited demands became based upon the oppression of others. The idea that women’s liberation has already occurred is a myth. None are free until we all are free, and freedom does not constitute wage slavery.

To reject the rigid frameworks that seek to construct and dominate gender, sexuality, different lifestyles and sexual orientations is to not only actively understand how these ideas play out in our minds and bodies, but also rise up against the state and capitalism.

Fuck Gender Binaries! Let everyone have the control over their bodies, and be however they want to be! We must rise up against the liberal notions of ‘equality’ that are eclipsed by the everyday reality of workplace hierarchy and harassment. Against consumer-driven capitalism dictating how we should dress and what our genders should look like! Against the culture of rape that permeates society, reclaiming our bodies from the battlegrounds of violence and colonization, so that one day we may be able to walk alone at night without fear. Against the medicilization of gender, so that all transpeople may be able to freely access the hormones they need. We must rise up against patriarchy, and against all of the other systems of oppression that it is a part of, so that we may have a world with strong communities as well as strong individuals. To rise up is to risk a fall, but to submit is certain death in servitude of capital and the state.

We’ve got a world to win. We’ve got a world to create.

We’ve got systems of the state, capitalism and patriarchy to destroy.

No one is free when others are oppressed.

Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance

More liberal crap, leave

More liberal crap, leave that shit in the Bay

right on man expose the

right on man expose the Illuminati every chance you get!

put this in your profile if you think 911 was an inside job!

"To reject the rigid

"To reject the rigid frameworks that seek to construct and dominate gender, sexuality, different lifestyles and sexual orientations is to not only actively understand how these ideas play out in our minds and bodies, but also rise up against the state and capitalism."

word. this is an awesome statement. i think it's key that we continue to clearly and explicitly add understanding how they play out and shape our radical communities as well. hell knows we're FAR from immune.

"To reject the rigid

"To reject the rigid frameworks that seek to construct and dominate gender, sexuality, different lifestyles and sexual orientations is to not only actively understand how these ideas play out in our minds and bodies, but also rise up against the state and capitalism."

word. this is a beautiful statement. i think it's key that we continue to clearly explicitly add understanding how they play out in our own radical communities as well. hell knows we're FAR from immune.

This statement isn't even

This statement isn't even liberal, but under the veil of anarcho-progressive speak, the writers slid out a slew of conservative discourse.

We other Victorians know that "community," "justice," and "identity" are all concepts that come equipped with cages.

Asking for control of bodies means asking for a pitiful piece of flesh dominated by use and exchange value.

Being against the medicalization of the body ought to be far more liberating. It is a project that questions all social relations, the potentials of the body, and, most importantly, identity itself.

This is just one call in the host of silly ones North America pumps out but that's just the problem. The discourse centering around queer, trans, women, and race struggles is always couched conservatism, capitalist politics, spruced up with PC talk.

Revolutionaries love to speak justifications to their own oppression.

The modern revolutionaries in 2010 hearts progressive prisons.

i think i find a lot of

i think i find a lot of resonance in what you're saying here, but i'm curious as to how it specifically relates to the above statement. can you elaborate a bit? i'm not clear about what it is that you're trying to say, and i feel i can safely bet that i'm not the only one.

i liked the posted statement quite a bit (i accidentally double-posted the above comment), but i'm genuinely confused as to how exactly you're linking your rather ambiguous critique/criticism/whatever with what SOAR has written. your post reads to me like a jumble of well-intended platitudes, but i'm sure that you actually have much more to say on the matter. would you?

To be more clear, when I

To be more clear, when I look at this statement I see the authors going through the anarcho-speak checklist. We hate the State; check! We hate capitalism; check! We hate the poorly defined concept of hierarchy; check! But after relaying the normal anarcho-lexicon, they cling to words like “justice” and “community”; a discourse employed uninterruptedly throughout the spectrum of politics from ultra-left Moaists to far-right Neo-fascists. For a revolutionary, no end of the spectrum ought to be considered any worse than the other, so when the authors use these terms, especially without giving any clarifications of an alternative meaning, I’m forced to assume they support the same continuation of politics as their proclaimed adversaries.

Lets approach this step by step:

In the first paragraph, the authors call for ”gender justice.” Upon a quick google search of the term in quotes, I’m returned with a barrage of liberal, humanitarian, NGO, and even Christian organizations; all of which fit snuggly in the world of profit and none of which have any revolutionary aspirations. Furthermore, in the organizations’ liberal definitions of the term, each go in a horrid vicious circle where they reference “rights,” “equality” and other bourgeoisie values without saying much of anything. Especially when considering how gender issues are normally received in the “radical” milieu, I’m forced to believe that the authors are only seeking a strange amendment to the usual ruling class justice systems but slightly altered with regards to gender. It’s high time supposed “revolutionaries” actually roll up in their sleeves and researched how “justice” was understood by groups, organizations, and peoples who forcefully separated themselves from ruling class values and control. Likely once the necessary studying is done and the heads are lifted from the books, they wouldn’t even describe their newfound ethos as justice because it wouldn’t resemble anything to be found in the status quo; like most revolutionary concepts.

Calling for the right to control your own body is to ask for inclusion into the liberal bourgeoisie’s Rights of Man. I want to control my body means I want to own (something), and again the body becomes property although this time it doesn’t belong to the medical complex but to an abstract individual; a fractured entity perfect suited for voting, consumption, and statistical analysis. Anyway, as this request is clearly a fancy alteration of rights to property, then you would agree there is nothing radical about this (maybe it was 1776). You can see how in some ways how this demand could even become conservative, in a world where, for example, fascists criticize big capital for its intrusion in the private sphere.

If you want me to go into further detail on the arguments I presented above or explain my criticism of identity and community just let me know but I want to end here because I have to go. Also its nice to see something of a real discussion coming about on this board.

Cheers and thanks

If a man dresses like a

If a man dresses like a chiken, acts like a chicken and thinks he's a chicken we call him crazy. If a man thinks he's a woman and dresses like a woman you celebrate it! What is the difference?

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