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After August 2020: Stories of LGBT+ People in Belarus

Feminist Collective
September 2021
Translated by: 
Anton Klimovich

These interviews were recorded in 2020 after the elections in Belarus. These are very different stories — some talk about experiences of detention and violence, others about their relationship with parents, participation in protests (or their choice not to participate), support, hope, experiences of emigration, visibility and invisibility, and homophobia among protesters. These are all different facets of the same story of how the LGBT+ community is experiencing the socio-political crisis our shared country has plunged into. Original in Russian and Belarusian is here; translation into German is here.

UkrEngRus

In the house opposite: a selection of the D.I.Y. art on solidarity

Feminist Collective
Syaivo
August 2021

This collection presents zines and drawings about solidarity that are created by the queer and trans*gender activists from Ukraine. Some of the works were published in the "Feminism, zines, solidarity. Resisting discrimination on paper and in reality" (2019), others were featured on the ZBOKU web platform. These images show the processes and discussions that often go unnoticed in the academic community. The images are published with the permission of the authors.

 
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Otilia’s Enigma, Notes on the Performance

Feminist Collective
Alexandra Tatar
February 2021
The performance, which was done within the frame of the Fucking Solidarity conference at the University of Vienna on 22 September 2017, interrogated the mythical construction of the bodies of post-socialist eastern European cis-women and their affinities, using the tools of western beauty concepts and behavioral expectations. The cosmetic and pornographic gaze appropriated through the new cultural invasion after the fall of communism (television, women’s magazines, pop culture, and nightclubs) was critically questioned. Selling/Promoting/Creating the ‘beautiful, but cheap’ brand will be seen in its ‘integrity’ as a heterotopic space in Romanian society, where through beauty – the availability formula, access to a westernized lifestyle is granted. Consuming the other only works if that other fits the phantasy of the other (heteronormative, patriarchal), in other words, if it knows to play its role.
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По следам выставки «Художественные гендерные и сексуальные разногласия и создание сообществ»

Feminist Collective
Салтанат Шошанова
October 2020
Этот текст рассказывает о выставке «Художественные гендерные и сексуальные разногласия и создание сообществ», которая прошла в Венском государственном университете в сентябре 2017 года в рамках конференции «Разъебывая солидарность: квирим концепции о постсоветском пространстве / с постсоветской перспективы». Три года спустя Салтанат Шошанова, кураторка выставки, вспоминает и переосмысливает работы худож_ниц из разных стран, которые представили свои работы, рефлексирующие на темы капитализма, идентичности, сексуальности и квир-солидарности.
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A Guide to Cooperation with Allies

Feminist Collective
Hagra
September 2020
Hagra is a Russian queer artist. While he started working under this name in 2012, it was only after the first exhibition in 2013 that he has started to consider pursuing the professional career of an artist. His main activities are carried out on the Internet. Although he does not limit his work to any particular topic and draws everything that catches his eye, the current social and political environment drove Hagra to focus on the issues of sexual orientation and sexuality in general, gender, and social stratification.
UkrEngRus

Sodomy and Contemporary Ideas about Russia’s Tradition of Homophobia

Feminist Collective
Nick Mayhew
June 2020

According to Russian politician Vitalii Milonov, homosexuality has never been tolerated in Russia, hence it stands at odds with Russian cultural and religious “tradition”. As evidence, sometimes he cites early modern anti-sodomy laws. Focussing on these laws, in this short article I question the idea that homophobia is a quality intrinsic to early modern Russian history. I argue that “sodomy” (muzhelozhstvo) did not refer unambiguously to same-sex intercourse in the early modern period. Moreover, anti-sodomy laws were imported to Russia from Northern Europe and their legitimacy was questioned. Read the full text in Russian. 

UkrEngRus

Principles of Good Work for an Activist Collective

Feminist Collective
Yosh
March 2020

The text contains reflections on work in the public sector, in particular in the team of “Feminist Workshop”. The activity under analysis is based on flat and self-organizing methods, as well as the principle of "practice what you promote." The following principles flow from them and should help the activist collective to exist harmoniously and sustainable. I wrote them for a discussion in activism, which I am terribly lacking, to comprehend our activities and to form guidelines for the future. Also, this set of principles is aimed at reducing the pressure of productivity on people, which is carried out by external factors (such as competitive culture, conditions of economic instability, donor requirements, expectations of relatives), at least within the team. Read the full text in Russian.

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The Unwomanly Face of Chechnya

Feminist Collective
Elena Smirnova
February 2020

This documentary essay conveys the author’s thoughts and feelings regarding the homophobic campaign that developed in Chechnya since the beginning of the 2017. It tells about that place, or that empty signifier, that was assigned to women in the coverage of this tragedy, and about the personal experience of the author as a volunteer of an association in France supporting LGBT+ refugees from the North Caucasus. Read the full text in Russian.

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We Speak From the Side of the Road

Feminist Collective
Vishnya Vishnya
geo
Syaivo
February 2020

According to my view of the world, there is heterogeneity present in it - not diversity we are told of, but heterogeneity. A conflict is inherent to it because these different layers are not compatible due to historic inequality. There are people and institutions that hide and erase this heterogeneity - re-write the history because they benefit from creating and supporting hierarchies. Because of this, marginalized people and social groups emerge. For me, 'marginal' as a word designates something that has been pushed to the side of the road. This concept is very important to Zboku because we speak from the side of the road and try to work with contexts laying "on the side”. Read the interview in Ukrainian.

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Lines from Seamstresses` Life

Feminist Collective
Mariia Lukianova
Rina Winter
October 2019

Our conversation has two tasks. One is to show the awareness of our own privileges: we work in a horizontal structure according to a scheme reducible to the formula “on ourselves”.  Another certainty of this mutual interview is that even in our format there are problems of sewing labour in Ukraine (and in other countries). We decided to talk with each other to make the work that consumers rarely think about more visible. And all this – only from our own experience.

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