Registration Event "Is Palestine a feminist issue? On the entanglement of (queer) feminism and anti-Semitism"

Registration deadline: Wednesday 15. Jan 2025

Title: Is Palestine a feminist issue? On the entanglement of (queer) feminism and antisemitism

Against the backdrop of Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2020 and the subsequent war in Gaza, the lecture addresses increasing anti-Semitism and racism in left-wing and feminist circles.

Although the use of systematic sexualized violence was a declared part of Hamas' attack strategy and resulted in hundreds of rapes and femi(ni)cides, the expected (feminist) wave of solidarity with the affected Israeli women and queers failed to materialize.

Even UN-Women, one of the largest international feminist organizations, took over two months to respond to the gender-based violence in a statement. Some feminist groups even question whether the rapes took place at all; moreover, they celebrate the deeply queer-hostile, anti-feminist and anti-Semitic Hamas as decolonial liberators. But the debate about anti-Semitism, post-colonialism and Israel has been dividing the left-wing movement not only since the massacre on October 7. The unwillingness to confront one's own anti-Semitism also has a long tradition in feminist contexts.

After a historical classification of 7 October, the role of social media will be examined, in particular the streaming of sexualized violence as a modern variant of the display of war trophies. It then asks where the problematic alliances between feminists and Islamists come from and formulates an answer on three levels: individual, theoretical and movement-political.

Following the thesis that parts of the feminist mainstream adhere to a vulgar post-colonialism, both racism and anti-Semitism are explained in their modes of operation as an ideology of oppression, differentiated from each other and questioned with regard to their respective gaps. Subsequently, theoretical concepts such as "intersectionality of struggles" (Angela Davis), "homonationalism/pinkwashing" (Jasbir Puar) and statements by Judith Butler will be used to examine the proximity of (some) queer feminist theory and anti-Semitism. Finally, political movement developments in the feminist and anti-fascist scene in recent years will be analyzed.

Speaker: Cordula Trunk

Cordula Trunk studied philosophy, economics and cultural studies in Bayreuth, Barcelona and Leipzig. She is currently working at the University of Innsbruck in the field of critical gender studies, where she is doing her doctorate on the conflict history of the subject discourse in the feminist movement in Germany. Her research focuses on modes of subjectivation, critical theory and anti-Semitism in subcultural movements. Together with her theory collective MF3000, she recently published the book: "Let's change the world, it needs it!" a Marxist-feminist introduction.

Participation in the online event

Participation is only possible by stating your full real name.

A participation limit, a participation consensus and an admission reservation apply.

The access link will be sent to all participants by email on the day of the event.

The event will be held in German spoken language.

Participation consensus

We expect respectful interaction with each other. We do not tolerate inhumane statements or actions of any kind. If necessary, we will exclude people from participation. Photo, film or sound recordings by participants are not permitted, nor is streaming of the event.
We reserve the right to make film and sound recordings in order to document the course of the event and any disruptions if necessary.

The organizers reserve the right to make use of their domiciliary rights and to deny entry to or participation in the event or to exclude persons who belong to right-wing extremist organizations, are associated with the right-wing extremist scene or have already made racist, nationalist, anti-Semitic, classist, sexist, lesbian- or lsbtiq-hostile or other inhumane statements in the past.