[FlyingBrickAnnouncements] Response to DGR - Please give me feedback!

[Ellen Crawford]

Thanks for writing this response. To be perfectly honesty, I was a little
bummed DGR couldn't come to our space and that they were unwilling to talk.
Reading this is reaffirming that we made the right decision.

On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 6:51 PM, Ramey Connelly <rameysaurus at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hey Flying Brickers! You are currently receiving messages in a Non-Digest
> Form. If you'd like to receive messages compacted into one e-mail a day,
> just visit your listserv homepage and change your settings to the Digest
> Version. Questions? Just ask!
>
>
> Hello all-
>
> This is a draft of the piece I am hoping to post on the Flying Brick blog.
> Please give me any feedback, (constructive) criticism, and suggestions! I
> won't post it until I get a general sense of approval :)
>
> xoxoxo
> Ramey
>
>
> A month or so ago, a group called Deep Green Resistance asked to come
> speak at the Flying Brick Library. We ultimately decided not to host them,
> and since it is rare that we turn down events or touring groups, we thought
> that we owed an explanation to our volunteers, friends, and comrades. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Deep Green Resistance describes themselves as a group whose goal “is to
> deprive the rich of their ability to steal from the poor and the powerful
> of their ability to destroy the planet. This will require defending and
> rebuilding just and sustainable human communities nestled inside repaired
> and restored landbases. This is a vast undertaking but it needs to be said:
> it can be done. Industrial civilization can be stopped” (from the “About”
> section on deepgreenresistance.org).****
>
> ** **
>
> Based on this description, many of us were extremely excited, as it seemed
> directly related to our interests and passions regarding environmental and
> anti-civilization work. ****
>
> ** **
>
> However, after we sent the request out over the list-serve for feedback
> and approval, we were dismayed and disappointed by the reaction. There were
> several responses that brought up issues of transphobia, transmisogyny,
> classism, and racism within the organization– specifically, this following
> passage, part of an email written by Lierre Keith, co-author of the DGR
> book (may be triggering for some, particularly due to transphobic remarks)
> : ****
>
> ** **
> “Try this on. I am a rich person stuck in a poor person’s body. I’ve
> always enjoyed champagne rather than beer, and always knew I belonged in
> first class not economy, and it just feels right when people wait on me. My
> insurance company should give me a million dollars to cure my Economic
> Dysphoria.****
> ** **
> Or how about this. I am really Native American. How do I know? I’ve always
> felt a special connection to animals, and started building tee pees in the
> backyard as soon as I was old enough. I insisted on wearing moccasins to
> school even though the other kids made fun of me and my parents punished me
> for it. I read everything I could on native people, started going to pow
> wows and sweat lodges as soon as I was old enough, and I knew that was the
> real me. And if you bio-Indians don’t accept us trans-Indians, then you are
> just as genocidal and oppressive as the Europeans.****
> ** **
> Gender is no different. It is a class condition created by a brutal
> arrangement of power. I can’t fathom how mutilating people’s bodies to fit
> an oppressive power arrangement is frankly anything but a human rights
> violation. And men insisting that they are women is insulting and absurd.”
> ****
> ** **
> When we responded to DGR, we made it clear that we were willing to host
> them as a group – as long as they were willing to discuss these issues and
> how environmental and anti-civ work are intrinsic to resisting gender
> oppression – and vice versa. ****
> ** **
> Deep Green Resistance, in response, made it clear that they are not
> willing to let anybody but themselves guide the conversation, and that if
> we insisted on such, that we are not ready to fight the (so-called) “real
> fight”. ****
> ** **
> We find it necessary, in return, to make something perfectly clear:
>
> The Flying Brick Library is intended as a safe space.
>
> Transphobia and transmisogyny are not welcome in this space any more than
> racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, sizeism, or other oppressive
> or hierarchical viewpoints. ****
> ** **
> As such, we reserve the right to choose whether to host – or not to host –
> any group, person, band, etc. at our own discretion. ****
> ** **
> This is a space for building knowledge.
> This is a space for building support.
> This is a space for building alliances across issues.****
> ** **
> This is *not* a space for people to come proselytize to others without
> welcoming input, constructive criticism, or differing opinions. ****
> ** **
> And this is *not* a space where people can refuse to accept that our
> struggles are all connected. ****
> ** **
> If these are the viewpoints that you feel the need to spread, then take
> them elsewhere – they are not welcome here. ****
>
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>
>
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