The Trans Solidarity Organization (OST) is, in France, a national transassociative organization which combines self-support and proteststruggles. One of their two national secretaries, Alice Vaude, gave aninterview to Alternative libertaire. ---- Libertarian alternative: Wheredoes the OST come from? How and why did you nationalize? ---- AliceVaude: At the beginning, it was really to fill a void that there was inTours. Already at the time we were not only an association ofself-support, but also of struggle, and it is this duality whichrepresented us and still represents us.We are at a point where anti-trans attacks are increasing: conservativesand reactionaries, like in the Ypomoni associations or the LittleMermaid Observatory, are carrying out incessant lobbying and politicalattacks. France is following the path of the United Kingdom where thereactions are carrying out legislative attacks against trans people inParliament: this is happening in France, where today there are no transvoices carried on a national scale.We think this voice must exist and, for that, we need a nationalassociation. Another necessity is to have a tool to set up self-support,because founding a local organization costs much more than joining anational organization. It also allows us to be able to dialogue and getin touch with other organizations in the social movement (feminists,trade unions, anti-racists, anti-validists, etc.).We did not launch into a national expansion straight away, we first laiddemocratic and stable operational foundations in Tours before creatingother local sections, such as in Nîmes. Today, with five sections, thereis good functioning between the routine of the sections and the nationalpolicy.What relations does the OST maintain with the trans associative world?The trans association is very dispersed, with very little contact sincethe death of the Trans Inter Federation. It is mainly focused onself-support. The work provided by the entire movement is necessary, thepresence of older activists is also important. In fact, we work andbuild together, like at ExisTransInter.In the future, we must succeed as a trans movement in building a balanceof power, and for that, it would be interesting to have a space to poolforces. We are all united by the desire to provide support to transpeople, particularly given the conditions that transness brings.What oppressions do trans people experience in the world of work and howdo you think we can combat them?The vast majority of trans people are precarious workers becausetransition paths lead to pressure in companies, closeting andharassment. This often leads to an exit from the world of paid work andinto isolation, a vicious circle closed by discrimination in hiring.This phenomenon is all the more true for immigrant women, who, excludedfrom paid work, are pushed into prostitution.This is not a pattern dependent on a few transphobic bosses but ratherthe consequences of the capitalist and patriarchal system. Consequently,one of our roles is to make trans workers gain class consciousnessbecause we will not be able to improve our living conditions as transpeople if we do not improve those of all workers.In this sense we invite all trans people to unionize, to joinrevolutionary political organizations. In addition to this, we were ableto begin work with certain unions, departmental and regional unions inorder to arm them in the face of transphobia in the world of work. Thiswork has particularly borne fruit with health unions. We have everyinterest in a rapprochement between the union movement and the transmovement, in opening places for discussions and training.Anti-capitalism is necessary for trans struggles, self-support isessential but it is palliative care and we must fight at the roots ofthe capitalist, patriarchal, imperialist and racist system. But theopposite is also true: political struggle is not enough. From what you say we can understand that the OST has a revolutionaryperspective, is this the case?The OST is a mass organization, it aims to bring together all transpeople regardless of their ideological currents. This does not preventus from having revolutionary, Marxist, anti-imperialist, radicalfeminist political lines. We recruit largely on the basis of mutual aidand we train to have political perspectives for and by trans people.And indeed we are critical of the bourgeois and reformist policies thathave been implemented regarding trans people. Promises are not kept andwhen there is pro-trans legislation, associations are not consulted andtheir recommendations are ignored. Even if certain councils like that ofhealth are interesting to occupy, representation in places of power ofbourgeois democracy is not an objective.What are your field activities?The sections of the OST hold hotlines to welcome trans people, and tosupport them but also create links between them because they are oftenisolated. The sections also invest in social struggles and participatein building them. During the pension reform we were present in Tours asOST, and today we are at all the demonstrations in support of thePalestinian people.Once this work is done, we seek to build local trans struggles. Forexample, around Lille, we are working to create a broad anti-fascistfront (including with the UCL) to react to the far right whichdistributes anti-trans leaflets.There is a date to react to the massive transphobic offensive that isunderway, it is October 12, 2024 when we invite a strong political andunion presence to the ExisTransInter march to impose a balance of poweragainst the rise of the anti-trans media and institutional front in France.Comments collected by Lou and Lou (UCL Grenoble)https://bxl.communisteslibertaires.org/2024/01/24/alice-vaude-ost-lanticapitalisme-est-necessaire-aux-luttes-trans/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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