WORLD WORLDWIDE ITALY - news journal UPDATE - (en) Italy, FDCA, Cantier #24: Anti-capitalism is necessary for trans struggles - Alice Vaude (OST)* (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Organistica de solidarité trans (OST) is a national trans associative

organization that combines self-help and protest struggles. One of their
two national secretaries, Alice Vaude, gave an interview to Alternative
Libertaire. ---- Alternative Libertaire: ---- where does the OST come
from? How and why did you organize on a national basis? ---- Alice
Vaude: ---- At the beginning it was precisely to fill a void that
existed in Tours. Even then we were an association not only of
self-support, but also of struggle, and it is this duality that
represented us and still represents us.

We are at a point where anti-trans attacks are increasing: conservatives
and reactionaries, as in the Ypomoni associations or the Little Mermaid
Observatory, carry out incessant lobbying and political attacks. France
is following the lead of the UK where reactions are leading to
legislative attacks against trans people in Parliament: this is
happening in France, where today there are no trans voices brought to a
national scale.

We think this voice should exist and, for this, we need a national
association. Another necessity is having a tool to set up self-support,
because starting a local organization costs much more than joining a
national organization. It also allows us to be able to dialogue and come
into contact with other social movement organizations (feminists, trade
unions, anti-racists, anti-ableism, (1) etc.).

We did not immediately launch into national expansion, we laid the
democratic and stable operational bases in Tours before creating other
local sections, such as in Nîmes. Today, with five sections, there is a
good functioning between the routine of the sections and national politics.

What relationship does the OST have with the transassociative world?

Since the death of the Fédération Trans Inter, the trans association has
been very dispersed and with very few contacts. It mainly focuses on
self-sufficiency. The work provided by the entire movement is necessary,
the presence of older activists is also important. In fact, we work and
build together, like at ExisTransInter.

In the future, as a trans movement, we must be able to build a balance
of power and, for this, it would be interesting to have a space to join
forces. We are all united by the desire to provide support to trans
people, especially given the conditions that transition entails.

What oppressions do trans people experience in the workplace, and how do
you think we can combat it?

The vast majority of trans people are precarious workers because
transition paths lead to pressure in companies, closure and harassment.
This often leads to exit from paid work and isolation, a vicious cycle
closed by hiring discrimination. This phenomenon is even more true for
immigrant women, who, excluded from paid work, are pushed into prostitution.

This is not a model dependent on a few transphobic leaders, but rather
on the consequences of the capitalist and patriarchal system.
Consequently, one of our roles is to ensure that trans workers gain
class consciousness because we will not be able to improve our living
conditions as trans people if we do not improve those of all workers.

In this sense we invite all trans people to unionize and join
revolutionary political organizations. Beyond this, we have been able to
start working with some unions, departmental and regional to arm them in
the face of transphobia in the world of work. This work has borne fruit
especially with healthcare unions.

We have every interest in a rapprochement between the trade union
movement and the trans movement, in opening spaces for discussion and
training.

Anti-capitalism is necessary for trans struggles, self-help is essential
but it is a palliative cure and we must fight at the roots of the
capitalist, patriarchal, imperialist and racist system. But the opposite
is also true: political struggle is not enough.

 From what you say we can understand that the OST has a revolutionary
perspective, is that right?

The OST is a mass organization, it aims to bring together all trans
people regardless of their ideological currents.

This does not prevent us from having revolutionary, Marxist,
anti-imperialist, radical feminist political lines.

We recruit largely on the basis of mutual aid and train to have
political perspectives for and by trans people.

And indeed we are critical of the bourgeois and reformist policies that
have been implemented towards trans people.

Promises are not kept and when pro-trans legislation exists,
associations are not consulted and their recommendations are ignored.

Even if it is interesting to occupy certain councils such as that of
healthcare, representation in the places of power of bourgeois democracy
is not an objective.

What are your activities in the field?

The OST sections have hotlines to welcome trans people, to support them
but also to create connections between them because they are often
isolated. The sections also invest in social struggles and participate
in their construction. During the pension reform we were present in
Tours as OST, and today we are present at all the demonstrations in
support of the Palestinian people.

Once this work is finished, let's try to build local trans struggles.
For example, around Lille, we are working to create a broad anti-fascist
front (also with the UCL) to react to the far right distributing
anti-trans leaflets.

There is a date to react to the ongoing massive transphobic offensive,
it is October 12, 2024, the date on which we invite a strong political
and trade union presence at the ExisTransInter march to impose a balance
of power against the rise of anti-trans media and institutional front in
France.

*Interview collected by Lou and Lou (Union Communiste Libertaire Grenoble)

Note:

1) Anti-abilityism is characterized as a practice of equity. In fact, it
aims to build a world accessible to everyone, a world where bodies are
not categorized, a world organized in such a way as to respond to
everyone's needs.

http://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca