Created in 2023 following a call for projects by the City of Lille, the Lille Pride Collective (CLP) succeeded the original collective, but internal power struggles have severely tarnished its local image. ---- The project, driven by activist associations and shopkeepers from a long-established local LGBTI stronghold, has become the arena for irreconcilable conflicts of interest. On one side, shopkeepers want a colorful, festive, peaceful, and above all, apolitical Pride, and on the other side, associations and the J'en suis J'y reste - Lille LGBTI center - want to use it as a moment to defend and demand new rights for LGBTI people.
This collective became known to local activists by engaging in a series of increasingly reprehensible controversies year after year[1]. In 2024, one of the collective's volunteers was revealed to be a member of the National Rally, a staunch enemy of LGBTQ+ people, after mocking LGBTQ+ "anti-fascists" on social media. That same year, activists from the Trans Solidarity Organization, a national organization fighting for trans rights, were barred from the Pride village simply for displaying a Palestinian flag.
Translation of the sign: "Queer emancipation, not rainbow capitalism."
Credits: Unsplash/Delia Giandeini
These events have eroded the trust of LGBTQ+ activists and a segment of the social movement, leading them to distance themselves from Pride. This was confirmed in 2024 when the CGT's departmental union (UL), although not involved in feminist and LGBTQ+ struggles, organized a demonstration against the far right on the same date. It was also in that year that the first protest march took place, the culmination of work begun the previous year, which served as a reminder that the emancipation of LGBTQ+ people is first and foremost part of the class struggle.
The emancipation of LGBTQ+ people is a class struggle.
In 2023, amidst the mobilization against pension reform, student unions and political parties composed of LGBTQ+ individuals sought an alternative to the usual Pride march, which they saw as disconnected from the demands of a historic social movement. Solidaires Étudiantes Lille then organized a radical Pride march after the official Pride parade. Activist forces mobilized; issues of accessibility and workers' demands were central to the event. Despite the enthusiasm and significant ambitions, the event struggled to attract more than sixty people. The signatory organizations concluded that this march, which brought together activists already mobilized, failed to achieve its goal of uniting workers around LGBTQ+ issues.
During 2024, the creation of the inter-organizational group "Trans Counter-Offensive," initiated by UCLouvain, arose from a context of increasing attacks against trans people and a lack of a specific inter-organizational framework in Lille. This group brought together political organizations (NPA-A, UCLouvain), student unions (Solidaires étudiantes Lille, FSE Lille), LGBTQ+ associations and collectives (OST, RESIST, and JSJR), as well as a local feminist collective, CLLF (Collectif lillois de luttes féministes - Lille Collective of Feminist Struggles).
She focused on organizing a protest march for Lille Pride. In parallel, a radical march led by autonomists was forming. The two initiatives eventually joined forces and brought together 200 people. The success of the march and the OST's press release criticizing the CLP will allow the contradictions within the organization to be made public.
The 2025 Pride event marks a turning point. The protest march, with its anti-imperialist slogans and support for trans people, is even larger and is led by the CGT's local union. The CLP becomes bogged down in internal conflicts over the politicization of Pride, and the break occurs during the first organizing meeting for the 2026 event. Shopkeepers, the CFDT union, and some associations announce their withdrawal after losing a vote on the presence of other flags, particularly Palestinian flags. It was at this same meeting that the UCL joined the CLP alongside other revolutionary parties and activist organizations. But this shift in the balance of power was not an end in itself, and the next step was to bring all mass organizations (unions, associations, and collectives) together around the table to build a lasting alternative.
Maintaining pressure against a liberal system
In major cities, liberal Pride march collectives have deliberately diluted the class dimension of LGBTI emancipation in favor of a purely reformist, assimilationist approach. The blackmail of city halls regarding subsidies and the significant presence of the LGBTI petty bourgeoisie within these structures severely restricts their militancy.
In Lille, the involvement of activist organizations within the CLP (Collective for Pride) is showing its first signs of progress: the collective now identifies as non-profit, adopts a protest slogan, and features the Palestinian flag on its poster alongside those of other peoples in struggle. This is a first step, but we must not be complacent. In this fascist-leaning moment, it is crucial to reaffirm the class interests of LGBTI people who face daily attacks from conservative forces.
Pride march in Lille in 2025.
Credits: UCL Lille
Without resorting to the cliché of "replaying Stonewall," Pride marches remain, for many, the only link with the LGBTQ+ community and are on the front lines when reactionaries seize power. As these lines are being written, the new right-wing mayor of Faches-Thumesnils has just banned the Pride march scheduled for April 25, 2026. Therefore, one of the challenges is to build democratic and unified collectives composed of all the organizations within the social movement.
In this context, we have witnessed, for several years now, the emergence of LGBTQ+ organizations claiming to be Marxist and in solidarity with the struggles of workers. The return of proletarian issues within a movement that had turned away from them for some twenty years is a consequence of the failure of reformist strategies aimed at rapprochement with institutional powers, coupled with repeated attacks by the liberal bourgeoisie against LGBTI people, and particularly trans people. Building bridges between the labor movement and the LGBTI community is, far from being a moral issue, a class necessity that we must build[2].
Helen and Laura (UCL Lille)
Submit
[1]See the first issue of the journal Anarc-En-Ciel, a queer anarchist activism journal from Lille.
[2]For a deeper understanding of the Marxist analysis of trans struggles, see Lizzie's article, "For a Trans Class Struggle," Positions revue, August 25, 2025. https://positions-revue.fr/pour-une-lutte-trans-de-classe/
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Luttes-LGBTI-Aux-Pride-de-Lille-et-d-ailleurs-porter-nos-voix-libertaires
_________________________________________
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten