Teach-in about the political and social reality in the region and how we got here. Organizers: Mikki Stelder and Roberto Filippello | 9 February 2024, 12:15 -13:45 (NB) | Oudemanhuispoort, Room D109

The confirmed speakers are : Haneen Maikey and Lynn Darwich | Moderators: Roberto Filippello and Mikki Stelder.

The Israeli state has been trying to harness support from global LGBTQ communities for over a decade by branding itself as the only gay haven in the Middle East. Through an elaborate pinkwashing campaign, it has sought to divert attention from its ongoing occupation of Palestine. In Israel's military assault unfolding over the last months, we have witnessed this branding campaign attaining new heights as Israeli soldiers post selfies with rainbow flags standing atop the rubble of bombed civilian infrastructure in Gaza. For over a decade, Palestinian queer activists and scholars and their allies have been pointing attention to the ways in which Zionist sexual politics are mobilized to support Israel's settler colonial violence. Pinkwashing is a form of colonial violence. In this teach-in, the speakers will discuss the history of Israel's pinkwashing campaign, the importance of anticolonial-queer organizing in and for Palestine, and the current use of Zionist sexual politics in the genocide in Gaza.