Safer Space
Radical Queer Resistance will not tolerate racist, sexist,
transphobic, homophobic, biphobic, femme phobic, ageist,
ableist, classist, xenophobic, antisemitism, islamophobia
homonormative or oppressive behavior or language of any
kind. You will be expected to take responsibility for all your
isms and phobias at the festival, so unlearn your shit before
you show up. Or be expected to work on unlearning your
shit and work on it hard!!
We depend on our queer family and allies to create queer
community spaces free from discrimination, violence and
hate. There is only room for people who make room for
others so we reserve the right to deny space to anyone who
breaks these principles.
There is no official safer-space policy this year. It’s usually
good to have a bunch of rules to help resolve conflict, but a
policy creates a false sense of security, an unrealistic expectation,
a make-believe “safer-space”. The unfortunate
reality is that queer spaces are not and can not always be
safe for certain people/groups/identities, and queer communities
are not exempt from perpetuating oppression. We do
not believe that it is possible to be above oppression just by
saying that it’s “Not allowed at Radical Queer Resistance”.
We would also like to question whether queer spaces should
necessarily be ‘safer’. A safer space looks great on paper,
but it ends up being a space where there is very little room
to challenge ourselves and other queers. Some of us need
to face our privileges; others might need to face their oppressors.
“Safer-Space” sometimes can be uncomfortable at
the same time “safer-space” is supposed to give us security.
With this in mind If you experience or witness any behavior
which crosses your boundaries, makes you feel uncomfortable or if you feel the need to talk to someone we will do
our best collectively to offer solutions and support. There
will be volunteers at the festival specifically assigned for
conflict resolution and mediation.
Boycott of Israeli products
We simply believe that, regardless of your politics, the repeated
breaches of International law, Human rights conventions,
and huge levels of bloodshed involved in the occupation
cannot be ignored, or justified. This is why we uphold a
boycott of Israeli products.
As such, we endeavour within our festival to give no material
aid whatsoever to the occupation; this means in addition
to us not providing goods of Israeli origin, we request you
to please not bring such goods into the festival. Not all of us
know Israeli products, but some of us do, and you may be
approached if we see that you are bringing these products
to Radical Queer Resistance.
If you wish to find out more information about the Boycotts
Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement, go here:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/
Vegan Space
All food served at the festival will be vegan. The festival will
be held in various vegan spaces so we ask that food brought
in is also vegan. This includes food products used in performances,
etc.
Consent, boundaries and bodies
Radical Queer Resistance is a body positive, and pro-nudity
space. However, this does not simply mean we are in favor
of naked bodies; we are in favor of people’s autonomy
to enjoy their bodies in whatever way they see fit, without
harming others. The way in which such an environment can be fostered is through respect for the potential difference
of people’s boundaries, and remembering the need for informed
consent to maintain this.
We will NOT police bodies but will act against bad behaviour.
We have zero-tolerance for non-consensual touching, staring,
commenting or any behaviors which might make others
feel uncomfortable. You do not have to physically harass
or touch to be asked to leave. We hope to create an environment
that gives all our queer bodies freedom of self-expression.
This means, that if people are nude, or semi-nude
around them, you treat them as you would any other person:
you don’t stare, you don’t invade their bodily space,
and you don’t make them feel uncomfortable being nude.
Having said this, if you chose to take your clothes off, you
must also be considerate of each others’ boundaries and
bodily space.
If you are naked, and you touch others bodies without asking
first (for instance, by running through a crowd) you do
not know the potential traumas that you may evoke for
those persons, or more generally, the discomfort you may
trigger by invading their bodily space with your naked body
without their consent. This also extends to more basic features
of how you move around space inhabited by others,
and how you interact with others (for instance, asking for
one’s consent before you hug them when nude or seminude.)
Be comfortable to express yourself, to enjoy your body in
whatever state of dress you want, but always be considerate
of other’s boundaries, and always ask their consent
when interacting with them.
and NO PHOTOS !!
Pronouns
Radical Queer Resistance is intended to be an open space
where people feel comfortable to express and explore their
identities, be they clearly defined, or not, sexual, gender or
otherwise. Part of doing this is respecting the way in which
people choose to define themselves and the ways in which
they wish to be referred to. A key part of this is respecting
people’s pronouns.
Many people choose to use pronouns outside of the he/her
binary; you should respect this. Pronouns need not corroborate
the way in which they express or present their identity
or the way in which you read their body as, for instance, a
particular gender. A good general rule is to use gender neutral
pronouns.
If someone tells you their pronouns use them, regardless
of your own reading of their body, mannerism, or your
thoughts on the grammatical correctness of their pronouns.
When you misgender someone, (use an inappropriate pronoun
for someone) you are saying that your ideas about
their identity are more important than the way they feel and
understand themselves.
Everyone can make slip-ups with this; we’ve been conditioned
by society to judge others bodies. If you slip up, and
someone ‘calls you out’ on this, do not react defensively,
or aggressively. Apologize and try to do better in future. It
may feel hurtful, judging you as bad person, but this is not
about you or your feelings. This is about structural oppression
and respecting everyone’s autonomy to explore and
express their identities, and supporting them in this.
Cultural Appropriation
This means that if it is not from your OWN culture, please
do NOT represent it, or dress up as it.
Using another person’s culture to represent either oppression
or freedom comes off at best, pretentious, naive, or
insensitive, and at worst, racist and stereotyping. We share
our struggles, but we still must each tell our own story by
using images and details from our own background. Romanticizing
another culture or race can also be a form of stereotyping.
When we speak for/about the suffering of another
race or culture (even to bring awareness to their struggle)
we must also acknowledge our own privilege and locations
within the histories of colonialism. Part of the history of
colonialism is speaking for and/or silencing by controlling
information. At Radical Queer Resistance, we want to give
personal voice to the issues, create a dialogue, listen to
each other, break the stereotypes and respect our differences.
Complaints and Conflict Resolution
If you feel offended, or if an important issue comes up in
a workshop, performance, party, or with another Radical
Queer Resistance participant, you can find a conflict resolution
monitor or RQR organiser to help you. The conflict
resolution team will try to help to resolve as much as they
can. If something happens at the parties that you need to
talk to someone about, please go to the people on the door
who will help direct you to someone to talk to. Unfortunately,
we cannot provide a quiet space to talk but we will help
as much as we can.
While we cannot promise to resolve the conflict we will do
our best to make sure all voices are heard.
Violence
There will be zero tolerance of physical and verbal violence.
If you feel angry and upset and feel the need to use verbal
and or physical violence then we ask you to go directly to a
friend or a conflict resolution monitor. We ask that you do
not escalate the situation. If you are a witness to violence
or hear verbal violence against someone at Radical Queer
Resistance we ask that you report it immediately to a volunteer
or conflict resolution monitor. All conflicts must be
dealt with through our conflict resolution crew. There is no
need for violence. If there is any type of violent behavior at
Radical Queer Resistance you will be asked to leave immediately.
WE SUPPORT OUR RADICAL QUEER RESISTANCE
CREW/WORKERS
We want to protect our crew and avoid the burn out that
happens every year. We are a DIY festival and all of us are
volunteers. Anyone living in and around Amsterdam is welcome
to come to meetings and be part of making this festival
happen.Every year Radical Queer Resistance has a small
but steady crew who not only work long hours at the festival
but months before in preparation.
Therefore we reserve the right to consider the feelings and
needs of our Radical Queer Resistance crew above that of its
daily participants. This means that if an active worker truly
feels uncomfortable and is in severe conflict with a daily
participant of Radical Queer Resistance, we may ask the
participant to leave the workshop/party/space, and in extreme
circumstances even the festival its self.
Also Radical Queer Resistance organizers can request that
people they currently have extreme conflict with, be asked NOT to come to events they organize and or be in spaces they must work in.
RADICAL-QUEER-RESISTANCE 