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[NextGenderation]
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dears.
another queer 28J project from spain, this one from a
broad coalition
of
organizations planning an alternative to the massive
'europride' parade
which will converge upon madrid this summer... please
forward to
whoever
might be interested.
besos
m.
*_PRIDE IS PROTEST. ALTERNATIVE BLOCK MADRID 2007_*
The Alternative Block invites you to take part in its
critical and
dissident demonstration taking place in Madrid on June
30th, coinciding
with the celebration of the âEuroprideâ march. The
Alternative
Block is
made up of various LTGBQ groups and people organised
in an assembly.
On last yearâs Pride Day we took to the streets of
Madrid as an
Alternative Block to show our rejection to the
mainstream âparadeâ
model
that has been imposed on us year after year. In 2007
we think it is
especially important to raise our voices against an
event like
Europride, which has been organised by an
international corporate group
and promotes reformist and market-oriented LTGB values
and models. We
want to revive the spirit of protest and public
mobilisation. We want
to
remind everyone that we have demands and still suffer
discrimination
and
intolerance because of our sexual option, without, of
course,
renouncing
the exuberant, colourful and joyful character of early
pride
demonstrations.
So weâre calling out to all those in Madrid or
elsewhere who wish to
join us: we are preparing a series of events and
activities for 30^th
June in Madrid: an open meal, debates and discussions,
assemblies,
direct action and a party. These activities will
culminate in our
protest participation in the Pride March as the
Alternative Block. The
programme of events will appear in
www.bloquealternativo.org
<
http://www.bloquealternativo.org/> , where you can
also find texts for
discussion, news and information on free accommodation
during Pride
weekend for all of you coming from outside Madrid. You
can also contact
the Block by e-mail at bloque@???
<
mailto:bloque@bloquealternativo.org>
_Why an Alternative Block?_
_ _
The Alternative Block is an assembly of LTGBQ people
and groups in
Madrid backed by a diverse group of Madridâs social
movements, as
well
as LGTBQ groups in Zaragoza, Donosti (San Sebastian),
Porto, Lisbon,
and
Barcelona among others. We are not only united against
the increasing
consumerist materialism of Madrid Pride marches, in
which publicity,
business people and corporations are increasingly
central and demands
for LTGBQ rights and freedoms are increasingly
marginalised. We are not
only against the void subservient ideology of great
parts of the
movement that in Madrid, as in other parts of the
world, obeys
governments, institutions and neoliberal political
parties. We are not
only against the patriarchal, masculine and bourgeois
image of LTGB
people, which marginalises transsexuals and lesbians
and sexual
diversity in all its forms invisible: poor LTGB
people, migrants,
working-class, students, HIV-positive, unemployed,
etc.
Itâs not only that. We want to raise our voices
against violence,
humiliation and discrimination of LTGBQ people,
whether by fascists on
the streets or in the police stations of our cities.
We want
transsexualsâ identity to be fully respected and
their demands met:
healthcare, work, social respect, and
depathologisation. We want the
repression of LTGB people during Francoâs regime to
be recognised and
that compensation measures be put in place. We want
LTGBQ minorsâ
rights
to be recognised in schools, families and at a social
level. We want
aged LTGB peopleâs rights to be respected, instead
of being
segregated
and forgotten. We want to denounce the conservative
wave sweeping
Europe
and other parts of the world. The intolerance of the
Catholic Church,
the Polish governmentâs repressive measures, and
those of many
institutions of presumably âdemocraticâ countries
are all signs of
this.
We want to express our solidarity with LTBTQ people in
the so-called
Third World and denounce the heterosexual
authoritarianism they suffer
under dictatorships often backed and fostered by
Western countries. We
call out to end those murders of people for their
sexual options which
happen everyday both in far corners and nearby cities
backed by the
complicit silence of the majority.
In essence, what we want is to take up basic
historical LTGBQ demands
once again. Marriage and limited assistentialist
measures have hardly
met them. And we want to do this through our presence
at the Pride
march, conveying our message without censorship or
restrictions. We
want
to make pride, liberation and celebration our best
tools.
Come and join us in our festive and activist struggle!
____________________________________________________________________________________
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