Beyond Propaganda: Reorienting Anti-Pinkwashing Organizing
On October 22, Adalah Justice Project participated in a community conversation with AlQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society about a paradigm shift in anti-pinkwashing organizing explained in new resource published by AlQaws, Beyond Propaganda: Pinkwashing as Colonial Violence.
The conversation was moderated by AlQaws 2020 Fellow, Nas Abedal, and featured AlQaws Director Haneen Al-Maikey and Director of Strategy at Adalah Justice Project, Sumaya Awad.
You can view the event below:
The discussion examined our understanding of pinkwashing, and the future of collective organizing towards the free Palestine we dream.
Over a decade ago, activists adopted the term “pinkwashing” to describe the Israeli propaganda tactic of ‘washing away’ the oppression of Palestinians by painting Israel as a gay-friendly and liberal state. Israeli pinkwashing tries to win the hearts and minds of international audiences and prevent solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, so the early years of anti-pinkwashing activism focused on fighting against Israeli state propaganda with campaigns, protests, and academic forums. Activists worked to expose the contradiction at the heart of pinkwashing: it’s impossible for a violent colonial regime to also be a “progressive” state.
Yet the roots of pinkwashing go much deeper than Israeli “gay tourism” marketing. Working within their local communities, queer Palestinian activists came to understand that pinkwashing doesn’t just cover up colonial violence: it is, in fact, a form of colonial violence. By promoting racist narratives and colonial prejudices that are internalized within Palestinian communities, pinkwashing affects queer and trans Palestinians personally and psychologically. Colonialism’s sexual and gender politics—like its racial and ethnic hierarchies—contribute to the broader fragmentation and disempowerment of Palestinians. The fight against pinkwashing must therefore begin from the root, by placing pinkwashing within its broader settler-colonial context and incorporating the experiences and lessons of grassroots Palestinian queer organizing.
“A queer, feminist analysis is not just part of liberation, but it must be the foundation of it.”
“ Pink-washing capitalizes on queer pain and societal fragmentation. It tells queer Palestinians that they are victims, not of Israeli settler colonialism, but of their society, families, or even of the Palestinian queer movement. Israelis are their only saviors, in this pink-washing frame.”
