What can you tell us about your experience as a queer pro-Palestine activist group in Romania?

It's difficult, we're a minority of a minority, most Romanians don't care about Palestine and are queerphobic. Even inside the LGBTQ+ community most people either don't care, or they don't think they could do anything about it, and there's also NGOs with western funding which won't dare to say a word about the ongoing genocide, and they have much more power than us. Many LGBTQ+ organizations and people are focused on national - individualistic colonially rooted activism. Inevitably, this activism isn't anti-racist and has led to enabling the oppressive system that is already in place for POC, which also stumped the fight for the liberation and justice for many communities within and outside of Romania. We had to take action, and due to these circumstances we were met with very individualist, non-intersectional, colonial, zionist, and racist responses. Hence, we formed our own group with whatever resources we could.

Solidarity is more important than ever. From your perspective, why do you think it is imperative for queer people and queer organizations to openly stand against genocide and occupation?

It's important to be consistent in the struggle for the liberation for all, if a movement doesn't stick to those principles it will become corrupt and opportunistic, and this is what we're fighting against. Individualistic-rooted activism leads to the apathy to any cause except your own and what benefits you. We mustn't mistake the fight to have "equal rights" with oppressors and eventually becoming one with the fight for liberation. All systems of oppression are intertwined, to ignore or stay silent and complacent, then, we become a part of the problem. It's our responsibility to debunk the pinkwashing and propaganda that has been manipulating the people. We have a collective responsibility for one another, and we mustn't let individualism make us forget that.

Do you have any advice for queer organizations or spaces that have not taken a firm stance on this matter?

The only thing we have to say is that they should do it ASAP, they should start with public statement and then start to collaborate with pro-Palestinian activists and educate people about what's happening in Palestine. And most importantly taking action, organizing and gathering resources if possible. It is essential we do not become complicit again nor fall into fatalism, as there is less media and discussion deliberately happening. Do not forget we have been/are funding genocide. However, we don't expect that they will listen to our advice nor take action due to the material reasons for their indifference, such as reliance on western funds and the formal NGO structure which emphasizes single issue individualistic activism. Regardless, we still urge queer spaces/organizations to embrace change, responsibility, accountability and take action.

Do you have any queer role models, especially in relation to standing up for Palestine? If so, who?

We don't have any specific role model, but rather what inspires us are the principles of intersectionality and anti-colonialism.

We've seen that pinkwashing is used as a technique to divide people and to detract from the ongoing genocide of Palestinians. Do you also recognize this taking place in Romania/wider Eastern European context, in order to diminish support for the Palestinian cause?

It is, and very intensely here, because mainstream activism is dominated by organizations like Accept, who relied on the west to do fight against the homophobic Romanian government, and so, mainstream queer activism began to rely on the chauvinistic narrative that Romania needs to be more like the west, because they are more "civilized". This is a type of pinkwashing specific to Eastern Europe. After the events of 89' when Eastern Europe transferred to the western sphere of influence, many Romanians bought this narrative about the "civilized west", and queer people even more so, as they saw the west as a liberator and an ideal, especially the more privileged groups of the community, but we know what the west really is and that it isn't our friend. This is a plague that affects many types of "progressive" activism here, who function in this framework that upholds the supremacy of the "western civilization", many organizations instrumentalizing the authority of European institutions to pressure the government, instead of organizing the community, and then they think this is what activism should be like. With this kind of mindset, they couldn't do anything for Palestine, even if they wanted to. But the genocide in Palestine has shown the whole world that western powers bragging about democracy and human rights were just lies, and we must stop believing in the pinkwashed narratives they made up. For them, we are just an instrument they can use when convenient to spread their influence across the world, they don't care about us.