Democratization & Human Rights

The first anniversary of the death of a family member or of a natural disaster is always a heavy time. Memories and feelings will re-surface – things that had been pushed aside by everyday activities and in order to get on with one‛s life. Now, a few days before the first anniversary of the explosion that destroyed the port of Beirut on 4 August 2020, many photos and videos are being shared on social media, and Lebanese TV is, once again, reporting on the catastrophe that happened that day. One TV station even produced a video that, using computer animation, showed victims of the explosion talking about that day – something that caused a major indignation.

This issue started as “A Revolutionary Archive of 2020,” and acquired a life of its own. It took the shapes and contours of the writing circle Kohl called for in early 2021. The circle met virtually for eight Saturdays. Tearing through the realisms of lockdown, migration, COVID-19, and occupation, we created an oasis for us to grieve, breathe, be in solidarity with each other, and do community differently. Our counter-archives spilled over disembodied archives. Despite all the odds, the circle continues to be our queer utopia in the making.  

We are deeply shocked and saddened by the death of writer, activist and film director Lokman Slim. Lokman had gone missing Wednesday evening in South of Lebanon and was found murdered in his car this Thursday morning. A friend and partner of the Heinrich Böll Foundation for many years, Lokman Slim and his wife Monika Borgmann founded and managed the Umam Research and Documentation Center in Ghobeiry, a southern suburb of Beirut where exhibitions, discussions and installations took place in its hangar. 

Transformative justice is especially about how entire communities can radically address violence as structural without canceling each other, by going beyond individual and isolated blame. Those who are willingly putting themselves out there, exposing their own vulnerabilities, are calling on us to engage in this community work of care. 

This issue, in line with Kohl’s trajectory/ies, is a labour of political love. It finds solace, commitment, and determination in the undergrounds and cross-Oceanic rhizomes of friendships that defy conventional borders, visa applications, and our present time.  

This issue on resisting ableism, queering desirability is our attempt at building on and adding to the rich thinking that shapes disability justice, with interconnections between disability, race, gender and sexuality where we center queer disabled people of colour.  

Throughout the issue, patriarchy and capitalism are theorized as the pillars that sustain the status quo. With such a meta-structure, what are formal economies, and whose work is considered more valuable? 

• Refuting the Ideology of the Lebanese Rentier Economy: Towards Radical Change • Whose Revolution? A Reflection on The Iranian Uprisings - Iran • Co-optation versus co-creation: Reflections on building a feminist agenda • “Un violador en tu camino:” Lessons from the Feminist Chilean Revolution – Chile and more