Trans Fest Stockholm stands in solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter movement and with community and grassroots organizers in the Black Trans Lives Matter movement. 

In Sweden, the idea that racism is something of the past is often spread, making it seem that racism is limited to a few specific groups or individuals, who can be clearly defined from ‘everyone else’. Those false and destructive ideas make the negative consequences of racism for Black and PoC folks even more severe as calling out racist behavior is frequently met with silence, refusal and violence. Privileges of whiteness and racist structures saturate society at large as well as organizations such as our own. No amount of wishful thinking can change this and, more importantly, any amount of such wishful thinking is harmful since it hampers action.

It is the ONGOING responsibility of white people to listen, educate themselves and critically examine how white privilege can be used to support and center voices of Black and PoC folks. Black and PoC folks in our collective are putting in time and energy that many times goes unnoticed. Accountability for such shortcomings falls squarely on the side of privilege and power. We are committed to continuously work on being a collective in which everyone feels included, welcome to participate, and encouraged to contribute – this commitment is made with the clear realization that we have a lot of work and a long way left to go.

As a collective, we are committed to supporting and centering Black and PoC voices in the trans and gender-diverse community. We strive to create inclusive and safer spaces as well as to have a broad representation within our organization, the films we screen, and artists we collaborate with. We welcome recommendations, suggestions and criticism from our community regarding our events and organisation. You can always reach us by sending an email to info@transfeststockholm.org.

/The TFS-collective

 

Image by: Black Lives Matter Sweden