Revolutionary Desires: Multiple Imperialisms and Solidarity from Below

How to forge transnational solidarities, fostering reciprocity across borders, histories and struggles?

The discussion brings together Leila Al Shami, British-Syrian writer and organiser, and Tatsiana Shchurko, a queer feminist researcher and activist from Belarus.

Revolutionary self-governance and grass-roots mobilising were at the core of the Syrian revolution, resisting both the authoritarian state and multiple imperialisms. However, it has been largely invisibilized by the international left. Leila Al Shami will speak about the lessons that we can take from the failure of solidarity with the Syrian revolution in building internationalism from below.

Tatsiana Schurko departs from historical documents and events, such as the encounter between Audre Lorde and Antonina Kymytval’, to articulate how solidarity and queer intimacies are intertwined in the anti-colonial struggle. And how sites — once monuments to failed internationalisms and violent geopolitics, such as Bangalore Square in Minsk — can become spaces for enacting and re-imagining dissent, relationality and solidarity against imperial and authoritarian presents and pasts. 

Text: Olia Sosnovskaya

Accessibility:

The event is hybrid and will be held in English. You can either attend in person at Kunstpavillon or follow the event online via Zoom. The Kunstpavillon is accessible via a lift (please use the bell next to the stairs). An accessible, wheelchair-friendly restroom is available inside the Kunstpavillon. To participate via Zoom, please send an email with the subject line “Zoom Link: Olia” to office@buchsenhausen.at. You will receive the Zoom link via email approximately one hour before the event begins.

Bios

Leila Al Shami is a British-Syrian writer and organiser. She is co-author of ‘Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War’. She’s a co-founder of From the Periphery media collective and a member of The Peoples Want network.

Tatsiana Shchurko is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of South Florida. A queer feminist researcher and activist from Belarus, Shchurko works at the intersection of transnational and intersectional feminist theory, postsocialism, decolonial critique, and empire studies. Her scholarship explores links between U.S. Black women’s activism and Eurasian knowledge production. She also develops the digital project The Archive Revisited: https://thearchiverevisited.com.