Solidarity of Korean Queer and LGBTQIA+ Community with Palestine

Since last October, when Israel started its full-scale offensive on the Gaza Strip, the global attention towards Palestine has been more intense than ever. The Palestinian people, who are oppressed and marginalized in the Jewish society and institutions led by Israel, share similarities with the discriminated queer and LGBTQIA+ community. This is one reason why the global queer and LGBTQIA+ community is raising its voice for anti-war solidarity with Palestine.

• English Translation: 피웊

• Translation review: 지니

• Writer of the original text: Miguel

• Review and amendments to the original text: -

• Web & SNS Posting: Miguel

• News Card Design: 가리

We believe readers have witnessed the solidarity of civil society with Palestine around them. In this article, we will introduce the solidarity efforts of the Korean queer and LGBTQIA+ community with Palestine and related events that readers in Korea can participate in.

A person in a gas mask and protective suit sprays pink paint over a Palestinian flag with “Free” written in pink. The poster boldly states “No pride in pinkwashing” in English. Below the Palestinian flag, it says in Korean, “There is no pride in pinkwashing that covers up massacres.” At the bottom, the Palestinian flag colors are used for hashtags: #StopPinkwashing, #Queer4Palestine, #FreePalestine. Next to these, it says in English, “Act Now For Our Proud Pride” and in Korean, “Act now, so our pride is proud!” (Source: SHARE, center for Sexual rigHts And Reproductive JusticE)

Israel’s Pinkwashing

To discuss the solidarity between Palestine and the queer and LGBTQIA+ community, it is essential to address pinkwashing. Pinkwashing refers to the practice of states or corporations promoting themselves as LGBTQIA+-friendly to justify or conceal their discriminatory and violent actions. Israel has long promoted itself as an LGBTQIA+-friendly nation, using this image to justify its occupation of Palestine by contrasting it with the perceived oppression of minorities in Islamic societies.

The Korean civil organizations ‘BDS KOREA’ and ‘World Without War’ explain pinkwashing as follows:

For about a decade, the Israeli government and private sectors have led the “Brand Israel” campaign to overhaul Israel’s global image, notorious for occupation and massacre. This campaign aims to create an image of a “democratic, diverse, free-spirited, and culturally vibrant” nation, thereby justifying or concealing the occupation of Palestine. Pinkwashing is a part of the Brand Israel campaign, aligning quickly with the global focus on LGBTQIA+ rights.

The careful and persistent exclusion of words like “conflict” or “Palestine” in the campaign reveals the political goals of pinkwashing, as Israel attempts to shed its religious and militaristic image. The campaign reconstructs Israel as a nation respecting democracy, diversity, freedom of expression, and creative culture.

When Israel is portrayed as a “sanctuary for Palestinian LGBTQIA+ individuals,” the reality of occupation and colonization is not only concealed but actively justified.

(Source: Excerpt from “How Tel Aviv Became a ‘Gay Paradise’ – The Way Israel Uses LGBTQIA+ Rights, ‘Pinkwashing’” posted on ‘World Without War’. Korean original link: http://www.withoutwar.org/?p=13722)

Voices of Solidarity from the Queer and LGBTQIA+ Community

The Korean queer and LGBTQIA+ community is also voicing its solidarity with Palestine. Several queer and LGBTQIA+ organizations participate in the ‘Urgent Action by South Korean Civil Society in Solidarity with Palestine,’ joining rallies and marches near the Israeli Embassy in Seoul.

On June 11, to mark World Refugee Day, a declaration titled “We, queers living in Korea, yearn for the life and liberation of Palestinian queer people, and stand in solidarity for the complete liberation of Palestine” was announced. This declaration, signed by 1,044 people online, was read in front of the Israeli Embassy, accompanied by performances of mourning and resistance.

Here is an excerpt from the declaration:

We are queer people living in Korea. Korea is a nation that underwent colonial occupation, has been divided since the Korean War, and is still under the influence of the US military. Living as a queer person means facing discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics that do not align with societal norms and conventions. As queers, we are often seen as a threat or a potential threat to the regime of compulsory cisheteronormativity. As a result, we are constantly under surveillance, facing criminalization and institutionalization. The regime benefits from prioritizing capital over human rights and perpetuating inequality. On the other side of the globe, exclusion and discrimination as tools of colonial state violence have yielded the serious consequences of the current genocide.

[...]

Pinkwashing is states and corporations presenting themselves as LGBTQIA+-friendly and (often superficially) supportive to justify and conceal their discriminatory and violent actions. Resisting the pinkwashing of Israel and the US is not only about condemning how Israel legitimizes its US-backed occupation of Palestine and genocide by claiming to be the only democracy in the region. It goes beyond that. We are aware of the enormous military and economic influence the US holds over Korea. We criticize the alliance among the US, Israel, and Korea from the perspective of the people and the LGBTQIA+ community.

[...]

We demand: [...]

the South Korean government to stop arms sales to Israel. We, LGBTQIA+ individuals living in Korea, do not want to benefit from the profits generated by the government through arms sales. The government has never invested in LGBTQIA+ life anyway. Living in constant proximity to death due to discrimination and oppression in our society, we feel the pain of the queer bodies harmed by Korean weapons on the other side of the world.

People holding Palestinian flags, rainbow flags, and various placards at the declaration site of "We, queers living in Korea, yearn for the life and liberation of Palestinian queer people, and stand in solidarity for the complete liberation of Palestine." (Source: SHARE, center for Sexual rigHts And Reproductive JusticE)

Voices at the Seoul Queer Culture Festival

Since 2014, embassies from the US, UK, France, Germany, and other countries have participated in the Seoul Queer Culture Festival, leaving a positive impression on queer and LGBTQIA+ individuals amid the indifference of the Korean government. However, given that Western countries, including the US, are major supporters of Israel’s genocide in Palestine, protests were held against the booths of the US, UK, and German embassies at this year's festival. It is noteworthy that the Seoul Queer Culture Festival has boycotted Israel since 2015, based on concerns over pinkwashing and the massacre in Palestine.

‘Urgent Action by South Korean Civil Society in Solidarity with Palestine’ protested the partnership between these embassies and the festival organizers. As usual, they held a rally near the Israeli Embassy, moved to the festival venue, protested in front of the embassy booths, and joined the march.

• Read about various solidarity actions at the 25th Seoul Queer Parade in 2024 by LGBT News Korea: The 2024 25th Seoul Queer Parade

Where We Can Take Action

Readers in Korea can also join the actions. ‘Urgent Action by South Korean Civil Society in Solidarity with Palestine’ holds rallies near the Israeli Embassy every other Saturday.

• Next rally schedule: 20th Urgent Action Rally and March 

• Date: Saturday, July 27, 5 PM (1-hour rally followed by a march) 

• Location: 26, Jong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul (Cheonggyecheon Stream behind SK Seorin Building)
  

Supporting the BDS movement is another way to take action. BDS stands for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. According to ‘World Without War,’ the BDS movement is “a tactic born out of the Palestinian people's desperation and determination to pressure Israel and complicit corporations through market dynamics and state sanctions, after decades of attempts from UN appeals to popular uprisings that have only worsened the occupation.” The boycott includes not only Israeli products but also cultural and academic boycotts.

20th Urgent Action promotional poster. (Source: Urgent Action by South Korean Civil Society in Solidarity with Palestine)

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• English Translation: 피웊

• Translation review: 지니

• Writer of the original text: Miguel

• Review and amendments to the original text: -

• Web & SNS Posting: Miguel

• News Card Design: 가리

References (available in Korean)

[현지 소식과 핑크워싱 등 뉴스 일반]

• 팔레스타인 사태와 제국주의: https://ws.or.kr/article/32764 

• 팔레스타인 성소수자 연대: https://ws.or.kr/article/32758 

• 이스라엘과 핑크워싱: https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20231121165400108 

• 핑크워싱(전쟁없는세상): http://www.withoutwar.org/?p=13722 

• 다다닫 뉴스레터: https://dawoom.stibee.com/p/47

• 팔레스타인과 연대하는 한국 시민사회 긴급행동: https://platformc.notion.site/73eef84fbbb2498bbaa0a3b39fa73457 

[연대발언문]

• 팔레스타인과 연대하는 한국 퀴어와 앨라이 일동 선언문: https://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002969907 

• 페미니스트 선언문: https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/1141766.html 

• 한국퀴어와 팔레스타인 퀴어 연대 선언문:https://srhr.kr/statements/?q=YToxOntzOjEyOiJrZXl3b3JkX3R5cGUiO3M6MzoiYWxsIjt9&bmode=view&idx=25149748&t=board 

[서울퀴퍼 자료]

• 해방연대-퀴퍼조직위 면담자료: https://platformc.notion.site/f99b437e787241239735ef98b5ce4228 

• 참여연대 자료: https://www.peoplepower21.org/peace/1966785 

• 노동과 세계 자료: https://worknworld.kctu.org/news/articleView.html?idxno=504698 
  

• 팔레스타인과 연대하는 한국 퀴어와 앨라이 일동의 서울퀴퍼 연대 행진 활동 보고: https://srhr.kr/announcements/?q=YToxOntzOjEyOiJrZXl3b3JkX3R5cGUiO3M6MzoiYWxsIjt9&bmode=view&idx=25637513&t=board