A-Infos (en) France, Lamouette Enragee: Antipatriarchy - ExisTransInter March: Political Conflicts with Disastrous Consequences (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

While the annual ExisTransInter (ETI) march saw widespread mobilization 
this year, the final weeks of organization were marred by numerous 
disputes, ultimately leading to the exclusion of generalist trade 
unions, political organizations, and LGBTI groups from the organizing 
framework. The author of this article, who was mandated by UCL in the 
inter-organizational process, gives her account of events. ---- On 
October 4th, an Instagram post was published jointly by twelve 
organizations, its simple and direct title highlighting the critical 
situation facing the annual national march defending the rights of trans 
and intersex people: "Save ExisTransInter!"

ExisTransInter ended its march at the Place de la Bastille.

UCL Paris North-East
It was revealed that for several years the organization of the march had 
been "hijacked by the current Existrans coordination[...]at a time when 
unity and cooperation are more necessary than ever." This coordination, 
not hesitating to resort to manipulation or even intimidation to achieve 
its goals, had managed to impose "the presence and vision of LGBT+, 
generalist, union, and political organizations." This had resulted in 
excesses where the call to action reduced the demands "to the sole 
struggle against the bourgeoisie," while the presence of "whore-phobic" 
unions was accepted within the framework of the movement.

Fortunately, the organizations gathered in the rebellion initiated by 
the Intersex Activist Committee (CIA) were not going to let themselves 
be crushed in this way. And for good reason: on October 12, six days 
before the march, a new press release was issued announcing that the 
leadership was "regaining collective momentum" by deciding, through a 
democratic vote, to prohibit political and union organizations from 
speaking and participating in meetings. Thus, the demands of those most 
at risk are no longer "diluted," their spaces are "protected," and their 
choices are no longer "directed."

The Other Side of the Story
Unfortunately, this Manichean narrative-portraying the struggle of 
valiant organizations of those most directly affected against the 
political and union machinery seeking to co-opt these struggles for 
their own ends-is far removed from the reality on the ground. These 
press releases distort the facts, sometimes by omitting certain 
inaccurate details, and sometimes by resorting to the most blatant lies.

First, it is false to claim that the ExisTransInter framework has lost 
its autonomy from political or union organizations. In fact, these 
organizations have never had a vote on decisions. Moreover, their 
participation in meetings was limited to organizational matters, and 
they had no say in substantive debates. All the demands of this year's 
ETI march originated from the trans and LGBTI organizations present 
within the framework, and from them alone.

The press release of October 4th claims that these demands are reduced 
to the struggle against the bourgeoisie. However, of the seven demands 
put forward in the call for this year's march, none explicitly mentions 
class struggle. Three concern access to gender transitions, and one 
calls for an end to mutilation of intersex people. Ultimately, only the 
last three demands are not specific to trans and intersex people: two of 
them concern anti-imperialism and the regularization of undocumented 
immigrants, and one calls for the decriminalization of sex work.

Strange, for a framework supposedly riddled with "whore-phobic" unions 
and organizations... The reason is that to participate in the framework, 
one must first signify agreement with a platform that defines a common 
political basis, and this platform prohibits participation in 
organizations with a state-abolitionist stance. Thus, the only unions 
present on the organization's Discord server have an anti-abolitionist 
position. Yet another detail that the CIA press release "forgot" to mention.

A veritable coup.
Finally, let's examine the accusation in this same press release that a 
number of trans and intersex organizations were excluded from the 
framework in an undemocratic manner. Political and trade union 
organizations were invited to participate in the organizing video 
conferences for the first time after the Covid-19 pandemic, when staff 
shortages were acutely felt. Since then, political organizations such as 
the Libertarian Communist Union, the New Anticapitalist 
Party-L'Anticapitaliste, and Permanent Revolution/Bread and Roses have 
provided crucial support to ensure the march could continue, though 
their role has remained limited to logistical assistance.

The invitation extended to political, union, and LGBTQ+ organizations to 
the planning meetings had been, as required, democratically voted on by 
the trans and intersex organizations involved at the time. It was always 
possible to challenge this by submitting a vote on the agenda. Such a 
vote took place twice during the first months of preparation for the 
2025 event, with the announcement made well in advance on the organizing 
Discord server. Both times, our participation was reaffirmed.

Finally, on October 7th, exactly eleven days before the march, 
representatives from five trans and intersex organizations-some of which 
had never participated in organizing the march-joined the meeting to 
finalize the details. These newcomers forced a new vote at the beginning 
of the meeting regarding our participation in the video conferences, 
claiming it was an "emergency situation." The vote took place, three 
votes for participation, seven against: we were therefore asked to leave 
the video conference immediately. After the meeting, we were informed by 
message that we would also be removed from the organizing Discord server.

Of course, the organizations mentioned offered no one to take over the 
logistical responsibilities at the last minute, responsibilities notably 
handled by UCL. What was bound to happen, happened: from this 
unfortunate episode until the day of the march, there were numerous 
problems, exhausting the activists responsible for security or the 
peaceful march, and sometimes endangering the participants, such as 
during the integration of disabled vehicles into the procession without 
collective consultation.

If the various trans and intersex organizations involved in the protest 
had truly intended to "save" ExisTransInter rather than sabotage it, 
they would have proceeded with our exclusion five months earlier, as 
they have always been within their rights to do, and not just ten days 
before the march. If they were truly targeting mainstream organizations 
seeking to co-opt the movement, they wouldn't have needed to resort to 
misleading arguments about the democratic functioning of the framework 
or our position within it. But then, if that isn't the crux of the 
problem, if their arguments are merely a pretext, what are the real 
motivations behind these deplorable political maneuvers?

UCL had its own contingent, but was also very involved in logistics 
(security and maintaining a peaceful march).

UCL Paris North-East
Ideological disagreements
Let's not be mistaken: these clashes are not due to political 
disagreements with forces outside the trans and intersex movements, but 
rather to internal ideological differences. The real targets are trans 
people who support working together with labor unions and an 
intersectional approach to trans struggles, linking them to other 
anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and anti-fascist struggles. This 
position is shared by trans and LGBTI organizations such as the Trans 
Solidarity Organization, Fransgenre, and Les Inverti·es, but also by 
those of us who have chosen to get involved not in specific 
organizations (or not exclusively), but in general political or labor 
organizations.

More and more of us are choosing this approach, firstly because trans 
and intersex issues are now better addressed in general within activist 
circles, and secondly because we are convinced that these connections 
are essential for bringing about the profound societal change we desire. 
Refusing to work together, refusing to integrate intersectional issues 
into trans and intersex struggles, risks political isolation and ensures 
that improvements only benefit some of us-the most privileged. In these 
troubled times, we must continue to defend democratic methods and the 
diversity of approaches and tactics, rather than resolving our 
ideological differences through manipulation and division by designating 
a subset of LGBTQI+ activists as adversaries.

The future will tell if ExisTransInter will continue to exist in the 
years to come. What is certain is that we, trans activists in favor of 
working together, will continue to organize and develop 
inter-organizational work. If a handful of associations or collectives 
with confused, liberal, or isolationist leanings try to force us out of 
the existing frameworks, we will create new ones, in which these violent 
and anti-democratic practices will have no place.

Johanna (UCL Antipatriarchy Commission)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Marche-de-l-ExisTransInter-Des-conflits-politiques-aux-consequences
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