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Feminists Around the World: Nim Ralph · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to stepone.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Never told you protection of iHeartRadio, and welcome to another
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  Speaker 1: feminist around the world. And yea, it is still a
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  Speaker 1: women's history month. I believe. No, it's gone. Oh my god,
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  Speaker 1: what is April? Now? I forgot what this is? Sorry?
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  Speaker 1: What is April? Is April? And thing special April? April's
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  Speaker 1: all kinds of things. Every month is, Every month can
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  Speaker 1: be women's history month. For us, it is and it
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  Speaker 1: will always be. I guess. Oh man, so I'm gonna
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  Speaker 1: keep going. Yeah, definitely. We're just gonna say for uh,
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  Speaker 1: sminty's women's history all the time, anytime, or even just
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  Speaker 1: the non binary people, intersectional feminist history year, life, lifetime.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't even do this. This is
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  Speaker 1: how we all I'm doing today. But if you haven't noticed,
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  Speaker 1: we are going through a series where we are talking
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  Speaker 1: about transactivists and we do this purposefully if you can't tell,
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  Speaker 1: because we think it is really important that we continue
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  Speaker 1: to highlight those who are making history in a community
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  Speaker 1: that is trying to be decimated by what it seems
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  Speaker 1: like our government and many governments around the world, and
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  Speaker 1: for us that does not sit well well. So therefore
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  Speaker 1: we're going to celebrate those who are actively out there
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  Speaker 1: and working to fight against this type of oppression which
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  Speaker 1: does affect all of us. So today we are talking
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  Speaker 1: about UK transactivist Nim Ralph. Ralph has been an intersectional
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  Speaker 1: activist who has been behind the scenes creating platforms and
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  Speaker 1: curriculums to teach others how to become activists as well.
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  Speaker 1: Ralph is quote and this is from their site, a
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  Speaker 1: community organizer and reliance trainer and a writer with fifteen
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  Speaker 1: years work in a number of sectors delivering equity, inclusion
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  Speaker 1: and justice work. Yeah, and though their work has branched
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  Speaker 1: out since they started, Ralph started as a climate movement
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  Speaker 1: activist and in an interview for the Pride series that
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  Speaker 1: Ben and Jerry's did so. Yes, it's really fun that
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  Speaker 1: I can say that I need to spend and Jerry's
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  Speaker 1: in my life. They said, could I got into the
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  Speaker 1: activism through the climate movement, But I was always a queer, disabled,
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  Speaker 1: brown feminist in that space and spent years working within
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  Speaker 1: the movement to address its issues with racism, ableism, classism, colonialism,
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  Speaker 1: and patriarchy, while also trying to protect the planet from
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  Speaker 1: the worst forms of resource extraction and exploitation. I think
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  Speaker 1: there are real parallels in the way that humans extract
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  Speaker 1: from the planet and create borders and control to police
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  Speaker 1: populations and service of profit, and the way that humans
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  Speaker 1: extract what they need from the bodies of people and
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  Speaker 1: create borders between our bodies and control us in the
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  Speaker 1: service of profit, which I thought was really poignant, and
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  Speaker 1: they went on to say, so, I got into activism
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  Speaker 1: through wanting to prevent the destruction of our natural world
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  Speaker 1: in pursuit of profit, and always knew that liberating our
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  Speaker 1: bodies was intrinsically bound up in that fight, and their
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  Speaker 1: focus has continued in their activism, looking to teach, to lead,
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  Speaker 1: and mentor others down the same path. Ralph has worked
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  Speaker 1: for years on ways to organize. They have worked quote
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  Speaker 1: internationally with grassroots activist groups, campaign organizations and NGOs to train, facilitate,
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  Speaker 1: and support organizational strategy and campaign strategy through the lens
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  Speaker 1: of anti oppression, and on top of that, they have
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  Speaker 1: continued to focus on teaching and training others to work
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  Speaker 1: behind the scenes. They told Gaytimes dot co dot UK,
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  Speaker 1: I spend most of my time coordinating strategic action within
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  Speaker 1: the movement as an activist and training and facilitating others
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  Speaker 1: on campaign strategy, movement building, and anti oppression. So strategy
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  Speaker 1: is incredibly important to the work that I do. It's
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  Speaker 1: one of the central tenets of my approach to change
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  Speaker 1: because it keeps us focused, accountable, and effective. I think
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  Speaker 1: of strategy like having a map. I know what the
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  Speaker 1: environment I am in looks like, I know where I
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  Speaker 1: am and I know where I want to get to.
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  Speaker 1: With this in hand, I am always going to be
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  Speaker 1: better equipped to know how to pivot when I hit
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  Speaker 1: inevitable issues in my journey. Yeah, yeah, and they continued,
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  Speaker 1: We are really in a moment of needing to ask
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  Speaker 1: those questions right now while transactivists are being attacked in
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  Speaker 1: a context of a global pandemic and uprisings for black lives.
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  Speaker 1: We have to ask critical questions like how do we
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  Speaker 1: ensure the world is paying attention to our plight when
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  Speaker 1: governments are slipping through anti trans policies under the radar.
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  Speaker 1: But we also have to be paying attention to how
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  Speaker 1: the establishment is trying to mobilize white LGBTQ plus people
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  Speaker 1: in their allies to distract from the fight of black lives.
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  Speaker 1: And the thousands of people dying each day from coronavirus
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  Speaker 1: because of a hard right government policies which value profit
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  Speaker 1: over people, with black and POC people disproportionately dying. Having
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  Speaker 1: the map helps us recognize that our struggles are being
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  Speaker 1: intentionally pitted against each other as a way to break
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  Speaker 1: solidarity and shared action. It forces the trans community to
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  Speaker 1: reckon with the fact that privilege and power even within
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  Speaker 1: our marginalization, and that black trans voices as well as
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  Speaker 1: other POC, disabled and chronically ill and poured trans voices
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  Speaker 1: should be front and center in our journey to liberation.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, this obviously was an interview during the coronavirus
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  Speaker 1: and they've definitely worked a lot in centering what is
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  Speaker 1: most needed because again we talked about the intersectionality of
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  Speaker 1: it all and that those who are the most marginalized,
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  Speaker 1: though they are the first to be hit, it's only
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  Speaker 1: a preview to come for everybody else. And with that
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  Speaker 1: trans rates being attacked all over the world, Ralph has
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  Speaker 1: been outsmoken about the need for solidarity and true allyship.
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  Speaker 1: In that Ben and Jerry's article, they talked about the
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  Speaker 1: biggest challenges in the UK when it comes to the
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  Speaker 1: trans community. Quote. The greatest challenge is that part of
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  Speaker 1: the feminist movement in the UK and globally right now
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  Speaker 1: is putting our lives against the lives of non trans
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  Speaker 1: women and storing up a hostile environment for trans people
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  Speaker 1: to live. It's no coincidence that since they've been mobilizing
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  Speaker 1: against trans rights in the UK in the last few
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  Speaker 1: years that anti trans hate crimes have gone up by
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  Speaker 1: eighty one percent. It hurts especially hard because it comes
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  Speaker 1: from within the movement that trans people have been fighting
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  Speaker 1: for decades. Our fights are the same, and yet a
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  Speaker 1: small but vocal section of the movement is gaining a
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  Speaker 1: lot of ground and chasing us out, not just of
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  Speaker 1: feminist politics, but of public space. This has two terrifying effects.
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  Speaker 1: A it bolsters the rise of the far right and
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  Speaker 1: an authoritarian approach to bodily autonomy that we are seeing
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  Speaker 1: all around the world at the moment. And b it
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  Speaker 1: leads to horrific levels of violence and hate crimes directed
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  Speaker 1: at trans people. It literally kills people, especially trans women
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  Speaker 1: of color and sex workers. Right and Ralph continued to
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  Speaker 1: speak out about the current dangers of turfs and their
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  Speaker 1: agenda in the interview with the Gay Times. They said,
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  Speaker 1: though they're few, they are powerful. They are otherwise progressive,
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  Speaker 1: but they fixated on trans people in a way that
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  Speaker 1: engages and bolsters a far right narrative in agenda. Some
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  Speaker 1: of them are consciously moving in that direction, and Ralph
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  Speaker 1: went on to say, the tragedy is that I really
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  Speaker 1: believe that many of them are so intensely and singularly
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  Speaker 1: focused on the legitimate fear of sexual violence that they
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  Speaker 1: genuinely realize who their narratives are serving, and they can't
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  Speaker 1: see the harm they are recreating. Sexual violence is a
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  Speaker 1: real threat, but they've got so narrow in their understating
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  Speaker 1: of that threat that they're now weaponizing their fear against us.
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  Speaker 1: When you are a fifty one percent of the global
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  Speaker 1: population and you're trying to limit access to life saving
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  Speaker 1: essential services of one percent of the population, you're no
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  Speaker 1: longer protecting safe space. You are acting in service of
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  Speaker 1: the oppressor. And given that percent of all LGBTQ plus
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  Speaker 1: homicides in the US are committed against trans women of color,
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  Speaker 1: not just patriarchy, but white supremacy too, we must take
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  Speaker 1: hey from anti trans feminist trauma begets trauma. Let this
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  Speaker 1: be a lesson to all of us to find joy
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  Speaker 1: in our activism and not let our fear consume us.
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  Speaker 1: Let's resist simple narratives about those who seek to harm us.
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  Speaker 1: They aren't a homogeneous group. A politics of scarcity and
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  Speaker 1: fear is no place to incubate our liberation. And as
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  Speaker 1: they continue to speak out about the rights for the
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  Speaker 1: trans community and how others can help, they said, I
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  Speaker 1: think more allies being brave enough to speak up and
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  Speaker 1: speak out and show that these anti trans voices are
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  Speaker 1: small and not relevant will really help. One of the
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  Speaker 1: most significant ways to do this is next time you
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  Speaker 1: have a conversation with someone who says something like, but
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  Speaker 1: if trans people get their rights, what about the safety
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  Speaker 1: of women, Instead of thinking the best thing you can
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  Speaker 1: say as an ally is that's transphobic and trans lives
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  Speaker 1: aren't up for debate, recognize that the person's fear is okay.
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  Speaker 1: They just need help finding a more accurate or to
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  Speaker 1: the problem. Trans people aren't punching lesbians on buses in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of London, and we are just as scared
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  Speaker 1: of toilets as you, if not more so. Help people
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  Speaker 1: to find different answers. Change will come about when our
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  Speaker 1: allies get better at engaging people in challenging conversations to
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  Speaker 1: realize that we are fighting for the same rights and
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  Speaker 1: against shared problems like patriarchy, borders, domestic violence, ableism, racism,
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  Speaker 1: and control of our bodies. We need more visible support,
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  Speaker 1: and we need it now. And with all of the
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  Speaker 1: advocacy and work, they obviously rarely slow down. So when
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  Speaker 1: asked by galdem dot com if they have a self
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  Speaker 1: care or collective care process, they said it's a work
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  Speaker 1: in progress. I think about self care in the sense
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  Speaker 1: of Audrey Lord, who said caring for myself is self
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  Speaker 1: preservation and that is an act of political warfare. I
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  Speaker 1: love that quote. Recognize you that even though I'm not
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  Speaker 1: a black woman, I can still relate to this. There's
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  Speaker 1: such a high rate of suicide in the trans community,
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  Speaker 1: but really it's murder and a system that wants us dead.
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  Speaker 1: Self care that sense is being alive. My work is
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  Speaker 1: a form of self care. It's about educating, too dismantle
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  Speaker 1: because in dismantling, people's lives are saved. On a more
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  Speaker 1: individual level. I try to spend time in nature as
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  Speaker 1: much as I can. As a transpersion of color, I
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  Speaker 1: can't imagine not living in a city like London because
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  Speaker 1: it's just isn't safe. But I also recognized that being
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  Speaker 1: in nature really nourishes me. Earlier this year, I posted
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  Speaker 1: a picture on Instagram of me toplists and a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people don't know me as trans so that it
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  Speaker 1: felt terrifying to me. As soon as I did it,
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  Speaker 1: I felt freed. Audrey Lord spoke about this speaking our
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  Speaker 1: truth because our silence isn't going to save us. That
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  Speaker 1: is self care, and I really thought that was important
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  Speaker 1: that we shared what they said and how they felt
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  Speaker 1: about that. And I love that quote from Audrey Lord.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, I tried to remember it for one
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  Speaker 1: are the episodes we did with Bridget and I couldn't
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  Speaker 1: get it there. I was like, wait, but yeah, So
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  Speaker 1: nim Ralph has been and is an activist in the
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  Speaker 1: UK that has been speaking all over the country, all
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  Speaker 1: over the world, continuing to share their experiences, continuing to
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  Speaker 1: work with nonprofits and organizations to help with strategies and
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  Speaker 1: best ways to come and become advocates and work in
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  Speaker 1: a very uncomfortable and harsh atmosphere. But yeah, they are
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  Speaker 1: doing some amazing things and we wanted to recognize their work. Yes, yes,
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  Speaker 1: and some very great quotes on this one for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Well as always listeners, If there's someone you think we
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  Speaker 1: should highlight in these segments, please I'll let us know.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: You can email as a Steffanie your mom Stuff at
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  Speaker 1: I Never Told. You can also find us on YouTube.
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  Speaker 1: Go do that. Thanks as always too, our super producer Christina,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: our executive producer Maya, and our contributor to Joey. Thank
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: you all, and thanks to you for listening Stuff I
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