Rad Pride Halifax/Kjipuktuk describes themselves as, "an alternative Pride movement which positions itself in direct opposition to the corporate Halifax Pride festival."
On Wednesday July 16th at 6:30 pm, Rad Pride will host the second of an ongoing series of panel talks. "We will be talking about the complicity of corporate pride sponsors such as Scotiabank and Loblaws in the oppression of queer people locally and worldwide," says the organizer, "These corporations and more are guilty of what is widely termed 'pinkwashing:' the use of queer people as a tool to soften the corporate image and appear inclusive while actively harming the queer community."
Speakers from three local organizations with histories of working against corporate greed and imperialist violence will come together in conversation to consider how these vectors of oppression coincide and overlap to take power away from queer people and use it for corporate and imperial gain.
"We stand for the liberation of queer people from all forms of oppression," says the organizer, "not just cis-heteronormativity, but racism, colonialism, capitalism, and imperialism. In other words: we keep us safe."
The panel will take place over Zoom and will run for approximately 2 hours. To get the Zoom link, you must register in advance at this link or emai radpride@proton.me.
The first panel was held on July 8 and comprised queer elders and historians from Atlantic Canada talking about how things have changed over the last 50 years of queer activism in our local area, and what we can learn from the past as our rights and our liberation are in grave danger. An audio archive of the first session is available; contact av231@chebucto.ca for access.
To learn more about upcoming events, please email radpride@proton.me or follow us on Instagram @radpridehali.
The Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia has some history of Rad Pride here.
