Why utopias.intersectional.struggle?

Why this motto in particular? Why is intersectionality important to us and why do we focus on the struggle for our utopias this year?

At the IN*VISION we want to sensitize ourselves - together with you and the invited speakers - for different relations of domination, try to understand their interaction and think about how intersectional, feminist alliances and struggles can look like.

The critique of white, middle-class "feminist" movements is already old and has been discussed a lot. After all, as early as 1851, Sojourner Truth posed the question, "Ain't I A Woman?" criticizing how the focus on a supposed common oppression based on gender completely excluded Black women's experiences of racism and classism.

The demands and feminist struggles of Black, Indigenous, and FLT*I* of Color were marginalized and dis_acknowledged by white mainstream feminist movements then as well as now. Yet feminism means the equal treatment - and entitlement - of all women, lesbians, trans* and inter* people, which is why feminist movements can only be effective if ALL identities and positionings of ALL people are considered in relation to their associated social experiences of discrimination.

"there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives." - audre lorde

Since we all do not have one-dimensional identities, but our identities are composed of many different aspects, it is indispensable that in feminist discourse we think about the different power relations at work - racism, classism, Ableism, cis-sexism and so on. We must include them in reflection and challenge dominant positions so that marginalized people and groups who experience entangled discrimination in their social positioning have a voice.

Because power relations work together. Everywhere. Intersectional.

The term intersectionality was first used by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a Black U.S. lawyer, in an academic paper in 1989. She was inspired by the image of a crossroads (intersection) where power pathways intersect, overlap, and intersect. It is important to recognize that multiple affects do not just operate singly and in parallel side by side, but intertwined and mutually dependent. The term intersectionality thus describes the various and simultaneous discriminations described above that a person can experience and that cannot be considered separately.

"if we aren't intersectional, some of us, the most vulnerable, are going to fall through the cracks. " - kimberle williams crenshaw

At this year's IN*VISION we want to focus on our utopias. Together we want to design a future in which we are doing well.

Utopia describes a perfect "non-place" in the future, that is, a place that neither was nor is, but could be. Our daily political work is a struggle, wears us out, and can push us to, if not beyond, our limits. Most of the time it is a struggle against something. We are aware of the need for anti-discrimination work, for resistance and for pointing out social ills. And yet, at the same time, it is a pity that we sometimes lose sight of what we are actually fighting for and where we want to go: We have an (in*)vision of a better society, a utopia we dream of.

So there is besides the against something also a for something. We want to find out what our reason, our "for what" is, and we want to do it intersectionally. By bringing our utopias back into focus, we want to counter resignation and exhaustion and gather new strength.

"dreams and reality are opposites. action synthesizes them " - assata shakur

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)