Watch our Economics of Queerness series now!

Organised and facilitated by June Bellebono, these three conversations explore the way LGBTQ+ Black people and people of colour create alternative economic systems: outside of the state, across generations and trespassing borders.

Economics of Queerness: Organising for Solidarity Systems

In the first Economics of Queerness panel, community organisers Amanda Kamanda, Roberto Tovar and Shash Appan explore solidarity systems and how we share resources when the State doesn’t look out for us.

Sexual health, trans healthcare and migrant rights are three spheres that the State actively sabotages. Our guests discusses the challenges within this work alongside the joys they’ve discovered building community.

Economics of Queerness: Organising Across the Decades

For our second Economics of Queerness panel, we sit down with Ted Brown, Tobi Adebajo and Poulomi Desai who have been fighting for queer and trans liberation across generations.

They shared their experiences of organising during different cultural climates, what’s changed in the ways LGBTQ+ BPOC gather, and one of the joys they’ve found in their work.

Economics of Queerness: Organising Across Borders

In the last event of the series, Raven Gill, Ricki Kgoisitau and Yren Rotela Ramirez join us from across the globe to discuss organising for trans liberation.

What does transness look like in different contexts and what are the specific ways in which these activists respond to its challenges? What beautiful and unique ways do different communities show up for one another and share resources? What are the opportunities for building a global trans solidarity movement?

Feature image illustration by Han.

Directed and edited by Nick Virk

Videographer – Marcus Ebanks

In October 2022, Nonhlanhla hosted a webinar with author of the Resourcing Your Community Toolkit, Zahra Dalilah, in conversation with Berlin-based Somali organiser Axmed Maxamed on community resourcing within the African diaspora. 

They spoke about how their grandmothers had been using saving circles such as pardner and susu and the parallels between this and the mutual aid movement in the African diaspora currently. 

We also talked about trust, community and self determination as a legacy of Black radical organising and how community resourcing takes us closer to this.  

In December 2022, Nonhlanhla co-organised an event in partnership with UK based trans organisers on trans Community Resourcing. 

The event sought to create a space for international solidarity economics exchange between Black American trans organisers and UK based trans community organisers in the UK. 

Bringing together two powerhouses, Qween Jean and Ceyenne Doroshow, who recently utilised community resourcing to buy a trans-led community housing project in New York in a beautiful and insightful conversation with artist and community organiser Chloe Filani. 

Together, they spoke about liberation work being about freeing yourself and others in order to determine your own destinies, the role of trans organisers in visioning and building what liberation can look like through care and love.

This event was filmed by Colleen Lee.

We’re so thankful for the generosity of our collaborators for sharing their expertise and practise with us, and to the people that attended the events. 

Please consider investing in these community organisers to continue their amazing work, by donating to their fundraisers below and purchasing Qween Jean’s beautiful book. 

Donate to We Exist’s Trans Healthcare Fund 

Donate to Axmed’s mutual aid work by donating to their PayPal

Donate to G.L.I.T.S to support US trans organisers on the frontline

You can also buy Qween Jeans book ‘Revolution is Love: A Year of Black Trans Liberation’

From reparations as a strategy for collective healing, to the economics of queerness, we had the honour to connect with so many brilliant community organisers, artists and practitioners delivering Just Transition work. 

The events were aimed at anyone who is ready to explore some of the deeper and more nuanced truths around structural racism that we often miss in our racial justice organising strategies and practices.

Racial Hierarchies: Caste, Class and Capitalism

Community organisers Nish, Claude Hendrickson and Kelsey explore caste, class and capitalism in the first talk of our Decolonising Futures series.

They look at the historical roles that racialised communities have played in facilitating white-dominance, to the impact on wealth inequality in the UK and globally.

Resourcing Reparations: Investing in Collective Healing

Racial justice organisers Yvonne Blake, Penny Wangari-Jones and Esther Stanford Xosei are working to popularise the idea of reparations through their organising and campaigning. 

In the second part of Decolonising Futures, they explore how colonial exploitation has impacted the wealth of communities of colour and the stories of resistance and mobilisation towards reparative justice. 

Caring for Every Body: Organising Towards Disability Justice

Disability justice organisers Jumoke and Kym from the Triple Cripples explore the history of disabled rights, colonialism and ‘rise and grind’ culture in the third part of Decolonising Futures.

They cover the origins of colonial mindsets that put different values over some people’s bodies, while labelling others as disposable. 

The Economics of Queerness: How Colonialism Shaped Sexuality and Gender

In the final part of Decolonising Futures, QTBPOC community organisers June Bellebono,  Amardeep Singh Dhillon and artist Evan Ifekoya explore the relationship between capitalism and the constructs of sexuality and gender.

They discuss how homophobia and transphobia are colonial legacies alongside reimagining our queer economic futures. 

More about Decolonising Futures:

Part of our work at Decolonising Economics is supporting organisers committed to racial justice in divesting from the Extractive Economy and investing in the Living Economy. 

This series supports the launch of our Crowdfunder for our 2021-22 programme: Investing in BPOC-led Solidarity Economics.

Illustrations of Decolonising Futures speakers by the RAD Mural Co-operative.

We hope you take away as much insight and richness as we did from these conversations.