A-Infos (en) Bruxel, UCL - Alice Vaude (OST): "Anti-capitalism is necessary for trans struggles" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The Trans Solidarity Organization (OST) is, in France, a national trans 
associative organization which combines self-support and protest 
struggles. One of their two national secretaries, Alice Vaude, gave an 
interview to Alternative libertaire. ---- Libertarian alternative: Where 
does the OST come from? How and why did you nationalize? ---- Alice 
Vaude: At the beginning, it was really to fill a void that there was in 
Tours. Already at the time we were not only an association of 
self-support, but also of struggle, and it is this duality which 
represented us and still represents us.

We are at a point where anti-trans attacks are increasing: conservatives 
and reactionaries, like in the Ypomoni associations or the Little 
Mermaid Observatory, are carrying out incessant lobbying and political 
attacks. France is following the path of the United Kingdom where the 
reactions are carrying out legislative attacks against trans people in 
Parliament: this is happening in France, where today there are no trans 
voices carried on a national scale.

We think this voice must exist and, for that, we need a national 
association. Another necessity is to have a tool to set up self-support, 
because founding a local organization costs much more than joining a 
national organization. It also allows us to be able to dialogue and get 
in touch with other organizations in the social movement (feminists, 
trade unions, anti-racists, anti-validists, etc.).

We did not launch into a national expansion straight away, we first laid 
democratic and stable operational foundations in Tours before creating 
other local sections, such as in Nîmes. Today, with five sections, there 
is good functioning between the routine of the sections and the national 
policy.

What relations does the OST maintain with the trans associative world?

The trans association is very dispersed, with very little contact since 
the death of the Trans Inter Federation. It is mainly focused on 
self-support. The work provided by the entire movement is necessary, the 
presence of older activists is also important. In fact, we work and 
build together, like at ExisTransInter.

In the future, we must succeed as a trans movement in building a balance 
of power, and for that, it would be interesting to have a space to pool 
forces. We are all united by the desire to provide support to trans 
people, particularly given the conditions that transness brings.

What oppressions do trans people experience in the world of work and how 
do you think we can combat them?

The vast majority of trans people are precarious workers because 
transition paths lead to pressure in companies, closeting and 
harassment. This often leads to an exit from the world of paid work and 
into isolation, a vicious circle closed by discrimination in hiring. 
This phenomenon is all the more true for immigrant women, who, excluded 
from paid work, are pushed into prostitution.

This is not a pattern dependent on a few transphobic bosses but rather 
the consequences of the capitalist and patriarchal system. Consequently, 
one of our roles is to make trans workers gain class consciousness 
because we will not be able to improve our living conditions as trans 
people if we do not improve those of all workers.

In this sense we invite all trans people to unionize, to join 
revolutionary political organizations. In addition to this, we were able 
to begin work with certain unions, departmental and regional unions in 
order to arm them in the face of transphobia in the world of work. This 
work has particularly borne fruit with health unions. We have every 
interest in a rapprochement between the union movement and the trans 
movement, in opening places for discussions and training.

Anti-capitalism is necessary for trans struggles, self-support is 
essential but it is palliative care and we must fight at the roots of 
the capitalist, patriarchal, imperialist and racist system. But the 
opposite is also true: political struggle is not enough.

From what you say we can understand that the OST has a revolutionary 
perspective, is this the case?

The OST is a mass organization, it aims to bring together all trans 
people regardless of their ideological currents. This does not prevent 
us from having revolutionary, Marxist, anti-imperialist, radical 
feminist political lines. We recruit largely on the basis of mutual aid 
and we train to have political perspectives for and by trans people.

And indeed we are critical of the bourgeois and reformist policies that 
have been implemented regarding trans people. Promises are not kept and 
when there is pro-trans legislation, associations are not consulted and 
their recommendations are ignored. Even if certain councils like that of 
health are interesting to occupy, representation in places of power of 
bourgeois democracy is not an objective.

What are your field activities?

The sections of the OST hold hotlines to welcome trans people, and to 
support them but also create links between them because they are often 
isolated. The sections also invest in social struggles and participate 
in building them. During the pension reform we were present in Tours as 
OST, and today we are at all the demonstrations in support of the 
Palestinian people.

Once this work is done, we seek to build local trans struggles. For 
example, around Lille, we are working to create a broad anti-fascist 
front (including with the UCL) to react to the far right which 
distributes anti-trans leaflets.

There is a date to react to the massive transphobic offensive that is 
underway, it is October 12, 2024 when we invite a strong political and 
union presence to the ExisTransInter march to impose a balance of power 
against the rise of the anti-trans media and institutional front in France.

Comments collected by Lou and Lou (UCL Grenoble)

https://bxl.communisteslibertaires.org/2024/01/24/alice-vaude-ost-lanticapitalisme-est-necessaire-aux-luttes-trans/
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