View source for TransHackFeminist/Que significa?/What it means?

THF Manifesto

http://transhackfeminist.noblogs.org/post/2014/07/29/transhackfeminist-manifesto/
>> merged debate: http://etherpad.calafou/p/THF_CyborgRomanticism
"This is the beginning of our radical thinking and action."
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - “Not Missing and Not Murdered: Rebelling Against Colonial Gender Violence
THF! What it means?
Session one (Tuesday, August 5th from 12:00-14:00): 
    

    Methodology: Go for a walk around Calafou with someone that you don't know while exchanging about what THF means in a tech context? 

   How was the experience of walking and discussing for 1 hour about trans hack feminism? 
   
   Summary of discussions:
   * Discussion: Related to personal aspect of life (introduction: who we are, what have we done in the past, etc.)
   * Talk about the legacy of struggling with something you are refered as to. Being labelled as a feminist, a queer, a trans. 
   
   *Questions that people try to tackle were: 
       - do you identify as a feminist? Not evident for all the people in the group. If you don't identify as a female/women alot of people do not identify as a feminist. 
       - What others said was to try to understand Feminism has figthing against patriarchy, which is detrimental for everyone male, female, queer, trans alike. 
       
   * Mainstreaming feminism are dominating the conversation and sucking the meaning behind feminism. The dominating form of feminism is often understood as white, middle classe women. But with the backlash with the right wing governement that are being elected, feminism is trying to find allies with other movement such as the context of solidarity, migration, etc. The relationship between feminism and technology was not discussed much.  
   
   * We tried to talk about the trans hack of the THF and link it up to the medical technological aspect. Cyberfeminism in the 90s talked about the bodyless on the internet (no body knows you are a cat on the internet) this has changed. Bodies matters on the internet and your positionality (class, gender, race, sexuality, etc.) matters on the internet. There is an embodyness present on the internet, even though the relationship to the body is different from face-to-face gathering. Is the internet a new "public" space? 
   
   * This discussion was link to Calafou: women in the 19th century that were living in the lodging lived in difficult conditions. In the lodging, it was overcrowded, there is no sun, it's cold, etc. The lodging was made against the workers.  

    * A lot of technlogies were developped for women, but this hisotry has not been visible. Universities was prohibited for many women back in the days.  

    * We discuss the different kind of feminisms in our groups. How can we generate a new type of language that is outside what is being done in the systems of power (academia, state, etc.) How can we take over these spaces in a collective way. Without being stuck in an indidivualist way which is interiorised because of capitlism. We need to hack feminism with politics. We hack the hacker world. We need to hack the hackers. They are not helping society. They are often creating more problems with the techno-supremacy. Power relations are all over the place, even in feminist groups, and we need to try to break such systems, to get rid of what we have learnt. One goal is about putting feminism back into politics and vice-versa. One way to do this is about: decentralising power (such as in the "Tyranny of Structurelessness" - Jo Freeman), go from the indiviual to the collective, etc.     

    * An interest in better understanding the many ways of conceiving "power": communism, anarchism, socialism, etc. Do we need to much emphasis on the notion of power? Should we not realiser that we have power collectively? Is the power the question? Is it rather about the capacity of self-determiniation.  

    * In the cyberfeminist manifesto it say that cyberfeminism is not about this, or that. In other words, the strategy of the cyberfeminism manifesto is an interesting strategy because it focuses on difference, rather than similarity.  

    
Session two:     
    This second session aims at continuing the reflection that was started with the first session. This time though the emphasis will be more about the meanings of TransHackFeminism ? Trans, hack and feminism taken individually, but more specifically about their relationship.  
    we want to understand the 3 terms collectively -
    format of the workshop: either several smaller groups or one collective groups
    A practical example of THF!: 
    pechblenda started a transhackfeminist group in calafou; the origin of this term comes from them; they have a manifesto online,
    - reappropriation of technology
    - transfeminism: term was built after feminist gatherings in Spain, basically 1) make despathologizsation visible (take out trans... from the psychiatric manuals), give strenght to a political agenda; trans - ethomologically means pass through things, and also different subthreads; 2) pechblenda was setup in the hacklab, working a lot with hacklab - we were not comfortable anymore; ususally hacklab the term doesnot say anything about feminism, put f in the hacking pratice; 
    to have space to be how we are, we are loud, we are nacked all the time, hacklabs are usually very male, so we just felt to be too loud, and wanted to be somehwere where we can be how we want to be - this is what the manifesto is about (reference to the manifesto?)
    
    transfeminism
    in different spaces used in different forms; emi koyama(usa), then ecuador: proyecto transgenero
    inside feminism trans people were not included; so other forms of feminism what to include all people
    llamade por la insurecion feminista (which happened at the same time as the Zapatista celebration); published 1.january
    in spain it means additionally a lot of other meanings
    it is not a closed term, it is work in progress
    2013 in barcelona: anthology about transfeminismo  (reference to the book?)- there is not central position, it has the intention to rethink feminism
    in the book you can see articles about different topics - economy, love, technology, each one has its own particularity
    in the manifesto
    one thing in common: posicitionamiento inclusivity of the body and trans
    cultural production, artistic produciton and work with the body - the body is very important, the free movement of this body (migration)
    so hacking is integrated with the usage of technology
    transfeminism means: it is constantly changing and i dont have to define me in a fix and continuous way, but in change and flux, - also in artistic production, and this is also interconnected with other aspects of live.
    How transfeminism came about in an anglo-saxon context? It was a critique addressed to feminism in that it has not been able to keep pace with non-normative gender as they are thought, embodies and lived. Emerging Gender/non-normative go beyond the binary of male and female. This is not fictive or futuristic, they are real and embodied.  
        Their has also been the recognition that Transgender studies needs feminism. transgender studies cannot exist without feminism.
    in the book this comes out also: we dont want to split anymore, how we all the time label each other, another form to reafirm feminism, and the ways that feminism; it helps feminism to keep building itself; 
    
    TF:  opens possibility to experiment a new space, in order to smallen the difference and opposition of theory and practice which can at times be common in feminism. In TF we don't say who produces theory and practice. It is a mixed. TF experiences go beyond that kind of binaries (another binary that TF is trying to break: male vs. female, theory vs. practice, etc.). TF is not about labelling each relationships. It is about spreading love and energy. This energy of affection is empowering.
    what is theory, and what is practice? so it is really about crossing border; in transfeminism there is the will to experiment with these fields and interconnect theory and practice, 
    we dont have to put a lable of each relationship;
    there is a very strong energy of love and support here that is a very strong affection;
    
    QuestionL are there still feminist groups that are not transfeminist?
    well, we have a constant self-criticism in feminism; if we look at queer practices - in queer there is no verbal recognition of feminism, but transfeminism has that, and it is a strong reaffirmation of the importance of feminism.
    in germany queer feminism is very present; gender as a construct, not as the old feminism "women need more rights", so a lot of power dynamics; here i like the trans-term beacusae it opens other realms as well; 
    in spanish the "queer" concept, does not have any history, the assumption of queerness in spanish is difficult, it is even colonialisits; so it is maybe a matter of terms.
    transfeminism is an open to your imagination, the relation that you make, like in post-porn, so this is intereteting and i want to keep it in this undefinable place;
    Question: "post" is a difficult term because it seems to say the part before is past, is gone; it can also refer to "going beyond", to build on something that already exist.
    so the question is in the language; 
    in greece you can also use "meta", so can we have metafeminism?
    so how can we integrate the term hack/hacking/hacker into this discussion of transfeminism; in the understanding that hacking means to be interested in how something works, if "hack" means being curious, can we hack gender?
    to do something that is not intended to do (repurpusing), in this way we can understand feminism  a tool,
    is hacking not already involved when you interrelate theory and practice?
    thf means to use different means, to realise the core concepts in transfeminism (that being inclusivity and diversity), to enact different ideas, to deal with different issues (intersectionality of idealisms), with all materials, whatever they are
    
    The concept "Hack" introduces the question of the virus - the viral practice. For me it is a strong characteristic of TF. I had not thought about it, but the word "hack" is very important. In fact it might be the most important concept in THF. Virial Pratices and the way to conceive other modalities of seeing and vewing the world that break all the binaries. 
    hack - introduces viral practice, helps to conceive other modalities of relations, that crashes and break binaries, 
    feminsim is already doing hacking, hacking of patriarchy, using the term f is giving more emaphasis
    feminsim is also viral, it acts inside you not only on the macrolevel, but also a the microlevel so if we exchange our ideas and stories, we implement/spread these ideas in others; Feminism is viral. It hacks inside you: it affects you personally. Feminism has this viral componenet/effect. if we talk about our personal experiences to others, for sure something will happen inside us and between the people who are talking together. It's has if i have put a "virus" inside you: the virus of THF!  
 I see Virality has being linked to CC (Creative Commons) - we "redistribute" it, remix it, re-purpuse it. It can also be understood as a methaphor. But not exclusivaly as a methaphor, since it has an actual effect.  Virality not necessarily in the sense of the "virus", but more in the sense of contagion (not in a pejorative way: it is about reclaiming the virality of transfeminism, see that it has hacking impact on our personal and collective lives).   The right you give yourself as a user to define a concept and to reclaim it. I reclaim the right to build it and rebuilt it. 
    we can also look into current systems, we can also talk about copyright, so virus is a form of creative commons (re)distribution and it is contagious, 
    when i reclaim feminism, i reclaim the right to rebuild it and change it, that can also be related to "copyright" 
    we are continuing to build this concept
    the word hack is about a community, a space, where people meet and exchange and share knowledge, have an open space, how do you use your tools with experiments, 
    generating participatory practices, from rituals to cybernoiseperformance, 
    THF is also about peformativity. Understanding life as a performance. 
    It is about  constantly performing new skills... -> manifesto (pin) (Need reference ?)
    The anarchist dimension of TransFeminism needs to be explicit (it should not be assumed, it should be explicit)
    In TransFeminist alliances and solidarity are key
    Tranfeminism is about taking a internal position within feminism as to what it is (in many feminist circles there are alot of discussions about abolitionaism vs. pro sex. TF takes a clear position in embracing pro-sex, post-porno, etc.) 
    
 we flow and change and we become tans-form-action complex entities ... ...
  as  in the "origins" as uncertain transits and living processes,  entities  and degenerate metaorgánics postformation, but there it is  ...
 
 http://jellypin.hotglue.me/biohackingcomplexity/edit?
  transmatter .... more info
 http://jellypin.hotglue.me/vibrantmatter
 
 As  transhackfeministas, biohackers and wish biopunks be affected by the   environment, study, learn and experiment with material and parameters   that enable life / death. Our philosophy is radically open and   inclusive, share and decodes life at all scales:
 
 - We become organic / technological entities in constant change.
 - We are open to experimentation and implementation bodies; Free,
 - We have the potential to create new knowledge networks through which information transfer, beats
 -  Generate participatory contexts where research, evaluation and   experimentation with science, society, knowledge and politics can lead   to multiple performances: rituals cyborg / witches, noise performances,   temporary and permanent laboratories, workshops, hackatones encounters   transhackfeministas , autonomous technological or simple conversations  and complex parties.
 
 -  Live in a continuous performance understood as diffraction  possibilities and potential of the body, we are constantly  performing  new skills that lead to hybridization of knowledge and  practices and  take us away from the capitalist logic of specialization.
 - Witnessing an era of friction product metaorganismos from which emerge new ecosystems.
 
 *  Excerpt from "biohacking: Scientific research and the ability to   performar actually a revision of hacking transhackfeminista science."  Under construction
 text-construction constant ...
 http://jellypin.hotglue.me/?biohackingcomplexity%2F
 
 Experimentation  through the practice and study of biotech prototyping  is a tool that  increases the power of the performative capacity of our  body.
 
 We avoid failure concept, considering it essential for learning and innovation.
 
    can you hack transhackfeminism? performative gesture to put that back in practice
    suggestion: creating a lexiko of hacking and feminism, maybe that can be a following step (link from lucia, project: glossa)
    a hack transforms one thing into another; trans is about process, a way of thinking of everything; to reject a definition of feminism, that is feminism already.
    in another time this thf would have been called: gender and technology, but gender is a technology in itself; the term hacktivism says nothing about gender
    trans in undefined because it is about floating, flowing, fluid, waterlike, you cannot catch it; what is fluid like water is also not valuable in money. 
    defraction of matter - so in a performance you dont know what is going to happen, whereas theater is a reflection
    it is the capacity to rename that is great and that based on opening the concept and not closing it;
    trans means: against the fraction of movements and the getting closer; and new possibility and hope for solidarity.
    hacking as selfmanagement, subversive
    muy importante el termino porque renombra y pone conceptos que abren y no cierran;
    transhackfeminismo es una categoria historica que contiene una posicion politica y una manera de hacer las cosas.
    es abierta y el trans se ubica en contra de la fragmentacion y el cercamiento. el hack que contiene la accion, la subversion, lo autogestivo y autodeterminado.
    lo feminista que contiene lo comuniatorio y otra manera de hacer las cosas. una categoria que parte de la esparanze y la posibilidad.
    
    we have a category that is political that is based in history and lets 
    hack means to make something happen, to be active, 
    it has to be sustainable - touches different areas: economies, but also in being precarious, paperless people, simplify forms, not concepts, to make it accesible to othes, also not erasing parts of difference; burocrazy, in a obliged practice we have to deal with that all the time,
    i would be enchanted if my mother became a hacker, meaning that i want to reach out.
    
    and what should it be called?
    how do we deal with neutralization of the power of this text by esthetization through labeling?
    
// Quote toolbox

    “Without community, there is no liberation...but  community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic  pretense that these differences do not exist.”

Audre Lodre

        “Llamamos a la insurrección, a la ocupación de las calles, a los blogs, a la desobediencia, a no pedir permiso, a generar alianzas y estructuras propias: no nos defendamos, ¡hagamos que nos teman! Somos una realidad, operamos en diferentes ciudades y contextos, estamos conectadxs, tenemos objetivos comunes y ya no nos calláis. El feminismo será transfronterizo, transformador transgenero o no será, el feminismo será TransFeminista o no será...” 

Red PutaBolloNegraTransFeminista.

    “Ya no nos vale con ser sólo mujeres. El sujeto político del feminismo mujeres se nos ha quedado pequeño, es excluyente por sí mismo, deja fuera a las bolleras, a lxs trans, a las putas, a las del velo, a las que ganan poco y no van a la uni, a las que gritan, a las sin papeles, a la marikas…” Manifiesto para la Insurrección Transfeminista

    El conversar es un modo particular de vivir juntos en coordinaciones del hacer y el emocionar. Por eso el conversar es constructor de realidades.

Humberto Maturana http://pensador.uol.com.br/autor/humberto_maturana/

    "Las ideas son como las pulgas, saltan de unos a otros pero no pican a todos".

George Bernard Shaw

    “Let us create extraordinary words, on condition that they be put to the most ordinary use and that the entity they designate be made to exist in the same way as the most common object.”

― Gilles Deleuze, Dialogues
    

    “La cooperación es la convicción plena de que nadie puede llegar a la meta si no llegan todos”. Virginia Burden.

    We must exist right here, right now!

Shunryu Suzuki

    Let your ears hear without trying to hear. Let the mind think without trying to think and without trying to stop it. That 

is practice.
~ Shunryu Suzuki

    "I knew not from memory, but from hope that there were other models by which to live."

Carrie Mae Weems

    "I heard an elder say recently that “teachings are a gift, but they are not for you to keep,” meaning that upon receiving teachings you become responsible for the transmission of them."

Helen K, “Undoing my Unknowing.”

    Audre Lorde — 'There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.'

// TERMINOLOGY: 

    http://web.archive.org/web/20120111093749/http://glossa.lucysombra.org/

    http://web.archive.org/web/20130308232437/http://web.archive.org/web/20040618064451/http://www.echonyc.com/~women/Issue17/glossary.html

Session 3: 
    Goal: Thinking through the main principles behind THF! With the potential idea of coming up with a document that could either be conceived as a vision for THF! or a Femifesto (as opposed to a Manifesto), among others. 
     
    From yesterday's discussion (above) the following concepts have come out strongly: 
        

    TransHackFeminism is about:

    - Plurality of the prefix Trans: Trans is understood in a pluriality of ways. Trans as a noun, trans as a prefix. Being in transition, in transformation, being transversal. Trans as a verb meaning interrogating, crossing, fusing. transition from one state to another

  - The hack in THF helps to hack patriarchy, capitalism and other systems of oppression. 
  Hacking referes to the act of doing, and taking things apart, understanding them in a deeper way.  hacking as action, performance      

    The concept "Hack" introduces the question of the "virus", the contagion, the contamination, when taken through a particular perspective (e.g. computer being infected by a virus). This "virus" introduces new modalities of seeing and viewing the world that helps break all the binaries (male vs. female, theory vs. practice, who produces knowledge vs. who "consumes" knowledge, etc.). 

    Virality is linked to authorship & public domain - we "distribute" it, "remix" it, "re-purpuse" it, "hack" it. We also allow the concept to constantly evolve - i.e. not to be fixed, nor closed - an ongoing process.

    It is about collectively producing knowledge.

    THF has an impact on our personal and collective lives as it allows us to push the boundaries further in rethinking certain (basic) assumptions about the meaning of trans, hack, feminism.

    Opens up possibilities to experiment with the body, concepts, cultural and artistic production (images, sound, video, and other forms of technology), etc.    

    Performance/Performativity: THF is also about peformativity. Understanding life as a performance & process.        

    Creating a community: where people meet, exchange, experiment and share knowledge

    By setting up boundaries it position itself vis-a-vis other feminist discourse and narrative

    THF! is a political project. Anarchism is at the root of THF

    It is about alliances and solidarity

    Embrace, protect and advance libre/free culture.

Reaction:
    
    - THF has to do with easthitic practice, that should be reflected in daily life practice.
    - Theory and practice are concepts that make one. 
    - What is the "goal" of this THF!? Is it a concept to be identified by? 
    - Anti-racist, Anti-capitalist, Anti-abelism: we need to be make explicit the assumptions that we have. 
    - Really good to talk about these issues. There are systems of exclusion in these. Practice: Hack the systems of exclusion.   
    - Moving from Manifesto, to a Femifesto, to a Femifiesta.
    - It's more playful than writing a manifesto.   
    we assume positions, but maybe we need to express some explicitely.
    
- idea of "trans" crosses into different abilities, hemispheres, cultures, etc
cartografia de conceptos - cartography of concepts and how to bring them together. How can we represent these concepts? The representation or the manifestion of the THF! is still in process. How do we want to represent the concept? Do we want a text?, a visualisation?, a cartography of concepts, of practices?, etc.  The reflective process is allowing. It is a process of interpellation. The Expression of the discussion on what is THF could be used in dayly lives performances, etc. It would be nice to have "outcomes" of how the THF! ideas that came out in the discussion manifest itself.         
    - Being aware and acknowledging of ones priviledge, (Relation between priviledge and oppression, it is not only about naming all the oppression but also and especially understanding the relationality between oppression and priviledge.)
- if we find ourselves in position of privilege, what do we do with that?
- visual representation of concept - open street map