The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army

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The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army
Dates of operation24 July 2017 – 24 September 2018 [1]
Active regionsDe facto SA-NES Flag.svg  Rojava
Political position Far-left
Slogan"These faggots kill fascists"
StatusInactive
Part ofInternational Freedom Battalion original banner.svg International Freedom Battalion
IRPGF Flag.svg IRPGF [2] [3]
OpponentsAQMI Flag asymmetric.svg  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Battles and wars Syrian Civil War
Flag
TQILA Flag.svg
Emblem
TQILA Logo.svg
Publicity photograph of TQILA TQILA Raqqa 2.png
Publicity photograph of TQILA

The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army (TQILA) was a queer anarchist [4] militia group fighting in the Syrian civil war. It was a subunit of the International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF) formed on 24 July 2017. [5] It was made up of foreign militia from the IRPGF who came to fight in Syria alongside the Kurdish-led People's Defense Units (YPG). [6] Its formation was announced from Raqqa City along with a statement on Twitter explaining the purposes of its formation: to stand up against the systematic persecution of LGBT people by ISIL. [7]

Contents

The unit's announcement went viral on social media, and was widely reported and celebrated in the Western press. [5] The actual military impact of the unit was insignificant[ citation needed ] and, according to a tweet by analyst Kyle Orton, on the 5 August 2017 the IRPGF as whole was expelled from Raqqa by the International Freedom Battalion (IFB). [8] A year later on September 24 2018, the IRPGF was fully dissolved, which naturally included its subunit, TQLIA. [9]

Formation

The testimonial image of its formation, in which fighters posed alongside a sign with the motto "These faggots kill fascists" and two flags—the flag of the group and an LGBT flag—went viral. Western media reported on the unit extensively [note 1] and it was celebrated as a success for the LGBTQ community by many online, including prominent celebrities such as Ricky Martin. [14]

The unit, like the rest of the IRPGF, was a member of the International Freedom Battalion (IFB), which is a socialist foreign fighters unit.[ citation needed ] In July 2017, the IRPFG posted a photo featuring a commander of the IFB and of the Marxist–Leninist guerrilla groups, TKP/ML TİKKO, with the apparent nom de guerre Heval Mahir holding the LGBT flag. [15]

However, it was short lived. According to a tweet by analyst Kyle Orton, it was expelled from Raqqa on 5 August 2017, as a Twitter account associated with the IFB declared it needed "less empty propaganda, more fighting", [16] and finally dissolved alongside its umbrella unit, IRPGF, on 24 September 2018.[ citation needed ]

Although the IRPGF fights alongside the YPG, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition which the YPG lead distanced themselves from the unit. Middle East Eye reported that Mustufa Bali, the media director of the SDF, told a Kurdish new agency that the unit was not officially part of its forces. [17]

Transnational attention

The unit's media announcement was made in English, which demonstrated how Western media was its intended audience. Moreover, its statement "these faggots kill fascists" was an ode to the American folk singer Woodie Guthrie who inscribed his guitar with "this machine kills fascists", which became a highly popular slogan for left wing cultures in the West. [18] The members also wore ski masks, which are associated with the global anti-fascist resistance movements.

Furthermore, TQILA's formation was announced one year after the Orlando nightclub shooting, a terrorist attack on the gay nightclub Pulse that resulted in 50 deaths including the perpetrator. ISIS claimed responsibility of the attack. Their announcement made a nod towards these attacks and a transnational link with the persecution of queer Syrians and the global LGBT community. [18]

Criticism

The unit's authenticity and motivations have been questioned by some[ by whom? ], as the unit did not act as a formal military force but predominantly as a media campaign. The purpose of the subunit has been tied to propaganda motivations of improving the image of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK - the Turkish-based political party to which the YPG is linked), as a progressive organisation to gain favour in the West.[ citation needed ] According to a blogpost by the analyst Kyle Orton, the PKK has a history of attempting to gain legitimacy from the West through propaganda. [19] It has been argued by Syrian opposition activists (such as Razan Ghazzawi and Karam Nachar) and their Western supporters (such as Orton) that the creation of this liberal and progressive group in Syria is part of a phenomenon known as 'pinkwashing', in which governments that install oppressive and conservative regimes create the impression they are in support of social liberalism as a way to deflect Western criticism. [20] [16] [21] According to an MA dissertation by American University of Beirut student Nada Homsi, TQILA's formation and circulation demonstrated that local communities in Rojava were not their intended audience, and therefore served to erase local queer experiences in exchange for Western media attention. [18] Razan Ghadazzi interviewed a Kurdish refugee from Rojava, who said that, despite what TQILA's message implies, Rojava is not a place of LGBTQ acceptance, and that the issue of LGBTQ acceptance is rooted as much in the social conservatism of the local communities, than terrorist forces like ISIS, which TQILA addresses. [21] As TQILA and the IRPGF were foreign fighter units consisting mainly of people from North America and Europe, some were skeptical of the extent of aid they were providing for these areas. [20] [ verify ]

See also

Notes

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References

  1. ↑ @IRPGF (24 September 2018). "Final communique from the IRPGF" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ↑ Moore, Jack (25 July 2017). "First LGBT unit created to fight ISIS in Syria. Its name? The Queer Insurrection". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  3. 1 2 Kentish, Ben (25 July 2017). "'The Queer Insurrection': Coalition forces fighting Isis in Syria form first LGBT unit". The Independent . Archived from the original on 23 June 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  4. 1 2 Esteban, Nacho (27 July 2017). "TQILA, un mal trago para la homofobia". HuffPost (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  5. 1 2 Orton, Kyle (17 July 2018). "The Secular Foreign Fighters of the West in Syria". Insight Turkey. 20 (3): 157–177. doi:10.25253/99.2018203.12. ISSN   1302-177X.
  6. ↑ Staff, VICE (2 June 2017). "Greek Anarchists Are Helping Kurdish Forces Fight ISIS". Vice. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  7. ↑ @IRPGF (24 July 2017). "The formation of The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army (TQILA), a subgroup of the IRPGF. Queer Liberation! Death to Rainbow Capitalism!" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 May 2023– via Twitter.
  8. ↑ @KyleWOrton (8 August 2017). "The umbrella #YPG/#PKK foreign fighter unit says #IRPGF [the one with the LGBT subunit, #TQILA] was expelled from #Raqqa on 5 August 2017" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 May 2023– via Twitter.
  9. ↑ "Final North Atlantic communique". Survival. 13 (9): 315–318. September 1971. doi:10.1080/00396337108441268. ISSN   0039-6338.
  10. ↑ Moore, Jack (25 July 2017). "First LGBT Unit 'Created to Fight ISIS' in Syria". Newsweek . Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  11. ↑ Lapin, Tamar (25 July 2017). "LGBT soldiers are going after ISIS in Syria". New York Post . Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  12. ↑ "LGBT army unit established to take on ISIL". Euronews. 25 July 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  13. ↑ Borja, Rodrigo (27 July 2017). "La milicia LGTB que desafía al ISIS en Siria: "Estos maricas asesinan fascistas"". El Confidencial . Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  14. ↑ @ricky_martin (26 July 2017). "(KHALLAS ✋🏼Enough is enough) First #LGBT fighting unit to fight ISIS is created in Syria" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 May 2023– via Twitter.
  15. ↑ "Twitter de las IRPGF". 25 July 2017. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2017. TİKKO guerrilla & new IFB commander Heval Mahir is a dear friend of the IRPGF and supporter of Queer liberation.
  16. 1 2 KyleWOrton (31 July 2017). "The Latest Chapter of Syria's Media War: A 'Gay Unit' Fighting the Islamic State". Kyle Orton's Blog. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  17. ↑ "LGBT unit not officially part of SDF, says Kurdish official". Middle East Eye. 26 July 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017. TQILA, which announced on Twitter its acronym name is pronounced "tequila", is a part of the IRPGF, an anarchist unit and a sub-group of the International Freedom Battalion of foreign fighters formed to assist the SDF.
  18. 1 2 3 Homsi, Nada Omar (21 September 2020). Postnational Utopia: An Analysis of Rojava's Disjuncted Mediation (Thesis). Lebanon: American University of Beirut.
  19. ↑ KyleWOrton (29 April 2017). "PKK and Propaganda". Kyle Orton's Blog. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  20. 1 2 "Pinkwashing Syria's War? Why the 'First LGBT Unit Fighting ISIS' is Not What it Seems". Al Bawaba . 26 July 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  21. 1 2 Ghazzawi, Razan (5 August 2017). "Decolonising Syria's so-called 'queer liberation'". Al Jazeera . Retrieved 15 May 2023.
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