Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army
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The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army (TQILA) was a queer anarchist armed group and subunit of the International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces formed on 24 July 2017 by LGBT members of the IRPGF. Its formation was announced from Raqqa City along with a statement on Twitter explaining the purposes of its formation: to fight against the systematic persecution of LGBT people by ISIL, as well as the battle for gender equality.[1] The unit was created with a Western audience in mind, as it communicated in English and used social media to gain publicity.[2] The military impact of the unit was minimal, and on 5 August 2017, the IRPGF as a whole was expelled from Raqqa by the EOT, which cited its limited propaganda purposes as the cause.[3] A year later, on September 24, 2018, the IRPGF was fully dissolved, which naturally included its subunit, TQILA.[4]
Impact
The announcement of the TQILA garnered a great deal of media attention in the West, with many newspapers reporting it.[5][6] However, it was a short-lived unit, expelled from Raqqa on 5 August 2017 as the EOT declared it needed "less empty propaganda, more fighting," and finally dissolved with its umbrella unit, IRPGF, on 24 September 2018.[3] At the time of its announcement, Western media reported on it greatly, and it was celebrated by many as a success for LGBT rights, including prominent celebrities such as Ricky Martin.[7]
Criticism
The unit's authenticity and motivations have been questioned by some, as the unit did not exist 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 PKK as a progressive organisation to gain favour in the West.[8] It has been argued 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.[8] The PYD and PKK have been criticised by residents of Rojava, who have argued that while they present a front of protection of queer rights to the West, they implement little action in providing protection to such groups.[9]
Moreover, much criticism has been written on activists and militant groups using the 'war on terror' narrative to launch further violence and destruction in unstable areas such as Syria, which tends to cause further divisions and instability in the areas they operate.[9]
References
- ↑ "https://twitter.com/IRPGF/status/889460892450115588". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-05-14. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ ORTON, KYLE (2018). "The Secular Foreign Fighters of the West in Syria". Insight Turkey. 20 (3): 157–178. doi:10.25253/99.2018203.12. ISSN 1302-177X. JSTOR 26469849. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 "https://twitter.com/KyleWOrton/status/894849444629405696". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-05-08. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ "Final communique from IRPGF". The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ↑ "'The Queer Insurrection': Coalition forces fighting Isis in Syria form first LGBT unit". The Independent. 2017-07-25. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
- ↑ Moore, Jack (2017-07-24). "First LGBT Unit 'Created to Fight ISIS' in Syria". Newsweek. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
- ↑ "https://twitter.com/ricky_martin/status/890073777664643072". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-05-15. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ 8.0 8.1 KyleWOrton (2017-07-31). "The Latest Chapter of Syria's Media War: A 'Gay Unit' Fighting the Islamic State". Kyle Orton's Blog. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ghazzawi, Razan. "Decolonising Syria's so-called 'queer liberation'". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
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