I don't exactly know who needs to hear this (middle-class Indonesian gays out there, perhaps), but queer liberation alone (i.e., in terms of cultural recognition) will NOT save us without simultaneously accompanied by economic redistribution. #MosiTidakPercaya

This is certainly not a hot take. Queer and feminist scholars alike have argued for decades that the oppression against our identities (e.g., LGBTQ+ people, for instance) shouldn't be separated from our class position. Cultural recognition alone will not liberate us.

Indeed, in the Indonesian context, it's quite hard to ground such "cultural recognition" in our everyday experiences; many of us are still being persecuted on the basis of being queer, BUT it's important to highlight that our identities are not one-dimensional being.

Whether we are talking about lesbian womxn who work in KBN Cakung, trans* folks who work as hairdressers, or middle-class gay men in SCBD, our realities are defined by our economic precarity that comes together with our experiences of being queer and trans.

Roderick Ferguson, a queer theorist, has argued that the history of queer politics tends to erase the multidimensionality of queerness. Many erasures of historical accounts of working-class queer and trans people of color in the US, for instance, exemplify his argument.

Indonesian queer politics are still in the process of the making, of course. How long have we fought for our cause? Since 1982, perhaps? We're still got a long way to go, and utilizing intersectional approaches would always benefit our fight against the structures of oppression.

If we truly believe that the "LGBTQ+ community" is a community, we need to remember and acknowledge the fact that our community is built on many layers. Our fights and energies should be put in liberating all of us, which requires the dismantling of ALL structures of oppression.

As the Combahee River Collective rightfully contends, if the most disenfranchised and disempowered people were free, "it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression."

So, that's it. Enough with our classist ignorance. Our liberation requires the end of ALL structures of oppression. Take up the street. Post our anger. Fight the state. Disrupt the system. Dismantle the structure. #DPRRIKhianatiRakyat #OmnibusLaw #MosiTidakPercaya