Vlad Vexler, who is normally known as a well informed and sensible political commenter, now wants to sacrifice the defense of trans people to save the climate movement. A nonexistent problem becomes trans erasure in a new video.
Vlad Vexler is a Russian born British philosopher, political analyst and YouTube essayist, best known for his commentary on Putinism, democracy, populism, authoritarianism, political philosophy and culture. In the video he is talking to Rupert Read, a British philosopher, environmental campaigner and public intellectual. [Update: The video has been taken down].
Are trans people scaring good people away?
It is a bit disturbing to see two cis white men talk intellectually about sacrificing Black and trans people on the altar of climate change victory, as if these were somehow completely different topics, and not the end result of a coherent and systemic world view that makes the exploitation of both nature and people seem natural and benign.
In an article over at Resilience, an environmental and social-change publication run by the Post Carbon Institute, the two of them put it this way:
'Second, calls to “center the Global South” translated into expectations that Western participants should express collective guilt, defer to non-Western voices and adopt hyper-‘progressive’ immigration positions that command relatively little civic support across the West. Third, a similar dynamic emerged over trans rights, with members often expected to affirm contentious claims – for instance, that trans women are indistinguishable from biological women across all contexts, including sport, prisons and debates about male-on-female violence. As a result, even those broadly supportive of racial justice, global justice and trans rights could feel excluded unless they endorsed the approved formulation.'
No one says that trans women are indistinguishable from "biological women" (which is a dubious and unscientific term in itself). What trans activists and their supporters are saying is that trans women are women and that they should be given the same human rights protection as everyone else. They should have the same right as everyone to live their lives in peace and with the same liberties as everyone else.
Indeed, given that trans people represents a small marginalized group targeted by fascists and fundamentalists, pro-democracy humanists have to pay special attention to their needs. What extremists do to their favorite scapegoats, tell us a lot about their overall strategy for achieving hegemony.
Every argument made in this paragraph reflects the anti-trans movement's attempt to dehumanize and scapegoat trans people. None of the "problems" presented in the article reflect serious, real, on the ground challenges for the climate crisis movement, as I see it.
Vlad even plays the "I like trans people, but...." card in this video, promising to defend trans people in the future. He would have had more credibility if he had made a knowledge based, compassionate, defense of trans people first.
 |
| Vlad Vexler and Rupert Read |
Supporting trans people does not undermine support for green politics
The MAGA regime is not persecuting trans people because it makes them popular.
The fact is that the great majority of Americans sympathize with trans people, even though some disagree with some policies. (Nor do they like the extreme violence against immigrants.)
