It has been almost a year and a half since my last blog post. This recent realization came with an intense feeling of embarrassment, a feeling usually buried deeply under a growing number of anxieties sneakily hidden between the hours of every working day. This embarrassment, however, was not necessarily linked to lack of producing something of value – after all, there have been other areas where much of my attention has gone to. From...
In a few weeks, I will be celebrating the fifth anniversary of my move from community-led civil society to private philanthropy. In these last few years, I have learned a tremendous amount, especially about funding practices and how they are shaped. Becoming someone ‘on the other side’ helped me dive into what grant-makers value in relation to strategy as well as how the grantees’ work and its outcomes fits into a broader vision. On the...
(Photo: a picture of my last TF board meeting taken with a selfie stick. 5 white people – 3 masculine and 2 female presenting – look into the camera and smile) Mam dla Was ważne wieści. // I have some important information for you. 18 października tego roku złożyłem rezygnację ze stanowiska osoby prezesującej i członka zarządu Fundacji Trans-Fuzja // On October 18, I have resigned from my position as president and board member of...
Many in the activist world have heard about “We All Share the Same Dreams” even before its release. It was talked about at conferences, especially by representatives of the European Commission themselves and during meetings (both local and regional), but except for those included in its dissemination, few of us knew what to expect. And thus, we received a product. A weak and unspecific call to “share our dream” (#ShareYourDream), which sounds like a slogan...
O „Wszyscy mamy te same marzenia” w świecie aktywistycznym słyszało się tu i ówdzie. Na konferencjach, zwłaszcza z ust przedstawicieli samej Komisji Europejskiej, podczas spotkań (i lokalnych, i regionalnych), ale poza osobami włączonymi w jej wdrażanie, niewiele z nas wiedziało, czego oczekiwać. I oto otrzymaliśmy produkt – słabe, mało konkretne wezwanie do „dzielenia się marzeniami” (#ShareYourDream), które brzmi jak reklama napoju gazowanego, nie zaś jak kampania mająca na celu – jak wspominają same osoby za...
For your information: This is how I looked a few minutes before the Polish Senate began discussing the gender recognition law. Full disclosure – I have never, ever once in my life watched or even monitored the work of the Polish Senate except for a short statement created together with Campaign Against Homophobia just a few months ago. And to be honest, I never understood why some Poles call it jokingly the “Reflection House” and urge...
Trans activism can be tough, especially when you deal with a number of issues. As an organization working both with the community and for it (with support and advocacy being our main focuses), we deal with a lot of difficulties, also in the area of managing and countering anti-trans groups and the effects they have on trans people all around Poland. Sometimes we get emails. Some of them want us to convert, some wish we’d burn in...
The cover of today’s issue of “W sieci”. The text reads “A transsexual in the Parliament, privately lives with a straight woman January 27th, my co-worker and the Vice-President of Trans-Fuzja Foundation, Lalka Podobińska, receives an email from Andrzej Potocki, a right-wing journalist working for a semi-political semi-tabloid paper “Wsieci”. The content of the message leaves us laughing for days andmakes a terrible Tuesday at the office quite bearable. Here are some of the question...
Dear followers (and those who might be interested in the long talk about what makes a community) I have to say, being a trans activist here in Central Eastern Europe is not an easy task (although I am perfectly aware it’s not easy anywhere, I just want you to know where my perspective comes from). Although funding opportunities may be a bit easier, especially giving the fact how our region has always been portrayed, there...
© 2024 · Wiktor Dynarski | Photos © Claude Russell