Dear Queeruptors,

We regret to inform you that following our meetings, it has been decided that, due to a number of factors, we are not in a position to organize Queeruption in Rome during the first week of July.
 
This is very sad news for many of you as it is for some of us.
 
Despite the initial optimism and excitement, it is felt that we are not yet ready to accommodate Queeruption; the time is not right for us.
 
On a positive note we are happy to report that Rome now has a queer network that is meeting regularly and planning smaller scale activities and events in the coming months.
 
This Collective will be contactable via a separate blog - mailing list soon and we welcome any help and suggestions you can offer.

We hope everybody will understand our position, we are sorry for any disruption this decision causes.

Thanks for your patience,

Rome's queer network.

Cari Queeruptors,

Con rammarico vi informiamo che a seguito dei nostri incontri, e’ stato deciso che dovuto ad un numero di fattori, non siamo nella posizione di organizzare il festival Queeruption a Roma durante la prima settimana di Luglio.

Questa e’ una triste notizia per molti di voi come lo e’ per alcuni di noi.

Malgrado l’inizio ottimista ed elettrizzante abbiamo capito che non siamo pronti ad ospitare un Queeruption; i tempi per noi non sono maturi.

Una nota positiva e’ che siamo felici di comunicare che adesso Roma ha una rete queer che si riunisce regolarmente e pianifichera’ nei prossimi mesi delle attivita’ ed eventi di scala piu’ piccola.

Questo Collettivo sara’ contattabile separatamente via blog - mailing list presto, sarete i benvenuti a contribuire con aiuti e suggerimenti.

Noi speriamo che tutti possano capire la nostra posizione e ci scusiamo se questa decisione vi ha causato dei problemi.

Grazie per la vostra pazienza

Queer network Roma

Dear Queeruptionists,

We are writing on behalf of a collective of individuals and groups in Rome. We found out that Q11 was going to take place in Rome, while a collective discussion about this possibility had not previously taken place. We find it unusual to be discussing the possibility of hosting Queeruption in Rome while the whole world is already convinced it's going happen. Despite this, we hope that this letter will help describe Rome's queer context and in turn, we pose some issues we need help addressing.

The Context:

From the outside Rome appears to have an active queer movement, however, our discussions have concluded that the movement to date has been confined to mainly one-off social activities with limited individual political organising. The collective that has been coming together around discussions for Q11 is less than a month old. Many in the collective had not heard of Queeruption until they were referred to the website. The collective is composed of people from other collectives and active social centres as well as queer activists who have a successful track record of social organising and there are also a handful of participants who have attended previous Queeruptions. Notwithstanding, several questions still remain and the collective is still grappling with a number of issues relating to "queer" and identifying what organising the Q11 will consists of.

 
Activism in Rome is well established with some occupied social centres having operated successfully for over 20years. These occupied social centres have a variety of facilities that could be available for Q11's use; however, they are used by many different groups, locally and nationally and within certain guidelines. As such, the centres within our collective are making a reasonable requests for more information about who they will be hosting and require assurances that the activities proposed by Q11 will be in keeping with their broad missions and working guidelines. These include the relationship that the social centres have with their other users and their neighbourhoods and it is a priority that these are not damaged.

The political and social contexts are also important issues that have been heightened by the recent collapse of the Italian government. The elections and reshuffling of politicians that is occurring has the potential to affect social centres existence, specifically in Rome. The presence of the Vatican, Pope and the Catholic Church interfere with our politics and promote regressive policies, and it is in this climate that Q11 will take place.

Issues to Be Addressed:

We are mindful that the collective is still forming (and storming), and 4 months is an ambitious deadline to organise such an event. We are currently organising ourselves by setting up this collective and we have not yet started planning the event. We would like your help to resolve the following points.

1.Are there others already organising for this? Please make contact with us.

2.What help and guidance are we able to access? Information and contacts are essential at this moment.

3.What guidelines will Q11 DIY events follow in relation to content and practice - do these exist and are they in line with those of our occupied social centres? If not, should we look for alternative space?

We hope that our letter clarifies the situation regarding Q11 in Rome – to date no agreement has been reached that the collective is either able or unable to organise the event in Rome for 1st -7th July. At this time, we would like as much information as possible so that we are able to understand how much and what type of work will be involved. However, please rest assured the request to organise Q11 has galvanised considerable energy and we do want to do something. Whilst our queer movement is growing and we should not run before we can walk, we hope that this letter initiates a conversation that leads to a Queeruption in Rome.

LETTER TO QUEERUPTIONISTS  20-2-08

QUEERUPTION’s cancellation letter  8-3-08