2026 theme: Marginalized bodies, revolted bodies

[Summary: UEEH is a feminist queer self-managed space, by and for LGBTQIA+ people. It is a moment of sharing, an escape from everyday life and its violence. We strive to build an anti-racist, anti-validist, transfeminist space. An experience of international reflection, construction and expression of our struggles. Each year, the Popular Education Group proposes a theme, which gives a direction to the event in order to develop a common thread. This year it will focus on bodies, continuing last year’s theme ‘Fighting authoritarianism’.]

Body at the edge, lost in balance on the ridges of a mined territory, body twisting under repressive pressure… disabled bodies, butch bodies, trans bodies, racialised, colonised bodies, fat bodies, faggots, intersex bodies, fem bodies, bear bodies, sick bodies, mad bodies … asserting their existence in many ways, playing with the social codes, inventing their languages, always far from the norm.

The brutal attacks or silent violence of capitalism, racism and patriarchy are a system. They force us, individualise us, isolate us, reduce us to produce, reproduce, fight the other. Borders, massacres, genocides and imperialism shape (un)desirable and (un)desiring bodies, which either matter or are neglected. Nationalism, fierce competition, gender apartheid and wars make the bodies of queer people a battle issue.

Our lungs and fists are fighting colonialism, cisheteronormativity and validist violence that leave their scars in the same way that multinationals are tearing up landscapes and stealing land and resources. Do we still have the opportunity to live in peace?

Let us fight so that our bodies can cross borders beyond the walls that separate and imprison. Let us fight for our autonomy. Let us tell the story of what repression and fascism do to us, how they mark us even in our flesh, differently. Let us share modes of resistance to police and armies. And leave with suitcases full of resources.

Let us ask ourselves what our ancestors, those who preceded us, and our various cultural heritages pass on to us. Let us relate to the complex stories of our forefathers in liberation movements. Let us make our bodies decolonized territories, anchored in our communities. Let us come and take space, to leave with stronger links, and produce our own traces and archives for the future. Let’s talk in our respective languages to understand the links between our bodies, the strength in our stories and the words that bring us together.

Let us connect and make visible our struggles with an internationalist approach. Let us share our experiences of helping each other, whether concerning sexual health, access to care, transition pathways and queer lifes or risk reduction. Imagine common life practices that are respectful of everyone, attentive to the needs of everyone and critical of the marginalisation of sex workers, trans/inter, non-white, disabled people … Self-management, collective and community care are an effective response to authoritarianism.

Militant circles do not escape the relations of domination they fight. Disabled people, especially those with invisible disabilities, still too often experience doubt, disqualification or erasure. It is a structural validism, which, like homophobia, transphobia, racism or colonial oppression, serves capitalism.

Let’s take this time to look at each other, laugh, play, kiss, love, listen, cry. Let’s inspire each other.

And especially let’s dance.