Queering the Perspective

In this second episode from our visit to Battambang (Cambodia) we talk with B. Pov, the mother of SafeSpaceBTB community (see #38 for more information on the community organization) and today it is all about language!

B. Pov talks to us about a specific queer language which is an adaptation of the Khmer language spoken in Cambodia. She explains to us the origins of the language as well as the importance and further development of it during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime (1975 - 1979). Towards the end of the conversation we speak about her own story, her role as a trans elder in Battambang and the hopes she has for the LGBTQIA+* community in Cambodia at large.

If you want to learn more about the lessons on queer survival during the Khmer Rouge regime check this blogpost on our website.

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBTB

if you would like to be part of the podcast community, you can now join our telegram group for frequent update on new podcast developments

feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected]

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here

In this very first Cambodia episode, we talk with the founder of the LGBTQIA* community organization SafeSpaceBTB (Battambang). We were fortunate enough to get to know this vibrant community and spend a few days there (more on that to come in the next weeks ;)). With Thida, we talk in this initial episode about the early beginnings of SafeSpaceBTB, how they organize themselves and Thida tells us about some of the artistic and educational projects they have been involved in recently.

If you want to learn more about the SafeSpaceBTB community organizing as well as getting an overview on queer rights in Cambodia in general, check this blogpost on our website.

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBTB

if you would like to be part of the podcast community, you can now join our telegram group for frequent update on new podcast developments

feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected]

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here

For this week's episode, we met with Tata (she/her). Tata is a trans sex worker as well as an LGBTQIA* advocate and public figure in Thailand fighting for the rights of trans* people, homeless people and sex workers. In our conversation, we go through various intersections surrounding sex work and Tata explains what it means to be a sex worker and elderly/trans*/homeless/working on the streets vs. in private establishments. Towards the end of the episode, we also talk about the sex tourism industry and the difference between the trans* and gay community in Thailand

If you want to learn more about sex work in Thailand, check this blogpost on our website.

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBtB

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if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always

feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected]

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here

Today we are meeting Erik (he/him) in Bangkok! We begin our conversation by talking about different past projects of Erik such as his non-binary comic project We Have Always Been Here (CHECK IT OUT VIA THIS LINK). This comic echoes many of our recent episodes in the fact that queerness and transness is deeply rooted in the Asia Pacific region and today's widely spread hatred against the LGBTQIA* community stems from colonization and the erasure of queer and trans* bodies and history. Erik, who grew up in Indonesia and just recently migrated to Thailand, then tells us about the Indonesian queer/trans* diaspora and particularly his experience of creating the Non-Binary Forum Indonesian which is a closed discord group but can be contacted through Instagram. In line with different trans* experiences, Erik tells us towards the end of the episode about the difference in trans* rights in Indonesia and Thailand and we discuss about the aspect of the increased trans visibility in Thailand and if that automatically leads to greater rights for trans people

This episode truly goes beyond borders and is picked with empowerment (and lots of laughter). For more background information check this blogpost on our website

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBtB

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if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always

feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected]

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here

The charming guest of this episode is Charlotte (they/them) . Charlotte is part of the young feminist activist group Southern Feminist Liberation Front which is active in South Thailand and organized the first pride of the region in the city of Songkhla in 2022. In our conversation, Charlotte tells us about their road to activism, the experience of queer-feminist organizing in South Thailand as well as Bangkok Pride and also the intersection between queer activism and the pro-democracy movement in Thailand.

Talking to Charlotte left us majorly empowered and hopeful for the future with a young generation of queer-feminists stepping up the game. For more background information on particularly the pro-democracy movement and the role of queer politics in it check this blogpost on our website

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBtB

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if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always

feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected]

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here

Our next guest of the podcast is Febby (she/her) an activist and advocate for the rights of waria women in the city of Surabaya (located in East Java). "Waria" combines the Indonesian words for a woman (wanita) and a man (pria) and can be equated to trans women in the Western context. While waria women have existed throughout Indonesian history, they face many forms of discrimination and persecution today. Febby works with the organization Perwakos to support waria women in Surabaya

In this episode, we talk about this work and all the issues that waria women are facing: HIV (and the stigmatization), struggles around sex work, lack of access to jobs, no legal recognition of their gender etc. etc. etc.

If you want to learn more about waria people, check this blogpost on our website

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBtB

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if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always

feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected]

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here

This episode is truly a double trouble: our guests are Asmara (they/them) and Samri (all pronouns) , two QTBIPOC (Queer & Trans Black, Indigenous and People of Color) community organizers based in Bali, Indonesia. In this episode, they take us on a whole journey through Indonesian queer history and contemporary issues surrounding queerness in different parts of the country.

In one part of the account of queer history, our guests talk about bugis culture which recognizes five genders, among them the bissu people which are not defined as man or woman and serve as spiritual leaders int the community. For more background information Check this blogpost on our website

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBtB

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if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always

feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected]

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here

Shan De Silva (all pronouns) is a gender fluid/non binary model in Sri Lanka for the past 7 years working for local and international brands.

Let's talk fashion!

Breaking boundaries is a "Queering the Perspective" passion and certainly Shan fits very well into this taking on the fashion world by storm and refusing a "NO" from the gender binary. For more background information on the importance of fashion in queer identities as well as the intersections with colonization check this blogpost on our website

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBtB

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if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always

feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected]

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here

Vasi Samudra Devi (she/they) is a non-binary trans woman and a multidisciplinary artist working with poetry, performance, theater, paint and pencils.

We start off the episode by talking about the complicated process of transitioning in Sri Lanka which quickly also turns into a discussion about the economic crisis and the lack of access to hormones during the beginning of it. Because of that daunting experience Vasi being the artist she is created the Performance "Hormone Replacement crisis which she showcased among other places also at the #GotaGoGoma protest site. Towards the end of our conversation, we speak about gender expectations, her identity a Lesbian non-binary trans woman and her refusal to fit into trans normative boxes and instead thrive in the multiplicity of her desires.

Meeting Vasi and listen to her was/is a big encouragement to define yourself outside of supposed contradictions in the outdated concept of the gender binary. For more background information on her work as an artist Check this blogpost on our website

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBtB

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if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always

feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected]

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here

Jeana De Zoysa (she/her) is a Sri Lankan writer, safari guide sustainable fashion model and activist. She became involved with the "Aragalaya" (the Sri Lankan national uprising at the face of economic collpase) in April 2022, volunteered in the People Power essentials distribution tent at the #GotaGoGama (main occupation site in Colombo) and was present at the frontlines at most of the major protests.

The "Aragalaya" is also the main topic of this episode. We discuss the origins of the protest movement and the uniting element of the protest which bound together various ethnic, religious, sexual and gender minorities. Then it gets hot as Jeana tells us about the storming about the presidents palace, the reaction of the state force and she shares reflections on the challenges of the decentralized nature of the movement. Lastly, we speak about the current developments of the movement and new forms of resistance.

In this episode it gets POLITICAL and we understand the meaning of "One struggle, One fight" and the calls for system change over reformist efforts on a whole other level. For more background information on the "Aragalaya" Check this blogpost on our website

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBtB

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if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always

feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected]

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here