Support us and Join our community at ๐ธ https://ko-fi.com/activistwitch ๐ธ or ๐ ฟ๏ธ https://www.patreon.com/activistwitch ๐ ฟ๏ธ In this video essay, we dive into the “complex” topic of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series, exploring differing opinions within the transgender and lgbtq communities, discussing our stance on the jk rowling controversy and also touch on current events like the iran protests and broader middle east news, delving in the meaning of identity politics, neoliberal individualism, choice feminism, to hopefully give you the tools, especially if you’re a white progressive person, to understand how to critically consider topics and understand who needs your help when you get told to shut up in the face of “nuance” and weaponised identity politics, considering the cases of Venezuelan and Iranian diaspora against the people still living in those countries.
Emma’s GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-em-get-genderaffirming-surgery
๐ฐ๏ธ CHAPTERS ๐ฐ๏ธ
00:00 Identity Politics: from Harry Potter to Iran
01:29 Introduction: Witchtube Gossip
08:11 Choice feminism to Choice Oppression
22:23 Tokenism
25:06 Colonialism
37:49 The Racism of Carl Jung’s Shadow
46:45 Empire
01:05:29 Conclusions: How to tell what side is right?
๐BIBLIOGRAPHY๐
Talia Bhatt – Trans / Rad / fem
https://taliabhatt.itch.io/transradfem
Talia Bhatt – Brown / Trans / Les
https://taliabhatt.itch.io/browntransles
Silvia Federici – Caliban and the Witch
https://archive.org/details/CalibanAndTheWitchWomenTheBodyAndPrimitiveAccumulation
Why the UK supreme court ruling on Biological Sex makes YOU lose rights Video Essay
Liz Truss and Right Wing Women ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ Why All 3 Female UK Prime Ministers have been Conservative
@ScintillaePod Fictional Men We’d Like to F*ck
The Combahee River Collective Statement
https://americanstudies.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Keyword%20Coalition_Readings.pdf
Michaele Ferguson – Choice Feminism and the Fear of Politics
https://archive.org/stream/AnarchismRadicalFeminism3/ChoiceFeminismAndFearOfPol-MichaeleL.Ferguson_djvu.txt
Wikipedia – Woman, Life, Freedom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman,_Life,_Freedom
Talia Bhatt – No Country for Non-Men
https://taliabhattwrites.substack.com/p/no-country-for-non-men
Oyeronke Oyฤwรนmรญ – African Women and Feminism: Reflecting on
the Politics of Sisterhood
https://archive.org/details/africanwomenfemi0000unse
Talia Bhatt – The Coloniality of Gender Studies, or:
What is a Not-Woman?
https://taliabhattwrites.substack.com/p/the-coloniality-of-gender-studies
Jane Johnson & Helen Morgan – Jung and Racism
Le Monde – Britain’s ‘grooming gangs’ under renewed scrutiny and investigations
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/02/08/britain-s-grooming-gangs-under-renewed-scrutiny-and-investigations_6737919_4.html
The Guardian – The invention of whiteness: the long history of a dangerous idea
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/20/the-invention-of-whiteness-long-history-dangerous-idea
Politics Home – No, โBlacksโ did not โsell Blacks into slaveryโ
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/blacks-did-not-sell-blacks-into-slavery
Wikipedia – Indians in Uganda
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indians_in_Uganda
Counterfire – Chavez, Venezuela, and the โBolivarian revolutionโ
https://www.counterfire.org/article/chavez-venezuela-and-the-bolivarian-revolution/
Gold and Geopolitics – Iran: Deep dive
https://no01.substack.com/p/iran-deep-dive
Dr Reza Zia-Ebrahimi – In Pursuit of Whiteness:
Why Iranian Monarchists Cheer Israelโs Genocide
https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/46906
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/reza-zia-ebrahimi
๐LEARN ABOUT PALESTINE๐
Witches For Palestine playlist
Witches for Palestine Updates
https://witchesforpalestine.start.page
๐ณ๏ธโโง๏ธLEARN ABOUT TRANS RIGHTS ๐ณ๏ธโโง๏ธ
Witches for trans rights
๐ผ MUSIC ๐ผ
๐ถ Chris Zabriskie – I F*ck You Not
https://chriszabriskie.bandcamp.com/album/mayor-feedback
โน๏ธ License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
All About Activist Witch: https://activistwitch.co.uk
Memberships + Low Income Tarot Readings ๐ด https://ko-fi.com/activistwitch
Patreon ๐
ฟ๏ธ https://www.patreon.com/activistwitch ๐
ฟ๏ธ
Tarot Readings on Etsy ๐๏ธ https://acovenoftwo.etsy.com ๐๏ธ
All my Links ๐ https://activistwitch.co.uk/links/
some product links are affiliate, which means that if you click on them and buy something I may receive a small advertising percentage, which means that at NO EXTRA COST TO YOU you are supporting my work, thank you!
#iran #harrypotter #diaspora
01:21:49
source
Comment for the algorithm. I hope more people see this video. I think itโs super important for the witchcraft community, especially these days.
What a great topic, and at such a relevant time.
I'm afraid some people don't understand that choosing what you spend you money on can be comparable to voting. If you spend money in a way where it ends up in the hands of someone who spends it on ending trans rights, it's basically voting to end trans rights. Giving money to Harry Potter while being in favour of trans rights is just like voting for a politician you disagree with just because you like their jacket.
Also, the indigenous man explaining that he didn't just love children he knew were his, but also all other children in his tribe? I wish we had a little bit of that spirit in our current society. Why does colonialism have to ruin everything?
You guys keep knocking it out of the park. Just the connections and how these patterns repeat over numerous scenarios. Your research is always so important. Thank you
Only halfway through but YES!! I asked a while back if you could do a video on Iran and I've been concerned cause I rarely see leftists talk about it for the exact reasons you mentioned and you knocked it out of the park with this video saying everything people need to hear right now. I am not Iranian myself but very passionate about this cause. (I almost did the JK Rowling "I know and love people who are" lol, I would still be passionate regardless)
Looking forward to finishing this in full!! (have to run to work now ๐ฆ)
This video is such a ride. I did not expect where we were going, and you managed to masterfully connect these concepts. The mental gymnastics that capitalists and imperialists use to shut down all criticism and only prop up the opinions of those trying to align themselves with power and privilege is so diabolical and frustrating.
An offering to the algorithm gods, please promote this video. Hail ๐๐ป
I think the real shadow of civilization is having the ultra-rich, who never have incentive to change when they can buy their freedom from consequence.
This world makes me sad and tired. I hate my country for what we're allowing and taking part in.
As always the way you talk about these issues is great with specifics and building the counter-narrative. Much love.
FUCK Jesus and hail Bacteria!
-With satanic love, your psychedelic transsexual.With satanic love, your psychedelic transsexual.
I remember reading Trans* by Jack Halberstam, and the entire book just felt like he was just being as inflammatory towards the wider trans community as possible. It felt less like a book than a permission slip for toxic cis people to make veiled transphobic comments then cite a trans person when challenged, so thank you for calling him out as being a privileged voice used to attack his community from within. To be fair I think the main reason he managed to become one of the leading figures in trans studies is because he clearly had a much lower level of dysphoria than most trans people and was able to present as cis for most of his career, although that's essentially just a trans-specific version of being an acceptable minority member in the eyes of the establishment.
I consider myself articulate and intelligent, but then I watch your video essays… #Goals
Brilliant and thought provoking as usual
That opening quote hits the nail on the head.
I dated a trans woman for a bit who legit hated seeing people post about how Joanne is transphobic, because HP was so integral to her when she was growing up.
โฆI donโt know if she ever got that people are souring specifically because of THAT, and that any engagement with it is putting money in Joanneโs pocket