The Funambulist

13/11/2025

The photograph displayed on this issue’s cover, as well as the ones featured in these pages, were found by artist Hoo Fan Chon in an antique shop in George Town, in Malaysia. In doing research, he traced back the photos’ owner, Ava, and got to know about her through multiple meetings with her lifetime friend, Anita. The following text is written by William Tham and was originally published in Portside Review in 2023. It describes the ways through which Fan Chon revived this memory through both Ava’s photos and Anita’s words and how their gender identity escapes definitions and demarcations.

Read more in our current issue "Building Trans Communities" (November–December 2025).

AN ART PROJECT BY HOO FAN CHON TEXT BY WILLIAM THAM The photograph displayed on this issue’s cover, as well as the ones featured in these pages, were found by artist Hoo Fan Chon in an antique shop in…

10/11/2025

In this powerful manifesto, Mikaelah Drullard advocates against the idea of humanizing trans people to favor the construction of a new ontology, that of the travestinegra (blacktravesti) outside of a humanity forged by colonial structures that simultaneously racialize and gender.

Read more in our current issue "Building Trans Communities" (November–December 2025).

TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH BY FELIPE GUERRA ARJONA We end this issue with a powerful manifesto written by Mikaelah Drullard. In it, she advocates against the idea of humanizing trans people to favor the…

03/11/2025

We are happy to share with you our new issue "Building Trans Communities" (November–December 2025), where we mobilize collective embodiments and solidarities against transphobia around the world.

Contributions include reflections about/from Colombia (La Liga de Salud Trans), colonized Casablanca and Cairo (Beshouy Botros), Britain (Mijke van der Drift and Nat Raha), India (Shripad Sinnakaar), newly independent Malaysia (Hoo Fan Chon and William Tham), Mexico (Mikaelah Drullard), and the US (Dean Spade and Ohan Breiding).

In the News from the Fronts section, you can read three texts about the history of Brazilian formerly enslaved people who returned to Benin and Nigeria (Titilola L. N. Marinho and Gabriel Weber), the long Sicilian resistance against capitalism and militarism (Giuseppe Procida), and the misappropriation of Indigenous symbols, in particular the whipala, by the Bolivian state (Magali Vienca Copa Pabón).

We also inaugurate a new section in the magazine of intergenerational transmission entitled “Learning With Our Elders,” in which an activist/militant shares with us something they learn from a past mistake or failure. We are honored to begin with a text by Fusako Shigenobu.

The cover features a photograph found by artist Hoo Fan Chon in an antique shop in George Town, Malaysia.

ORDER YOUR COPY: https://thefunambulist.net/shop/62-building-trans-communities

13/10/2025

We are excited to announce that our new issue "Building Trans Communities" (November–December 2025) is going to be out in two weeks from now!

Until October 31, we offer the possibility to preorder the print+digital version of our forthcoming issue, which constellates collective embodiments and solidarities against transphobia around the world.

This issue is an invitation to approach trans identities and political struggles around the world through two angles: their collective dimension and their forever escape from clear-cut definitions, in particular those emerging from the West.

The cover features a photograph found by artist Hoo Fan Chon in an antique shop in George Town, Malaysia.

Pre-order our 62nd issue now to receive your print copy at the earliest.

https://thefunambulist.net/shop/62-building-trans-communities

Collective embodiments and solidarities against transphobia around the world

06/10/2025

"Many had fled to Southern Rhodesia, escaping Salazar’s conscriptions in central Mozambique. They worked for the railways and on the settler farms. The railway stockyards and bottle stores where Africans gathered in the evening were ideal for sniffing out communist sympathizers—which is to say, any native with anti-Portuguese sentiments. Gwambe, knew to keep PIDE in the folds of your most private things. He had obtained his freedom from the Beira arrest by agreeing to become a PIDE informant, and was under orders to infiltrate the exile communities."

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You can read this contribution by Parselelo Kantai, which was commissioned and edited by Koni Benson, in our current issue, “Ten Years of The Funambulist” (September–October 2025).

PARSELELO KANTAI COMMISSIONED AND EDITED BY KONI BENSON Koni Benson: “Uhuru Hustlers” is less of a blindspot than a deep dive and extension of conversations that link, layer…

29/09/2025

"In te ao Māori, a healthy community is one which collectively meets each person’s differing needs, through collaboration of the differing roles best held by each (he waka eke noa). This is reflected in the relatively-new term tākata whaikaha. This can be understood as “people who are capable/strong enough”—or, who have the appropriate abilities and contributions for their own distinct role in community."

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You can read this contribution by Zarae Whakaka Davis, which was commissioned and edited by Xan Coppinger, in our current issue, “Ten Years of The Funambulist” (September–October 2025).

ZARAE WHAKAKA DAVIS COMMISSIONED AND EDITED BY XAN COPPINGER ARTWORK BY OLIVIA CHIN Xan Coppinger: “Blindspots are vulnerable and intimate spaces. Inhabited by many, missed by many, erased by many.

26/09/2025

"Indeed, the Latin American landscape appears to be fertile ground for discussing obstetric and gynecological violence, as it is connected to several very current social struggles in the region, giving rise to strong positions and debates. One of the structures that underpins the fight against obstetric and gynecological violence is the general fight against gender violence. This issue is prevalent in the region thanks to various feminist movements that have gotten renewed popular support since the “Ni una menos” (Not one [woman] less) movement."

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You can read this contribution by Constanza Evans, which was commissioned and edited by Lissell Quiroz, in our current issue, “Ten Years of The Funambulist” (September–October 2025).

This text has been translated from Spanish by Valentina Sarmiento Cruz.

CONSTANZA EVANS COMMISSIONED AND EDITED BY LISSELL QUIROZ TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH BY VALENTINA SARMIENTO CRUZ Lissell Quiroz: The Funambulist is a magazine that covers a wide range of topics.

11/09/2025

"We can’t abandon the rural to the Right, and most of our crews are in cities. Should we get more focused on building militant landless and unhoused collectives reclaiming land from the absentee landlord and investment classes? Living deeply outside the state while living surrounded by it, a modern multicultural marronage, maybe that’s a way to build a Left flank?"

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You can read this conversation Between Antonio Roman-Alcalá and David E. Gilbert, which was commissioned and edited by Kai Bosworth, in our current issue, “Ten Years of The Funambulist” (September–October 2025).

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN ANTONIO ROMAN-ALCALÁ AND DAVID E. GILBERT COMMISSIONED AND EDITED BY KAI BOSWORTH Kai Bosworth: For years, The Funambulist has examined land struggles in forests, urban areas…

08/09/2025

"Through mockery, parody, and joy, the police clowns managed to protect the physical and even legal integrity of the strikers in the face of repression, while at the same time going viral on social media and in the mainstream media, denouncing the ridiculousness of the police force. Nothing disarms like parody. Every citizen who laughs at another video of the police clowns loses their fear of the oppressors."

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You can read this contribution by Luis Othoniel Rosa, which was commissioned and edited by WAI Architecture Think Tank, in our current issue, “Ten Years of The Funambulist” (September–October 2025).

The text has been translated from Spanish by Felipe Guerra Arjona.

LUIS OTHONIEL ROSA COMMISSIONED AND EDITED BY WAI ARCHITECTURE THINK TANK TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH BY FELIPE GUERRA ARJONA WAI Architecture Think Tank: How to loudread anti-colonial strategies and…

04/09/2025

🎂✨ We are happy to share with you our new issue, “Ten Years of The Funambulist” (September–October 2025), where ten guest editors address the magazine’s blind spots across its first decade.

These guest editors include Michaëla Danjé, Xan Coppinger, Lissell Quiroz, Kai Bosworth, Sara Greavu, Andrea Francke, Giuliana Vidarte, WAI Architecture Think Tank, Ana María León, and Koni Benson.

Additionally, this issue proposes a text about the usefulness of The Funambulist’s contents and editorial orientation by regular contributor Sinthujan Varatharajah, as well as descriptions from four readers, Adam Arca, Yamina Sam, Kimberly F. Monroe, and Juli Reithinger, about the issue they deemed most useful for their work and organizing.

In the News from the Fronts section, you can read a text on the continuity of plantation logics in the Dominican Republic’s tourism industry by Luisa Jimenéz, a description of the Brazilian state policies regarding the country’s semi-arid region by Leonel Olimpio, and an analysis of the use of spoil tips for antifascist and working-class organizing in the French miner city of Saint-Étienne by Thomas Goumarre.

The cover artwork is by Lori Micu.

https://thefunambulist.net/shop/61-ten-years-funambulist

Ten Guest Editors Address the Magazine’s Blind Spots Across its First Decade