Lesson 5.4: Knowledge and continuity
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In this topic you will discover how knowledge is shared within and across organisations and what the main challenges to collaboration and networking are. You will also explore the intergenerational tensions present in queer and feminist movements and the testimonies of people’s longing for meaningful intergenerational exchanges based on care and mentoring.
1. Why knowledge-sharing is political
‘Anti-gender’ movements seek to restrict not only rights but also knowledge: academic fields, community centres, activist archives, and peer-learning networks. When states criminalise gender studies, censor NGOs, or smear activists, they also attempt to silence the knowledge that sustains resistance.
Sharing knowledge counters this in three ways:
- It preserves collective memory (what happened, what worked, what failed).
- It sustains communities through mentoring, care, and emotional solidarity.
- It strengthens strategies by ensuring each generation doesn’t rebuild from zero.
Thus, knowledge becomes an infrastructure of survival – essential for the continuity of movements. |