The murder of LGBTQI+ activist and journalist Avaz Hafizli is political!

Today, we witness the despair of ruthlessly oppressed and subordinated people and nature against the background of all the systematic violence, capitalist, neo-colonial and imperialist war games. Naturally, the mechanism of governing the existential terror faced by the masses, which justifies this kind of violence, is realized by directing the resulting hatred and aggression to groups they consider weaker than themselves, rather than to the state that controls it. As a result, violence against women and queers in Azerbaijan has sharply risen since the 2020 Karabakh war and is politically motivated. Against the background of growing poverty, precariousness and injustice, the oppressed "masculinities" think that they will strengthen their power by subjugating women and queers. On February 22, 2022, queer activist and journalist Avaz Hafizli was brutally murdered. He was killed for shaking the unfair, violent, heteronormative and patriarchal pillars of this system. His dehumanization before and after his death by his family, the masses, the political structure leading these masses, and the justification of his murder, speaks about the system's current fears. As the existence of Avaz Hafizli was the voice of “silenced” his death should not pass “silent” either. His murder was not committed out of "personal" issues. It is a violent murder committed out of hatred. As the state tries to personalize his murder, we must not remain silent, because Avaz's death is political! This system, which targets women, queers and the rest as "others" and brings their security to a breaking point, will continue to exist until it becomes the target of the mass fears it has created and managed. Until then, we must join our forces not to observe the hegemony of "masculinities" who have lost their status in the chain of violence. Political solidarity is the only way out against the power and control of the state, which is trying to "personalize" the murder of Avaz. Otherwise, we will have neither the strength nor the patience to watch another murder, another mass violence and terror awaiting us and our communities!