The Mandate of One Among Us
This is a revised translation from the Chinese Mandate.
One Among Us starts first as a memorial of our departed fellows in the transgender and gender diverse (TGD) community, which is our most important mission and shall not be changed. Therefore, we are a trans service organization and trans community based on the departed, or more accurately, on the relationship between the living and the deceased. Everyone, regardless of their living or death, shall be one among our diverse and spiritual trans community. Since we would not gather here in solidarity as an organization serving the living without the shared memory of the departed, in all of our events or services shall we try our best to make available for both the living and the departed, with our consideration of those who are silently watching over us on the other side of the Galaxy River which, though, demarcates us. Our organizational symbols, including but not limited to the anthem and flag, shall include in its purpose the connection between the living and the departed.
We are certain that any kind of remembrance, in its essence, is not private but political. However, we also note that its publicity, concerning the political, is generated by the intimate connection between the self and the other. Therefore, we, as an organization, shall never address frivolously our political ideas as if we were them, the deceased, with our arrogance. However, this shall not imply we should act apolitically: We hold that in our era, becoming trans or allies is to face -- even if not willing to be thrown into piles of sociopolitical disputes -- a life of heavier political responsibility, intentionally or unintentionally, voluntarily or forcedly. Hence, we believe that, at the very least, calling for equity, social justice, and each one's freedom of expression of their identities, including but not limited to gender identity, shall be considered as the collective will of the departed, and shall accordingly not be viewed as disrespect, nor should it be viewed as a failure to keep the impartiality of the memorial.
Since we are a trans community built among the departed, we are bound to carry a bitter reflection on the precarity of life. Especially in our current world, trans lives are even more vulnerable due to our shared sufferings and difficulties. We do not glorify our sufferings, but we are not ashamed to speak out about our fragility and persist in looking after each other. We stand with all individuals and communities who are still suffering from inequality, including those who do not have a joint "identity" as their identifier. We strive for social change for the happiness of our community friends, with our realization that individual happiness would never be achieved before the happiness of all humankind, not to mention that true happiness is always a puzzle. Even though our efforts to promote social change often end up with loss, we hope to share and heal each other's wounds in this process with our mutually increasing gratitude and reconciliation.
We are an "east asian and diaspora" trans community: Our members are either from east asia or have anyway a connection to east asia at some point in their lives. Here "east asia" is not the geographical East Asia, but rather east asia as a method: it is neither the 'central' nor the 'marginal' for its inability to fit into a mainstream and hegemonic narrative while always desiring to materialize and standardize another value system as opposed to it. Our critical connection to east asia lies in the fact that while we restrain our desire to fit into the 'center,' we shall also avoid presenting ourselves as the purely 'margin' being juxtaposed with the center. We shall keep reflective constantly to be conscious dwellers in a critical state between the 'center' and the 'margin,' a state of tension with all self-evident cultures and traditions, whether new or old.
Therefore, our organization shall also keep ambiguous the boundary between 'insiders' and 'outsiders' by admitting the intersectionality between organizational members, community friends, supporters and the supported. We shall be open and inclusive rather than acting as a small circle only for 'insiders.' Presumably, it shall not be interpreted as tolerating violence against our organizational or community members.
In order to meet the requirements of the regulatory authorities in our registered place and to better serve the community, as a not-for-profit organization, we should be professional and receive and produce knowledge on all aspects of community work and peer support. However, we are also clearly aware that professions and institutions are only for service maintenance and self-preservation instead of the purpose itself and have been inevitably limiting the full and free development of humankind until the end of capitalism. Therefore, we follow the principle of minimal professionalization to avoid success at all costs. Professionalization must not give way to our ethics or integrity, nor to our collective will or expectation.