Ray Filar

Ray Filar is a freelance journalist and an editor at openDemocracy, working on the Transformation section. Their writing has been published in The Guardian, The Times, and the New Statesman, among others. They are the editor of Resist! Against a precarious future (Lawrence & Wishart, 2015), a book about young people and politics. They tweet, @rayfilar, their website is here.

Carers, mothers and sex workers: who cares about women's work?

KilljoyFM is London's new left feminist radio show, every Wednesday at 11am. This week, they discussed care, wages for housework and valuing feminised labour.

By Ray Filar and Selma James

/ 16 Sep 2016

Looking back: 12 of Transformation's greatest articles

I'm leaving after three years at openDemocracy. Here are some of my favourite, must-read articles from writers to watch out for.

By Ray Filar

/ 29 Jun 2016

Meet the sex workers using art to expose truths about the sex industry

Ahead of the opening of Sex Workers' Opera tonight, these arts activists are fighting the battle for hearts and minds.

By Ray Filar

/ 16 May 2016

Why I am an anti-Zionist Jew

The Israeli government deliberately invokes terrorist attacks, rockets, and scary brown men in headscarfs to stoke the population's fear, but I am scared of the racism Zionists use to justify the occupation. Originally published August 2014.

By Ray Filar

/ 29 Apr 2016

Crowdfunder: Transformation needs your help

If you care about the possibilities for radical change in society, please join our campaign.

By Ray Filar

/ 25 Apr 2016

Staying alive: Kate Bornstein gives the finger to cancer, suicide, and the gender binary

"Once you break down a huge fucking binary like gender, no other binaries seem to make sense": an interview with the much-loved trans author and artist.

By Ray Filar and Kate Bornstein

/ 14 Mar 2016

Trans ™: how the trans movement got sold out

From Zoolander 2 to Brewdog, now being transgender is cool, corporations are co-opting the sexy bits to turn a profit.

By Ray Filar

/ 25 Nov 2015

Dead name: why Facebook is wrong about who we are

For me the legal barriers that block living authentically are upsetting. But for others they are downright dangerous.

By Ray Filar

/ 21 Jul 2015

If you care about politics, don't vote

“Vote!” urge the party politics fans, waving their General Election sign-up sheets. But voting is the least effective way to create change.

By Ray Filar

/ 6 May 2015

The miserable cynic's guide to mindfulness

If unhappiness is the human condition, what's the point of mindfulness?

By Ray Filar

/ 15 Apr 2015

How the Home Office keeps getting it wrong on LGBTQ asylum seekers

The Home Office says that asylum seeker Aderonke Apata can't be a lesbian as she has had children with a man. The new Solidarity with Aderonke Tumblr project tells a different story.

By Ray Filar

/ 11 Mar 2015

Willing the impossible: an interview with Judith Butler

One of the jobs of philosophy is to elevate principles that seem impossible, to stand by them and will them, even when it's unlikely they'll be realised.

By Ray Filar

/ 25 Jul 2014