About me

Who am I? I am a survivor of complex trauma, a nonbinary trans* activist, trainer and educator in nonviolence, strategies for social change, gender and gender justice from a transfeminist and queer perspective, and I work on trauma and self-care in activism.

During my activism ‘career’, which started in the mid-1980s, I have been involved with a range of social movements, starting with the anti-nuclear energy movement, the antimilitarist and especially the total objection movement in Germany, and more generally the environmental movement. Later I moved on to the international level, and worked from 2001 until 2012 in the international office of War Resisters’ International in London.

I trained as a trainer for nonviolent action and nonviolent conflict transformation with Kurve Wustrow in Germany from 1998 until 2001, and have done training work in many countries ever since.

Since September 2013 I am living in the Spanish state. Here I worked with a variety of social movements, in recent years mainly the climate justice movement (including at the European level) and the trans*/queer movement.

I have often contributed with articles to the debates in social movements. I contributed several chapters to the second edition of War Resisters’ International’s Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns, with a special focus on power and campaign planning. I also contributed to other books published by War Resisters' International, and I recently published a book (in Spanish): We organise ourselves for change. A small organising handbook. You can order the book via Traficantes de Sueños or your local bookshop (within Spain), or just download it.

Some of my articles can be found on this website. You will realise that the English and Spanish versions of this website are not identical - for the simple reason that many articles were published in only one language, but some were published in even more languages. You will always find a link to other languages under each article.

Since 2016, I have been working a lot on trauma, confronting my own complex trauma. This has shifted my focus to working more on self-care and trauma in activism, but also focusing more on my own community, which is the trans*, nonbinary and queer community.

For a few year now I define myself as genderqueer, a nonbinary identity, and I managed to get a passport that no longer defines me as man nor as woman. Despite the entry into force of the Andalusian Trans Law in 2014, I had to fight for four years with the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) for the recognition of my non-binary gender, and I am currently fighting with the Andalusian Employment Service (SAE) to respect both my chosen name and my gender identity. A law that is not being applied.

In January 2023, the High Court of Justice of Andalusia ordered the police/Extranjería to register me with the indeterminate gender, 'X', in the Central Register of Foreigners. An important ruling for the recognition of non-binary people in the Spanish state.

I use the pronouns they/them in English, and elle in Spanish (and have no clue about German nonbinary pronouns).

You can contact me using the contact from on this website.