Anaheed Saatchi (they/them) is a queer and non-binary writer and community organizer. They cover themes of social justice, diaspora, the outdoors industry and identity politics. In 2018, they co-founded the rock climbing initiative BelayALL based on the unceded territories of the səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh), Skwxwú7mesh-ulh Temíx̱w (Squamish), and šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam) nations. Examples of their work can be found in The Alpinist Magazine, Explore Magazine and online at Melanin Base Camp.
What types of outdoor activities did you participate in when you were growing up?
My experience of the outdoors growing up was a mixed bag. I was really privileged to have access to skiing since I was three and I raced competitively as a young kid. I loved being on the mountain but I didn’t like ski culture. I quit when I was thirteen. In my day-to-day, I was pretty isolated growing up since our house was a considerable commute from the school I attended. Being outdoors meant saving myself from being really lonely, I loved climbing trees and rocks, playing in creeks and going for hikes—mostly by myself or sometimes with my two younger sisters in tow. Those experiences earlier on motivated me to pursue outdoor sports and activities down the road. Then there’s also the fact that my extended family is massive so we would have these get-togethers in parks with barbecue, loads of other foods, litres of black tea, and games in the summers.
What types of outdoor activities do you enjoy now?
I’ve always loved park hangs. Picnics with lots of people sharing food. I love rock climbing: multi-pitch, single-pitch, bouldering. Running. I don’t love hiking but I love where I can end up and my selective memory accommodates that type 2 fun. Swimming in lakes (unless they’re at glacial temps in which case, I’ll try and force myself to dip in just for the sensory reset). I still love skiing but don’t access it right now. And pick-up basketball!
How are they meaningful to you?
For me, being with others and being outdoors are ways of interrupting stress cycles and getting to enjoy being together in replenishing environments. My sense of belonging is fed by being outside, I can belong to nature. I’m a part of nature. It’s remarkably affirming since, otherwise, my days are spent indoors and mostly at my desk plugged into technology. The sounds, smells and rhythms I encounter in each of those activities are enough to sustain me for weeks, even months, on end.
How do your intersecting identities as a writer, community organizer and queer non-binary climber from the Iranian diaspora impact your sense of belonging or un-belonging in the outdoors?
When it’s just me in the woods I feel the most myself. In those instances, my identifiers don’t matter insofar as a fern doesn’t really care where I’m from. I learned really quickly from skiing that “the outdoors,” as defined by white and colonial narratives, were spaces that made me hyper vigilant. I quit ski racing because of really horrible racism, homophobia and Islamophobia. Try explaining to a ten year-old who loves being outside why the other people in the space are treating them differently. Kids are smart and they notice these dynamics, whether or not the adults in the space are intentional or unintentional bigots. I’ve since been motivated by a desire to unpack these instances and that has helped fuel my work as a writer and organizer, as well as a friend, family member and partner.
What work is BelayALL engaged in?
BelayALL is a community incubator that works collaboratively to put on events, design programming and connect folks with rock climbing. I really appreciate this question as opposed to, “What IS BelayALL?” which can feel limiting since I operate from a set of values rather than an imposed structure. Earlier in 2021, we partnered with Climbing Escalade Canada and our local bouldering gym, The Hive, to design workshops that address gender inequity, prioritizing non-cisgender male folks, especially QTBIPOC, to participate, take up space and learn more about training, mobility and routesetting! Community, learning, anti-oppression, accountability and adaptability, those are words I think of when I approach my work through BelayALL.
You write brutally honest articles eviscerating the climbing industry and it's super refreshing. Your guest blogposts for Melanin Base Camp have connected with over 85,000 people thus far. Why is it important to hold the climbing community accountable for white supremacy, patriarchy and heteronormativity?
Wow, eviscerate feels like a really intense word but judging by the comments that pour in sometimes, I feel like I get it. Sometimes naming the thing and being that person means other people have to take a second and look inward, and that can be really hard. I wrote some of my first articles for Melanin Base Camp from a place that involved feelings of anger, and I’m not shy or sorry about that. Those feelings, and the language they evoke, get censored at most outdoor publications. If a global pandemic hasn’t convinced someone in the climbing industry why dismantling each of these systems is not optional, I now charge an hourly rate for that type of consulting. Systems of oppression are bad for everyone and in any industry. Ultimately, they erase the truth that we’re animals who can live together collaboratively, creatively and in alignment with the rest of the natural world.
Affinity groups are often asked to do so much to improve accessibility and to create safe spaces for marginalized people - even while operating with the least amount of resources. Meanwhile corporations are still pushing the easy button of reposting photos of people of color - an act that costs them nothing. What will it take to change that?
Access, resources and agency. It’s tricky trying to change institutions that will never completely stop long enough to reconfigure before starting up again. In a way, the pandemic forced the hand of a lot of white-founded companies to slow down and the Black Lives Matter uprisings made ignoring this work pretty publicly shameful. There will certainly be companies that don’t do the work at enough of an individual level to understand how that translates outward, but I’m happy to say I’ve experienced a few places within the industry where diversity doesn’t just mean having more diverse people in white spaces, it means supporting the creation and continuation of spaces by BIPOC for BIPOC. In order for that to happen, white people need to take on more supporting roles and folks need to follow suit when they hold privileged positions across the spectrum of identities.
“We’re asking, what are my challenges; what keeps me away from climbing and what brings me towards it,” said Melissa. The intention is that, by focusing on content and a diverse user experience, they can move beyond the one note depiction of climbers as white, cisgender, able-bodied and male.