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Beyond Equality: Feminisms Reclaiming Life

An Internationalist Gathering


28/06/2023

Iranian feminist revolutionaries, Latin American “mulherismo”, Kurdish “women’s liberation” movements, and similar feminist approaches do not – as liberal and predominantly Western feminist agendas do – restrict themselves to demands for equal shares in the eroding paradigm of the current toxic way of life. For those struggles, feminism is more than a quest for equality or individual empowerment – it is a political project that aims at justice and structural transformation: decolonization and planetary care work, socialization of social reproduction, and revolutionary democratization of the everyday.

The gathering assembles prominent feminist movements, researchers, and cultural workers – Latin American collectives, Kurdish, Iranian, and North African liberation movements, as well as queer and trans-feminist positions – through a collective curatorial process.

Discursive engagements, assemblies, (online) talks, and workshops will focus on war, border politics and revolutions, decolonial ecofeminism and the political economy of “race”, feminist abolitionism, anti-fascism, gender violence, hetero-cis normativity, and investigative journalism. Following the slogan of the Kurdish liberation movement, we want to give expression to the struggles that reclaim life: “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî.

With Sara A. Abbas, Parvin Ardalan, Delal Atmaca, Simone Dede Ayivi, Sandra Bello, Lara Bitar, Lorena Cabnal, Anna Carastathis, Luci Cavallero, Carmen Cariño, Christina Clemm, Andrea Dip, Dilar Dirik, Anielle Franco, Véronica Gago, María Galindo, Denise Garcia Bergt, Dalia Gebrial, Encarnación Gutiérrez-Rodríguez, Sabine Hark, Becka Hudson, Nesrine Jelalia, Liad Hussein Kantorowicz, Fatemeh Karimi, İida Käyhkö, Aysuda Kölemen, Agata Lisiak, Ewa Majewska, Erica Malunguinho, María do Mar Castro Varela, Zethu Matebeni, Débora Medeiros, Miriam Nobre, Somayeh Rostampour, Evren Savcı, Kate Sheese, Jamile da Silva e Silva, Rub(én) Solís Mecalco, Myrto Tsilimpounidi, Nazan Üstündağ, Louise Wagner, Galina Yarmanova, Himmat Zoubi und organizations and collectives like Casa Kuà, CENÎ – Kurdisches Frauenbüro für Frieden e.V., Damigra e.V.- Dachverband der Migrant*innenorganisationen, Feminist Autonomous Centre for Research (Greece), Feminists4jina, Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland Bund e.V., International Women* Space, Jineoloji, medico international e.V., Maternal Fantasies, S.U.S.I. Interkulturelles Frauenzentrum, Transnational Feminism, Solidarity, and Social Justice, TranStyX: Tunisian Queer Art Project and others.

Short biographies of all participants can be found here.

“Beyond Equality: Feminisms Reclaiming Life”is curated by a Berlin-based collective of women* situated in struggles like the Iranian Revolution, the Kurdish Liberation Movement, diasporic and migrant movements, as well as in feminist anti-extractivist, media and artistic articulations between Latin America and Germany. The collective is consisting of Firoozeh Farvardin, Barbara Marcel, Camila Nobrega, Bahar Oghalai, Bafta Sarbo, Elif Sarican and Margarita Tsomou.

30.6.–2.7.2023 / HAU1, HAU3.

 

European Legal Support Centre (ELSC)

The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) is the first and only independent organisation defending and empowering the Palestine solidarity movement in Europe through legal means.


21/06/2023

The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) is the first and only independent organisation defending and empowering the Palestine solidarity movement in Europe through legal means. We provide free legal advice and assistance to associations, human rights NGOs, groups and individuals advocating for Palestinian rights in mainland Europe and the United Kingdom.

We develop effective legal defence strategies with lawyers against disinformation, smear campaigns and discriminatory policies to protect the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly; document and analyse the restrictive measures that result in “shrinking space” for civil society defending Palestinian rights across Europe; and facilitate and promote strategic litigation against public and private actors involved in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights to confront corporate impunity and strengthen accountability.

The ELSC intervenes to end arbitrary restrictions and criminalization of peaceful advocacy and humanitarian work. It also develops legal tools and engages in strategic litigation to support civil society advocacy and campaigns.

The Center was established in January 2019 as a joint initiative of European jurists, the Palestinian civil society network PNGO and the Dutch NGO The Rights Forum, which has been hosting the ELSC in Amsterdam in the start-up phase.

Our Work

In order to provide effective legal support, the ELSC combines monitoring, defensive strategies, impact litigation, trainings and advocacy.

• Document and analyse the restrictive measures that result in “shrinking space” for civil society defending Palestinian rights across Europe;
• Produce unique country reports exposing incidents, policies, legislation and case law related to repression of the Palestine solidarity movement in Europe.

• Develop effective legal defence strategies with lawyers against disinformation, smear campaigns and discriminatory policies to protect the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly;
• Carry out paralegal advocacy to engage authorities and public institutions.

• Facilitate and promote strategic litigation against public and private actors involved in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights to confront corporate impunity and strengthen accountability;
• Organise legal trainings and seminars for human rights defenders.

Panel Discussion 23rd June

At the SAOT festival in Berlin, the ELSC will be taking part in a Panel Discussion on Friday, 23rd June at the Haus der Statistik..

In this panel discussion, the ELSC, together with Palestinian activists and journalists, will provide insight into the political context surrounding our struggles and critically assess growing anti-Palestinian racism in Germany. In line with this year’s festival theme of victory, we invite you to a discussion on how to successfully push back against these attacks and support/empower the artist, activist, scholar, journalist, and all those who advocate for freedom and justice.

Entry is free.

 

Wolt Protest

Wolt Owes us Money and Rights


14/06/2023


Dear Wolt, stop breaking the law and pay workers now!

The delivery riders at Wolt and Wolt fleet are outraged that for 6 months you have not paid any wages to more than 100 of us. Countless Wolt Fleet workers continue to receive hourly wages below the minimum wage of €12. Directly hired riders don’t receive enough hours according to the contract.

We demand that Wolt:

  • immediately pay back all the Wolt Fleet riders whose wages were stolen. In full and with interest.
  • provide at least the minimum contractual hours to directly  hired Wolt riders.

 

Dear Wolt workers

  • We will gather hundreds of signatures from Wolt riders
  • Your name will NEVER be revealed to Wolt, only your signature
  • The name and phone number is for us workers to keep in contact.

Why make a petition?

  • This is the only way to pressure Wolt into taking us seriously. They’re more scared of us acting collectively than they are of paying the workers their stolen wages. It’s cheaper for them than the media finding out!
  • On that note, the media will pay attention if they see that hundreds of workers have signed and stood next to a photo. This will raise public awareness.

Does it work?

  • Seeing examples helps you believe it! Hundreds of workers in similar photos have signed their petitions, showed them to management and the media, and were able to win their demands. This includes workers here in Berlin.

Next steps

  • We will invite you to take a photo next to the petition.
  • You can cover your face with a helmet to stay anonymous if you wish.
  • Bring your Wolt bag!

 

Dear Supporters – Join the Protest on Monday 19th June

Wolt workers are staging a protest on Monday 19th June at Kottbusser Tor. Over 100 workers are still without pay since six months! 🤬 This will be a standing protest will be at Kotti outside Rossmann. The purpose is to get media attention for workers’ rights. It will create pressure before Emre’s case hearing.

We want to  show Wolt that we are organising, not just mobilising, and to demand payment of stolen wages now.

Please wear a blue t-shirt (any shade of blue works!). Everyone who has a Wolt bike should bring it and park it by the protest.

If you don’t want to be photographed with your face, wear an FFP2 mask. Free masks (with slogans) will be available to anyone who needs them.

Food will be provided by Kotti and Ko at the Gecekonda at Kotbusser Tor. Theater X will have a performance at the end of the protest.

India Justice Project

Break the Silence. Defend Human Rights. Defend Democracy


07/06/2023

The India Justice Project was founded out of concern for the dismantling of democracy, persecution of activists and civil society actors as well as human rights violations in contemporary India and Kashmir since BJP, a  Hindu right wing political party came to power in 2014.

Communities such as Muslims, Dalits and Adivasi as well as voices of dissent and democracy that are resisting the current government’s majoritarian, regressive politics of right wing Hindu nationalism are more and more targeted and subjected to violence and arrests.

The governments of the western countries continue to appease the Modi government because of their geopolitical and economic interests while remaining silent over the degrading human rights violations. Germany, as one of the most influential members of the EU, is no exception.

Unfortunately, the situation in India is largely absent from the public and media discourse in Europe. To this end, we seek to raise awareness about the situation in India and question the behavior of the German government, German media and international community at large, towards the government of India.

For more information about the India Justice Project, visit our Website.

Book Presentation

On Friday 9th June, together with the Berlin LINKE Internationals and Hopscotch Reading Rooms, the India Justice Project ist organising a Book Presentation with Azad Essa, Senior Reporter at Middle East Eye. Azad will be introducing his new book Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel.

The Event will be taking place in the Hopscotch Reading Rooms building in Wedding – Gerichtstrasse 45. Everyone is invited to join the discussion.

Stop Deportation! Protest Camp

Join the Protest Camp against Deportations!


31/05/2023

At the Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, the government plans to build a massive deportation prison. Already now, mass deportations via charter flights silently take place there every month. We want to break the silence and are organizing the “Stop Deportation! Protest Camp” in Schönefeld from June 1-6 2023.

Get your tents and sleeping bags ready! Only a few more days before the Stop Deportation! Protest Camp starts ✊✊

We expect around 500 people to sleep at the camp:
⛺️ 6 days full of workshops, trainings, panel discussions that focus on the daily realities of anti-deportation struggles
🎤 an evening schedule with live-concerts, films and theater
🍽️ 3 meals per day are taken care off
✨ there’s a kids programme, sports, library & exhibitions
🏕️ sleep in your tent next to the airport
📢 and at the end we will take to streets in protest against the planned deportation center at BER airport

The Camp will be a place for:

  • Workshops & Skillsharing
    So many people and groups are already doing great work to fight and resist deportations and structural racism. Let’s share our knowledge and learn from each other.
  • Raising Awareness
    The camp will show presence in the Schönefeld area and raise awareness about deportations, deportation detention and the perspectives of affected people.
  • Connecting Movements
    We believe it is necessary to build a broader movement against deportations and for the right to stay. At the camp we can get to know each other better and connect.

Join the Camp from June 1-6 2023! To make our planning easier, please sign up for the camp at signup-stopdeportation@riseup.net (not mandatory, it is also possible to join spontaneously). In the sign-up email, please let us know how many people you will be, if you are organized in a group, if you can help us with translation or need translation for our workshops, or if you need support with anything.

Participation in the camp is of course free of charge. We will ask for donations for the food at the camp. Having little economic resources should not stop you from attending the camp. If you can’t donate anything, that’s no problem!

If you need financial support for travel expenses to the camp, please contact finance-stopdeportation@riseup.net as soon as possible. You will need to bring your printed ticket/receipt to be reimbursed. In order to reduce costs, please purchase your tickets as early as possible and consider using the “Deutschland-Ticket.” If you have the possibility to financially support the camp, please consider donating via our crowdfunding

WE ARE HERE, AND WE WILL FIGHT! FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT IS EVERYBODY’S RIGHT!

Stay updated on:

DEMO: ABOLISH DEPORTATION Monday, 5 June 13:30 | Rathaus Schönefeld

During the Stop Deportation! Protest Camp, we will march together upon the infrastructure of deportation that is spread around Berlin airport. Let us take this time to express our verbal rage against this racist system, against this whole architecture of deportation at the airport and let it inspire us to turn Schönefeld into a regular place of anti-deportation resistance! After days of camping together with workshops and networking on how we can resist the system of deportation, we will take to the streets and loudly demand: Stop All Deportations! Abolish the racist machinery of deportation!

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