The Left Berlin News & Comment

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Category: Campaign of the week

PerfocraZe International Artist Residency -p IAR

Interdisciplinary Ghanaian artists’ program and a performance ‘hatchery’


13/10/2022

For the past four years, pIAR has served the arts and the queer community as a safe sanctuary for radical artistic programmes, advocacy, ‘artivism’ and cultural intervention. Since 2017, Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi [crazinisT artisT] (pronouns: sHit if not she) has rented a new space after six years of active public advocacy and fearless artivism in and outside Ghana. sHits new space is a safe sanctuary and has become a home for ‘all’. pIAR is a paradise for many queer and non-queer creative individuals from all over the world – converging, researching and developing projects that engage global audiences on sensitive issues such as gender/sexuality, racism, class and power relations. Artists in residence are also encouraged to discuss and explore other topics, including decolonisation, multiculturalism, patriarchy, healing practices, indigenous rituals, etc.

Countless people benefit from our studio, workshops and the residency program over the past four years. However we are urgently seeking for funding to purchase a 12 bedroom space with studio facilities that can accommodate at least 26 people including the artists in residence, the pIAR team, interns and mentees that will be directly and immediately affected if we are evacuated from our current home any time soon. The cost of the houses in Kumasi are currently between $200,000 and $300,000 depending on the quality, size, site, conditions of the house and the facilities available.

The new ANTI-LGBTQIA+ bill dubbed the ‘PROMOTION OF PROPER HUMAN SEXUAL RIGHTS AND GHANAIAN FAMILY VALUES BILL, 2021’ by some members of Parliament has endangered perfocraZe International Artist Residency (pIAR)  for our radical visibility as a safe sanctuary. The Bill has created mixed reactions among citizens, religious groups and the queer community. It has doubled up the violence against LGBTQIA+ persons across the country, recording several viral videos of mob attacks on suspected LGBTQIA+ persons without justice for the victims. One of our offices (LGBT+ Right Ghana) was raided by the police in February  2021 in the company of a homophobic landlaord and some residents.

The bill also directly threatens the founder and artistic director of pIAR as a transwoman, artivist, human rights advocate, and the board member of LGBT Right +. It is dangerously determined to prosecute anyone who identifies as queer or is perceived as (following the bill’s definition) an ‘LGBTTQQIAAP+’ person, ally or sympathiser. The bill will also prosecute landlords or anyone who rents their properties or premises to queer persons or LGBTQIA+ inclusive organisations. This is our emergency to raise funds for our own safe house to avoid dealing with the threats our landlord is facing at the moment from the homophobic community..

We understand the cost of our facility is quite expensive but we will appreciate the maximum contribution within your budget or any possible means you can afford to support us.  Please visit our GoFundme fundraiser for further details: 

Our aim is to gradually normalise our queer existence through radical ‘artivism’ and by empowering our younger selves to reclaim our placement in the society. We are determined to break those oppressive binary structures through constant advocacy and educational engagement with the ‘Cis-Hetero’ community. By far pIAR has been very progressive bridging the gab between some of these community through our annual public festival dubbed love fEAST which brings together over 200 people from the queer community and the ‘Cis-Hetero’ neighbourhood for a dinner/party at our current space every January.

Your donation or contribution will be so much impactful for the continuity of the radical empathetic and solidarity created by pIAR. With such a safe house if secured pIAR can continue offering space and support for artivists, workshops, gathering, learning and strategic planning towards safety and security of the community members.

Refugee Movement / OPlatz.Net

Refugee News from Inside


06/10/2022

The OPlatz.net website was created as the voice of the Refugee Movement based at the protest camp at Oranienplatz (“Oplatz”) in Berlin, which was set up in 2012 to protest against the disfranchisement of refugees by the German state. Since the eviction of the camp in 2014, the website as well as the structure of refugee protests have changed and developed. Various groups with different focuses have emerged, including the Oplatz Media Group, which is continuing to fill this website with news about protests of refugees in Berlin, throughout Germany and beyond. It also publishes the newspaper by and for refugees – “Daily Resistance”. You can find a list of protest groups and links to their websites here.

Our Demands

  • Abolish Residenzpflicht (mandatory residence)!
    Rooted in colonial policies, Residenzplicht obliges refugees to stay in a certain area and clearly violates our basic human rights. We reject any restrictions of our freedom of movement and demand the complete abolition of Residenzpflicht-law.
  • Abolish all “Lagers” (refugee camps)!
    Refugees in Germany are forced to stay in “Lagers” (camps) mostly completely isolated from society, under inhumane living conditions and constant surveillance by authorities and Lager-guards. We refuse to live in those prison-like Lagers, we break this isolation and demand the right to choose where and how we want to live!
  • Stop all deportations (also Dublin III)!
    Deportations are an inhumane practice and have to be stopped immediately. Everyone leaving her_his home country has good reasons to migrate – may it be war, political persecution or because of the economic situation – all of these reasons are political in its core. We refuse any categorization of migrants and demand the acknowledgement of the legitimacy of any kind of migration, no matter where people come from.
    The Dublin III regulation is nothing else than a network of human trafficking between European countries and has to be abolished! Germany and the European Union have to accept that the right to move is not negotiable.
    Because freedom of movement is everybody’s right!
  • Right to work and study!
    We dont want your social benefits. We need the right to work and study to provide for ourselves independantly.

10 years ago the Oranienplatz in Kreuzberg and later also the Gerhart-Hauptmann School in Ohlauer Straße were occupied. To mark this anniversary, we want to gather at Oranienplatz from 5.10.-9.10. and celebrate the history of the rebellious refugee movement. With a five-day open-air art “construction site”, we will show the history of the Refugee Resistance Movement and the many facets of the struggles on and around O-Platz.

People who were active in the movement then and now and were present on O-Platz are creating a programme with theatre, graphics, painting, literature, photography and film, in which we trace the stages of the resistance in a variety of artistic ways: From the long march to Berlin to the shameful eviction of the camp by the Berlin Senate and the district.

Ten years after the beginning of the occupation of O-Platz, however, we not only want to celebrate our history, but also make a proposal for a society that sees itself as diverse, postcolonial, grassroots democratic and post-migrant. See the full programme here.

IPPNW

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War


29/09/2022

IPPNW stands for International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. The IPPNW is an international association of doctors which campaigns for a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons and understands itself as a professional organisation for peace.

Tens of thousands doctors worldwide in over 60 countries on all 5 continents belong to the IPPNW. As a form of “political medicine” which aims at preserving life and making life worth living, we campaign for the health of their patients: for a shared future across all political borders and social systems. In Germany, almost 6,000 doctors and medical students are active in the IPPNW for a healthy and dignified life without nuclear weapons or nuclear energy.

40 years ago, a Russian and a US-American doctor launched the IPPNW in the middle of the Cold War. Their aim was to prevent a nuclear war. Barely one year later, in 1982, the German section was formed. The doctors are involved in different campaigns to raise awareness of the consequences of a nuclear war, stressing the social, economic and psychological costs of the arms race. In 1985, the organisation received the Nobel Peace Prize for their engagement.

On 1st October, members of the doctors’ organisation are taking part in demonstrations, rallies and vigils, including one in Berlin. They are following a call of the two national networks “Bundesausschuss Friedensratschlag“ and “Kooperation für den Frieden“ which demands political change towards peace and disarmament,

Following the illegal invasion by Russian troops of Ukraine, peace organisations fear an escalation of the war. The danger of the deployment of nuclear weapons or even a nuclear war has not been as great for decades. In Germany, and worldwide, tremendous sums are invested in armaments, money that could be used for climate protection and social spending. Food scarcity endangers the lives of people in the whole world.

Berlin action: Stop the War! Immediate Ceasefire! Negotiations not Shooting!, Neptunenbrunnen (Alexanderplatz). Saturday, 1st October, 2pm.

International Safe Abortion Day

Abortion: Our right, our choice! Here and worldwide!


22/09/2022

Call to action on International Safe Abortion Day, 28.09.2022

This year, Section 219a of the German Penal Code (StGB) has finally been repealed, removing the ban on “advertising” abortions. Doctors will finally be allowed to provide information on all relevant aspects such as methods, procedures and costs of abortions and will no longer be subjected to pressure from opponents of reproductive rights, who used this absurd paragraph to criminalise doctors.

This long overdue step wouldn’t have been possible without significant pressure from the pro-choice movement, but we’re not ready to celebrate yet! As long as Section 218 of the German Penal Code exists, abortion is considered a criminal offence in Germany. We call on the federal government to act immediately and implement sexual and reproductive rights: because these are human rights!

We demand:

  1. Removal of §218 StGB from the penal code.
  2. Unrestricted, comprehensive and accessible access to legal abortions close to home.
  3. New human rights-based regulation of abortion on the basis of sexual and reproductive health and rights.
  4. Removal of the obligation to undergo counselling and the compulsory “waiting period” (§218a).
  5. The right to qualified and open-ended counselling guaranteed by the federal government/federal states.
  6. That health insurance providers cover all costs related to abortion as part of statutory health care.
  7. Training in the methods of abortion as a compulsory part of the training of medical specialists and medical students .
  8. Comprehensive information about all contraceptives and free access for everyone, including free distribution of the “morning-after pill” as emergency contraception.
  9. Removal of the taboo on abortion and inclusion of the topic in sexual education.
  10. Social and economic support on the part of the state, guaranteeing the necessary infrastructure for those who decide to have a child, to allow self-determined family planning.

In 2022, sexual and reproductive rights are still not guaranteed in many countries around the world. On the contrary, they are under attack more than ever. In the USA, the right to abortion is currently under acute threat. In the neighbouring European country of Poland, abortion is de facto banned. As a result of these restrictive regulations, pregnant women have already died because doctors refused to perform vital abortions for fear of criminal consequences. People who fled the Ukraine war have also reported difficulties accessing abortions in Poland (even after rape).

Around the world we experience inequality and oppression as a result of constant attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights. We stand in solidarity with all those fighting for reproductive justice and demand unrestricted physical, sexual and reproductive self-determination for all, especially women, non-binary and trans* people, and people with disabilities – in Germany and worldwide!

Berlin action: 6pm at the Haus der Statistik, Otto-Braun-Straße 70-72, Wednesday 28th September

Zero Waste Berlin Festival

The first international event for zero waste, circularity and sustainability


15/09/2022

The Zero Waste Berlin Festival take places on September 16-17th at Engelnest Co-Working in Berlin-Schöneberg.

This year’s festival focuses on Green Cities and how it connects to sustainability, circularity, and zero waste. See more info on the website.

The Friday is set up for professionals working in the sustainability field—and you’ll notice this in the pricing 😅 The focus here is on networking, sharing ideas, and finding collaboration partners, and we also have a few masterclasses for those who want to go deeper.

Saturday is meant for the broader public, and tickets are only around 10 euros 🙂 We’re inviting Berlin citizens and anyone curious about the topics of sustainability, circularity, and zero waste.

Here is how you can get a discount ticket

• Visit our tickets website.
• Click on Tickets
• In the left top corner click on Enter promo code
• Insert your code: 20BYZWBF2022
• Get your discounted ticket and fill in the details