On July 27th, 2024, we marched the streets for Internationalist Queer Pride Berlin.

This is the speech we read:

Today, we gather to speak truth to power and to stand in solidarity with our siblings and comrades across the globe who face unimaginable repression, fear, and intimidation. In the heart of Europe, Germany, a country celebrated for its commitment to human rights and freedom, we are witnessing troubling signs of crackdowns on dissent, particularly in the context of the war in Palestine.

As we speak, queer people in the asylum system in Germany find themselves muzzled, their voices silenced by the very system that should protect them. The specter of violence looms large, with the government’s increasing hostility towards those who dare to speak out against injustice. Our freedom of expression, our right to protest, is under siege.

This repression is not an isolated phenomenon. It echoes the chilling realities faced by queer individuals across Africa, where governments in countries like Ghana, Uganda, and others have enacted draconian laws that criminalize our existence. In these nations, simply being queer can be a death sentence, a ticket to a life of fear and hiding. The anti-LGBTQ+ laws in these countries are not just pieces of legislation; they are instruments of terror, designed to strip away our humanity, to erase our existence.

In Uganda, the infamous “Kill the Gays” bill continues to threaten the lives of countless individuals. In Ghana, the “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values” bill seeks to entrench discrimination, making it a crime to be who we are. This criminalization of our very existence is not just a violation of our rights; it is an assault on our dignity and our very humanity.

But as we stand here today, we must also celebrate the spirit of resistance, the unyielding courage of those who continue to fight for justice and equality. The theme of this year’s Pride in Berlin is a testament to that resilience: “Solidarity Without Borders.” It is a call to action, a reminder that our struggle is global and that our fight for freedom is intertwined.

In Berlin, where the echoes of the past still resonate, we are reminded of the price of silence, of inaction. The walls of this city, the streets we walk, bear witness to the struggles of those who came before us. It is our duty, our honor, to continue that fight, to ensure that no one, anywhere, has to live in fear, in hiding, in silence.

Let us be clear: our solidarity is not conditional. It is not bound by borders, by nationality, by the color of our skin, or by the nature of our love. It is universal, unwavering. We must continue to lift our voices, to support those who are silenced, to stand with the queer people of Africa, of Palestine, of every corner of the world where freedom is still a distant dream.

Today, as we raise our flags, as we march, as we speak out, let us remember that our fight is not just about us; it is about every person who has ever been told they are not worthy, not human, not enough. It is about every person who has faced violence, fear, and intimidation simply for being who they are.

In this moment, let our solidarity be louder than the guns, stronger than the laws, more defiant than the fear. Let us be the voices that refuse to be silenced, the hands that reach across borders, and the hearts that beat in unison for a world where everyone is free to love, to be, and to live without fear.

Together, we are unstoppable.

African Liberation Day, 2024

Today, we gather here in Görlitzer Park, which as you all know fits into the racist stereotypes of our black struggles, asking the question, when will our struggles be visible and humanised?

Yet, this Park is full of historical significance, diversity, visibility, and symbolism.

This space is marked as a ‘hotspot’ not of diversity but of crime from the BIPoC community as the racist narrative goes. The reasons behind the situations in this park; the racist asylum procedures are never addressed. Europe’s asylum policies, like the Dublin Regulation, are not just bureaucratic hurdles; they are mechanisms of oppression. They deny asylum seekers the fundamental rights to work, accommodation, and a dignified existence. These policies force vulnerable people into precarious situations, exacerbating their suffering and dehumanizing their existence.

What we fought to achieve in Oplatz cannot be extended to Asylum seekers facing deportation to countries of entry to Germany.

We are angry! Oplatz resistance is being whitewashed. For 2 years, we occupied spaces. We fought an Apartheid Asylum system that had stripped us of our dignity and rights. The Residenzpflicht law, the Gutschein system, right to work, right to study, against deportation and shutting down old condemned buildings; the Lagers. It is for a reason they are Lagers.

Now, the same oppressive measures are being reintroduced; the Bezahl Karte, an attempt to further isolate us from the rest of society and deprives us refugees of our self-determination: it is an act of structural, systemic and physical violence.

The use of artificial intelligence, Eurodac, and the GEAS system represents a new frontier of surveillance and control, stripping away the last vestiges of privacy and dignity from migrants. The EU’s heavily funded militia, Frontex, enforces state violence through deportations and brutal pushbacks, extending Europe’s crimes from the Mediterranean Sea to its externalized, militarized borders.

Women and children are being locked out, left to face unimaginable horrors without legal support. This is not merely a violation of human rights; it is a direct assault on human lives. The EU Pact focuses on detention, surveillance, and the criminalization of migration, turning a blind eye to the human suffering it causes.

Europe’s leaders seem united only in their efforts to stop migration. Are we truly the biggest challenge facing Europe? The continent grapples with war, skyrocketing inflation, and the suffocating grip of capitalism, yet migration is scapegoated as the root problem. This is a disgrace. Shame on you

Europe’s treatment of migrants is a crime against humanity. The policies and actions taken in the name of border security and migration control are not just failures of policy; they are moral failings on a grand scale.

Today, we gather with a shared purpose to commemorate the struggles, celebrate the victories, and renew our commitment to the ongoing quest for freedom, dignity, and self-determination across the African continent and diaspora.

Africa, rich in diversity, culture, and natural wealth, has long been a battleground for freedom against forces that have sought to exploit and oppress. Neo-colonialism, extractivism, racism, oppression, and systemic injustices of Africa is a story whose

This includes acknowledging the harms inflicted upon Africa, offering sincere apologies, and providing reparations to affected communities.

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We must acknowledge the dark history of colonization, a period that saw Africa carved up by foreign powers with little regard for the cultural and ethnic landscapes that existed. Colonizers extracted resources, enslaved populations, and imposed foreign governance structures that have left enduring scars. The Berlin Conference of 1884-85 epitomized this brutal scramble for Africa, where European powers divided the continent with arbitrary borders, sowing seeds of conflict that persist today.
Colonialism was not just about domination and resource extraction; it was also about dehumanizing African people and dismantling their systems of governance, education, and economy. Traditional knowledge and practices were undermined, replaced by foreign ideologies and systems designed to serve the interests of the colonizers.

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For far too long, Africa has been treated as a mere repository of resources. The story of extractivism in Africa is one of relentless exploitation. African countries, while politically independent, remain economically subjugated. Our mineral wealth, which includes gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, and many others, should be a source of prosperity and development, instead profits are siphoned off to foreign capitals, while African workers endure poor wages and hazardous conditions.

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This is not a relic of the past. Today, multinational corporations continue to exploit African resources with minimal benefit to local populations. The environmental degradation caused by mining and drilling operations has led to loss of biodiversity, pollution of water sources, and desertification, exacerbating poverty and food insecurity.

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The exploitation of resources and the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo highlight a tragic paradox: immense natural wealth coexists with extreme human suffering and instability.

In Nigeria, the story of oil extraction in the Niger Delta is one of environmental devastation and economic disparity. The story is the same in Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania.

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We cannot forget the World Bank and IMF and their destructive policies. Africa is steeped in the politics of debt. Loans from the World Bank and IMF, though framed as tools for development and economic growth are catalysts of poverty!

Today, the struggle for Black Liberation in Africa must also contend with the urgent threat of climate change. Africa contributes the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it suffers the most from climate impacts. Extreme weather events, prolonged droughts, and shifting rainfall patterns are already devastating agriculture, leading to food shortages and exacerbating poverty.

Climate injustice is stark. Africa is not the “gas station” for the world. The impacts of climate change are already being felt acutely, from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa, from the Congo Basin to the coastal regions. Droughts, floods, desertification, and loss of biodiversity. 100 people died in Mali from heat waves, over 500 people died in Kenya due to floods, in Zambia, Zimbabwe farm lands have been swept away. It cannot be business as usual. We demand action and responsibility. We demand climate justice!

We must recognize that the fate of Africa is intricately linked to the fate of the entire planet. The resources that are extracted from its soil and waters are not infinite, and the environmental consequences of their exploitation are beyond its borders. We must hold accountable those who profit from extractivism. And no, the solution is not green energy, the green washing of Africa must stop.

We must reclaim and celebrate African heritage, traditions, and knowledge systems. Cultural liberation is as important as economic and political liberation.

The struggle for Black Liberation in Africa is interconnected with global movements for racial and social justice. Building alliances with like-minded movements worldwide strengthens our collective power.

Black Liberation demands that we confront the legacies of colonization, challenge ongoing exploitation, and stand firm against climate injustice. It calls for solidarity, resilience, and unwavering commitment to justice and equity.

We will not be silenced, we will not be intimidated, and we will not be complicit in our own oppression.

We will echo again the demands that were made today in the demonstration in front of the consulate of Tunisia in Berlin.

We demand the freedom of movement for everyone.

We demand for fair trade and market value for goods and not for development Aid.

WE DEMAND REPARATIONS!

On April 8th 2024 we joined the ROMADAY Parade in Berlin organized by the Roma* and Sinti* community. The demonstration started in front of the memorial for the murdered Sinti* and Roma* from Europe and continued all the way to Rosa-Luxemburg Platz. Thank you Estera for inviting us to speak. Read the full speech held by Ann from IW*S:

Thank you to Estera from RomaTrial for inviting us to speak at the Roma Day Parade today. This is a chance for us to come together, to demand back our basic rights, our basic humanity. We appeal to our communities and to our allies.

As one of the largest and oldest minority groups in Europe, the Sinti* and Roma* community have endured hundreds of years of persecution, discrimination and marginalization. They have been an integral part of the European history and community, living in Germany for over 600 years. Yet, their belonging and participation in this society has been continuously undermined and violated. We would not be here gathered today if racist attitudes and disenfranchisement against the Roma* and Sinti* community did not persist. The genocide against this community under the Nazi regime was denied, even though 500.000 Roma* and Sinti* were murdered. We must break the silence and make visible the atrocious crimes against humanity!  It took Germany 74 years until it recognized this violence perpetrated against the Roma* and Sinti* by the Nazis and until this was made aware in public conversations. It was a state doctrine that murdered an entire people, their culture and language.

Today, Roma* and Sinti* still do not enjoy the same participation and inclusion in many sectors of society, such as education, housing, and much more. This particular form of racism and prejudice is part of an ideology that continues to fuel violence and it kills. Structural, systemic, institutional racism is deadly– and it affects so many of us! 

This racist ideology functions also by diminishing, vilifying, homogenizing and stereotyping a group of people. We are here today to also celebrate the heterogenous traditions that make up the diverse Roma* and Sinti* community, to reclaim, and redefine our own narratives about ourselves. Although our experiences and histories are not identical, the struggles of the Roma* and Sinti* and BIPOC refugees are similar. Under a white supremacist system, we are confronted by derogatory and racist terms used to exclude our existence; racist ideology attaches negative meanings to our identity; our experiences are characterized by persecution and expulsion. 

We mourn the victims who have lost their lives to these inhumane, oppressive and racist structures. Yesterday marked the day of the murder of our dear friend Rita Awour Ojunge in 2019. On the 7th of April 2019, exactly 5 years ago, Rita disappeared from the Lager in Hohenleipsisch, where she lived for 7 years with her two children waiting for a decision on her asylum process. 

Even though friends and neighbors had filed reports to the authorities about her disappearance, the police did nothing to find answer to this femicide. The isolation of marginalized communities makes violence possible – you cannot silence us! We still demand justice for what happened to her and for the authorities to do their job! End to All Lagers! 

As International Women* Space we bring these issues to the center of society, we penetrate spaces and structures to make institutional and systemic racism visible. We refuse to be ignored! So many refugees die on their way to Europe, are found dead without proper investigation when they arrive, or commit suicide because these experiences are so painful. A society that is imperialist, patriarchal, and white supremacist will teach which lives to see value in: We raise our voice for all the BIPOC lives, refugee women and Roma and Sinti* that have been violated and forgotten! 

Now, we witness once again a time of a very visible, unapologetic and bold shift to the right that we must fight against. Once again we are watching history repeat itself: The changes in rules of law are inscribing and fortifying racism that functions through state practices. The EU is effectively abolishing the fundamental right to asylum. In Germany, accommodation centers, the Lager, will force refugees to work for a sum of money that is beyond inhumane. This forced work and enslaved labor is a colonial continuity. For 80 cents an hour, refugees will have the obligation to work – often doing the cleaning services that the state is not willing to pay for. If they refuse to work, their benefits can be cut by 180 euros per month. The degradation and dehumanization has no limits. Stand up Against the Pact on Migration and Asylum!

For the EU, refugees are not deserving of humane living conditions. This is the epitome of racialized capitalism: Even after enduring the utmost effects of state violence and while being in the traumatic process of asylum, this structure attempts to squeeze out all the profits, all the wealth, all the resources, all the labor it can. On top of this, Germany is reimplementing the “Bezahlkarten” – cards that will determine where refugees can buy what goods and services. Refugees will no longer be able to pay in cash. Bezahlkarten are disenfranchising, unconstitutional,  and racist! This card will massively restrict cardholders’ freedom of action and symbolizes absolute control and monitoring.

EU politicians have agreed on faster asylum procedures, more deportations and less money for refugees with the GEAS reform. These major changes happening on the EU level will impact us all as refugees and migrants– a reflection of the inequality that makes up our international order. The European Parliament is set to adopt the New Migration Pact in two days, which includes the reform of EURODAC. The  European database will become a violent surveillance tool as it is expanded to enforce the EU’s discriminatory and hostile asylum and migration policies, increasing deportations, detentions and a broader climate of racialized criminalization. People will be deported to countries they have never lived in. Refugees are burning the skin on their thumbs to prevent their finger prints and, thus, their data from being saved. 

Advocating for change means being faced with opposition. The people who want to maintain their privilege will go to violent extremes. We are considered to be the problem, we are detained, silenced, our land taken, our climate destroyed and our governments corrupted. We see through your liberal world order and your colonial playbook! Our chants in the streets cannot be silenced! Your promises of democracy, of human rights, your treaties and your missions for so-called “peace” are rendered meaningless: your language reflects your nationalist, white-supremacist, imperial self-interest! Tomorrow, we meet at O-Platz at 6pm against GEAS, against deportation, against Lager. 

You Can’t Evict a Movement! When we unite, we are strong!

Having a neutral stance towards things that kill us is not an option for us!

Despite all that has happened to us we remain resilient! We are here and we will stay here! 

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women*, we gathered at Oranienplatz to protest against gender violence, colonialism, patriarchy, genocide, occupation, imperialism, dictatorship, and oppression. This protest was organized by the Alliance of Internationalist Feminists. We expressed solidarity with Palestine and joined our queer and feminist siblings in Palestine in their call to stand with the Palestinian resistance against displacement, land theft, ethnic cleansing, and their struggle for liberation. Grace from IW*S held a speech representing all women and girls with disabilities. Watch/read the full speech below: 

My name is Grace, I am from International Women* Space. On this day, I am going to be representing all women and girls with disabilities. On this day of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I am joining the voices of all women speaking on all forms of violence. 

Despite all of us living in the 21st century, people with disabilities have been left behind financially, socially and politically in many other aspects of life.

I face uncountable forms of discrimination for example; the basic human right to shelter. Everyone knows how difficult it is for anyone to get housing in Berlin! 

Public transport is inaccessible most of the time. Currently, there are 35 broken lifts in Berlin’s train stations and even those that are working, I am forced to move faster than able-bodied people because most of you don’t take the stairs and lifts but prefer taking priority to use them.

To think that someone who is entrusted with my on-road safety, healthcare or sanitation can turn on me simply for having a disability scares me. It could be one wrong hour, one wrong route or one wrong driver that sends me to the hospital, police station or mental institution.

I cannot count the number of times I have been forced to cancel plans and go home simply because I was stuck inside or outside a train station. 

My Schwerbehindertenausweis is not enough to prove my disability. Despite being born this way, I need to prove that I need a new wheelchair and it takes more than a year to get a new replacement in Berlin. Do you ever get to plan for a broken leg, a phone or car malfunction? That’s not all. I need to renew my Schwerbehindertenausweis every year yet my disability does not change. 

Without a wheelchair, it means I cannot go to shower, brush my teeth or even go to the kitchen to fix myself a meal. How about human decency? I have no privacy and I risk injury for such a basic human need as going to the toilet to pee or even changing my pad. How would you like it if you had to rely on someone else for something so basic and yet so natural?

As a small-bodied Black woman, receiving aggression from any abled-bodied person is scary but it’s ten times scarier when it’s a man. I cannot begin to imagine the struggles of refugee and migrant mothers with special needs kids because despite all of that, they have to learn a completely new language, maneuver German bureaucracy, deal with racism/ xenophobia among other challenges caused by checking this box.

I won’t sit here and say disability is a life sentence, because it is not.

Disability is a club that anyone can join. You are all one bad fall, one accident, one disease away from joining my world. Even if not that, the older you get the frailer your body becomes therefore you will need the world to be more accessible. It’s high time you stop calling it ‘their’ issue and embrace the implementation of a more inclusive world.

I stand with all people with disabilities around the world fighting any form of violence and injustice. As my heart bleeds due to my own challenges, it bleeds with and for you too.

Text by Rose Wanjiku

Let us take a moment to remember all the people who died in the earthquake in Morocco and in the floods in Libya. We also remember thousands of people who have died in the Mediterranean Sea fleeing hunger, war and oppression.

Floods in LIbya have killed 8,000. Thousands more are missing. Many more will be displaced and forced to move!

This month alone, thousands of people have died or been displaced in Brazil, Guatemala, Turkey and Greece. There have been deadly storms in almost as many days in September so far. Climate scientists warn that “nowhere is immune”. Climate-driven rain storms have become frequent. The world is under siege.

Nature is reminding us of the cost of capitalism and carbon economies; destruction of humanity.

I am sure many of you here today, have stood in solidarity with the people of Libya perhaps contributed towards emergency aid. Charity is good and I encourage all of you to ‘help’.

Last year, protestors from Last Generation in 33 glued themselves to roads to protest continued use of fossil fuel by Germany.

These protests were ‘loud’ in parts of Berlin because of the traffic jam they caused. There were equal protests about the inconvenience.

Imagine that! Some politicians in Spandau and Charlottenburg took note only because of the traffic jam that made life difficult and unbearable for those going to work.

Well, the lives of millions of people in Africa and most of the Global South are difficult and unbearable because of those cars and the fossil fuel they run on. Life is difficult and unbearable because of CLIMATE CHANGE!

It is difficult and unbearable for millions of people who have endured FOUR DROUGHTS due to failed rains. It is difficult and unbearable because their lands can no longer produce food! Extreme weather events have disrupted lives, led to migration and worsened food insecurity in Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan and Kenya.

It is a great injustice to destroy people’s livelihoods and turn around to give food donations to save them from hunger!

There is not enough food in Africa, not because we are lazy. It is because we can no longer depend on the rains to grow our foods. It is because thousands of people are being displaced from their lands. If floods don’t find people in their homes, it catches them when they flee.

When the German government refuses to allow people to seek asylum because of the climate change crisis. It is an injustice! Germany wants asylum seekers to tell stories of WARS and CONFLICTS. Let us try another way. Germany should tell us how its ‘green growth’ path is displacing thousands of people and disrupting their livelihoods. Germany should tell us stories of mineral and oil EXTRACTIONS that fuel wars and conflicts fought with weapons YOU make!

For us from Africa and the Global South, protesting climate change is not a HYPE, it’s not because we are HIPPIES. It is because we are living the realities of climate change. The droughts and the floods are our reality.

Globally, 20 people become refugees every minute. As the climate crisis renders tracts of lands uninhabitable, even more people will be forced to find new homes. Germany and Europe must bring down borders to allow climate crisis refugees.

Climate justice does not mean the neo-colonial ‘new frontier of renewable energy sources’ greenwashing story Germany and the rest of Global North is peddling in Africa. The Global North should not turn the Global South into a dumping and field for technology trials.

Did you know Germany is going to spend billions of your dollars to build a fertilizer plant in Kenya? Basically Germany is importing more pollution and poison to Africa to ‘boost’ food production! Yes, food is VERY political. Africa does not need charity! It needs climate justice, reparations and debt cancellation!

I know many of you believe something must be done in Africa and in the Global South. Yes, SOMETHING MUST be done, but Carbon trading and green economy is NOT IT. Asking Africa to plant trees to provide sinks for Germany’s carbon pollution is NOT IT. Taking Africa’s minerals and resources in exchange for ‘Green Technology’ is NOT IT.

Germany wants to build a hydrogen power plant in Namibia to export power to Europe while over 600 million people in Africa have no electricity and 970 million have no access to clean cooking technologies. This is a gross injustice.

This is to those who stand in solidarity with us here in Germany. Stand with us, not against us. I come from the Most Affected Population and Area or MAPA. Those of us coming from the Global South have had to organise under this name to be heard. I hear talks about mainstream climate activists and ‘others’. Apparently, we are the others, the most affected yet, little resources come to support our organising.

Organising this event has taken sweat and tears. I salute all those who gave their time and resources. THANK YOU! I ask, why should we struggle to be heard? Why should we only be tokenised and only allowed ‘talking slots’ in the so called mainstream climate justice movement?

Why is the climate change movement by the Most Affected people surviving on acts of charity? It is time to decolonise the funding structure of the climate change justice movement! We cannot keep replicating the same capitalistic, oppressive and demeaning structures we say we are fighting against!

Climate change affects EVERYONE! Climate change and climate justice is about all of us. There is no mainstream voice and the voice of others!

Climate change knows NO CLASS. Climate Change knows NO BORDERS! Climate crisis is a reason for migration, it is a reason for asylum!

We stand in solidarity with PALESTINE, IRAN, SOUTH SUDAN, SUDAN, WEST SAHARA, NIGER and all comrades living in shackles of patriarchy and neo-colonialism!

This speech was written by Rose and read by Anne at the demo: “Open doors – Open borders! Recognize climate crisis as reason for asylum!” on 20th August 2023 in front of Germany’s Ministry of the Interior:

As I stand here today, the reason for my being in this country is an inconsequential story to the German government. Myself and thousands of other migrants must tell a story. It is not a story enough if it is not about war and persecution.

Well, today I am here to tell a story. A story of persecution caused by CAPITAL GREED. It is a story that Germany and the rest of the Global North does not want to listen to. But, we must tell the story of CLIMATE CHANGE. We must tell the story of climate refugees. We must tell the story of climate justice! The Global North’s “under-development” of the Global South is violence. It is persecution.

Climate change displaces communities, disrupts their livelihoods, and compels people to seek refuge in new lands. People from the Global South are being displaced not only by climate change, but also by zones of carbon capitalism — in the name of “green energy”.

Africa is facing one of the worst droughts in years. The drought has affected about 50 million people in KENYA, ETHIOPIA, and SOMALIA directly and another 100 million. Last year 43,000 people died in SOMALIA due to hunger caused by the impacts of the climate crisis. Nearly half of these were children younger than 5.
This could be the population of four small towns in Germany. Is this cost of inaction not persecution enough?

When women, children and men lose their lives in the Mediterranean Sea because their livelihoods have been destroyed, Europe’s response is to erect more borders, including enhanced sea, air, and land patrols; drone surveillance; and let human beings disappear beneath the waves or set themselves on fire in detention centers.

People are migrating because of the climate change crisis. Borders are not natural divisions between people or just lines on a map, they are mechanisms of CAPITALIST GREED. Borders protect the economic, political, and cultural privileges of colonialism and capitalism.

Border laws create an illusion that those who identify as white can survive climate catastrophe by controlling the movement of persons classified as non-white. Climate-displaced persons are depicted as threats to national security.

Are you not experiencing it all here in Germany? The heat waves, wildfires and floods? No borders can stop this reality. Climate change knows no borders.

The national security response classifies “climate refugees” as barbarians crashing the gates of civilization. Climate refugees are not criminals! Climate crisis is a reason for seeking Asylum. Climate refugees must be granted asylum!

Granting migrants of the climate crisis asylum is not an act of charity, it is taking responsibility for CARBON CAPITALISM. Climate migrants are victims of climate change produced by YOUR industrialized economies: It is your fuel industries that poison the air, land, and water.

To feed itself Africa and most of the Global South is told to adopt ‘climate smart strategies’. What is smart about displacing thousands of people to fire up Europe’s ‘green economy agenda’? Let us pause for a moment and think about the “slow violence” of Germany’s carbon capitalism. Think about communities living in the shadow of polluting petrochemical facilities and power plants.

Climate change is not a technical issue, it is a social issue that calls to end extractive colonial and racial capitalism.

Climate displacement is an injustice, “not a random, faultless act of God.” Climate crisis is a reason for asylum.

This speech was written by Anne (who was moderating) and read by Jacky at Internationalist Queer Pride on 22nd June 2023 in Berlin:

Audacity. The constant that inspires and irks my soul in the same breadth.
You see, I am filthy rich in audacity!
To be a bold and proud queer African refugee is to embody audacity in its fullness.
It takes audacity to proudly bear undeniable and magnificent diversity, while battling prejudice, racialization, discrimination and so much more!
It is our fuel to bravely rise above the waves of fear, violence and death
To break chains of oppression and choking expectations
Audacity fuels the fire we breathe to burn all the boxes society tries to fit us in.
Heck, it is audacity that got me alive and on this stage today!

But on the other hand, there is audacity that irks me, makes my blood boil!
That Holybook thumping, viral, partriachal, pathological audacity!
You know, the one fashionably dressed in religiously shimmering accessories, just dripping in jewels of double standards?
That audacity to covet my sense of self and freedom,
Marrying it with your self hate and consumating it with your hypocrisy!
Simply because I choose to be unapologetically me, unbowed, daring to live and love!
What nerve you have, to play God, creator and erasor?
The self branded correction fluid for humanity, the White wash!
How fitting it is that you should excel at whitewashing!
From erasing my kind from history, discovering and seizing what was neither new nor yours to take!
The audacity to breach our borders, defile our lands, tear at our very souls and senselessly think you could simply erase us!
It is a milestone you come so close to achieving, but…alas! Our Audacity!
You know I tend to think you actually get off on the blood bath.
Ironically, you recoil in disgust at my melanin
At times staring with eyes that perhaps try to instantly dissolve my melanin right there in the train! Haha
Yet you tokenize me, fetishize and objectify my person
Your soiled sheets on one hand and a handful of your racist, capitalistic, queerphobic spew on the other!
Then with your power and privilege you manipulate the narrative,
Trying to render us voiceless, powerless, seen but not heard, non existent.

But baby, audacity goes both ways, and in my righteous audacity I stand here to reclaim our voice, our presence, our resilience!
Like my ancestors, my audacity seeks no permission,
I stand on the shoulders of all that came before me, before us
Sanctified by their blood and tears, charged by their resilience and defiance
Mine is the voice of legions of warriors, fighters, proven and time-tested winners! Revolutionists!
I carry the audacity of the often forgotten and unseen global majority, a force to reckon with!
From all beautiful corners we rise, no longer underdogs, but loud and proud!
With the audacity to be ourselves, born fearless and determined to fight on.
We shall be silent no more, for our revolution is here!
Our Pride is our audacity, and you had better be scared of it!