Our BREAK ISOLATION GROUP three years on

IW*S — Tue, 10 May 2022 09:04:34 +0000

Our Break Isolation Group was formed in 2019. Here is an update three years on.

Break Isolation Group is a group of refugee and asylum seeking women-only. BIG is part of the International Women* Space and aims to encourage women* in their various capacities to create and implement projects, workshops and activities for the empowerment of women. BIG regularly visits Lagers (forced housing for refugees) to learn more about the situation of women living in Lagers and to present the Group and its activities. This project is funded by Filia – Die Frauenstiftung.

BIG proposes that interested women join the group and together build platforms to speak out in our own voices, express ourselves freely, for us and about us and denounce others speaking about us and on our behalf without us. So far we’ve made a series of Podcasts called “Lager Reports” exposing the hardships that refugee women faced during the corona pandemic. And at the moment, we are developing a series of workshops and initiatives as a way to make clear that we condemn any form of oppression, violence, discrimination or intimidation as we fight and defend our rights amidst rigid and oppressive asylum structures, processes and systems.

In 2022, with funding from the Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe (AGEE), BIG also initiated several projects with concepts being developed by individual women in the group. These projects include home-made natural hair oil, social dancing, make-up tutorials, bakery and pastry making, food production through vegetable gardens, celebrating multicultural diversity and adopting a culture of community structural support by feeding street families, the homeless with a hot meal at least once a month. In a collective participation in these projects and self-organization, women commit to building a movement from the grassroots, embracing self-care as well as cultivating leadership and skill development.

SEE PHOTO ALBUM FROM BIG HERE

Let’s talk about the EU’s borders in Africa

IW*S — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 17:21:28 +0000

Let’s talk about the EU’s borders in Africa, Let’s talk about those who arrive: A decade of European border imperialism
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The uprisings in North Africa in 2010 and 2011 changed the political landscape of the region. They also changed the socioeconomic realities for millions. One effect of the “Arab Spring” as well as the mounting crises generated by global capitalism has been an increase in migration and attempted migration from Africa to Europe in the last decade.
This roundtable brings together activists working on borders and migration in Africa and Europe. In an informal style, and using visuals and words, we will explore together the effects of the European Union’s “externalized borders” policy on stabilizing authoritarian regimes and human rights violation on both sides of the Mediterranean. Amongst us are those who arrived in Europe, despite every attempt to stop them. Centering resistance, we will ask: how can we create a better terrain of struggle – inside and across borders- against the EU’s murderous migration and border regime?
This event is organized by SudanUprisingGermany in collaboration with NAWARA Berlin, as part of Hur/k حر\ك : Eighteen days of events in commemoration of the revolutions in the NAWA (North Africa and West Asia) region.

The event will be livestreamed on @SudanUprisingGermany Facebook page.

Stay tuned for the full حر\ك programme: https://www.facebook.com/NawaraBerlin

Photo: border fence between Melilla (Spain) and Morocco, 2014. Credit: EPA/Paco Guerrero.

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More information: https://fb.me/e/3rdONIM8w

BIG – International Women* Space

Our BREAK ISOLATION GROUP three years on

Let’s talk about the EU’s borders in Africa