Angela Davis is a political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, author and above all a revolutionary! When we thought about how we would like to mark the 10 years anniversary of the occupation of O-Platz and the start of our movement, we had the courage to dream of having Angela speak to us, many of us at O-Platz. And because dreaming is free, we went ahead and asked her, and, to our joy, she accepted our invitation.

The speech documented in this video is a lesson on the vestiges of colonialism and enslavement, and a reminder of women*’s power and leadership in struggles around the world. It is a speech about hope and our role as activists in transmitting hope, and it is also a speech about about freedom.

As Angela Davis says, remembering the song “Freedom is a constant struggle”, which is a freedom song that was repeatedly sung in the southern United States during the twentieth century freedom movement.

Directed / Subtitles: Denise Garcia Bergt
Produced: Lica Stein
Cameras: Thomas Macholz / Hoda Taheri
Drone: Marco Heinig
Audio: Tsvetelina Valkova
Edit / Post production: Johnny Welch
Music: Carmel Zoum

THIS VIDEO IS ALSO ON > VIMEO,

As part of Oplatz wird 10 – Baustelle Migration, 5-9th October 2022 at Oranienplatz, 10999 Berlin

Exhibition, Performances, Radio, Workshops, Poetry, Music & Talks, open daily 12-10pm. IWS Cinema, open daily 12-10pm. Billboard exhibition at different sites around Oranienplatz, 30 September to 11 October 2022.

See full festival programme here. (Oplatz.net)

Exhibition at OPlatzBox

with the International Women* Space archive, IWS RADIO, Oranienplatz Comic Workshop and contributions by Anike Joyce Sadiq & Judith Hamann & leo & Nino Bulling, Aziza Ahmad, Barby Asante, Clementine Ewokolo Burnley, Nino Bulling, Pungwe Listening, Semra Ertan, Semra Ertan Initiative, Vitjitua Ndjiharine

IWS CINEMA at OPlatzBox

# Kämpfer*innen: Eine Dokumentationsreihe mit Jennifer Kamau & Napuli Langa, Dahye Kim & Haewon Chae, Killa Kupfer & Schokoofeh Montazeri, Sandra Bello, Carolina Belen Espinosa Barrera, Sharuta Alatrash, Natalie Bayer, Angelika Nguyen, Saraya Gomis, Natasha Kelly, Aurora Rodonò | EN/DE. 2021

# How to resist: the refugee movement in Kreuzberg: Jennifer Kamau Tour | EN. 2020

# A black poem of color: Stefanie Lahya-Aukongo | DE. 2021

# Occupation of the tree at O-Platz: Napuli Langa | EN/DE. 2021

# Break the politics of divide and rule: Sanchita Basu | DE/EN. 2021

# Die enorme Resilienz des Refugee Movement: Peggy Piesche | DE/EN. 2021

# Die Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule: Erinnerungen an ein Symbol des Widerstands: Mit Lica Stein, Alnour Ahmad-Hassan, Adam Bahar, Jan, Kim | EN/DE, 2021

# O-Platz Eviction | EN/DE, 2014

# 9 Days on the Roof | EN/DE, 2014

Public billboard exhibition in Kreuzberg

International Women* Space (Denise Garcia Bergt, Lica Stein, Pippa Samaya), Muhammed Lamin Jadama, Napuli Langa, Sista Mimi, Jennifer Kamau

@ Oranienplatz | Görlitzer Straße geg. 38 | Wassertorstr. 65 | Gitschiner Straße 71 | Görlitzer
Ufer/Görlitzer Brücke

—

Angela Davis, Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Anike Joyce Sadiq & Judith Hamann with leo & Nino Bulling, Aziza Ahmad, Barby Asante, Clementine Ewokolo Burnley, Denise Garcia Bergt, Hanaa Hakiki, International Women* Space, IWS Radio, Jennifer Kamau, Jo’Art, Lica Stein, Memory Biwa, Muhammed Lamin Jadama, Napuli Langa, Nino Bulling, Oranienplatz Comic Workshop, Pippa Samaya, Pungwe Listening, Sarah Imani, Semra Ertan, Semra Ertan Initiative, Sista Mimi, String Archestra, Suza Husse, Vitjitua Ndjiharine, WeAreBornFree! Empowerment Radio

“The Refugee Movement is the movement of the 21st century. It’s the movement that is challenging the effects of global capitalism. It’s the movement that is calling for civil rights for all human beings.” – Angela Davis on her 2015 visit to Berlin in conversation with refugee protesters occupying the
Gerhardt Hauptman school in Kreuzberg

OPLATZBOX is a mobile archive dedicated to the feminist struggle in the Refugee Resistance Movement with a focus on testimonies and visions of women* and queers from Black, Indigenous, migrant and People of Colour communities. Showcasing films, podcasts, publications and ephemera gathered and produced by International Women* Space / IWS across 10 years as well as art works, performances, radio programs, poetry, music and talks OPLATZBOX is a temporary education centre of migrant anticolonial knowledges open to all over a period 5 days.

A monument to the resistance and worldmaking of Black women that shaped the fabric of the Refugee Movement and its enduring legacy, OPLATZBOX is part of the arts and culture festival “Oplatz wird 10 – Baustelle Migration”. Ten years after the beginning of the occupation of Oranienplatz square, the festival organized by IWS celebrates the empowerment histories of the Refugee Resistance Movement in Berlin and makes proposals for a diverse, postcolonial, grassroots democratic, and postmigrant society.

International Women Space was founded as a radical feminist wing of the Refugee Resistance Movement in Berlin, which emerged from the protest occupation of Oranienplatz square in Kreuzberg in 2012. From the beginning, the self-organized making of culture based on the lives, struggles, histories and visions of migrant women, dykes, intersex, non-binary and trans people has been an important focus in the work of IWS.

“Women who had become refugees in their own regions before attempting to reach Europe through the deadly routes available. Women* fleeing war, poverty, environmental disaster caused by corporation’s greed, women* feeling persecution for not conforming to the gender they were assigned at birth. … we needed to speak to each other to understand the paradox of seeking protection in one of the western countries, knowing the roles they play in destabilizing our regions, through wars and neo-colonialism. In a less insane world this would be the last place we would choose.” – (In Our Own Words. Refugee Women Tell Their Stories, ed. IWS, 2015, p. 4)

IWS propose that listening to one another and creating records of survival in the face of violence, erasure, death and deportation are the base for creating strategies for a common struggle, for working on transformation together. A grassroots archive of resilience, achievement and loss, OPLATZBOX amplifies this Black, migrant, queer feminist take on decolonization put into practice through feminist self-organising.

Addressing the violent repercussions of colonialism, the dangerous migration routes, the fortressed borders to Europe, the realities of deeply engrained structural racism in Germany, the testimonies and reflections document migration as a political movement. A feminist anti-racist, anticolonial movement that connects a multiplicity of BIPOC and migrant histories and struggles in and beyond Germany.

OPLATZBOX is the first manifestation of the transterritorial decolonial feminist network WHEN THE JACKAL LEAVES THE SUN: Decentering Restitution | Pedagogies of Repossession: A decolonial feminist infrastructure for memory politics, art and transformative justice connecting Nairobi, Windhoek, Kigali, Dresden, Dar Es Salam, Dakar, Cape Town and Berlin Initiated by Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Jennifer Kamau, Memory Biwa, Michael Bader, Rehema Chachage, Reneé Akitelek Mboya and Suza Husse with DistrictSchool Without Center, International Women Space, Nyabinghi Lab, SOMA and Wali Chafu Collective

WHEN THE JACKAL LEAVES THE SUN: Decentering Restitution | Pedagogies of Repossession unfolds through six chapters of interventionist and research-based cultural practices, accompanied by international legal expertise and activist engagement. Departing from and deeply engrained in contemporary anti-colonial struggles on the African continent and in Germany, When The Jackal Leaves The Sun embarks on a collective, transdisciplinary process with the aim to create
decolonial tools and interventions.

WHEN THE JACKAL LEAVES THE SUN: Decentering Restitution | Pedagogies of Repossession is funded by the TURN2 Fund of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). Funded by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for
Culture and the Media).

OPLATZ WIRD 10 – BAUSTELLE MIGRATION is funded by Berliner Projektfonds Urbane Praxis.

O-Platz wird 10 – Baustelle Migration

Vor 10 Jahren wurde der Oranienplatz und die Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule von einer Geflüchteten-Bewegung besetzt. Wir, International Women* Space, haben uns aus dieser Bewegung gegründet und wollen das gemeinsam mit euch feiern! Denn ihr seid wichtiger Bestandteil dieser Bewegung und habt großen Anteil, dass Aktivistinnen, Geflüchteten, Migrantinnen, Gruppen und Einzelpersonen gemeinsam Widerstand leisten konnten. Wir wollen erneut alte Mitstreiter*innen zusammenbringen und neue Menschen mobilisieren, um uns gemeinsam an die Kämpfe geflüchteter Personen zu erinnern und unser Bestehen zu zelebrieren. Um reale Veränderung herbeizuführen, benötigt es zudem Zukunftsperspektiven, denen wir kollektivistisch nachgehen werden.

Mit dem Überfall auf die Ukraine kamen hunderttausende Menschen nach Deutschland und wir konnten sehen: Es ist sehr wohl möglich, mühsame bürokratische Prozesse zu umgehen und Menschen den Schutz anzubieten, den sie brauchen. Wir wissen aber auch, dass dieser Schutz nicht allen Geflüchteten eingeräumt wird. Umso wichtiger ist es, am 10-jährigen Jubiläum der Besetzung des O-Platzes daran zu erinnern, dass der daraus entstandene Widerstand immer noch lebt und weiterhin in die Öffentlichkeit getragen werden muss!

SAVE THE DATE: Vom 5. – 9. Oktober findet unsere Veranstaltung auf dem Oranienplatz in Kreuzberg statt. Wir laden euch alle herzlich ein, Teil des Festivals zu sein. Eine Bewegung lässt sich nicht räumen!

Aktivistin Angela Davis wird da sein und unsere Kämpfe vor Ort unterstützen. Freut euch auf spannende Podiumsdiskussionen, Konzerte, Fotoausstellungen, Kunst-Performances, einen Zine-Workshop und vieles mehr! Das detaillierte Programm werden wir in den kommenden Tagen über unseren Instagramkanal und auf oplatz.net veröffentlichen.

Lasst uns zusammenkommen, gemeinsam erinnern, unsere Errungenschaften feiern und über unsere derzeitigen Kämpfe diskutieren. Wir freuen uns auf Euch!

Feministische und solidarische Grüße
International Women* Space

Unser Widerstand lebt. O-Platz lebt.

O-Platz turns 10 – Migration Construction Site

Art- und Culture Festival at O-Platz, 5. – 9. October 2022

10 years ago Oranienplatz and Gerhart-Hauptmann-School were occupied by a refugee movement. We, International Women* Space, were founded out of this movement and want to celebrate it together with you! Because you are an important part of this movement and have played a big role that activists, refugees, migrants, groups and individuals could resist together. We want to reunite old and new comrades and mobilise people to remember the struggles of refugees together and celebrate our existence. In order to bring about real change, it also requires future perspectives, which we will pursue collectivistically.

Since the Russian war on Ukraine, we know it is possible to bypass tedious bureaucratic processes and provide people with the protection they need. Now is the time to highlight the developments of the last ten years and the origins of the occupation at Oranienplatz to continue our fight. The 10th anniversary of the occupation of O-Platz is a perfect occasion to celebrate the resistance and to show that we must continue to bring our fights to the public!

From October 5 – 9, our event will take place at Oranienplatz in Kreuzberg. We invite you all to be part of the festival. A movement cannot be evicted!

Activist Angela Davis will be there to support our struggles on the ground. There will also be exciting panel discussions, concerts, photo exhibitions, art performances, a zine workshop and much more! We will publish the detailed program in the coming days via our Instagram channel and on oplatz.net.

Let’s come together, remember together, celebrate our achievements and discuss our current struggles. We are looking forward to seeing you!

Feminist and solidarity greetings
International Women* Space

Our resistance is alive. O-Platz is alive.

#oplatzwird10