The Polish GrowSPACE Foundation, in collaboration with the Mapa Rownosci group, has an important mission: to amend the statutes of schools in conservative Poland. There is a total lack of respect for human rights in school statutes across the country. For example, in some schools it is even forbidden for LGBTQIA+ people to dance with each other at the prom and students are being excluded or discriminated against in all kinds of ways.
GrowSPACE wants to collect information about as many schools as possible and collect the most shocking statutes and articles. Following that, the group will hold a press conference, in which they will present the statutes and call for them to be removed, and urge other schools to do the same. In the next school year, the activists want to monitor the situation again.
The group is committed to making education in Poland more inclusive, both on a social and institutional level. According to surveys, as many as 70 percent of young LGBTQIA+ people in Poland have had suicidal thoughts at least once.
With the press conference, the GrowSPACE Foundation hopes to get a lot of media attention, so that they can address this persistent problem and create awareness. Because everyone has the right to a safe education.
Since its establishment, young Israelis have been required by law to enlist in the army, leading to Israel having one of the strongest armies in the world to date. Since 1967, millions of Palestinians have been under occupation of Israel. There is no shortage of resources about the various forms of human suffering and injustices caused by the Israeli military, from the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip to the numerous restrictions and land confiscations imposed upon Palestinians in the West Bank. The military implementing these policies of occupation depends on the conscription of 18 years old Israelis. Activists’ network Mesarvot helps young Israelis to publicly criticize and refuse their military service.
Mesarvot is a network of anti-occupation activists that aims to support political military service objectors and promote public discourse on the subject. Mesarvot sees the political objection as a tool to help end the occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people. The organization was founded at the end of 2015 by activists from what they call the “Objection Community”. Over the last couple of years they supported a great deal of imprisoned refusers. These campaigns usually include personal support before imprisonment by previous imprisoned refusers who know the military prison from the inside, legal assistance, media coverage work, assistance in writing a declaration, solidarity demonstrations and international solidarity.
Their activities touch the nerves of the Israeli society, as serving in the army is still seen as a big part of the Israeli identity. Hence, objecting it and refusing military service, is frowned upon and criminalized. While refusal is a great challenge, it is also an opportunity —through the extreme way in which refusal is preserved— to politicize and raise issues of resisting the occupation.
Their recent action, funded by Het Actiefonds, was the facilitation of a public refusal letter. Such public refusal letters, when published by youth before conscription age, are traditionally called in Israel “Shministim” letters (Shminitim means 12th graders). The activists formed a group of young people interested in refusing publicly, and assisted them in formulating their message and created a campaign around it, thus maximizing the outreach of the letter. The letter was signed by more than a hundred teenagers, a considerable achievement given the current extreme nationalist discourse in the Israeli public.
This new generation of anti-occupation activists criticizes the importance that the Israeli society asserts to the military. They emphasize that the huge respect it has to military officials has bad effects on all areas of living. Het Actiefonds supports Mesarvot’s anti-military activism to oppose the illegitimate Israeli occupation.
In Ibagué, Colombia, a group of activists stands up for women’s rights with the creation of a ‘batucada feminista’ (feminist percussion group). With this feminist percussion group, they want to support the social movement that has erupted in April this year, after large-scale protests broke out in Colombia against social inequality.
The group Matilha Paganas de la Percusión has been active for a couple of years and has fought for the legalization of abortion in South America, called out femicide and gender-based violence and stood up against the stigmatization of social protests in general. To provoke, and quite literally, create more noise during their protests, they are starting a South American percussion group, or, batucada. They see their percussion group as a form of artivism and, when played by a militant group of women, as a strong sign of resistance against the colonial and patriarchal system of repression.
With the help of Het Actiefonds, Matilha Paganas de la Percusión wants to buy professional instruments and organize protests, to contribute to the wave of social unrest that rages through the country since April this year. Through sit-ins, protest marches, and flashmobs, they contribute to this social fight from a feminist perspective.
The commemoration was a follow-up to the ‘20,000 names’, also supported by Het Actiefonds. Throughout the entire month of June, people in more than 40 Dutch villages and towns organized actions: memorials and monuments were made and names read out of people who did not survive their journey to Europe.
On June 20, there were about 7,000 wooden memorials on the beach of Scheveningen, as a pop-up monument to all the deceased. Commemoration events were also held in Greece (Lesbos and Ioannina), Romania (Timisoara), Poland (Katowice), Germany (Berlin), Portugal (Lisbon and Porto), England (London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cambridge, Newcastle) and Ireland (Dublin).
This campaign, supported by Het Actiefonds, was a huge success: at least ten thousand people came into contact with the campaign somewhere in the Netherlands. A very difficult and heavy subject, but at the same time a perfect momentum to inform people about the terrible European border policy. MiGreat received a lot of media attention and will continue their actions against violent pushbacks and other human rights violations of refugees and migrants.
No borders, no nations!
Covid-19 Ambassadors is a group of young people who are advocating for equal access to Covid-19 vaccines in Nigeria. The members of the group are people working in the medical field, the media and for human rights organizations. Currently, the influence of corruption and lack of transparency in vaccine distribution endangers more lives and deprives a lot of people of the opportunity to be vaccinated. The group is concerned that vaccination priority is not given to front line workers and the most vulnerable people in society.
In May 2020, the group partnered with Passio FM, a community radio station in Uyo to broadcast a program called Citizens Report which was aimed to sensitize the public on Covid-19 prevention and safety measures. Citizens Report is a public phone-in program where a volunteer team of experts answered questions and addressed public concerns related to Covid-19 transmission, treatment and preventive measures. From January 2021, the radio hosts noticed that the feedback they received from members of the public indicated a lot of disinformation and discrepancies from the government regarding vaccine quantities, distribution and the number and demography of people actually vaccinated. They decided to investigate the case:
“We subsequently wrote to the Ministry of Health seeking clarification, but were waved aside with a response that a special committee was assigned the role of overseeing the vaccine distribution to the public. Information about the vaccination program was generally sketchy, they couldn’t present any data showing equitable vaccine distribution and our investigations showed that the major political party in the state was scheduling vaccination programs mainly to favour their members, relatives and political acquaintances over the elderly, medical staff and essential personnel.”
The group states that, as Covid-19 is a serious threat to humanity, vaccination processes should be transparent, free, accessible and comprehensive to all, regardless of gender or social status. Sadly this is not the case in Nigeria, where currently only politicians and their relatives and the rich are prioritized in the vaccination program.
Thus, the Covid-19 Ambassadors organized a three-day protest to bring to public awareness the corrupt practice of vaccine hoarding and nepotism in vaccine distribution. Next to the protest, the activists committed themselves to tracking all the data concerning the vaccine distribution. With a group of volunteers they aim to verify, track and publish vaccine distribution statistics with photo evidence. With this data they highlight the corruption and ineptitude in the vaccination program and call out government officials on their malpractices.
Het Actiefonds supported the group with funding for website development, radio airtime, personal protection equipment and camera equipment for onsite monitoring of vaccine distribution.
NB. We speak about a local action here, but we shouldn’t forget that the worldwide vaccine distribution is far from equal as well. A global, even distribution of vaccines and accessible health care is needed to overcome the pandemic. Speak up if you can and help to diminish the inequalities that lie at the root of so many global [health] challenges.
In Vanuatu – an independent archipelago in the Pacific Ocean – the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN) is campaigning for climate justice.
This important climate campaign incorporates intersectionality and inclusivity; PICAN actively involves marginalized groups, including indigenous communities, LGBTQIA+ communities and people with disabilities.
Pacific Islands Climate Action Network is an umbrella body of more than 130 organizations fighting for climate justice across the region. PICAN aims to build bridges between different vulnerable groups and actively involves them in the climate fight. Vanuatu is a vulnerable archipelago and highly susceptible to the effects of climate change. Serious damage and loss is being suffered at all levels and marginalized community members are particularly affected by the effects of the climate crisis.
For this campaign, PICAN aims to mobilize and involve environmental, student, women and LGBTQIA+ organizations in a day of peaceful direct action. Activists are expecting this to be one of the biggest days of action ever in Vanuatu. Also, PICAN is currently working to get Vanuatu’s parliament to pass a motion officially declaring climate emergency. The text provided by the group emphasizes that it is precisely the more vulnerable and marginalized groups that can be the drivers of radical change!
Chad is in turmoil. After the death of President Idriss Déby Itno, power is seized by his son by means of a military coup. The youth organization Organisation des Jeunes pour la Promotion et le Développement (OJPD) is a national NGO that has been working to improve the living conditions of the local population since 1995. In collaboration with various activist groups and human rights organizations, the group advocates a future with an inclusive democratic system for the country.
On April 20, 2021, military officers announced the death of President Idriss Déby Itno on Chadian national radio and television. His son, General Mahamat Déby (38), seized the power in a military coup and nullified the government and major state institutions. Civilian movements have always been suppressed by Idriss Déby’s secret service and today, too, in the struggle for power within the government, the citizens of Chad are pushed aside and the Déby family takes over. Opposition parties condemned Mahamat Déby’s military coup and plead for a civil administration.
The youth organization Organization des Jeunes pour la Promotion et le Développement (OJPD) advocates a Chad where the power of the army shifts to the civilians. Through a major campaign, the group mobilizes the population for demonstrations and marches to force the withdrawal of the military transitional council Conseil Militaire de Transition (CMT).
With this campaign they want to achieve major systemic change, and fight for the introduction of a modern, democratic system in which the right to peaceful protest is an important pillar. Previous peaceful demonstrations have been violently crushed, leaving several dead and injured.
The OJPD is committed to the organization of an inclusive national dialogue and transparent elections, resulting in a strong civilian government. During the coming weeks, in the transition period to a new government, they will mount a campaign to lobby for an interim people’s movement rather than a military regime.
With the financing of Het Actiefonds, banners, flags, flyers and MBs for online communication are arranged.
Good housing and a healthy, local food supply are harder and harder to find in European cities in recent years, because of capitalist interests and profit maximization. Gentrification and rising real estate prices persuade city councils and real estate investors to claim more land for housing, and our supermarkets have been stocked with mass-produced fruits and vegetables that are flown in from all over the world for years.
The Romanian collective ‘Cultivă Orașul’ (Cultivate the city), sees both problems worsening in their own city, Cluj-Napoca, because small-scale, local agricultural grounds within the city borders change into real estate with a profit motive. Because of this, the access to locally grown, healthy food, decreases, as well as the livability of the city because parks and city gardens disappear.
By teaming up with the international collective ‘Reclaim the Fields’, Cultivă Orașul can organize direct actions on a local level, with international solidarity, to protect the last remaining city gardens in their city. They’re asking attention to the lack of ecological agriculture in the city because of the increasing interestest of the real estate market, and show the importance of anti-capitalist action and the right to food sovereignty.
With the help of Het Actiefonds, Cultivă Orașul organizes the Reclaim the Fields European Assembly, a multi-day event with workshops, discussions, two guerilla gardening actions, a skill exchange, seed-exchange, and a public demonstration.
Sammy was carrying a small knife with which he threatened to injure himself. The police ordered a police dog on Sammy, but the dog didn’t see any danger and walked straight past Sammy. The police dog attack failed and Sammy was overpowered from behind by the dog handler and knocked to the ground. It is unclear what happened on the ground. Police allege that Sammy was swinging the knife around and hitting a police officer in the vest. An investigation revealed that none of the vests were damaged and none of the police officers were injured. Yet two officers chose to fire at almost the same time.
Two months ago, the Public Prosecution Service again chose to not prosecute the murderous officers.
The concrete goal of this Radical Solidarity collective’s campaign is justice for Sammy, a reopening of the agents’ investigation and prosecution. The larger context in which this should be seen is the fight against police brutality, and greater safety for people with mental health problems.
On August 13 it will be one year since Sammy was killed: a large demonstration will be held around the spot where he was murdered.
The fact that the first pride manifestation was led by transgender women of color, is hard to notice during the commercialized pride parades of today. Pride became fashion, and commercial companies aren’t scared of using the identity of pride for their marketing goals, without really contributing to the emancipation of the movement. The pride movement has been depoliticized in recent years and mostly became a celebration of those who are already liberated.
Niet normaal* is a queer collective from Utrecht that works towards politizing the queer movement again and keep it away from commercial interests. Pride has to become a celebration again for those who are still repressed and can’t move freely through society, instead of a celebration for gay, white, and male Dutch. They want to specifically represent the group of queer migrants, who are in limbo with the Dutch immigration services and have to suffer an increase of violence and intimidation because of the rise of the extreme-right in the Netherlands.
To show that queer can still be a radical, political movement, niet normaal* organizes a protest on the 25th of June in the Moreelsepark in Utrecht. During the protest, they would like to show solidarity with queer refugees and migrants and show the city of Utrecht that a more activist identity of canal pride is not only possible but also necessary. During the protest, there will be multiple speakers and a protest march towards the center.
Come to the protest on 25/06, from 6.30 PM in the Moreelsepark in Utrecht. More info through the Facebook event!
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