Last year, Berlin became the first German state to make Women’s Day a public holiday. Originally proposed by German women’s rights activist and Marxist theorist Clara Zetkin at the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen, women have celebrated the holiday in March for over a century. In 2019, the Berlin Senate voted 87 to 60 in favor of the bill to make Women’s Day a public holiday throughout the city. Instead of just enjoying the day off this year, check out some of these projects and events celebrating the woman and the female experience in Berlin.
“Our life our resistance, breaking the silence breaking the system”
The Alliance of Internationalist Feminists, Berlin Chapter, is organizing a march on Monday in honor of “all women *, trans * and people-to-people, especially trans * women, working-class women *, refugee women *, black women *, indigenous women *, women * of color and women with disabilities *. The march is to protest the many injustices against womxn, which were magnified during the coronavirus pandemic, including the refugee crises in North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, the marginalization of Roma and the German government bailout of businesses and exporting arms to conflict zones for profit. The event will kick off in front of the European Commission in Germany (Unter den Linden 78, 10117 Berlin) on Monday at 2:00 p.m. Masks and social distancing are necessary and will be enforced. Cis men are specifically not invited to this event and are encouraged to find other ways to support womxn. Fortunately, we have found a few other events where cis men are welcome.
INTERNATIONAL WOMXNS RUN2021 DAY
The Good Run, a group that organizes charity events for runners, invites everyone to participate in their International Women’s Day Run this year. The event will take place Monday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on both sides of the Spree between Museum Island and Bellevue Castle to signify solidarity with the global feminist movement in a manner safe for the crown. Masks and social distancing are required, and participants are encouraged to wear a red mask (or bandana) over their mouth and nose. Everyone is welcome to participate, even those who do not identify as women.
My name is sami
Warning trigger: domestic violence. In a short film titled My name is sami, Daniela Lucato examines the vulnerability of femininity during the pandemic. The play shows a woman calling her friend to explain the abuse she suffered from her partner. Despite the film’s short duration, it manages to encapsulate many of the central emotions of the female experience: fear, solidarity, and banality to name a few. Lucato manages to capture all of these concepts in just under four minutes with vivid images of everyday life. “I feel the responsibility as a female artist to make people think, to confront this problem,” she says. “I don’t know if this will help solve the problem, but it’s a start.”
Explorers of the Cosmos
To celebrate women in science, the Berlin Planetarium is organizing a virtual event this Monday to inspire future women scientists and astronauts. The event will include guests such as Prof. Dr. Heike Rauer, head of the Institute for Planetary Research at DLR (German Aerospace Center) and Dr. Suzanna Randall, astrophysicist. It will be broadcast live on Youtube from 7:00 p.m. This event will be held in German.
Violence against women
Trigger warning: violence against women and rape. French filmmaker Hannah Kugel presents the contradictions women face every day in this short film entitled Violence against women. By taking archival footage from television, film and advertising, Kugel draws on the experience of women as subjects of the male gaze and “conveys the duration and permanence of feminist demands.” Kugal says, “This contradicts commentators who dare to regard feminism as a contemporary phenomenon or, worse, a fad.” The film covers the objectification of women and attempts to shatter notions of a fixed sense of femininity. By using simultaneous screens, she “underlines the inextricable duplicity of feminist struggles”.
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by Adri
March 7, 2021
in Events, Videos