It has been exactly 6 years since the collaboration between Comité 21 March and Pakhuis de Zwijger started around the Week Against Racism. In recent years, we have collaborated with dozens of grassroots organizations, activists and concerned citizens to organize programs, workshops and film screenings in the run-up to the national demonstration against racism and discrimination. We will start with a festive walk-in from 7:30 PM where we will open the plenary program with the official launch of the Together Against Racism website. In addition, we will reflect on the increased power of far-right parties and populism in the European and Dutch context, in view of the upcoming European elections.
During the festival, various panels were organized by grassroots initiatives and organizations. There will also be a Week Against Racism exhibition in the cafe and exhibition by Rui Jun Luong on the 2nd floor. Finally, we will end the festival with live music from the band Opo Strey.
Please note: for the programs between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM you can only join 1 program.
Would you like to join this workshop before the festival? Then reserve your spot here . Please note, the reservation for this workshop does not count as a reservation for the festival!
Before we start the festival at 8 p.m., we will have time to relax, network, or visit Rui Jun Luong’s interactive exhibition ‘Guess Who: Asian Edition’. More information about the exhibition can be found here.
The exhibition takes place in the Foyer. That next to the Great Hall, where we kick off.
During the plenary opening in the Main Hall we will reflect on the increased power of extreme right-wing nationalist parties and populism in the European and Dutch context, in view of the upcoming European elections. What are the implications of this for, for example, the democratic constitutional state, refugee policy, normalization of Islamophobia, freedom of expression, LGBT rights, art and culture sector and climate? The program will open with a multi-media art performance by Stefano de Smaele , musician and initiator of RECAP, who highlights current events through audio fragments from different media in combination with music.
Experience RECAP; a unique concept in which media fragments and music come together to highlight (current) social issues. Stefano de Smaele, musician and initiator of RECAP, highlights current events by means of audio fragments from various media (such as documentaries, news items, social media posts) enhanced with piano arrangements, beats and improvisation. Discover more at www.recap-music.com
Join various panels and dialogues. More information about the different sessions can be found at the bottom of this page. When booking for this festival, you can indicate which session you want to go to. Please note: for the programs between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM you can only join 1 program.
We will collectively close the festival with a unique concert by the live band Opo Strey .
Opo Strey is a music program that draws attention to (almost) forgotten battle songs from the slavery period and new songs that explore this period. We want to understand what musical treasures the enslaved Indigenous and African people left to us, and how we can preserve this legacy for future generations. This research project is a tribute to their valuable contributions to our cultural heritage. Opo Strey’s musical performances always demonstrate the progress of the research: the repertoire consists of songs that have emerged through research and newly written songs about the slavery period, which look at the historical context of Suriname and the Antilles. like Indonesia.
More information about the various programs
When making your reservation for this festival, you can make separate reservations for the various parts. Please note: for the programs between 9:15 PM and 10:15 PM you can only join 1 program.
‘Activist Songversation’ – Songs in resistance against genocide & ecocide
21:15-22:15 | Ice hall | (NL)
Do you feel emotionally overwhelmed by the violence of everyday/institutional/political racism? What do you do with all your emotions about systemic injustice? In a society where the material and mental resistance of activism do not always go hand in hand with space for socializing our intense emotions such as anger, sadness and mourning, this program offers a mix of learning together and feeling together.
Singersongwriters Chihiro Geuzebroek en Jeike Meijers delen middels muziek en storytelling perspectief op de Inheemse strijd tegen racisme. Dit is een strijd die zowel herstel van landschappen en waterschappen, als gemeenschappen behelst. Chihiro en Jeike werken samen aan een groen en strijdbaar muzikaal geluid om activisten en maatschappelijk betrokken mensen hun batterij te doen opladen voor sociale rechtvaardigheid. Wees welkom om te luisteren, te vragen en te voelen in deze special edition van Activist Songversation voor de Week tegen Racisme.
Georganiseerd door: Chihiro Geuzebroek
‘Second-Class Citizens in a Globalised World’ – Lack of access to necessary public services for undocumented migrants in the Netherlands
21:15-22:15 | Studio | (ENG)
The United Nations estimates that there are more than 280 million international migrants around the world today. The main reasons for this phenomenon are wars, poverty and the global climate crisis. The rich countries of the Global North are the preferred destination of these international migrants who come mostly from the Global South. But one of the greatest ironies of our times is that, in our globalised world, borders have been abolished to give way to the free movement of money and commodities between countries, but borders are being built all around for people in search of safety or a better life for themselves and their families. Undocumented migrants in the Netherlands experience invisible borders that reduce them to the status of 2nd-class “citizens”. They are denied access to a bank account, only limited access to health care, no legal right to housing – to name a few. In an increasingly digitalised world, without a bank account means no access to certain supermarkets, public transport, and other basic necessities to live a normal life.
The programme will consist of a community theater play/performance that will portray the exclusion faced by undocumented migrants to be followed by discussion between a panel and members of the theatre group and the audience for policy changes that are needed to rectify this unjust situation.
Organised by: Community Theatre Collective Undocumented Migrant Domestic Workers
‘Dutch history of colonisation, slavery, indentured labour, and plunder in Asia’ – A just and equal treatment of all former Dutch colonies!
21:15-22:15 | Meetingroom | (ENG)
This workshop is about the history of forced apologies and reparations for the 350 years of Dutch colonisation and the Dutch war of occupation of the Republic of Indonesia from 1945-1949, the trade in enslaved people, the extermination of the Indigenous population, their replacement by people willing to serve the Dutch colonists, and the looting and plundering of natural mineral resources and earthly products such as nutmeg. The apologies issued are half-hearted, enforced by lawsuits that focus on a few rather than entire populations. The apologies are limited to the Republic of Indonesia and then only for the period 1945-1949. Currently, the Netherlands is considering apologies and possibly reparations for the suffering inflicted on Africans in the transatlantic triangle. In the process, Asian genocides, torture, executions, beheadings, enslavement of people, looting and robbery of people and land are being covered up. Perhaps this is neo-colonisation at its best. This workshop also makes a proposal, based on the insights of the international reparations’ movement and transformative Justice, in the hope that the Netherlands and its Dutch municipalities will begin to mend their ways. At the heart of this proposal are methods for apologising and repairing suffering. This can only be done together with our Asian sisters and brothers. Read more on the subject here via the article “Dutch Colonization and Slavery of Asia: From Apology to Reparation”
Organised by: Dr. Carl H. D. Steinmetz
‘Echoes of Belonging’ – Anti-racist practitioners and the new age of Dutch social justice advocacy.
21:15-22:15 | Expo | (ENG) During this interactive public dialogue on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, our panel will share the work we are each undertaking and drawing inspiration from in order to dismantle systems of oppression. By discussing our various campaigns, we consider the possibilities for belonging within workplaces, education, healthcare, commercial and/or cultural sectors. We seek to provide answers to enduring social justice questions, such as:
- How can we as anti-racist communities, organisations and individuals support each other
- What important lessons are there when BIPOC build and maintain spaces by and for them/ourselves?
- In what ways does self-archiving remain vital in narratives of belonging, resistance and liberation?
Join us for this essential conversation with Xavier Donker, Tahira Koulen en Beylula Yousef.
Organised by: Bel Kerkhoff-Parnell
‘Wisselgeld’ – Wat het kost om te werken met alleen maar goedbedoelende mensen.
21:15-22:15 | Workspace | (NL)
People say : Let’s have an honest conversation. What they mean is: Be assertive, but not too.
People say : Tell me what’s wrong. What they mean is: But don’t make it about me or, if it really has to, do so in a somewhat positive, sweet, non-accusatory way.
People say : Enter into dialogue with me. What they mean is: But let me be the hero of the conversation. Let me speak first, last and longest. Let me think that I get it and that I’m not hurting you. Let me know that I’m one of the good ones and still relevant.
People say : Let’s have an honest conversation. This is important. If we no longer enter into dialogue, we are lost.
How can you point out inequality in society to people with privileges and invite them to work together to make society more inclusive? Crystal Hassell does this with her performances, and has paid Wisselgeld for this . In this lecture performance she investigates what happens when she makes that change very explicit. And also, what happens if she pays no or less change?
Organized by: Crystal Hassel.
