English

1) Orga Info

Procedure

There is a section on organisational points which is important for the event today.

Then there are some speeches; we then take contont notes and introduce the speeches before the contributions. And then we run.

Consumption, party

This is not a party; it was already unsolidary the last few years to come with such a “the important things have already been achieved and what is still missing we will get there soon” attitude and then to celebrate relaxed, because that was not true and if then only for certain groups.

But this year, when we all see how vulnerable and threatened feminism is by conservative authoritarians and fascists, this is even more inappropriate. That’s why we want, if it is possible for people to refrain from consuming intoxicants like alcohol, weed… We want a consumption-free space where people are considerate of others, because open consumption can also be very unpleasant for other people. 

It’s also not a big event to drop by, socialise and consume a bit of feminism. We are here because we are angry and there is an urgent need to change a lot. 

Take to the streets together! Empower yourselves by being loud when it suits you, participate in a way that is good for you and feel the common struggle and that we are many. Get in touch with people you haven’t seen for a while, talk about your struggles, about your fears, insecurities, about hopes and ideas to make intersectional feminism strong, about how you can take responsibility and make others take responsibility.

The first block is a flinta*-block: We would like to emphasise once again that FLINTA people are not only women and female gendered people, FLINTA stands for women, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, transgender and agender people. You cannot recognise another person’s gender. We want to actively dismantle the binary gender system and this includes recognising the gender identity of other people and not forcing people into the binary gender system based on their appearance or voice. So, every person decides for themselves where their place is today and that should not be questioned by anyone else. 

If you find behaviour inappropriate or dominant, it doesn’t have to have anything to do with gender, FLINTAs can also be mackers, but of course you can always ask the awareness team for help or point this out to people yourself. 

This year we have significantly fewer people in the organisation and support team than in previous years. So we don’t know if all the structures will work as well as last year, we have few buffers and double structures to back us up. So take responsibility yourself and together, be aware of your surroundings, the people around you, stay calm and attentive in unclear situations if you can and communicate with each other and the people around you and pass on information. Especially if, contrary to expectations, there is a police response, don’t leave each other alone! Some are affected, we all are! 

There is

Awareness

If you experience violence, border crossing or discrimination or if your nervous system is stressed, contact the awareness team in the purple waistcoats. They will try to support you, find out what you need and make it possible. Your perception and perspective is central to everything that happens and will not be questioned.

There is also a retreat room, ask the awareness team for this.

Protection

There is a protection that is not recognisable or only becomes recognisable when it is needed. If it is needed or the organisation is needed, go to a loudie or an order person

Orderers

Ask them if you have questions; maybe they can answer them; if they pass on information, please listen

Donations

For various reasons we do not have stable funding this year, i.e. we may still get money but we can’t be sure. We are therefore collecting money, we collect as much as we need and then we stop. If we do get the money we applied for and can use it. Then we will donate the money we collect today to Rolling Safespace; a feminist project in Rojava and to the Solitopf Freiburg

Flags

Please no national flags. Only flags of countries that are in anti-colonial struggles are ok.

Please no banners and flags of any organisations. Please only feminist flags on banners and flags.

Route

We will later walk past the Platz der alten synagoge; then right into Bertholdstraße to the Bertholdsbrunnen, then left into Kaiser-Joseph Straße to Europa-Platz, then on Friedrichsring to the railway station, then on Bismarkallee past the station, under the blue bridge, into Wilhelmstraße to the Konzerthaus.

Our motto this year: 

Radical angry militant

Radical: we see our feminism as radical because we want an honest feminism in which we speak out about what is wrong, in which we do not remain silent about topics that could be unpleasant to discuss and for which we do not only receive approval. But we want precisely this exchange and discourse, we want to be uncomfortable, we want to learn and understand through contradictions and develop further.

Angry: we are angry because so much is simply wrong, because all over the world our brothers and sisters are being attacked, discriminated against, killed and attempts are being made to keep us down in our struggles, our resistance.

Fierce: we are fierce because we have long been fed up with this shit, because we stand together and fight together. 

2) BIPoC

Dear friends, dear fellow campaigners,

Today, on March 8, we are not only gathering to celebrate, but above all to fight. International Women’s Struggle Day is not a day of flowers and hollow thanks – it is a day of resistance. We remember the achievements of feminist movements, but also the struggles that still lie ahead. I speak today as part of the BIPoC community – BIPoC, which means Black, Indigenous and People of Color. This term unites us as people who have experienced racism, but also makes it clear that our struggles and backgrounds are diverse. Our perspectives are essential because white dominance determines whose voice counts – and whose does not. For too long, feminism has been thought of from a white, privileged perspective in which we were often only a side note. But feminism must be anti-racist. It is not enough to talk about equality without also asking: for whom? Historically, white feminism has often excluded black, indigenous and migrant women – be it in terms of voting rights or reproductive rights (keyword: suffragettes and the second wave of feminism).

The concept of intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw and is a necessary approach in feminist theory and practice. Intersectionality means that different forms of oppression – racism, sexism, classism, ableism, anti-Semitism, anti-Asian racism, racism against Sintizze and Romnja as well as trans and queer hostility – intersect and reinforce each other. A migrant single woman experiences oppression in a different way than a wealthy white academic. A Black trans woman has different struggles than a white cis woman. A feminism that does not recognize these complex realities is merely a continuation of exclusion. Our struggles have achieved a lot: the right to vote for women, access to education, the decriminalization of abortion in many countries. But who benefits from these achievements if Black women are discriminated against in obstetrics?

When trans women, inter, non-binary, transmasculine and agender people experience violence despite legal recognition? When migrant and migrantized women workers are exploited in precarious jobs? When Asian women are victims of racist violence and fetishization, as in the Atlanta murders? It is not enough to just put women in leadership positions when these women are the victims of capitalist, racist and patriarchal system. A feminism that only liberates some is not feminism, it is an elite project. How can we support feminist struggles worldwide without patronizing? Too often, white feminism has acted from a savior perspective instead of acknowledging the already existing resistance of BIPoC women. But these struggles have existed for a long time: women around the world are fighting against patriarchal and colonial oppression, from Sudan, Palestine and Iran to Latin America, to name just a few examples. These struggles are not isolated events – they are part of a global resistance against colonial structures that persist despite formal decolonization. Western states continue to profit from raw materials, cheap labor and political dependency while staging themselves as moral authorities. Intersectionality does not only affect the Global South – it also affects us here. Anti-Muslim racism hits women particularly hard – be it through discrimination in the labor market or attacks on veiled women. 

Refugee women experience violence in collective accommodation. Care work is shifted onto migrant workers who work under precarious conditions.

Another problem is that feminist theory and practice often diverge. Important terms are coined in academic debates, but they often remain white-dominated and are not accessible to many. Meanwhile, often marginalized activists fight back on a daily basis without receiving the recognition they deserve. Feminism needs to move from the books into practice – into the streets, into communities, into structures of solidarity. Our task is to listen, share resources and learn from feminist struggles in the Global South. It means reflecting on our own privileges and asking ourselves: how can we support feminist movements without setting our perspective as the only true one? Let us remember: feminism does not mean being content with our own privileges, but using them to dismantle structural injustices.

To be solidary means to listen, to learn and to make space. It means not settling for a feminism that only works for white, cis and straight women, but fighting for everyone.  Let’s be loud. Let’s fight. Together. Feminism will be intersectional – or it will NOT be! There is no feminism without intersectionality!

In solidarity and fighting spirit!

3) Nuda kurd*innen

8th March is a day of resistance and solidarity. For decades, women around the world have been fighting for their right to vote, fair working conditions, the right to abortion and for equality and recognition. Their struggle takes place in all areas of life: in the world of work, in child-rearing, in care work and in society as a whole. Many women have risked their lives for these rights. Their legacy is our mission: the fight for self-determination, freedom and a just future. Our rights are under attack. But today we are seeing political forces and governments questioning or reversing hard-won gains. Capitalism is pushing women back into traditional roles, while women’s rights are being systematically suppressed in many parts of the world, from Afghanistan to Turkey to regions under IS rule. The West often remains silent when economic or strategic interests are at the forefront. Murders of women claim thousands of victims every year, but patriarchal structures persist. Violence against women continues to be treated as a private or secondary problem instead of being tackled decisively. There is resistance! But women are fighting worldwide! The women in Rojava have proven that resistance against oppression is also a struggle for equality and democracy. After the murder of Jina Amini, the women in Rojhilat sent a universal message of resistance with the slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadī” (Woman, Life, Freedom). We are in a time of change. States and systems are in crisis – they offer neither prospects for women nor for society. With its philosophy of life of “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi”, the Kurdish women’s movement shows an alternative: an equal, democratic and ecological society. Inspired by Abdullah Öcalan’s ideas, women and oppressed peoples are fighting for a future of acceptance, tolerance and self-organization. Our demand: A new world! We demand a world that is democratic, ecological and where women are free! Your wars cost our lives. We want to live in peace, equality and solidarity – with all our cultures and religions, in acceptance and tolerance. We fight for our right to a free life, to self-determination and to a future without oppression!

4) Democatic Alevi Women Uninion

We, of the Democratic Alevi Women* demand Stop these global injustices against women.

We raise our voices against inequality, violence and abuse! We will fight against it ourselves.

In Alevism, women are not just people, they change societies and lead to truth.

The work, love and struggle of women* is sacred.

Women’s Day is not only a day of celebration, but also a day to spread more perspective, organization and resistance.

The injustices inflicted on women throughout history continue to this day. Sufficient precautions and measures are still not being taken against violence against women* and child abuse.

In countries like Turkey, women and children are not protected from injustice. They are also not protected by the state and suffer abuse and neglect at the hands of state institutions.

Such as Leyla Aydem, Narin Güran, Müslime Yagel and Îpek Er.

The most vulnerable women* and children are those on the run and in war zones.

The murder of Jîna Amînî and the slogan “Jin Jîyan Azadî” have become a symbol of women’s freedom in many countries.

At the same time, Peşxan Atom was sentenced to death in Iran because of her identity and gender.

The fact that girls are married off very young, Alevi women in Syria experience violence, Kurdish Yazidi women are enslaved by IS, shows us that women are the target of systematic oppression.

The defense of women’s rights should not only be carried by women*.

The social dynamic should also address the issue.

We say again: enough is enough: of injustices inflicted on women* on a global level.

May the teachings of the Alevi faith about love, peace and equality illuminate our path!

Long live the justified struggle of women*

Democratic Alevi Women Union

5) Individual about Sex Work

Content Note: The speech mentions National Socialist persecution and is also about discrimination.

Hello

I’m making a contribution today to create visibility for an issue that is important to me. My job.

Because my job is not like any other. If it were like any other, I would probably deliver my speech myself. Which is basically what I would like to do. I’d like to stand here and say: “I work in sex work. This is my face.” But instead of speaking in front of you myself, I’m standing among you. Maybe right next to you, nervously kneading my fingers. I actually have no problem talking about my job in sex work. I like to talk about good meetings, vent after bad days and laugh about failures.

But my job is not like any other, as I face condemnation if I come out. I risk my safety, my privacy and my relationships. I can’t trust you to stand in solidarity with me. I can’t trust you to still see me in my complexity after coming out. I don’t want the stigma that society and the feminist scene puts on me. I don’t want to fight the battles. As a neurodivergent trans* person, I struggle enough every day. 

I hope that my speech will give me and my colleagues in Freiburg more visibility. For us whores, prostitutes, escorts, call boys, masseuses, dominatrices and everyone else. For all of us in parks, parking lots, brothels, hotels and online. We work in the oldest trade in the world, still and always fighting.

We fight

Against city administrations that want to dictate where and how we work.  

Against health authorities that pathologize us.  

Against police and the state that seek to control our bodies.  

Against a left that wants to decide which survival strategies are acceptable in a capitalist society and which are not.  

Against self-proclaimed feminists who believe “my body, my choice” only applies to one group: white, Christian, bourgeois, cis endo women.  

A little side note: What kind of mental gymnastics does it take to claim to fight for bodily autonomy while simultaneously attacking trans* people, sex work, or the choice to wear a headscarf and veil?  

Against everyone who denies us the right to make our own decisions and believes in dividing us into “good” and “bad” whores.  

I could tell you how messed up the current legal situation is for us in sex work and why, for some of us, it is still safer to work illegally than to register with the state and carry a “whore pass.”  

Not so fun fact: Did you know that the police can enter and search the home of a sex worker at any time if they use it as a workplace?

I could tell you how much worse things will get for us with the so-called “Nordic Model” – the criminalization of buying sex – and how in countries like Sweden, where it has already been implemented, partners or adult children of sex workers can be prosecuted if they benefit financially from sex work.  

But to be honest, I really don’t feel like breaking it all down for you. You can use the internet yourselves.  

I can’t even stand here with my own face and my own voice – the only way I can create visibility for this issue is by making myself invisible… and that’s also because of the fear of what’s still coming for us politically.  

In 1938, during large-scale raids, including in brothels, Nazi police arrested over 20,000 people—among them sex workers, people who used drugs, homeless people, and Sinti and Roma. All of them were labeled as “asocial.” Many of them were marked with a black triangle and sent to extermination and labor camps.  

“Asocial” survivors received no compensation or support even after liberation. It’s been less than five years since the German Bundestag even acknowledged the Nazi persecution of so-called “asocial” people.

How does something like this happen?

We work under criminalization. There are cities that completely ban prostitution. There are laws that apply exclusively to sex workers. At the end of the day, prostitution is something forbidden—only legal in narrowly defined ways, by narrowly defined people, in narrowly limited places.  

And yet, we are systemically relevant. A huge part of our work is emotional labor that we do for our guests and clients. Unseen emotional labor. If the emotional aspect doesn’t fit, I might as well throw my entire offer as a sex worker in the trash.  

One thing I am absolutely done with is defending my clients. Sexual self-determination also includes the right to access sex work. There are many reasons why people seek out sexual services, and people from all kinds of backgrounds visit sex workers. At the end of the day, my work has actually given me a much more sympathetic perspective on endo cis men.  

I’m also far more afraid of the police than of my clients. And for good reason—numerous studies confirm it: sex workers experience more violence from the police than from clients. Being able to turn to the police for help and support is a massive privilege. For many of us—especially if we work without registration, don’t have secure residency status, or are trans—the police are barely an option.  

Why am I not talking about human trafficking today? Because I refuse to play into the whataboutism. Human trafficking for sexual exploitation is not sex work. Fighting human trafficking in solidarity while supporting sex work is not a contradiction. This whataboutism is the first tool privileged people reach for when they want to avoid confronting discrimination.  

But anti-sex-work forces don’t actually want to hear any of this.

Just as the Christian moral framework pits all those affected by patriarchy against each other—dividing them into saints and whores—we, as sex workers, are also further categorized into “good” and “bad whores.” The “good whores” must be rescued from forced sex work—hello, savior complex—while the “bad whores” are those supposedly privileged escort sluts.  

Where do I belong? What kind of services do I offer? Why do I do this? Do I actually enjoy it? Do I only do it for the money? Am I secretly traumatized? Do I need to be saved? These are the questions I’m constantly confronted with—questions meant to determine whether I count as a “good” or “bad” whore, whether people can stand in solidarity with me, or whether I’m supposedly part of some imaginary pimp lobby.  

A little service tip: If you ask me things that you wouldn’t ask people in other service jobs—like in hospitality, retail, or healthcare—then your concern isn’t about my rights or my safety. You just have a personal issue with sexuality. I don’t have to be more or less enthusiastic about my job than anyone else. I am allowed to enjoy sex work, but I can also treat it as a means to an end or a survival strategy.  

My body is not for sale. My consent is not for sale. But my time, my services, and my labor are. And if you can’t imagine doing my job, that’s fine. Maybe I can’t imagine doing yours either.

Realities within sex work are diverse. The privileges and access that sex workers have vary. The closer a service is to physical intimacy, the more we are affected by society’s whore stigma. People who work outdoors and alone are less safe than those who work collectively in houses and apartments. But no form of sex work is inherently more moral or reprehensible than another. It is part of the responsibility of allies and friends to listen to sex workers from different fields and amplify our demands.  

You do this by sharing them, talking about them, paying us for our work, and speaking with us—not about us!  

If you want to learn more about sex work, follow Instagram accounts like 6arbeiterin_ and besd.ev, the Professional Association for Erotic and Sexual Services. [Please read the Instagram handles clearly.]  

In the end, I only have one thing left to say:  

Sex work is not the problem.

What we do with our labor and our bodies is not the problem.

To fight for a good life for all, for bodily autonomy, and for the whole damn bakery, we have to go to the root of the issue: The problem is the unequal distribution of wealth, resources, and access.  

The problem is colonialism and capitalism, which lead to the exploitation of entire regions and force people into the necessity of improving their living conditions.  

The problem is racist structures that prevent people from moving freely across the world and push them into dependencies.  

The problem is racism, classism, ableism, and transphobia, as well as the lack of access to social and healthcare services.  

The problem is racist migration policies, nation-states, and borders.  

My job may not be like every other job—but it deserves respect and your solidarity.  

Thank you.

6) Rosa

Hello, we are Poli and Rudy from ROSA and with this speech I would like to remind you that many women and queer people are currently on the run and that feminist practice at the EU’s external borders – and not only – is more than necessary!

The then 25-year-old Mercy from the Democratic Republic of Congo said in a report on the situation in Camp Moria on Lesvos:

“I fled because I was raped, and the fighting never ends. I traveled alone, which was also unsafe. This was my second time trying to get to Europe. I was out of money, so I had to do whatever the smuggler said. Thanks to God that I made it, but it’s so much worse here in Greece than I ever could have imagined, and the harassment is unbearable.”

Mercy explains that the reason for her fleeing was sexualized violence. A reason for fleeing that many EU countries – including Germany – still do not consistently recognize her refugee status.

She also talks about the unsafe escape route. She reports on the camps in Greece, where people are often detained for years and a dignified life is not possible. She reports that women drink as little as possible to avoid having to go to the toilet. As the sanitary facilities offer no privacy, this opens the door to sexual harassment and abuse.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is still in the midst of a very serious humanitarian crisis. Armed conflicts, particularly in the east of the country, are leading to massive displacement and widespread sexualized violence against women and queer people. Rebel groups and state actors are committing crimes against the civilian population, while economic instability and the illegal extraction of raw materials are further exacerbating the situation. Due to these circumstances and the ever decreasing international attention, many are forced to leave their country.

But Mercy’s story is no exception. It is the result of an inhumane European border regime that has institutionalized violence at the EU’s external borders. European migration policy is increasingly based on isolation, militarization and externalization. With the expansion of Frontex, so-called coast guards and police apparatuses, the outsourcing of border protection measures to third countries such as Libya and the support of so-called “safe third countries”, it is knowingly accepted that people on the run are mistreated, enslaved or deported back to their countries of origin, where they are threatened with persecution and death.

The Common European Asylum System (CEAS), which is supposed to offer protection, is being increasingly undermined: fast-track procedures at borders, detention camps and categorizations of “good” and “bad” refugees are the reality. Women and queer people in particular are in extreme danger from these systems. They are often exposed to violence, exploitation and human trafficking, and yet their specific need for protection remains largely unnoticed in the European asylum systems.

The fact that women and queer people are particularly vulnerable is not a natural consequence of their gender. And now, due to Merz’s 5-part plan, if their identity papers have been taken from them on the street, they would also have to stew in detention pending deportation until they get their return ticket?! We say no to that!

Multiple solidarity is possible. Multiple solidarity is possible by trying to support all women and queer people involved in liberation struggles as much as possible in everyday life – especially those struggles that are less and less visible in the media. Solidarity with struggling women and queer people in Congo, Kurdistan, Palestine, Iran and Afghanistan!

We also want to use March 8, 2025 to name and celebrate intersectional struggles. We want to make Mercy’s strength visible, to set out alone on the path to a hopefully better future. A future in which we focus on recognizing strength in action and finding empowerment in solidarity. To achieve this, we must work together to name and fight sexist, racist, queer-hostile, classist, capitalist and ableist structures.

Intersectional feminism only works without border regimes and without segregation! Borders are only okay – and should be respected by everyone – if they are set individually and interpersonally! We demand: Feminism without borders! Barbed wire to scrap metal, borders open everywhere.

7) Speech for Palestine

Today is a day where we continue the struggle of those who came before us, the struggle against patriarchy, the struggle for liberation. We honour the memory of those who have fallen in this struggle, and we take inspiration from their actions. 

The 8th of march is a day that has been white-washed by western, colonial, capitalist interests. It has been pacified, only choosing to tell part of the story, and only from those parts that are deemed acceptable. Resistance has not one formula for all, it is shaped by the actions of those who take up the struggle. Women in Palestine have never been, and are still not pacified onlookers to their people’s ethnic cleansing. Women such as Leila Khaled partook, and still partake in, the liberation of her country of Palestine. We see together the efforts put in by the women and gender-non conforming comrades documenting the ongoing genocide occuring in Palestine. We are afforded the luxury to know their names and faces, unlike many of those who came before, nameless, and faceless, cut down by the sword of imperialism and settler-colonialism. 

It is this sword that we too must speak of, this violence that is enabled not only by the hand that weilds it, but by those that arm that hand. Germany has now for decades attempted to white-wash, pink-wash, and wash with all the colours under the sun, their racist past, as well as current acts. German militarism spends, spends, and yet again spends to arm militaries with munitions that they know will fall on civilians. Bombs that destroy hospitals and generators for heating homes. These destroyed hospitals have made what is usually a beautiful moment in a family, pregnancy and birth, into a period of anxiety and horror. A period of time where Palestinian women have no access to pre-natal care and are having miscarriages while drones fly above and bombs drop around them. Things that we might take for granted such as a tampon has become a luxury in Gaza with Israel severely limiting aid trucks to enter. It is for this, and many other reasons, that the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against Women and Girls, Reem Alsalem, has deemed Israel’s actions not only as genocide, but as femi-genocide. While women and children are starving and suffering, Israel chooses to break the ceasefire, and German media plays along. Germany claims to uphold feminism while at the same time claiming to “save” “oppressed” Arab women from the threat of Islam. Instead of truly aiding in the liberation of Arab women, they are the first to finance bombs that drop on Palestinian women and children. The women of the Arab world become irrelevant in favour of trade agreements and election support. 

The 8th of March is not a day for flowers and cards, but it is a day where we all must take action, where we all must stand united, internationally, to support women and gender-non conforming comrades across the globe to take up methods and arms for their liberation. We cannot pretend to fight for liberation while ignoring the oppression our government participates in Palestine: when oppression is global, struggle is necessary everywhere. So take with you in mind not only those who have lost their lives, take with you in body and spirit the bravery of those who stand tall against oppression and follow in those footsteps.  

8) Individual about sexual assaults

Hello everyone! My name is Luzy. I am white, abled-body and genderqueer. Today I’m here to talk about a topic that affects us all: sexualized violence. I am aware that I am speaking from a privileged perspective. People who experience other forms of marginalization in addition to sexism may experience this reality more intensely and have different needs. In particular, trans people, racialized people, people with disabilities and those affected by classism are often overlooked in public discourse. I recognize that my perspective is limited.

Sexualized violence is a multifaceted issue, and the terminology is often fuzzy. There are countless forms in which this violence is practiced and experienced. I would like to focus in particular on the survival of physical and sexual assault. It is upsetting that so many people experience sexual assault. Even worse is the loneliness that those affected often feel after these experiences. Not only do they struggle with feelings of guilt and shame, but also with the constant doubt of whether they imagined it.

Did you know that our nervous system can remove traumatic experiences from our everyday memory? This means that those affected often have vague memories and emotions, but no clear images of their experiences. Recognizing your own reality is already an enormous challenge. And when I finally come to the point of accepting my experiences, I often have to expect that my experience will be denied or that guilt or complicity will be attributed to me.In a society that often protects perpetrators instead of believing those affected, this is a painful reality. If I break the taboo and talk about my experiences, I have to prepare myself for being overwhelmed, pity and discomfort from my counterpart.In this society, we are often incapable of acknowledging the reality of sexualized violence and remaining in contact with ourselves and those affected. And now I would like to explicitly address the hetero-cis men among you:I’m fucking sick of carrying this pain alone! And I don’t just mean my own personal pain, but also the collective pain. I am tired of those affected having to work alone to bring about change in addition to the challenge of coming to terms with what they have experienced.So what I am asking for is not your solidarity. I am calling for you to take responsibility.Maybe you think that you have never behaved abusively.

Maybe no one has ever pointed out your abusive behavior to you.Maybe you haven’t actually behaved in a transgressive manner.Whatever the case may be. We live in a patriarchal society, which affects you less than the non-cis-male people among us. And I’m not saying that to point the finger at you and say: you’re to blame. I’m not saying that to put myself on one side and you on the other. I’m saying that because I want you here, behind us, on this side. I’m saying that because I want you to finally recognize that the violence that people experience in this society concerns us all. Even or especially if you are not fucking affected! I’m tired of people resting on their privileges, repressing and looking the other way when others suffer. This doesn’t just apply to sexualized violence, but to all forms of structural violence. Feminism is not just for queers and women, it is for all of us.

Here are some concrete steps you can take to combat sexualized violence:

1. if a person tells you that they are affected, legitimize them! The person has already experienced enough doubt. Don’t push them into the role of victim, but let them keep their dignity at this moment.And treat them with respect and appreciation.

2. if someone points out transgressive behavior to you, listen!Take what is said seriously, don’t question anything and ask about the person’s needs. Don’t burden the person with your emotions, but seek support to deal with them.Be grateful for the feedback, learn from it and change your behavior.

3. if you witness a boundary violation, support those affected if they wish. Even if the person committing the offense is a friend of yours.

4. learn and practice consensus!

And now a little excursion into lived sexuality: sexuality that is considered normal by society is designed to satisfy hetero-cis men.

Many people with vulvas and vulva-like genitalia can’t relate to this, but they might not tell you that.So if you want to live sexuality with such a person, be aware that it is very likely that this person has experienced sexualized violence in some form.Ask them what they need to feel safe with you.Get the idea out of your head that this person has to help you to orgasm in some way.Be open to other forms of sexuality, even if they seem unfamiliar at first.

These everyday actions alone will not eliminate sexualized violence from our society.Massive structural changes are needed to combat sexualized violence. But every single person is needed along the way. That’s why I’ll say it again: feminism concerns us all!

9) Pregnancy and birth

Violence in obstetric care is a reality that can no longer be ignored! It manifests in medical interventions without consent, degrading comments, and the dismissal of pain and fear. These practices are not just cruel—they are an attack on the dignity of birthing people and a result of patriarchal structures that systematically disempower FLINTA* and undermine their autonomy. Marginalized individuals are especially at risk under current conditions.  

But there is hope! Many midwives, doctors, and those affected are fighting for respectful obstetric care. They know that birth can be an empowering, powerful experience—one that strengthens birthing individuals rather than weakening them.  

For this, we need:  

– One-on-one midwifery care  

– More research in obstetric care  

– The inclusion of those affected, both during childbirth and in the development of guidelines and standards  

– Better education in schools and institutions so that birth and FLINTA* health are no longer taboo topics  

Birth must become what it has the potential to be: an experience of strength, trust, and self-determination!

10) Single person to anti-D

We would like to start by saying a few words because we are a bit at a loss. We can’t understand it and it makes us incredibly angry! 

We all experience the oppressive violence of this system.

But our disappointment and our anger are not only directed at the people who reproduce and promote this shit. The right-wing governments, parties, the fascists, the people who call themselves middle-class and then shout foreigners out. No, we are just as angry at the people who think they come from the supposedly same movement as us, and then attack us in our struggles and boycott them. Instead of solidarity and support in our struggles against patriarchal violence, we experience further violence and a supposedly left-wing movement that fights against us and wants to keep us down in our struggles. But our existence, our struggle is not based on being against something, no, we are fighting for the life and freedom of all our brothers and sisters! We come together in the hatred we feel, because yes we are angry, no it just really pisses us off! But our anger/hate is not lonely, no, we are incredibly many and our strength lies in this diversity, this community. Our resistance means being/living and means keeping alive all the people we have lost (in this resistance and through the inhuman system). Their repression, their murders mean fear, our resistance, our struggle means living. We remain independent, we remain alive, we will not be beaten down. Not by fascists, not by Merz, not by anti-Ds. So let’s stand together in solidarity today and every other day and fight together, for life and for freedom here and worldwide!

11) To FEM

We are here and not at the Old Synagogue Square.

We didn’t really decide to be here ourselves; people took the space in the Old Synagogue Square and it was clear that a confrontation would have been energy-sapping and would have made the situation worse for everyone. 

That’s why we’re here now. It’s frustrating but we can deal with it. We all hope that we can exchange ideas and come to an understanding so that we can form strong and broad feminist alliances that are sensitive to discrimination and critical of power, also and above all against fascism.

The basis for this can also and especially be the common ground such as the common goal of an emancipatory and universal feminism. The FEM alliance that is on the pdas today has this on its posters and we share this goal.

What does that mean for us?

Emancipatory means that we have to work for and fight for our rights ourselves, that we can’t get them by negotiation or receive them as a gift. Emancipatory feminism also means that it is necessary to show solidarity and support people and groups who are oppressed and to use our own privileges and the advantages we have in this society to do so.

Universalist feminism means that everyone is included, everyone who is affected by the violence of the patriarchy of the domination of rich white cis-endo-hetero men who have so-called healthy bodies. Universalist means that we try to see, understand and dismantle all forms of oppression. Universalist means that we understand that we are all part of the system of oppression of sexism, queerphobia, interphobia, racism, ableism, classism, antisemitism and other forms of normalization and exclusion and disadvantage and that we all have to work on it individually and together. Emancipatory and universalist feminism means that we understand that the categorization of people as only practicing violence and only affected by violence makes no sense, that we are all affected and practicing violence and it means understanding that we are not equal at all in this practicing and being affected by violence; that many people are affected by oppression much more and in many more diverse ways than others. We are only equal in the right to fight against this oppression and we are equal in the responsibility to support each other in this.

We all have a responsibility. But we want to remind certain people in particular of their specific responsibility – many of us who are white and goy – that is, not Jewish, who benefit from both anti-Muslim racism and anti-Semitism. It is difficult for everyone to deal with recognizing themselves as part of a violent and oppressive system. This is unsettling and makes people feel fragile, but it is extremely lacking in solidarity to take on an observational role out of this insecurity.

Leaving the work of constructive discourse to the people who are affected is not ok. Marking positions as extremist without taking a close look or not critically questioning such markings and then lumping people who refuse to play along and engage in a “moderate” discourse, not desolidarizing with uncomfortable voices into two camps even though there are an incredible number of perspectives on such incredibly complex issues is simply …. part of the problem and not the solution.

You are responsible for opening up and maintaining spaces where people can also bring in radical perspectives, you are responsible for dealing with them critically and in solidarity and for enabling different perspectives to come into contact with each other and be recognized.

12) Individual about transformation

This post really resonated with me, and I’d love to share a thought. I find it super interesting that what was described about birthing people, the process of pregnancy, childbirth, and the time after, almost perfectly mirrors the experiences trans* people go through during their transition.  

The external control—especially through the medical system—the way power is taken to decide what is right or wrong, how the process should unfold, and what people are supposed to feel, makes an experience that could be empowering and enriching instead difficult, exhausting, and sometimes even deeply traumatic.  

And this applies to other experiences as well. Moving to another country, for example, or navigating life while being disabled or being actively disabled by society. These are also transformative and empowering experiences that are systematically made harder or even impossible.  

Of course, this isn’t something we can generalize. In every example, it makes a huge difference whether someone has a lot of money, little, or none at all. But even though each person’s experience is unique, we can clearly see:

It is precisely where deep change happens, or can happen—where people can experience themselves, determine themselves, and empower themselves, where they can learn and learn together about themselves and what it means to be human—that oppression is most strongly enforced. It is particularly sharply and violently divided into right and wrong, normal and weird, accepted and excluded. This is not a coincidence; it has method and system, and that system is called patriarchy: the dominance of white, rich, able-bodied, and endo-cis-hetero men.  

The vulnerability of people is deliberately targeted, and violence is inflicted upon them, so that diversity and their survival at all costs are prevented, because they challenge the system. They are the point where the system can break. This is why it is so revolutionary and important to make the survival of diversity possible. These are the touchpoints to sustainably fight oppression.  

Because the good life for queer people destroys the dominance of cis-endo-heterosexuality and monogamy. Visible trans*, inter*, non-binary, and agender people destroy the binary system. Migrants with confident, complex identities destroy racism and culturalism. Empowering approaches to disability destroy the absurd construction and dominance of “supposedly” healthy bodies.

The knowledge about the good life is not where power, privilege, resources, and dominance lie, and the good life for all is not about acquiring that knowledge and indulging in fantasies of privilege and dominance for everyone—that doesn’t work. Diversity without connection doesn’t work; connection in equality is not enriching, not sustainable, and very dangerous.  

The knowledge about the good life for all is, concretely, for example, understanding in many, many, many different ways that diversity is enriching and that connection in difference is a lot of work, but it can be beautiful work, and that it can expand our possibilities. Mathematically speaking, it doesn’t just add or multiply; no, it can exponentiate, and it can also exponentiate exponentiating. So not just a + b + c or a * b * c, but a to the power of b to the power of c.  

And this knowledge about the good life for all is born in these survival struggles and in these transformative processes, such as self-determined pregnancy and birth, self-determined transition, self-determined migration, and self-determined ways of dealing with individual disability and being disabled.  

This does not mean that the collective, solidaristic struggle does not need the conscious and targeted use of powerful and visible positioning, but it also needs the knowledge and guidance from (often) invisible and oppressed people.  

An approach to concrete solidarity: the shared mourning for those who did not survive and who are also made invisible in that process. These are, to name just a few examples, trans*-fem sex workers of color, still today, everywhere in the world, and people in detention facilities for cripples, idiots, and the mentally ill, at least until the 1970s in Germany, the Shoah and Pojamos, the systematic annihilation of Jews, Sinti* and Roma*, queer people and antifascists in the Third Reich, and classically hegemonic, a distant and meaningless large number: these are, alone in the Americas, the colonization of 175 million people between 1492 and 1600. In 1600, the estimated world population was 500 million.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/x6yisX1Pg2U

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dfFKRbCkfzc

Oh, and in case it wasn’t already clear: birthing people (often very incompletely referred to as women) and trans* people are obviously allies, just like all oppressed people, and their struggles are deeply intertwined.

I would like to address two areas where people are systematically deprived of transformative experiences by patriarchy:

1. Sexuality – This affects all of us, absurdly especially asexual, demisexual, and greysexual people who can barely escape the sexualization of everything. It affects all of us and presents an opportunity for transformation; particularly for cis-hetero women and cis-hetero men, whose dominant sexuality is shaped by objectification and performance pressure, characterized by passivity and dominance, trying to destroy connection in diversity.
2. Prisons and Cis Men – Cis men are also directly affected by patriarchy; of course, not all of them, but mostly those who are also impacted by poverty and classism, racism, trauma, and so-called developmental and attachment disorders. They are extremely disempowered and made vulnerable to violence, including sexual violence and systematic sexualized violence.

The criminal justice and prison system often has nothing to do with guilt and responsibility but is primarily about the disciplining of poverty, such as with repeated fare evasion or shoplifting.  

It is also, and above all, a system designed to prevent transformative experiences, particularly when it comes to taking responsibility for violence – both as an individual and, especially, as a community.