Concluded projects
Bremen Empowerment Project (BEP)
The Bremen Empowerment Project (2019 to 2023) was part of the Network Integration in the West of Bremen. Here you can find more information about the Bremen Empowerment Project.
The project “Netzwerk Integration im Bremer Westen” was funded by the Senator for Economics, Labour and Europe with funds from the European Social Fund and the State of Bremen.
Workshops and events
In recent years, BreSoC has implemented various programmes in cooperation with other groups: empowerment groups for young Black children and young people, which were carried out in cooperation with the Lidice House, events in memory of Madjiguène Cissé, on racist police violence with activists from Herford or “Memoria Viva – Memoria Creativa” fifty years after the military coup in Chile as well as the decolonial feminist dance project “Wider die Grausamkeit” (Against Cruelty).
Fleeing as a crime? Free Homayoun!
The Workshop is based on the work of Borderline Europe
Duration: from 15:30 to 19:00
Food: afterwards dinner for a donation
Registration: until 1.2.24 via bresoc@posteo.net or instagram: : https://www.instagram.com/bremen_solidarity_centre/
Languages: German with translations for English and Farsi. We are happy to organise further translations, please send us an email.
Location: Bremen Solidarity Centre, Am Deich 45, Bremen
On the margins of public perception, thousands of refugees in Italy and Greece are currently being sentenced to draconian prison terms of 100 years or more in some cases. These trials last an average of 38 minutes and end for the defendants with an average of 44 years in prison. The crime is their escape, the official accusation is “abetting illegal border crossings” by refugees at the engine of a rubber dinghy or at the wheel of a car.
In the Borderline Europe workshop, examples will be presented, a current overview of the criminalisation of refugees and civil sea rescue will be provided, the proceedings will be placed in the context of European Border Regime and Policies, discussed with the participants and perspectives for action in dealing with this criminalisation will be developed.
Free Homayoun and all migrants criminalised for “smuggling”!
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اطلاعات در مورد کارگاه در برمن
مدت زمان: از ساعت 15:30 الی 19:00
غذا: بعد از شام برای کمک مالی
ثبت نام: تا 1.2.24 از طریق bresoc@posteo.net
زبان: آلمانی با ترجمه انگلیسی و فارسی. در صورت نیاز برای ترجمه به زبانهای
دیگر, لطفآ با ایمیل با ما در تماس باشد.
مکان: مرکز همبستگی برمن، Am Deich 45، برمن
در حاشیه درک عمومی، هزاران پناهنده در ایتالیا و یونان در حال حاضر به حبس های سخت 100 سال یا بیشتر در برخی موارد محکوم شده اند. این دادگاه ها به طور متوسط 38 دقیقه طول می کشد و برای متهمان با میانگین 44 سال زندان به پایان می رسد. جرم فرار آنهاست، اتهام رسمی “حمایت از عبور غیرقانونی مرز” توسط پناهندگان در موتور قایق لاستیکی یا روی فرمان خودرو است. در کارگاه Borderline Europe، نمونه هایی ارائه خواهد شد، مروری بر جرم انگاری پناهندگان و نجات غیرنظامی در دریا ارائه خواهد شد، اقدامات در چارچوب سیاست های انزوا گرایانه اروپا قرار خواهد گرفت، با شرکت کنندگان و چشم اندازهای اقدام در برخورد مورد بحث قرار خواهد گرفت. با این جرم انگاری توسعه خواهد یافت. همایون را آزاد کنید و همه مهاجران را به جرم “قاچاق” جرم انگاری کنید!
In July and August 2021, the Bremen Solidarity Centre (BreSoC) e.V. organised the Festival of Remembrance and Celebration of Life together with other groups.
Festival of Remembrance and Celebration of Life
Discussions, Talks, StreetParade, Spoken Word Performances, Music
Memorial to the victims of fortress Europe, police brutality and institutional racism
As refugees we witnessed the starvation, drowning and deaths of many of our friends and family members. Some of us were raped, some of us were sold into slavery and forced labour in the migration route countries. They never had the chance to be given a befitting burial and even in their deaths, they were denied their human dignity. In the public and media, our friends and family members are only referred to as mere numbers. Just as many lives are being lost at the European borders, so are countless lives of Blacks and People of Colour being lost due to institutional racism and police brutality in mainland Europe. With this festival we want to inform and raise the awareness about the humanitarian crisis that is taking place. It is to commemorate the African lives lost on the way to Europe and the lives of the victims of police bru- tality and institutional racism, and to symbolically give them a befitting and dignifying farewell. At the same time, we celebrate the lives of those of us here who are surviving the brutality of this system. Therefore, the highlight of the Festival besides talks and discussions will be an African cultural Street Parade and Performance.
Programme:
[please click for details]
Colonial Borders and African Renaissance Thursday 15th July 2021 at 6 pm
Police Brutality and Accountability Initiatives Thursday 22nd July 2021 at 6 pm
African Dictators and FRONTEX: European Gatekeepers and their Consequences on Migration Routes Thursday 5th August 2021 at 6 pm
The struggles and experiences of women and children in the process of migration Friday 6th August 2021 at 5 pm
Homophobic and Transphobic Attitudes and Discrimination in Migrant Communities Friday 6th August 2021 at 7:30 pm
African Masquerade Parade Saturday, 7th August 2021 at 2 pm
Spoken Word-Performance and Music Saturday, 07th August 2021 after the parade until 10 pm
Organized by:
Bremen Solidarity Center (BreSoC) e.V. & The indiginous people of Biafra (IPOB)
In Cooperation with:
Together we are Bremen (TWAB) & Kulturzentrum Schlachthof e.V.
The Events will be held in English and German. Translation in these two languages will be provided. All events are free. Donations are appreciated. The events will be held in compliance with the Corona Rules. The rules of the venue apply.
Details of the events:
Colonial Borders and African Renaissance Thursday 15th July 2021 at 6 pm
In the Berlin conference of 1884/85, European colonisers who had earlier invaded the African continent normalized the arbitrarily carved borders into European colonial territories. In the process, previously independent African nations, kingdoms and peoples were either torn apart or forced to
become part of this new European cartography in Africa. These artificially constructed borders which in many cases forced different peoples to live together without any consultation were meant to serve colonial economic and political interests by facilitating the easy exploitation of the continent and its people without limit. Till today, these borders remain the defining
political features of the continent. Unfortunately, these borders, along with the system of divide and rule that the colonialists brought with them have also been the source of countless civil wars throughout the continent. However, there is an intensifying consciousness of Africans to overcome these problems by exploring alternatives to these colonial borders and arrangements. What are these alternatives and how do they fit into African Renaissance?
Speakers: Mbolo Yufanyi, Black Community Organiser (Berlin)
Mazi Gaius Godspower, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) e.V. Bremen
Moderator: Sunny Omwenyeke (Bremen Empowerment Project)
Venue: Arena, Kulturzentrum Schlachthof, Findorffstraße 51, 28215 Bremen
Police Brutality and Accountability Initiatives Thursday 22nd July 2021 at 6 pm
The summer of 2020 saw a sustained wave of protests worldwide against police brutality following the brutal murder of George Floyd in the United States. Led by the Black Lives Matter movement, these protests also took place in many cities in Germany and drew renewed attention to the age-long problem of police violence and extra judicial killings in Germany. Since the last couple of decades, many Blacks and People of Colour have met their deaths at the hands of German authorities and institutions, if not directly shot and killed by the Police for no verifiable reasons. Excessive institutional violence and even killings routinely go unpunished as public prosecutors are a partisan structural entity within the systemic racism of state suppressing accountability by any means possible. The assurance of impunity on the part of the police and other authorities or institutions ensures and even encourages the continuity of racist police and other institutionalized violence including its deadly consequences. In April 2019 Tonou Mbobda was restrained and killed at the UKE-Hospital of Hamburg by unsupervised security agents, in August 2019 Aman Alizada was shot and killed by the Police of Stade, in June 2020, Mohammed Idrissi was shot and killed by the Police in Bremen and in March this year in Delmenhorst, 19 years old Qosay Khalaf was arrested in a public park, beaten and pepper-sprayed into coma. He died in the police cell. Why do Blacks and People of Colour again and again have to be victims of police brutality and institutionalized violence and what needs to be done to hold culprits accountable?
Speakers: Gundula Oerter, Initiative in Gedenken an Laye-Alama Condé, Bremen
Sista Oloruntoyin, Black Community Coalition for Justice and Self-Defence, Hamburg
Statement: Barsan Mehdi, Initiative in Memory of Qosay, Delmenhorst
Moderaton: Brother Mwayemudza, Black Community Coalition for Justice and Self-Defence, HH
Venue: Findorffstraße 14a, 28215 Bremen
African Dictators and FRONTEX: European Gatekeepers and their Consequences on Migration Routes Thursday 5th August 2021 at 6 pm
Since the last couple of decades, the European Union has steadily expanded its external borders for the purpose of migration control into the heartland of Africa. They have mobilized and coerced African leaders, including authoritarians in countries that form part of the migration route to Europe to act in concert with FRONTEX; the European Border Agency as EU Gatekeepers. Accordingly, there are weekly mass deportations of West African citizens from Algeria to Niger. The EU funds Libyan Paramilitary troops who are responsible for gross human rights violation in migration-detention Camps in Libya including forced labour and slave markets where Black Africans migrating to Europe have been sold. The Sahara Desert has become one massive
graveyard while many more migrants are deliberately left to drown in the Mediterranean Sea. European countries abandon their responsibility to rescue those in distress on the high Sea while private individuals and NGOs who try to rescue them are criminalized and persecuted. Given the historic migration from Europe, the question is: Why has migration suddenly become a crime and what is the role of racism in the European border regime and policies?
Speakers: Siaka Konteh, Together We Are Bremen (TWAB)
Dorette Führer (Alarmephone Sahara/Afrique-Europe-Interact)
Steffen Luedke, Editor, Der Spiegel
Moderator: Christian Jakob, Author and Journalist, Taz Berlin
Venue: Arena, Kulturzentrum Schlachthof, Findorffstraße 51, 28215 Bremen
The struggles and experiences of women and children in the process of migration Friday 6th August 2021 at 5 pm
This Podium Discussion will feature three women activists who came to know each other in Bremen as they decided to stand up against mass accommodation and isolation in the Lagers/Camps like in Lindenstrasse and Alfred Faust Strasse. They form part of the self-organised refugee movement Together We Are Bremen (TWAB). As people with expertise and a voice on this topic, these activists will speak about the broad perspectives of women who have had the courage to take the difficult road through the various borders in Africa and Europe and ended up in the Lager in Bremen. They will discuss the danger of being portrayed as victims and speak not only about the mental, physical and psychological challenges of their experiences but also about their determination and resilience as key survival tools in Bremen. The speakers will address the attendant issue of mental health among Black refugee women and highlight the absurdity of having to wage a campaign for their children’s birth certificate even when their kids were born here. They will also speak on the necessity of the right
to housing, education and healthcare. “It has been a long and arduous journey. We have not arrived yet even though we are at our destination“, says the women.
Speakers: Gift Terhemen und Vivian Egharevba (TWAB)
Moderator: Fatoumata Cham (TWAB)
Venue: Arena, Kulturzentrum Schlachthof, Findorffstraße 51, 28215 Bremen
Homophobic and Transphobic Attitudes and Discrimination in Migrant Communities Friday 6th August 2021 at 7:30 pm
Homophobia and transphobia in migrant/Black communities creates a double bind (dual problems) for LGBTQI+ members who identify as BIPOC or have migration backgrounds. Individuals of these groups experience racial discrimination from the wider society in addition to homophobia and transphobia within their ethnic/racial communities. What are the consequences of this intersection of multiple forms of discrimination? How does this experience differ from LGBTQI+ members who do not identify as BIPOC? In this conversation, we would like to look at the history of LGBTQI+ in minority groups and discuss the consequences of the intersection of multiple forms of discrimination from minorities towards its LGBTQI+ members; from mental health to the adverse effect of Queer Gauge and the general lack of LGBTQI+ support in minority communities amongst others.
Discussants: Pizzar Stanley Pierre und Marohn (Queeraspora)
Moderator: Lex Idehen (Bremen Empowerment Project)
Venue: Arena, Kulturzentrum Schlachthof, Findorffstraße 51, 28215 Bremen
African Masquerade Parade Saturday, 7th August 2021 at 2 pm
With this parade we aim to commemorate the African lives lost on the
way to Europe and the victims of police brutality and institutional racism. We want to symbolically give them a dignified and appropriate farewell, with a symbolic coffin. At the same time, we are here to celebrate the lives of those who survive the brutality of this system by symbolically breaking the border. The street parade and performance is the highlight of the festival and is accompanied by traditional African masks and costumes, musical instruments and melodies.
Start and Destination: Arena, Kulturzentrum Schlachthof, Findorffstraße 51, 28215 Bremen
Spoken Word-Performance and Music Saturday, 07th August 2021 after the parade until 10 pm
Spoken word-Performance by Laura and music by Djane Selectress Adinkra, DJ Marco
Venue: Arena, Kulturzentrum Schlachthof, Findorffstraße 51, 28215 Bremen.