[Berlin] Kundgebung against Rape Culture

Rape Culture is a set of dogmatic principles that institutes that cis men are entitled to anything they want to acquire and that their ´ownership´ implies neglecting consent, commenting, looking down on and ultimately possessing bodies and disrupting minds, with zero consequence and no regrets.

It is a complex device that is deeply seeped into our everyday lives and that if not addressed early on in formative years, or actively dismantled in adulthood, can lead to severe damage, to self and others.

No one is safe where Rape Culture is concerned.

Recently our house had to face an incidence of rape: A man came into our house and raped one of us. Today we are writing to you to extend an invitation to the Kundgebung against Rape Culture happening at Dorfplatz (Rigaer/ Liebigstraße) on the 26th of August at 2pm. This will not only be an opportunity to express our repudiation of Rape Culture and everything Patriarchy, but also to engage in discussions amongst ourselves and discuss how we, as a community, can help halt this pervasive ill, as well as prevent it. What practices and which knowledge are necessary to say ´Not Any More´.

We look forward to your support and participation. You're welcome to contact us if you would also like to write or read a statement or a text. But you can also participate in many other ways. There will be workshops, statements, zines, küfa and cinema.

We will also have a permament installation named 'Then he came into my room'. The installation is an opportunity to share your own story, anonymously, and to witness the elements of the rape be turned into a hammer for liberation. Stories have been and will continue to be collected through several means: via email at story34@riseup.net and by way of a mailbox, placed outside the door at Liebig, where anonymous letters or accounts can be dropped. We'll share all the stories during the Kundgebung, pasted on a wall and also read out loud if you wish to.

In the face of so much misogyny and hardship, only networks of mutual support can stop the cis man. There´s strenght in solidarity and numbers. Come, engage, support, smash the patriarchy and destroy rape culture.

Liebig34