Rehearsing Resistance. Kem & UW with Palestine
In the face of an ongoing genocide from the hands of the colonial state of Israel against the Palestinian and Lebanese nations, Kem invites you to 2 solidarity events that encompass an artistic and educational program, co-organised with UW with Palestine.
In May and June of 2024, a group of students at the Warsaw University initiated an occupational strike in the Autonomy Park - demanding that their university condemns the brutal assault of Israel on Gaza and cut ties with Israeli academic institutions. The occupation space was filled with people engaged in workshops, discussion and events during which diverse strategies of collective resistance were devised and reflected on. This program was an act of radical engagement through which the students exemplified what a community in crisis can be - a mobilisation of bodies, an enactment of solidarity and collective resistance.
Since 2020, Kem has been exploring experimental forms of queer education, which combines artistic research, political engagement and diverse forms of collectivity. The occupation of the University of Warsaw in the Autonomy Park represents to us a materialisation of radical educational practices, which offered collective strategies for survival and future coexistence.
These events constitute a collaboration between Kem and UW z Palestyną, a space of solidarity with Palestine and other nations suffering under Zionist expansion, in which we will encourage exchange, dialogue and reflection on the necessity of collectively creating methods of resistance and collaboration.
Event timeline (detailed descriptions below)
SATURDAY 23.11 Students against genocide - UW with Palestine
15:00 discussion: “Queers against extermination (of queers) in Palestine” with Sławek and Nena
17:00 discussion: Reflecting on the occupation of UW at Park Autonomia, with Martii and Lucy
18:00 screening: “Everything Must Fall” with an introduction by dr Weronika Parafianowicz (Institute of Polish Culture UW)
SUNDAY 24.11 Anti-imperial hangout
17:00 workshop: Translation circle
19:00 Premiere of new Kem for Jessica mix by Veronicami
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SATURDAY 23.11 Students against genocide - UW with Palestine
November 15th 1988 is the date when Palestine declared its independence. 36 years have passed and Israel is still occupying the territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, while carrying out a genocide on the Palestinian people with impunity for over a year. During the first day of Rehearsing Resistance, we want to remind you of the palestinian path to freedom and independence as well as invoke the atmosphere of the pro-Palestinian occupation in Autonomy Park.
Queers against extermination (of queers) in Palestine
The extinction of Palestinian life continues, and renders us speechless. The genocide is indifferent and engulfs everyone, including queer people - all the more reason to take an active stance and re-think our own positions. We invite you to consider the obligation which rests on queer communities (including our own, mostly white one) to join voices protesting the genocide in Palestine, despite the escalating attempts at silencing the movement in the euroatlantic world. Our discussion will be situated in the particularities of polish queerness - its complexitie, aspirations and tribulations. We will touch on the growing issues of homonationalism and pinkwashing, as well as grassroots decolonisation. Together we will consider to what extent radical queer positions can still be considered a source of resistance to the state power apparatus and how this imperative relates to the contemporary, assimilationist politics of “deserving respect”.
Discussion led by Sławek and Lena.
Reflecting on the occupation of UW at Park Autonomia
In this section we would like to talk about what went into organising the occupation in Park Autonomia, the highs and lows of its everyday reality, as well as plans for our future actions. How is it, that a group of students decides to occupy their university for Palestine? What exactly does the student movement want to achieve? What should be done now after the occupation is over? These and other questions will be answered by Martii and Lucy..
Screening of “Everything Must Fall” with an introduction by dr Weronika Parafianowicz (Institute of Polish Culture UW)
When South African universities tried to raise student tuition, a wave of protests erupted on the streets. Quickly gaining speed and outreach, the chant of #FeesMustFall resounded in the political landscape and became an issue of national interest, shedding light on the exclusion of lower class black citizens from Sotuh African higher education institutions and eventually becoming a call to decolonise the whole education system. In the documentary “Everything Must Fall” student leaders and their opponents talk about how that crucial moment became a mass movement.
Translation circle workshop
Translation can be an act of solidarity and resistance. This workshop aims to show that translation can be done as a collective practice and doesn’t require a team of experts. Together, we will choose a poem from “Rifqa” - a collection of poetry by palestinian poet, who writes in English, Mohammed el-Kurd, and translate it into polish.
SUNDAY 24.11 Anti-imperial hangout
Reading sessions and Q&A with guest (TBC)
19:00 Premiere of new Kem for Jessica mix, by Veronicami
Kem supports new phenomena in sound-based art and club music and is a platform for experimentation for DJs and sound artists. In the series Kem for Jessica, Kem gives space to emerging talents, creating experimental formats and new expressions of queer and female sound and sensation in which music and sound can be a political act.
Veronicami is a DJ and music event curator based in Warsaw, originally from Azerbaijan. She began her journey with electronic music in 2018 and quickly gained recognition for her uncompromising sets, genre-blending mixes, and bold exploration of the diverse world of sound. Veronicami is the initiator and co-founder of the collective "DŁOŃ" and the uncompromising party series “ANTI-CLUB”. In her native Baku, she organized alternative music events that expanded the audience's perception of club music and supported the participation of women on stage.
Event link: https://fb.me/e/9el2H6GW9