International Women Space was formed in December 2012 during the Refugee Movement’s occupation of the former Gerhart-Hauptmann School in Berlin-Kreuzberg. We created a Women’s Space there, which remained open until the summer of 2014. We worked to form a women’s front within the Refugee Movement that brings the fights against both racism and sexism together. After the eviction of the school, International Women Space continued working, with new members joining us. In 2017 we founded a registered association.
We are fed up with people speaking about us and not with us. Women’s resistance is often oppressed, and Women’s history hidden or ignored. We take on the responsibility to counteract this by documenting, making visible, and publicising our stories in our own words.
We organize politically to defend ourselves against the issues and attacks that we as women are facing: as refugee women, as migrant women and as non-migrant women. Sexism, racism, the violence of the asylum system and migration policies influence our lives. Our learning and our self-education is part of our emancipatory struggle. In our group, we stand in solidarity with each other and we support each other on an everyday basis.
We collaborate with feminist and anti-racist groups and have formed alliances in Berlin, in Europe, and beyond. Within our networks, we host workshops and organize demonstrations to bring our demands to the street.
Every year on the 8th of March – International Women’s Day – and on the 25th of November – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women – we call out to join us in protest and say: every woman has the right to live a life free from violence! Every act of violence against women is an attack on our freedoms! We call for an end to isolation and deportation – and for freedom of movement for all! We welcome every woman that joins our fight. Our unity is our strength.
No woman is alone! Freedom of movement for all! Stop deportation! Freedom for all Women! Break isolation! Abolish Lagers!
