Benefit Voku to support Phoenix Amsterdam

Thursday 29 june 2023, Benefit Voku to support Phoenix Amsterdam. Food served from 7pm, no reservation.

This Voku Benefit goes to support Phoenix Amsterdam, a safe space and peer support community under het Wereldhuis for LGBTQ!+ people in forced displacement. Phoenix is self-organized, meeting several times a month to cook, share information and build community after what is often a very difficult journey to the Netherlands. Right now, they are working towards their independence, because they currently receive a small stipend from the Diaconie van de Protestantse Gemeente te Amsterdam, which isn’t nearly enough to support their work in the community (e.g. paying for legal aid). They are also on the lookout for an office space, so information as well as donations is much appreciated!

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchens existing since the very beginning of Joe’s Garage, June 2005. Your donations are welcome. Food is vegan, no reservation. All benefits go to social & political struggles. Joe’s Garage is a space run by volunteers. Without a collective effort, without your active participation, we’re remaining closed. Get in touch in you feel like giving a hand. We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. If you want to know which days are still available, mail us.

Benefit VoKu for Phoenix

Thursday 30 march 2023, Benefit VoKu for Phoenix. Food served from 7pm, no reservation.

Phoenix is a safe space and peer support community under het Wereldhuis run by and for LGBTQI+ people in forced displacement. Benefits will be used to support the members for travel costs. Also there will be a short talk on Phoenix and how you can support.

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchens existing since the very beginning of Joe’s Garage, June 2005. Your donations are welcome. Food is vegan, no reservation. All benefits go to social & political struggles. Joe’s Garage is a space run by volunteers. Without a collective effort, without your active participation, we’re remaining closed. Get in touch in you feel like giving a hand. We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. If you want to know which days are still available, mail us.

Movie night: Fight with Care (Bhargay & Ourratul Ain, 2023)

Sunday 19 March 2023, Other indias Watch Party #3. Movie night: Fight with Care (Bhargay & Ourratul Ain, 2023). Documentary film (30 mins) + discussion. This film is in Tamil with English subtitles. Doors open at 8:00 pm, film and presentation start at 8:30 pm. Films followed by discussion with one of the film maker.

Fight with Care brings unheard voices of fisherwomen from the coast of South India, who maintain their delicate ecosystems through everyday acts of care. As expanding ports and industries threaten wetland environments along the coasts of India, artisanal fishing communities are organising protests to bring attention to these ecologies, critical for climate change adaptation and local livelihoods. This film presents the anti-port actions of indigenous fisherwomen, raising their voices against one of the richest men in the world – Adani.

This watch party will be hosted by other indias – a space for discussion, reflection and (cultural, political) action relating to contemporary India. The watch parties constitute our monthly activities that are geared towards building and sustaining a community in the Netherlands which reflects the plurality and complexity of India, which respects differences and upholds a coalitional approach to overcoming inequalities.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Voku benefit, child reunification costs for a lesbian refugee

Thursday 16 March 2023, Voku benefit, child reunification costs for a lesbian refugee. Food served from 7pm, no reservation.

The benefit dinner is for Harriet, a lesbian refugee, who came to the Netherlands in 2016. She was initially rejected out of asylum because they did not believe her sexuality, and was made irregularised. During her time without legal residency, in 2020 Harriet co-founded a self-led community for/by LGBTQ+ people in forced displacement based in Amsterdam, and grew it to over 130+ members from scratch. Harriet was finally recognised as a refugee a year ago.

Currently, Harriet is balancing between supporting her children living situation back in her country-of-origin, raising the necessary funds to ensure their reunion, and is also working on starting a self-led non-profit foundation to promote recognition of LGBTQ+ people in forced displacement.

As a result of Dutch Immigration officials (IND) attempts at restricting refugees’ right to family reunification, the procedure is taking longer. Harriet has been separated from her kids for almost seven years now, while at the same time supporting them from across the world the entire time.

With previous efforts from Harriet and previous communal fundraising, we have managed to raise enough to ensure their travel costs. However, the IND is now demanding a court document from her country to prove her guardianship with her foster children. We are raising funds with this dinner to cover the legal fees to prove her guardianship, and to make sure all of Harriet’s children don’t need to be separated from Harriet nor each other any longer.

We believe the right to family life and reunification belongs to everyone and should not be made conditional to the financial situation someone has. Feel welcome to join our efforts.

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchens existing since the very beginning of Joe’s Garage, June 2005. Your donations are welcome. Food is vegan, no reservation. All benefits go to social & political struggles. Joe’s Garage is a space run by volunteers. Without a collective effort, without your active participation, we’re remaining closed. Get in touch in you feel like giving a hand. We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. If you want to know which days are still available, mail us.

Benefit Voku for reunification funds

Monday 10 october 2022, Benefit Voku for reunification funds. Food served from 7pm, no reservation.

The funds raised at the Voku will go towards the child reunification costs for a Harriet: a lesbian refugee from Uganda, a mother, and community organizer for queer people in forced displacement based in Amsterdam.
Harriet was at first rejected as her sexuality, and problems she faced as a result, was deemed “implausible” by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service of the Netherlands, and subsequently irregularized.
In the months following her irregularization Harriet amidst the COVID-19 pandemic went on to create and build a safe space and community with Phoenix, which has since become one of the largest self-led communities of/for LGBTQIA+ people in forced displacement in the Netherlands.
Earlier this year, Harriet was finally recognised as a refugee and is now trying bring her five children to the Netherlands from Uganda, after years of being separated. We will be present to explain about the current Dutch asylum system and ways people can help. Donations are very welcome.

Phoenix is a self-led community by and for LGBTQIA+ people in forced displacement, based in Amsterdam since July 2020. In Phoenix people can share their lived experiences and knowledge with one another, receive and offer their support and information related to the intersection of LGBTQIA+ and forced displacement.

We organise weekly meetings around peer support, empowerment, sexual self-expression, providing information about LGBTQIA+ health and legal rights, and developing our community further. Alongside group meetings and support, we also assist our members individually through social-legal counselling, service guidance, personal contact and recreational activities.

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchens existing since the very beginning of Joe’s Garage, June 2005. Your donations are welcome. Food is vegan, no reservation. All benefits go to social & political struggles. Joe’s Garage is a space run by volunteers. Without a collective effort, without your active participation, we’re remaining closed. Get in touch in you feel like giving a hand. We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. If you want to know which days are still available, mail us.

Movie night: Politics in India – Environment, Gender, Human rights

Sunday 2nd October 2022, Movie night: Politics in India – Environment, Gender, Human rights. Movies with English subtitles. Doors open at 8:00 pm, film starts at 8:30 pm. Films followed by discussion with film-makers.

Two short documentary films about people’s movements for environment and social justice in India.
‘Izzat ka Pani’ is a story about Abrar Salmani, a resident of an informal settlement in Mumbai. Salmani struggled for 10 years to access the city’s water network and secure his basic human right to water. His story illuminates a politics of discrimination that pushes people into a mindset of slavery to maintain power hierarchies. Salmani joined a citizen collective to dismantle the unjust laws denying him water.
The second film sits at the intersection of gender and environmental justice. How can we view nature through a lens of bounty and interconnection, instead of only seeing opportunity to extract resources? Women from India’s indigenous fishing communities ask such questions to protect the ecosystems on which their lives depend, while fighting against patriarchy at home and corporate power outside it.

Picture credit: Zenith Photographers, Chennai

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Divided Heaven (Konrad Wolf, 1964), GDR series

Sunday 11 September 2022, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Divided Heaven / Der geteilte Himmel (GDR series), 1964 adaptation of Christa Wolf’s novel by Konrad Wolf, 109 minutes, in German with English subtitles. Doors open at 20:00, film starts at 20:30.

This film is part of the GDR / Why Women Had Better Sex under Socialism series

Based on the famous novel by Christa Wolf about two lovers who are torn apart as the Berlin Wall is about to be constructed, dividing the country in two. Rita has a lover, but over the course of their relationship it becomes clear they have different political points of view. The movie is great in laying out excellent arguments for both sides… the socialist East Bloc and the consumer-orientated West.

The film embraces the structure of the novel, which begins with a woman waking up in a hospital, and through flashbacks, recounts the recent events that got her there. This wild structure matches well with the film’s French New Wave feel. It is often quite experimental – using angular photography and scenes overlapping between the present moment and the past. The cinematography is crystalline, with an endless array of exquisitely composed black-and-white images. The soundtrack is also bold, with an experimental electronic music score giving the story a modern, ‘in transition’ sort of mood.

It makes sense that since each character is a different gender, they make different decisions. In the West men are in control and have more advantages… and Rita stays in the East where there was much more gender equality. But the real argument is much more than that, it is more about if a person should fight for a cause, or just live as easy as possible.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

F-word benefit

fword_festival_benefitMonday August 8th 2016, F-word benefit, Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm

Do you feel pressured to be ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’? Do you or your friends get harassed on the street for wearing a short skirt? Are you sick of being judged by what’s between your legs rather than what’s in your head? Not sure how to respond to the sexist comments you hear around you? If you feel like we still have a long way to go before all genders are equal – STRIKE BACK WITH THE F-WORD!

Feminism is back! And we are celebrating it this September in Amsterdam with the Fantastic Feminist Festival: The F-WORD fest.

To make sure this year’s edition of the F Word: a Fantastic Feminist Festival is just as amazing as the past 3 years, we want to collect money to be able to host awesome workshops and discussions with feminists from all over the world. Come have delicious vegan dinner and participate in the feminist quiz with chances to win out-of-this-patriarchical world prizes!

http://thefword.nl/

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchen, every monday, 7pm, vegan food for 4€ or donation. All benefits go for social & political struggles. No reservation. From September, the people’s kitchen is also open on thursday.

We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. Enjoying it is a must. If you want to know which days are still available in the schedule, send an email to joe [at] squat [dot] net and book yourself the night. You can, of course, also participate by rolling up your sleeves and doing the dishes.