Youth group – WIR SIND HIER!

WIR SIND HIER! becomes host* in the Green Salon of the Volksbühne

WirSindHierAdmin — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 13:08:00 +0000

Opening on September 16, 2022. New theater project and event series planned.

Berlin, September 2022

This season, the Green Salon will again be run by artists* and activists from Berlin’s Roma* and Sinti* communities: Together with RomaTrial e.V and the Romnja in Power theater collective, WIR SIND HIER! is shaping a vision of a future society in the Grüner Salon – a society in which the lives and perspectives of all people are of equal value. A future in which Roma* and Sinti* are no longer a problem, but the hosts.

Among other things, WIR SIND HIER! will contribute a new youth theater piece to the program of the Green Salon and will recruit new young performers from the Roma communities in Berlin. WIR SIND HIER! fulfills its role as host par excellence with a planned series of events: On October 21 at 9 p.m., the young peer trainers invite you to dance on the red carpet. Further dates will follow.

The Green Salon opens its doors on September 16, 2022 for the 2022 / 2023 theater season with the week-long series of events and exhibition “Germany your children – On continuities of right-wing violence”. They commemorate the 30th and 31st anniversaries of the pogroms of Rostock-Lichtenhagen and Hoyerswerda and draw an arc to the current treatment of people on the run.

In film, radio play, lecture and discussion, those affected – former contract workers from Mozambique and Vietnam as well as Roma – and activists from Sea Watch as well as Afghan and Syrian associations will have their say.

The musician Mal Élevé will kick off the event with an open-air concert. With his open approach to his Manouche identity, Mal Élevé inspires young Roma* and Sinti* in particular. His songs -a mixture of reggae, dancehall, ska, rap and punk- are a declaration of war against fascism, capitalism and sexism and at the same time a call for worldwide solidarity.

More information about the program of the Green Salon here.

WE ARE HERE! is happy to be part of the Green Salon team!

WE ARE HERE! at “Peer Loaded” Youth Conference in Görlitz

WirSindHierAdmin — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 14:37:00 +0000

On the first weekend of July 2022, our youth group “Wir Sind Hier!” traveled to Görlitz in Saxony and participated in the first youth conference of Saxon peer – projects.
Under the name “Peer Loaded”, committed young people from all over the state came together, got to know each other and attended a variety of workshops.

Update (09/30/2022): Video documentation of the youth conference:

WIR SIND HIER! auf „Peer Loaded“ in Görlitz

In addition to topics such as hate speech, fake news, and civil courage, there was also a well-attended awareness-raising workshop against antiziganism by “Wir sind Hier!”.

The group was able to reach many young peer trainers in Saxony through varied methods, expertise and a good dose of humor and has raised awareness for the continuous and multi-layered discrimination against Sinti and Roma*.

In addition to the input from the group, the stay in Görlitz was also used intensively for networking with local peer projects.

The nice weekend was rounded off by a concert of Brass Riot from Berlin in the old factory Rabryka. After a busy weekend, we were able to dance the night away.

We would like to thank the “Peer Loaded” crew, the Saxon Youth Foundation, the RAA Saxony and especially all the great young people for the good time.

We will be happy to come back and look forward to seeing you again!

Guest performance in the sold-out youth theater office of Theater X

WirSindHierAdmin — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 12:10:04 +0000

In March we, the youth group “WIR SIND HIER!” had two more strong performances. Our interactive play featured performance, dialogue, recitation, music and video projections.

Gastspiel der Jugendgruppe „WIR SIND HIER!“ im Theater X, Berlin; Foto ©: Jana Kiesser

The audience was directly involved in the theatrical action – this was intentional from the beginning. Known as the method “Forum Theater” and made strong by the Theater of the Oppressed, this form of interactive theater is low-threshold: the dialogue with the audience reduces social differences, offers the audience to identify with the issues, and thus contributes to reflection on what is happening and to change social reality. These two performances took place as a guest performance in the sold-out Youth Theater Office of Theater X. Afterwards we were able to further exchange with the audience, answer questions, tell about our workshop activities and make new contacts.

Should we found a Roma* army, do Roma* need their own state or what can we do to stop racism and oppression of Roma* and Sinti*?

Ein Forumtheaterstück der Jugendgruppe WIR SIND HIER! über Verfolgung, Zurückweisung A forum theater play by the youth group WIR SIND HIER! about persecution, rejection and oppression of Roma* in Germany. After a very late recognition of the Holocaust against Roma* and Sinti*, there are racist attacks again and the Holocaust memorial is to be partially destroyed because of a new S-Bahn line. Enough is enough!

The youth group WIR SIND HIER! is composed of young Roma and Romja from RomaTrial e.V. from Berlin and Kiev, who speak Romanes, Romanian, Ukrainian, German, English, Russian and Spanish. The young people have been politicized early on through the youth work of RomaTrial and other Roma organizations and involved in the fight against racism against Roma* and Sinti*. The artistic work in the theater is part of the political engagement, which also includes guiding peer trainings, organizing demos, events, appearances at panel discussions and producing videos and social media content.

By: Christoph Leucht, David Paraschiv, Estera Elisa Paraschiv, Estera Sara Stan, Naomi Stan.
With: Daniel Hromyko, David Paraschiv, Estera Elisa Paraschiv, Estera Sara Stan, Naomi Stan
Director: Christoph Leucht

Networking trip to Dresden

WirSindHierAdmin — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 13:47:23 +0000

Our WSH project aims to be active in the German states of Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony and to set up youth groups in these locations. Since the worldwide pandemic broke out at the beginning of our project, we lacked for a very long time the possibilities of a trip to the other federal states with our youth group to see with which forces there we can cooperate. But as soon as that was possible, we traveled with the youth group from Berlin to Dresden.

In Dresden we met some Roma youth and activists and talked with them about our goals and wishes regarding the project. They were lively conversations! Along the way, we were able to see some of the beautiful city of Dresden, which was a bonus point. We are really looking forward to building up our youth group in Saxony. Hopefully we can continue to make trips like this to keep the networking going between groups.

Networking meeting in Eberswalde

WirSindHierAdmin — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 18:41:36 +0000

Today we are in Eberswalde – with our great youth group from Berlin and with Merle, who is responsible for our Brandenburg group. Here we met with two other Roma youths and talked about a possible youth group in Brandenburg. Before, such a meeting was not possible because of the pandemic. As long as the weather cooperates and there is no lockdown, we would like to continue organizing such networking meetings. The best way to talk is face to face! In the near future it will become clearer if and how we will build up our Brandenburg youth group. If you live in Brandenburg and know interested young people with a Romani background or with experiences of racist discrimination who would like to be trained as peer trainers so that they can later report on antigypsyism in educational institutions, contact us!