International Women* Space (IWS)
A - Z- Format:
- Association
- Location(s):
- Germany, Berlin-Kreuzberg
- From:
- 2012, registered since 2017
- Contact:
- Main Language Published:
- English
- Other Language(s) Published:
- German, others
- History:
IWS was formed in December 2012 during the Refugee Movement’s occupation of a former public school (Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule) in Berlin-Kreuzberg. A Women’s Space was created in the building and remained open until the summer of 2014. The aim was to form a women’s front within the Refugee Movement that brings the fights against racism and sexism together. After the eviction of the school, the International Women*Space continued working, with new members joining.»The women in IWS 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. IWS takes on the responsibility to counteract this »by documenting, making visible, and publishing our stories in our own words. IWS organizes 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.«IWS collaborates with feminist and anti-racist groups and has formed alliances in Berlin, in Europe, and beyond. Within their networks, IWS hosts workshops and organizes demonstrations to bring their demands to the street.»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.«
- Content Focus:
Migrant and refugee women, violence against women, racism, asylum laws, self organisation, grassroot activism.
- Organization and Decision-making Process:
Meetings take place three times a week in the IWS office in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Decisions are made as a group at the meetings. There are around 25 women in the group.Decisions on the overall focus of the work and on specific projects are made all together, the work gets done in working groups. The interviews with women are conducted and all content is written by the group members themselves. The books are sold online and in diverse political book shops in Berlin and Germany.