Following a year long party stop in NewYorck (Bethanien, Mariannenplatz), on the 25.11.2017 a soli-party in support of LGBTIQ* rights in Cameroon will take place.

At first, three parties have been planned over the next three months. After this, in January or Febuary, an internal evaluation process will take place. An open discussion will be organised following this.

Some of you may not have even noticed that NY was closed for parties, others were probably relieved as they hadn’t felt well there for quite a while, and still others are waiting impatiently for the reopening…
What actually happened? What is the situation now? In this text we, the Awareness-AG of NY which came together in Febuary 2017, want to give you a short explanation. We also want to give you the possibility to get in contact with us, and invite all those to NY who are ready to look after each other and treat each other respectfully so that we can have safer parties together.

We want to draw your attention to the fact that the 25th is also the International Day against Violence on Women*. There is a demo in Berlin (starting at Hermannplatz at 3pm) alongside actions worldwide. Come join us! Before the party on the 25th the NY Awareness working group will give a short input to the new Awareness and Security concept and will be available for questions and critic!

What happened?

In the middle of December of last year, following a sexual assault at an event in the space, the Project NewYorck in Bethanien called for a complete soli-party stop (more information here:
http://newyorck.net/2016/12/15/bis-auf-weiteres-keine-soli-parties-mehr-in-der-newyorck-im-bethanien-until-further-notice-no-soli-parties-at-newyorck-in-bethanien-2/).

Even before this there were several transgressions and assaults at Soli-Parties in NY. This is not the only space with this problem.
Transgressive behaviour occurs regularly at most venues. There are also many hidden or discrete abuses. Often, the victims of sexual violence – those who do find a way to talk about it  – are not listened to in a way that corresponds with their perceptions. It is even more important for those affected to be able to count on solidarity and support. Sexual violence is always an abuse of power and leads to injuries and exclusion. When attacks happen, there must be consequences for the perpetrators and our spaces!

Shortly after the incident in December and the party-stop, activists connected with NewYorck, the December party-group and it’s awareness structure alongside other people met temporarily. Contact was kept with the  victim of the incident and support offered. Research was carried out on the perpetrator of the attack and a house-ban was announced for NewYorck. We are trying to arrange that this house ban is also implemented throughout Berlin in self-managed, non-commercial spaces.
The perpetrator was asked to deal with his behavior and to stay away from alternative, self-managed contexts.

Since mid-February 2017, a new group formed which, meeting regularly, is in the process of developing and implementing new structures for parties in NewYorck Bethanien. A fixed group, we take care of party requests and feel responsible for better awareness structures at parties. We dealt a lot with how discrimination was previously handled in NY and how it can now be improved:

– Whether and how were cases of discrimination documented and discussed?
– Which possibilities were there for guests to address discrimination and to get support?
– How could we network better with other event spaces and groups working on this topic?
– What are the political principles of this space? How can parties in New York become more political, reflective and self-organized?
– Who takes care of conflicts, attacks and stress?
– Who are the events for? Who feels good there, who doesn’t?
– Why is it important to celebrate? Are parties important? How, why and with whom do we want to party?
– …
We have discussed many of these questions extensively with a variety of people. In conclusion we developed a new preliminary awareness concept for New Yorck.

Unlike in commercial discos and clubs, in most self-organized locations there are no permanent security or bouncers. We consider it important as Awareness AG to be an integral part of the NY collective. We aim to provide a continuous, reliable and approachable structure which passes important information between the house and party organizers, is present at parties and supports Awarenesss-teams and party groups.

There is now a wheelchair-accessible toilet in NY. We are currently working to guarantee access to the party space for wheelchair users. We will keep you up to date about this! If you have any questions contact us (Mail: awarenet@riseup.net).

We hope that many people actively work towards the possibility of having parties and an everyday life without assault and fear, and we very much hope that all visitors will feel comfortable at the next Soli-parties.
There will be clear contact-persons in case of problems, a retreat room and consequences where there is transgressive behavior. For this to work, we are totally dependent on having visitors who want to shape this space together with us and to take care and responsibility for each other.

Unfortunately, there is never a guarantee that everything goes “well”.
There are most certainly things we did not have on our radar, that we did not think through or forgot, etc. We are extremely grateful for critical feedback and always see our work as a work-in-progress!
If you are interested in reading our Awareness Concept and other texts we have written, please contact us: awarenet@riseup.net. We are also very happy about people who want to join us in our ongoing work!

If you want to talk to us because of past experiences in the New Yorck or if you are unsure if you would like to come to a party there, you are welcome to contact us!

The “Awareness at Parties” group of NewYorck im Bethanien

awarenet@riseup.net
newyorck@so36.net