No Platform for the Glorification of Sexual Violence

Organisers' update, 1 November 2021

Despite Geen Podium's actions, the event at De Balie against which we campaigned over the past two weeks went ahead. Although the event was hailed as critical and interesting, we stand by our position. By allowing the event to go ahead, De Balie facilitated rape culture.

Rape culture is not limited to sexual violence itself; it includes the ideologies and norms that allow sexual violence to occur and perpetrators to get away with it, sometimes for years.

Welcoming a suspect accused of multiple rapes on a horse with flowers, while he is cheered with the words “Hail the King”, is rape culture. Giving KIRAC, which organised this action, a platform facilitates rape culture.

Disagreeing with KIRAC on stage does not neutralise rape culture, because rape culture remains pervasive and present in our society. It is not that simple: providing the platform is the problem. Nor is it enough to point out that half the editorial team are women or that a platform has been provided “to dozens of female activists, often facing serious threats, and Yazidi women in particular”. That does not remove the responsibility of an institution such as De Balie; quite the opposite.

Apparently, however, calling a heavily subsidised venue to account for facilitating rape culture is worse than perpetuating rape culture. Yoeri Albrecht told the media that our actions were based on lies and slander, and we were regularly spoken about disparagingly during the event as well. All this without any self-examination, or cancelling the event in order, for example, to hold a discussion about sexual violence, the ideologies and norms that perpetuate it, and how we can break out of a rape culture.

We are currently working on a follow-up campaign. For now, we therefore call on organisations and future speakers to join #BoycotDeBalie for as long as De Balie fails to make structural changes. Do not allow your work, trauma or ideas to be used as a pretext for giving dangerous groups and organisations a platform on another occasion.

Would you like to stay informed about our follow-up campaign? Leave your name and email address below. Is there another event you are concerned about and believe Geen Podium should campaign against? Let us know by emailing info@wondacollective.com with Geen Podium as the subject.

Open letter

1,810 people signed this letter.*

No platform for the glorification of sexual violence. Content warning: sexual violence, racism.

Cancel the event at De Balie on 27 October 2021.

We are standing up and putting an end to the glorification of sexual violence. We are tired of our safety being treated as a matter for debate through the provision of platforms to abusers and those who perpetuate rape culture.**

We stand for the victims of sexual violence, who as individuals do not have the privilege of legitimising actions of this kind, which is why we are organising. We will take action, and continue to do so whenever necessary, because we see a structural problem: a society that offers little safety to victims of sexual violence. Sixty per cent of complaints of sexual violence are dropped. Many victims are not even taken seriously when they file a complaint. According to Statistics Netherlands, there are 100,000 new victims each year, with women disproportionately represented at 90 per cent.***

And we have had enough.

On 27 October, De Balie is holding a discussion with KIRAC, an organisation that perpetuates rape culture. On 8 October, during the premiere of its new film Honeypot, which will also be shown at De Balie on 27 October, KIRAC welcomed Julian A. with, literally, a horse and flowers and supposedly “uncancelled” him. Last year, art institutions withdrew their platforms from this person after NRC published an investigation alleging that he had sexually abused several women. The investigation was based on conversations and witness statements from eighty people involved. Julian A. is currently under criminal investigation.

This is not the first time De Balie has organised an unsafe programme that normalises violence and creates room for it to flourish in our society. In 2017, for example, a debate literally discussed how the proportion of Muslims in our society could be reduced to one or two per cent through deportation.

Nor is this the first time KIRAC, Keeping It Real Art Critics, has provoked for the sake of provocation, affecting the safety of others. An event of theirs was previously cancelled in 2018 because of racism, misogyny and homophobia.

We ask De Balie not to ignore KIRAC's actions. We ask De Balie to consider the victims of sexual violence and how they would feel about someone facing allegations being welcomed and “uncancelled”. We ask De Balie not to provide a platform for sexual violence and rape culture.

Do not give rape culture a platform. Our safety is not up for debate!

Speak out by signing this letter. We will present the letter to De Balie with all signatories' names, without their contact details.

* This figure is updated manually to prevent duplicate signatures.

** Rape culture refers to a society in which rape and other forms of sexual violence are regarded as commonplace and pervasive. In a rape culture, this form of patriarchal violence is not perceived as a problem. Examples include glorifying perpetrators and offering them a platform that enables them to continue their careers despite their transgressive behaviour. This leads to the normalisation of intimidation, threats of sexual violence and actual sexual violence, directly affecting the safety of women, communities of colour and, specifically, women of colour.

*** These figures give a distorted picture because they do not account for people with queer identities, even though they are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse.