Cosy Radical Storytelling; queer speculative fiction writing session

Cosy-radical storytelling; speculative fiction writing workshop. 22nd October 19:00 - 22:00, De Opstand, Den Haag

Cosy Radical Storytelling;
queer speculative fiction writing session

The stories we tell are constantly shaping our reality as we shape them. These stories move through us, metabolically nestled inside the body, until they are ready to diffuse back out into the world, maybe as new stories. Our storytelling muscles are essential for weaving the worlds we desire and need some training! Come along on the 22nd for a collective writing circle, where will spend time with your imaginations and hopefully write together stories of queer worlds of resistance and regeneration.

No prior writing experience is needed, but if you have an existing idea for a story please bring it along. Or perhaps you have an excerpt of an existing story or favourite speculative fiction book that you can to share with the group? Or an object that prompts imagination? We will propose some short writing exercises to get us started, otherwise we will work with the material you bring and the space will be open for whatever the collective mood invites.

See you for a cosy evening for queer imagination and storytelling.

Hosted by @queeredfutures___lab

Send us an email for the location.

Accessibility information: the event is on the ground floor. There is a (steep) ramp for wheel chair accessibility. The opstand library and books are upstairs and only accessible via stairs.
We encourage everyone to wear a face mask, do a self test if you have cold-like symptoms and stay home if you have Covid. Face masks and self tests are available

✮⋆˙ Film screening

Join us 15 October at Opstand for this film screening!

Funeral Parade of Roses (Original title: 薔薇の葬列, Bara no Sōretsu, 1969, directed by Toshio Matsumoto. English subtitles)

This is a Japanese drama art film set in 1960s Tokyo and takes place in the Genet, a gay bar that employs transgender women to service customers. The story is about Eddie, a young transgender woman that works at the bar, Gonda, a drug dealer that manages the bar and Leda, the madame or “lead girl” of the bar.

** Trigger warnings: domestic violence, child abuse, drug use, bodily harm **

Doors open 19.00, movie starts at 19.30 and is 1h45m. After the screening we will have a short discussion. DM or email us for the location (boekenwinkelopstand@riseup.net)

Accessibility information: the event is on the ground floor. There is a (steep) ramp for wheel chair accessibility. The opstand library and books are upstairs and only accessible with stairs.
We encourage everyone to wear a face mask, do a self test if you have cold-like symptoms and stay home if you have Covid. Face masks and self tests are available.

Book club, 12th November, 19:00. Chapters 1 to 5. Limited free copies. Priority to queer BIPOC. DM for location.

We are kicking off a new round of book discussions with: Popular resistance in Palestine.

Send us a DM over instagram or an email for the location.

The main space is wheelchair accessible but to access the shelves with books you need to walk up one flight of stairs. We also provide face masks and keep the space well ventilated during opening hours.

Film screening

Green Border screening at opstand den haag

Join us 24 September @opstand for this film screening!

Green Border (Original title: Zielona Granica, 2023, directed by Agnieszka Holland). Language: Polish, Arabic, English, French. English subtitles

A family of refugees from Syria, an English teacher from Afghanistan and a border guard all meet on the Polish-Belarusian border during the most recent humanitarian crisis in Belarus. A refugee drama between hope and despair, cynicism and humanity. It’s not a documentary, but a lot of the things that happened in the movie took place in real life.

** Trigger warnings: violence, bodily harm, children’s death, vomit **

Doors open 19.00, movie starts at 19.15 and is 2 ½ hours. After the screening we will have a short discussion. DM or email us for the location

Accessibility information: the event is on the ground floor. There is a (steep) ramp for wheel chair accessibility. The opstand library and books are upstairs and only accessible with stairs.
We encourage everyone to wear a face mask, do a self test if you have cold-like symptoms and stay home if you have Covid. Face masks and self tests are available

Radical accessibility

Featured

A note on radical accessibility for future Opstand events. We recently moved the Opstand to the upstairs of the space, which makes consulting the books and zines less accessible. Although, the events still happen at the lower floor. At the same time, we have slowly moved towards ignoring Covid. There is not much we can do about the first but there is something that can be done about the second.

We will also keep the space ventilated and we encourage everybody to:
• Do a self test if you can (we also have some in the space)
• Wear a mask if you can
• Do not come in you have symptoms

This might come as surprise for some but the pandemic is not over. To give a few numbers, 10% of infected people develop long term symptoms and Japan had the highest death rate since the pandemic began at the start of last year. This post is about promoting mutual aid and taking care of each other. Including also the people that cannot mask. As anarchists, we pride ourselves in making our own decisions instead of just listening to politicians. Yet, in this topic, we seem to just blindly follow the state policy.

For a deeper discussion on the topic, this zine is a good start https://en.scrappycapydistro.info/zines/pandemic-praxis and here is the reference for the 10% of long covid https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-023-00904-7

Volunteers wanted!

Are you interested in helping organize events, taking a shift, or attending a meeting? We operate under principles of free association, allowing you to get involved as much or as little as you like. You can choose the tasks that interest you and take breaks or step back whenever you need to.

We are looking to add just one or two more people to our collective. If this sounds appealing to you, please get in touch with us via direct email.