Dear (potential) visitors of the first #IDFABijlmerParktheater panel,
We have 45 minutes for our conversation about social justice and social media. This might not seem like a long time but, when used properly, it’s enough to break down some of the things we need to “forever and consistently be broke”.

Our talk will centre around:
1. The experiences and realities of Black and Brown people who’re based in the Netherlands.
2. Names, labels and identity politics.
3. Racism in Dutch media.
4. Selective solidarity/ our collective and individual responses to tragedies.

And yes, if you’re panicking because none of your Euro-oriented academic studies prepared you for the use of the term Helper Whitey, this one is for you.

But 45 minutes is 45 minutes is 45 minutes. To make sure that we’re not losing precious time and/or scarce patience, we won’t make time to deal with/answer any of the following questions and statements:
1. “Why aren’t you addressing reversed racism? When can we have an honest conversation about Black people being racist against White people?”
2. “If a platform like De Correspondent specifically look for non-white writers, isn’t that racist toward white writers?”
3. “If people stopped talking about race there would be no racism.”
4. “How can there ever be unity if people talk about Black Lives Matter? ALL Lives Matter!”
5. “Could it be that the writer of [insert title of racist article here] actually had the intention to [insert something about satire here]?”
6. “Doesn’t [insert racial slur here] have a different context in the Netherlands?”
7. “If, by judging by all the points you just made, I’m racist… what can I do to be less racist?”
8. “Shouldn’t we just leave all of this behind us, get over it and move on? If you work hard enough, racism won’t face you?”
9. “Are you angry? You look/sound/act angry…”

All of the questions above have already been answered in a plethora of essays, columns and/or articles about these matters. On Youtube and in other digital archives you’ll also find recordings of panel discussions and interviews that deal with them. We’re too exhausted to repeat ourselves. We have no interest in squeezing our answers to these questions into an elevator pitch so that those who’re not yet sure if our well-being deserves their time, can spend more time validating us and less time educating themselves. We believe that there has been enough time to not know, to have never heard it before, to not be able to imagine, to think it’s not that serious, etc.

None of us are here to stand still.

Peace,
The panellists of panel #1 (Mariam El Maslouhi, Ramona Sno, Abdirashid Suleiman and Simone Zeefuik)