Breaking Borders to Build Bridges
20 Years of Women in Exile Women in Exile English
Paperback, 208 pages
140 x 205mm
978-3-96042-143-6 / 2-973
15,00 Euro

Zweite Auflage erscheint am 22.04.2024
mit vielen farbigen Fotos
English
Paperback, 208 pages
140 x 205mm
978-3-96042-143-6 / 2-973
15,00 Euro

Zweite Auflage erscheint am 22.04.2024
mit vielen farbigen Fotos

Content

A collection of refugee women´s texts about fleeing, surviving, the situation in refugee camps, and organizing for 20 years as a group of refugee women for freedom of movement and the abolishment of refugee camps.

This publication is a space for voices that are often silenced, voices speaking about 20 years of political activism in a self-organized initiative of refugee women*. It is collectively written by Women in Exile and includes contributions by members of the group, our friends, sisters, children, and supporters. It is written on smartphones, paper or Laptops, in refugee Camps and safe Spaces. The publication talks about our history and how we came together as a group. How we have built intersectional bridges within our group and beyond, bridges of solidarity that we keep on building despite our differences. This book gives insights into issues that have been accompanying the group over the years: Reasons to leave home, the discriminatory asylum process, the situation in the refugee camps and the struggle for the abolishment of camps, the right to health care, freedom of movement, empowerment, self-reflection, cooperation with friends, and about renting our own safer space for refugee women*.


The book entails pictures, a chronology and is mostly written in English. English translations of the texts that are in German can be found online: https://www.women-in-exile.net/unser-buch/


Authors

Women in Exile — Women in Exile is an initiative of refugee women* founded in Brandenburg (Germany) in 2002 to fight for refugee women’s* rights. read more

Reading Sample / Cover

Download Buchcover (for print)

Excerpt from the book Breaking Borders to Build Bridges:

“We knew the journey had its ups and downs
we had fears of troubles which could occur
but we knew sitting and waiting was no option
we were the only ones who could determine our fate
by riding together as women in this journey

We knew breaking borders and building bridges
could result into a positive or negative outcome
life is too short to sit and moan over what ifs…..
we had to keep on moving, with a positive attitude
and to make the best of the situation

We heeded the wisdom of our ancestors
to walk together, to walk far, to lift one another
to be our sister’s keeper without caring about
where we come from or our social backgrounds
to seize the good, to change our lives” (Bethi)

[...]

Reviews (2)

Das Buch sollten alle lesen, weil es von so vielen Expertinnen geschrieben ist, die trotz ihrer schlimmen Erlebnisse, die Hoffnung für eine bessere Welt für alle nicht aufgegeben haben und weiter dafür kämpfen. Da es weitgehend in Englisch geschrieben ist, sollte es schnell (nicht nur) für Schulen und antirassistische Trainings übersetzt werden. —  Gisela Notz, Contraste (31.10.2022)
Women in Exile practices and teaches us abolition as an emancipatory commitment, that is not reducible to prisons, police or lagers but rather encompasses all fields of social and ecological life, ranging from freedom from interconnected forms of violence and exploitation, to access to housing, health care and emancipatory education, the freedom to move as well as to stay, and global justice. —  Vanessa Eileen Thompson