17 Apr Young Progressive Beings for Movimento!
Join us for the third appointment in the ŻfinMalta Movimento series for 2023 with our guests Young Progressive Beings! We spoke to them to see what we can expect from their upcoming movimento on Thursday…
Rachelle and Francesca, two founding members of Young Progressive Beings, would like to explore the role of activism in Maltese society, posing movement and the body at the centre of the discussion to instigate change. By defining space and its occupation through public stunts and protests, they will look into how YPB and other local activist groups have approached this in the last few years. They will also explore the future of activism and its relationship to art, space and the body.
Who are ‘Young Progressive Beings?’
YPB is a youth feminist organisation that seeks to mobilise youth on topics related to intersectional feminism. The organisation was started after a stunt at the EU summit in 2019, and has been active since as part of the Malta Pro-Choice Coalition group. Since its inception, YPB has collaborated with multiple NGOs, mainly Graffitti, Women Rights Foundation, Dance Beyond Borders, Friends of the Earth Malta and MGRM.
Young Progressive Beings
‘Movement Through The Lens of Activism’
Movimento
20th April 2023, 18:30
ŻfinMalta Studios, Valletta
What kind of work do you do as an organisation?
Since 2019, YPB has employed grassroots techniques to nurture a space for informed discussions and the expression of anger and frustration, through public stunts and marches. We seek to raise awareness on Gender-based Violence, restrictive reproductive rights laws, the criminalisation of abortion, the lack of sex education, and Eco Feminism. In order to advocate for this, we hold spaces for conversation, both within our audience group by creating safe spaces for people, especially youths to come to us, and outside of this, by being present in public places, like Law Courts and Parliament and educational entities like the University of Malta.
Movement is a tool to occupy space and deliver our message. Movement gives us the capacity to organise ourselves.
Who will be leading your movimento session on 20th April?
The Movimento session will be led by founding members Rachelle Deguara and Francesca Zammit. Rachelle Deguara is a performance artist, currently studying performance art at MCAST, and Francesca is a filmmaker currently working in the film industry.
How would you describe your relationship to movement?
As an organisation, we often take political stances in public spaces through movement and voice. Movement is a tool to occupy space and deliver our message. Movement gives us the capacity to organise ourselves. Movement allows us to use choreographic tools like, unison, tempo and our physical presence to occupy space and disrupt the streets.
Has your work ever crossed paths/collaborated with dance?
In 2020, YPB organised an Active Citizenship Webinar around the topic of dance, and hosted a talk by Zoe Camilleri and Dance Beyond Borders about their recent productions as part of Żfinmade.
What 3 words or verbs can sum up your upcoming session?/ What can we expect from this movimento talk?
Movement as noun & verb.
An insight on how local activist group YPB mobilise the community through movement.
