Refugee Welcome Week
HELLO. WELCOME. LOOK AROUND YOU.
You are standing with people you have never met, from places you may never have been. Some of us walked here freely. Some of us crossed borders, seas, and years of waiting to stand in a square like this. And yet — here we all are. Together. In public. In the open.
That is not nothing. That is everything.
This is the Swarm. This is Refugee Welcome Week. Today, we are here to do something very simple: to move together through the streets of this city, and to remember that the freedom to gather and the freedom to move are gifts we must never take for granted.
Across the world, as militarisation rises, people are losing the right to protest, to gather, to take up space. In many of the places our communities come from, gathering like this would be impossible. Dangerous. Punishable. We carry that knowledge in our bodies. And today, we honour it — by using the freedom we have. Not quietly. Not politely. But with joy.
The borders dividing us and the wars driving some of us out were not accidents; they were made. From Palestine to Venezuela: the conflicts pushing people onto boats, into deserts and onto airplanes are fueled by the same logic. For generations, imperial powers, like the Netherlands, have drawn lines on maps, taken resources, and sold and used weapons for profit and power.
To truly welcome each other is to open our doors and our hearts to those arriving, while standing together to stop the engines of war and exploitation.
Today we dance. Dancing is our way of moving. On a live set by DJ Cheb Runner, we will move through the streets like a radiating swarm — welcoming everyone who wishes to join, making space for everyone we pass. This is an exercise of our freedom. And it looks like joy.
Choreography Floor van Leeuwen Dance Simomo Boujarra Music Cheb Runner Assistant Samuel van der Spek