N B R N | Nordic Baltic Rainbow Network

2011-12-12T10:24:00.003+01:00

Olena Shevchenko (far left) in Kiev (Photo by Willi Reichhold)

Special input from Ukraine and Hungary

1st Nordic Fire in Stockholm Salutes Eastern Europeans

    Stockholm -- The first Nordic Fire on Eastern European Rainbow Barricades festival took place in the Swedish capital November 25-27, 2011 with invited guests from Ukraine and Hungary as well as presentations on LGBT situations in Belgrade, Minsk, Riga, Helsinki and Bucharest.

     "We are fighting against the same law proposal against positive information about homosexuality now spreading to more Russian provinces," says Olena Shevchenko of the women's organization, Insight - Kiev, new ILGCN (international rainbow cultural network) cultural ambassador from Ukraine.

    Folk and classic music, song, and dance was provided at several of the festival venues by Tamás Lovas, Károly Varga and Sándor Fehér of the Continuo Trio of Budapest, the ILGCN cltural ambassadors of Hungary.

    "We are working with LGBT groups in St. Petersburg and in the Balkans, and hope more Helsinki Human Rights Committees in other countries will join us in work with LGBT human rights," says Peter Öholm of Civil Rights Defenders (formally the Swedish Helsinki Human Rights Committee).

                                             Tupilak and ILGCN awards for Swede, Poles

     At the Nordic Fire session at the CRD offices in the Stockholm Gamla Stan island, Swedish Liberal Party parliamentarian Barbro Westerholm received the annual Tupilak "Bifrost" awards honoring heterosexual bridge-builders uniting the LGBT and the heterosexual communities both in Sweden and abroad.

     The Polish Institute - Stockholm received the annual ILGCN "rainbow iceberg" award for promoting Polish and Swedish LGBT cultural exchange and for bringing Polish LGBT women and men to different Swedish Pride events and for promoting Polish and international art exhibitions and publications.

    "Thanks for this fine award. This appreciation for our work with this fanatic and moving motivation really means a lot to us," says Michal Piotrowski, project leader at the Polish Institute.

     Also at the CRD, Bill Schiller described the long history of Tupilak & ILGCN involvement with Eastern European colleagues and the emphasis on mutual exchange. "We were very impressed with the mutual interaction of LGBT groups in the Ukraine and Belarus with our Swedish groups," says Schiller over the recent 3-nation meetings in Kiev and Minsk made possible with support from the Swedish Institute -- the official body promoting international co-operation.

      RFSL chairperson Ulrika Westerlund also described the national Swedish LGBT organization's extensive international work with the Baltic states, Uganda and elsewhere, "The situation in Latvia is hardly easy and even those few open LGBT activists don't get much support from often very critical LGBT colleagues," says Kjell Rindar, former RFSL chairman and teacher at Latvian universities.

      "We are very happy to have had the financial support of ROHS (Swedish national LGBT solidarity organization) to make this min-festival "between" Stockholm Prides possible," says Bill Schiller, international secretary of Tupilak (Nordic rainbows cultural workers) and secretary general of the ILGCN's Information Secretariat in Stockholm.

     Alexander L. described the turbulent situation and extensive homophobia Serbian. (Belgrade is to be the site of one of the stages of next year's ILGCN world conference, along with Rio de Janeiro and the Crimean town of Seimiz.) while Finnish photographer Jussi Jässkeläinen described his work with Bucharest and Helsinki Prides.
                                                Films, Music, Photography, Discussions at Posithivagruppen

     "We are pleased to have another Tupilak event at our premises," states Ola Ståhle of the Posithivagruppen (HIV positive men having sex with men) office, and we are happy to have colleagues from the Baltic states at our summer camps and hope to join in future Tupilak and ILGCN exchanges in Eastern Europe."

     Films by Swedish Tupilak member Willi Reichhold described the recent Swedish-Ukrainian-Belarus solidarity visit to Kiev, the summer inauguration ceremony in Visby of the first Nordic LGBT monument on the shoreline of the Swedish Baltic island of Gotland and the "global survival" journey of plants and human beings in harsh conditions around the world.

     Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Icelandic and Eastern European works from the Tupilak & ILGCN Travelling Art & Photography Exhibition were displayed at all the festival venues, including new photo series from Belarus and the Ukraine, and LGBT CD music from Poland and the Nordic nations were played at festival venues as well.

     Other foreign visitors taking part in discussions at the CRD office, the Bio Rio, Posithivagruppen and the LGBT cultural center Hallongrottan came from Norway, Finland, Kenya and Somalia.

                                                                          Next stop: Estonia, Russia, Belarus

     "We hope the next Nordic Fire festival in Stockholm at the end of next March will focus on Swedish and Nordic LGBT co-operation with Estonia, Russia and Belarus," concludes Bill Schiller. "Once again we'll ask our Tupilak colleagues and the national LGBT organizations in the Nordic region to join us. We hope the Nordic Fire festival can be duplicated elsewhere in the Nordic region -- and we'll discuss this at coming Nordic-Baltic-Polish-Russian-Belarus Rainbow Network meetings coming up in Stockholm and other Nordic capitals during 2012."
                                                *****************************

2011-12-12T10:11:00.000+01:00

Olena Shevchenko (far left) in Kiev (Photo by Willi Reichhold)

Special input from Ukraine and Hungary

1st Nordic Fire in Stockholm Salutes Eastern Europeans

    Stockholm -- The first Nordic Fire on Eastern European Rainbow Barricades took place in the Swedish capital November 25-27, 2011 with invited guests from Ukraine and Hungary as well as presentations on LGBT situations in Belgrade, Minsk, Riga, Helsinki and Bucharest.

     "We are fighting against the same law proposal against positive information about homosexuality now spreading to more Russian provinces," says Olena Shevchenko of the women's organization, Insight - Kiev, new ILGCN (international rainbow cultural network) cultural ambassador from Ukraine.

    Folk and classic music, song, and dance was provided at several of the festival venues by Tamás Lovas, Károly Varga and Sándor Fehér of the Continuo Trio of Budapest, the ILGCN cltural ambassadors of Hungary.

    "We are working with LGBT groups in St. Petersburg and in the Balkans, and hope more Helsinki Human Rights Committees in other countries will join us in work with LGBT human rights," says Peter Öholm of Civil Rights Defenders (formally the Swedish Helsinki Human Rights Committee).

                                             Tupilak and ILGCN awards for Swede, Poles

     At the Nordic Fire session at the CRD offices in the Stockholm Gamla Stan island, Swedish Liberal Party parliamentarian Barbro Westerholm received the annual Tupilak "Bifrost" awards honoring heterosexual bridge-builders uniting the LGBT and the heterosexual communities both in Sweden and abroad.

     The Polish Institute - Stockholm received the annual ILGCN "rainbow iceberg" award for promoting Polish and Swedish LGBT cultural exchange and for bringing Polish LGBT women and men to different Swedish Pride events and for promoting Polish and international art exhibitions and publications.

    "Thanks for this fine award. This appreciation for our work with this fanatic and moving motivation really means a lot to us," says Michal Piotrowski, project leader at the Polish Institute.

     Also at the CRD, Bill Schiller described the long history of Tupilak & ILGCN involvement with Eastern European colleagues and the emphasis on mutual exchange. "We were very impressed with the mutual interaction of LGBT groups in the Ukraine and Belarus with our Swedish groups," says Schiller over the recent 3-nation meetings in Kiev and Minsk made possible with support from the Swedish Institute -- the official body promoting international co-operation.

      RFSL chairperson Ulrika Westerlund also described the national Swedish LGBT organization's extensive international work with the Baltic states, Uganda and elsewhere, "The situation in Latvia is hardly easy and even those few open LGBT activists don't get much support from often very critical LGBT colleagues," says Kjell Rindar, former RFSL chairman and teacher at Latvian universities.

      "We are very happy to have had the financial support of ROHS (Swedish national LGBT solidarity organization) to make this min-festival "between" Stockholm Prides possible," says Bill Schiller, international secretary of Tupilak (Nordic rainbows cultural workers) and secretary general of the ILGCN's Information Secretariat in Stockholm.

     Alexander L. described the turbulent situation and extensive homophobia Serbian. (Belgrade is to be the site of one of the stages of next year's ILGCN world conference, along with Rio de Janeiro and the Crimean town of Seimiz.) while Finnish photographer Jussi Jässkeläinen described his work with Bucharest and Helsinki Prides.

                                                Films, Music, Photography, Discussions at Posithivagruppen

     "We are pleased to have another Tupilak event at our premises," states Ola Ståhle of the Posithivagruppen (HIV positive men having sex with men) office, and we are happy to have colleagues from the Baltic states at our summer camps and hope to join in future Tupilak and ILGCN exchanges in Eastern Europe."

     Films by Swedish Tupilak member Willi Reichhold described the recent Swedish-Ukrainian-Belarus solidarity visit to Kiev, the summer inauguration ceremony in Visby of the first Nordic LGBT monument on the shoreline of the Swedish Baltic island of Gotland and the "global survival" journey of plants and human beings in harsh conditions around the world.

     Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Icelandic and Eastern European works from the Tupilak & ILGCN Travelling Art & Photography Exhibition were displayed at all the festival venues, including new photo series from Belarus and the Ukraine, and LGBT CD music from Poland and the Nordic nations were played at festival venues as well.

     Other foreign visitors taking part in discussions at the CRD office, the Bio Rio, Posithivagruppen and the LGBT cultural center Hallongrottan came from Norway, Finland, Kenya and Somalia.

                                                                          Next stop: Estonia, Russia, Belarus

     "We hope the next Nordic Fire festival in Stockholm at the end of next March will focus on Swedish and Nordic LGBT co-operation with Estonia, Russia and Belarus," concludes Bill Schiller. "Once again we'll ask our Tupilak colleagues and the national LGBT organizations in the Nordic region to join us. We hope the Nordic Fire festival can be duplicated elsewhere in the Nordic region -- and we'll discuss this at coming Nordic-Baltic-Polish-Russian-Belarus Rainbow Network meetings coming up in Stockholm and other Nordic capitals during 2012."

NBRBR Rainbow Network Calling

2010-12-19T22:34:00.003+01:00

Sweden's Zafire Vrba, member of the Stockholm-based internatinal punk music & theater group, Las Habereros, performing at Network and Tupilak solidarity events in Sweden and in the Baltic region.

Calling members and supporters of the

NORDIC-ESTONIAN-LATVIAN-LITHUANIAN-POLISH-BELARUS & RUSSIAN RAINBOW NETWORK

Sessions 2011:

On the sidelines of: 3rd Baltic Pride - Tallinn (June)
                               Stockholm Pride (July-August)
                               Poznan Tolerance (November)

(This is to give as many as possible a chance to meet face-to-face. As usual, most contacts are to be carried out via e-mail.)

Aims:

1. To review results of co-operation, visits, projects during 2010. Plans for 2011 (including efforts to diversify Nordic delgations to reach more destinations and not concentrate on only or one or two targests).

2. Renew contacts with:

           Nordic embassies (in event nations)
          Swedish Pol Baltic Network
           Swedish Institute
           Polish Institute
           Nordic Council
           Nordic Council Culture Fund
           ILGA

3. Continuing efforts to initiate contact with colleagues in Kaliningrad and to carry out first Network events in the Faroes and the Åland Islands.

4.. First Nordic Network Scholarship (thanks to private donations) goes to Belarus gay photographer, Vladiks of Minsk.

(His works are to be displayed at coming events in in Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Kakow, Warsaw, Wrocklaw, Poznan, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Eskilstuna, Uppsala.

Also at the coming ILGCN world cultural conference 2011 stages in Turkey (May) and the Crimean, Urkaine (September)

    Vladiks is to visit Stockholm in July, 2011.)

Network co-operation partners: Tupilak (Nordic rainbow cultural workers), ILGCN (International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network) Information Secretariat - Stockholm, Nordic Rainbow Council (member of the ILGA: International Lesbian & Gay Association).

Bill Schiller, Network international secretary                     December, 2010    Stockholm

Nordic Baltic Rainbow Network Meets in Gothenburg

2007-12-18T19:43:00.000+01:00

Tupilak/Hallongrottan Arranging Follow-up Session in Stockholm, Blogg in Action

Nordic Baltic Rainbow Network Meets in Gothenburg

Gothenburg -- The 4-day discussions of the Nordic Baltic Rainbow Network at the giant Gothenburg Book Fair and the nearby Museum of World Culture between September 27-30, 2007 in this west coast Swedish city launched enthusiastic plans to increase rainbow co-operation across the Baltic Sea.

“This was a real boost to the work both of the Nordic Rainbow Council and the Swedish Pol-Baltic Network,” says Bill Schiller of the council and of the conference’s co-organizer, Tupilak (Nordic rainbow cultural workers).

“Thanks to financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Baltic Unit in Visby on Gotland, we were able to bring colleagues from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland for concrete, face-to face discussions on how we can build permanent rainbow bridges in the future,” Schiller adds.

Expanding Rainbow Co- operation Swedish, Latvian delegates Discussions covered increasing information exchange between Network members, developments in arranging Prides (still banned in Lithuania) and other rainbow activities in each country involved, increasing efforts to encourage all Prides to include a Nordic Baltic rainbow seminar or other events as well as using rainbow culture s a powerful complement to the political struggle. The network will also be open to continuing support from the humanist movement to help combat religious intolerance and take active steps to increase co-operation with other colleagues living in such countries as Russia and the Eastern European dictatorship of Belarus as well as the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

The attendance at some of the discussions of two gay activists from Singapore - where printed magazines and cultural exhibits on homosexuality are banned - indicated the enormous value of keeping such discussions open even to enthusiastic “outsiders.” The Singapore gays have joined the ILGCN (International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network) and are eager for co-operation with the Nordic Baltic Rainbow Network.
Double Program at Book Fair, World Museum
Through strong co-operation with the book fair’s

Latvian, Lithuanian delegates at the stage “International Square.” – joining 65 Swedish of the International Square in Gothenburg. solidarity groups together,” Network colleagues were given several chances to reach the public

through speeches and panel presentations at the main and smaller stages about the rainbow struggle in the region as well as from their information stand.

Blogg in Action, Next Meeting & Cultural Evening Set for Stockholm

Delegates in Gothenburg agreed to share the work load with the following:
1. Estonia Pride (Krissu): creating a Nordic Baltic Rainbow Network blog.

(In action)
2. Tupilak/Hallongrottan (rainbow culture center): offering to host an “intermediate” meeting and rainbow cultural evening in Stockholm on November 30.

3. RFSL: seeking funding for a large Network meeting in Warsaw next spring.

4. Mozaika-Lativa/ Tupilak checking out funding for a Baltic Rainbow Boat Cruise around Baltic ports, as well as rainbow ship journeys between Sweden/Finland/Estonia/ Latvia.

5. Tupilak: checking out the possibility of arranging a Network conference or cultural event in Visby (half-way point in the Baltic. Boat line between Latvia-Gotland).

6. Tribades Festival (Helsinki)/ ILGCN Information Secretariat - Stockholm: organizing Nordic Baltic Network conference/cultural event during ILGCN world conference stage in Helsinki in September, 2008 as part of the Tribade Festival 2008.

7. Lithuania LGL: searching for colleagues in Kaliningrad wanting to join the Network.

8. Tupilak/Nordic Rainbow Council: working on Network web site page, links.

9. ILGCN East European Secretariat - Warsaw: increasing contacts with Russia, Belarus, other East European countries.

10. Tupilak: contacting all Nordic Baltic Prides to encourage the inclusion of a Network seminar/event (giving latest information of new developments to Tallinn.).
11. ILGCN Film Secretariat - Riga: continuing to help Baltic organizers with film festivals.

12. Tupilak/ILGCN - Stockholm: continue to expand the Tupilak/ILGCN Travelling Art & Photo Exhibit to include more artists from the region, and make the exhibit available to more Nordic Baltic events.

13. Nordic Rainbow Humanists: to increase contacts with organizers of Prides, festivals and other events to provide LGBT speakers, information, etc. as has been the case Gothenberg, Poznan and other Nordic/Baltic cities in

Estonian, Swedish delegates. (Gothenburg photos by Heide Terinen)

ANNUAL EAST-WEST BALTIC PRIDES to BOOST CO-OPERATION

2007-12-18T19:34:00.001+01:00

Stockholm, December 18, 2007

ANNUAL EAST-WEST BALTIC PRIDES to BOOST CO-OPERATION

To members of the Nordic Baltic Rainbow Network (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden (Swedish Pol-Balt Network) and special member Belarus:

A number of e-mail discussions have been taking place after our Gothenburg meeting in September the follow-up meeting in Stockholm on November 30.

Some members have already come with progress reports from the 13 points we agreed on in Gothenburg (see list on our NBRN Network!). Other reports very welcome at the coming Warsaw meeting in February.

A proposal for an annual, rotating, joint East-West Nordic-Baltic Happenings (adopting the excellent Polish proposal for a joint East-West Europride 2008 which was at first adopted and then dropped by the European Pride Association).

Aim: Getting increased Nordic/Baltic participation (seminar holders, performers, artists, film makers, etc.) in each other's event (even if limited in number) to boost East-West Rainbow Co-operation.

Possible name: "BLUE BALTIC PRIDE – East-West Rainbow Co-operation between Baltic cities."

Size: Large or small depending on local involvement and foreign input.

Date: Whenever locals decide is the best time . Can be an annual Pride, rainbow cultural festival, conference, etc. ….close by each other or spread out during the year.

Site: Need not be a national capital. Other cities are also welcome. Towns in semi-autonomous regions (Faroes, Åland, Greenland, Kaliningrad ) are also welcome.

Decisions: Preferably made a year in advance (at an NBRN meeting) to give participants time for planning, fund-raising, public relations, etc..

Budget: Can be kept very low with donated venues, private accommodation for visitors, low-budget travel by ship, airline or train.

QUICK DECISIONS FOR 2008 PLANNING

Since the coming Nordic-Baltic/Barents Rainbow Network February meeting in Warsaw is rather late for preparations for 2008 (since some Prides and other events take place in the spring) we offer to make the first Western city hosting the first " Blue Baltic Pride:"

Stockholm, July 23-24, 2008 (just before Europride-Stockholm .)

Eastern "Baltic Blue Pride" 2008 colleague (or colleagues) should be approved via e-mail as soon as possible for appropriate planning, joint public relations, etc..

Feedback very welcome now and/or at the Warsaw meeting in February.

Bill Schiller for Tupilak, Nordic Rainbow Council, ILGCN Information Secretariat – Stockholm and Nordic Rainbow Humanists.

NORDIC BALTIC RAINBOW NETWORK MEETING IN WARSAW 2008

2007-11-05T17:29:00.000+01:00

The dates have been set for the first meeting of the

Nordic Baltic Rainbow Network in 2008:
February 7-10, 2008 in the Polish capital of Warsaw.

Once again support for this crucial follow-up session -
- following the intermediary meeting in Stockholm on November 30,
2007 and the first meeting of the Network in GothenbergSeptember 27-30,
2007 comes from the Swedish International Development Assistance Agency's Baltic Unit
in the island capital of Visby on Gotland.More information is coming from RFSL-Sweden.

Email info@nrbn.tupilak.org

____________________________