Anti-Fascist Church is an engage project by Jeanne van Heeswijk and Jonas Staal,
co-programmed with Shirin Mirachor and Julia Wilhelm.

Music by Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Max Frimout and Cheb Runner.

Address by Vijay Prashad (Tricontinental).

Opening by Tofik Dibi (BIJ1), Mustapha Eaisaouiyen (Woonopstand) and Eman Khasawneh.

Contributions by the Academy of Social Science; Afrikaanderwijk Coöperatie; ASVA Studentenvakbond; BIJ1 Utrecht; Chihiro Geuzebroek; Clementine-willow; Colored Qollective; Cultural Workers Unite; Ehab Ghafri; Grâce Ndjako; Jacobin NL; Erev Rav; Little Red Kitchen; MiGreat; National Democratic Front of the Philippines; Nederland Wordt Beter; Rogier van Reekum; ROOD Socialistische Jongeren; Rotterdam Front for Liberation; S.P.E.A.K.; Stop Wapenhandel; STUUR Rotterdam; Sudanese Refugees Organization; True Counterpower; Urok Shirhan; Verzet Tegen Oorlog; Woonopstand; XR Justice Now; and many others.

How do we counter rising fascism? We organize! In their first artistic collaboration, artists Jeanne van Heeswijk and Jonas Staal gather more than forty art-activists, musicians, political organisations and social movements to collectively perform a 12-hour antifascist musical sermon. Together, they transform the Paradijskerk in Rotterdam into an anti-fascist church: a space where the broadest coalition possible assembles in common opposition to rising authoritarianism, genocide, misogyny, systemic racism and the dismantling of critical democratic institutions. During the Nazi occupation, people of faith often found themselves side by side with communists in the underground resistance and refugee support system, and many churches operated as hiding places for Jewish people and resistance members.

In van Heeswijk and Staal’s project, the church as a site of unexpected alliances is brought back to life to compose new majorities united in their resistance against neofascist forces, but it also appropriates the (far)right framing of progressives as forming a “leftist church” (linkse kerk): claiming it as a badge of honour.

For the entry and stage of the church, Van Heeswijk and Staal have developed an immersive installation honouring antifascist symbols of the past and proposing new ones for common resistance against (neo)fascism. Here, for twelve hours, organisations from across the political spectrum will collectively contribute to the musical sermon, celebrating and strengthening the links between communal, embodied and spiritual practices of liberation, across social, feminist, LGBTQI+, Black and ecological struggles. An improvisational chorus responds to parts of the sermon in between speeches, turning the twelve hours into a collective political and musical event. The Anti-Fascist Church is open to anyone who stands in opposition to fascism. Together, we’ll celebrate anti-fascist unity across difference.

Curious about the meaning of the flags? Each one represents a branch of the alliance united in the Anti-Fascist Church: the Palestinian freedom movement (Palestinian flag); LGBTQI+ movement (progress pride flag); feminist movement (purple), ecological justice (green) and the socialist movement (red). Get your flag pin at the Paradijskerk and become part of the collective (suggested donation: €5)!

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Project team: Jeanne van Heeswijk and Jonas Staal (artists); Nancy Hoffmann (curator); Shirin Mirachor (musical programming); Julia Wilhelm (speaker programming); Nadine Gouders (producer); Paul Kuipers (architect); Remco van Bladel (designer); Studio Kunstwerk (construction); Paul van Laak (light design).