Dear women, men and others,

women festival Rdeče zore (Red Dawns) invites you to a celebration. In Slovenia, March 8^th used to be celebrated as the International Women's Day. In recent years, it has been forgotten just like the memory of our political predecessors is vanishing. Red Dawns oppose right-wing falsifications of history and respect the few surviving anti-fascist fighters of WWII among whom women were no exception. We celebrate the International Women’s Day without bouquets. Our gift is an invitation to the evening of revolutionary partisan songs sung by twenty-two members of Women’s Choir of the Pensioner’s Association of Idrija.

Red Dawns is a feminist festival that speaks against separatism. We have never searched for the biologic “essence” of Women. Neither have we looked for universal features of women’s character. We would like to draw your attention away from metaphysics of “femininity” and “masculinity” – and direct it towards reality of every-day hatred, disrespect and exploitation of women and men in any neoliberal patriarchy. In a time when we are facing yet another march of the Right both locally and globally, we urge you, our political allies, to rethink sexualities and genders in the context of your every-day fights for social justice.

Red Dawns is a queer festival that dares to ignore expectations, habits, concepts and roles which “fatally” define us as either women or men. We do not advocate a further polarization of genders. Instead, we support the creativity and the mingling of Red Dawns participants who question the boundaries we take for granted; the borders that separate and isolate us by dividing us into two different sexes. The Genderfuck film and video program suggests our plurality, fluidity and our ability to interchange different gender roles. We strongly believe that only playful gender variety can offers spaces of freedom where it’s easier and nicer to live, breathe, work and love. We invite you to a celebration!

Your Red Dawns.