Abolitionist Assemblies #2: Borderline States

Join us on the 20th of June at Felix Meritis for a critical interrogation of the sanctity of borders. We discuss how (neo)colonial ideology, biometric control, surveillance technologies, and global inequality all intersect at the border.

Borders are everywhere. They are taken-for-granted lines on maps that indicate where one country ends and where another begins. They delineate territory and control the movement of people and goods. The dominant narrative insists that borders keep us safe. But from what, and from whom? What if borders are systems of power designed to divide, to dominate, to decide who gets to move, who gets to stay, and who is left behind? What if, as Gracie Mae Bradley and Luke de Noronha write, borders scar both land and our political imaginaries?

The evening opens with a speculative short film “EUphoria” (2018, dir. Robert-Jonathan Koeyers & prod. Black Speaks Back) beholding a future in which not Fortress Europe has closed its borders, but the continent of Africa. This is followed by talks, music and poetry that refuse to be confined, featuring Nohely Koeyers, Philsan Osman, Mohammed Badran, Jieling Levine and King Turgah.

Borderline States is part of the Abolitionist Assemblies, exclusively brought to you by Felix Meritis. This edition takes place in the context of and in collaboration with Refugee Welcome week 2025. Check out their full program here.

About the Abolitionist Assemblies series

Inspired by abolitionist thinkers such as Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Sophie Lewis, Abolitionist Assemblies is a series of visionary gatherings where we build radical alternatives to current exploitative systems. Departing from the premise that the “white-Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy” (hooks) continues to inform current politics, culture, and society, we use abolitionist thinking to critically interrogate the sanctity of borders, prisons, schooling, gender, the family, and more. Borderline States is our second edition, inviting both guests and audience to radically rethink the borders of our future through story, music, and speculative visions.

Speakers

Nohely Koeyers

Nohely Koeyers (b. 1991, Curaçao) is a creative writer and storyteller. Through poetry and prose, but also through photography and film, she aims to tell stories as a form of expression and which people can relate to. She has worked on various film and video productions, such as EUphoria (2018) and Zwarte Ibis (2024) with Black Speaks Back as a screenwriter. She is currently part of the creative studio Half & Half which has worked on video projects for Kunstinstituut Melly and Acne Studios. 

Mohammed Badran

Mohammed Badran is an anthropologist and human rights advocate known for his leadership in refugee-led advocacy movements. He co-founded several initiatives including the G-100 Initiative, the Global Refugee-led Network, and Syrian Volunteers Netherlands (SYVNL), and coordinates Refugee Welcome Week 2025 in the Netherlands. In addition to his advocacy work, Badran contributes to academic discourse on displacement and identity. In his award-winning master’s thesis, he coined the concept of “Passport Dysphoria” to describe the psychological impact of statelessness and colonial borders on Palestinian refugees of Syria.

Philsan Osman

Philsan Omar Osman (she/her) is a writer, activist, and community builder whose work is situated at the crossroads of anti-racist ecofeminism and Black geographies. She currently holds PhD position at the Open University in The Netherlands. Her doctoral research focuses on how marginalized communities in the Low Countries shape sustainable transitions. In 2021 she co-authored Dare to Care: Ecofeminism as a source of inspiration.

Simone Zeefuik

Your host, Simone Zeefuik, is an Afro-Dutch writer, Bijlmer-based cultural programmer, dramaturg and tea critic. Her work focuses on Blackity Black imagination and everydayness in theatre, film and visual art. She’s currently writing the script for Romana Vrede’s new play ‘Sisterhood’ (Theater Rotterdam) and has recently joined the team of coaches of Theater Bellevue’s trajectory for new playwrights. At Bijlmer Parktheater, she organizes and hosts the GembertheeSessies (Ginger Tea Sessions) and BPTUnpacks. 

Jieling Levine

Jieling is chair and volunteer at Migreat, an organization that fights for the freedom of movement, border abolition and equal rights for everyone through campaigns, direct actions and supporting people at the border. She is currently busy finishing up her master’s thesis in anthropology on transnational adoption narratives and practices from a critical, decolonial, forced migration perspective.

King Turgah of @theafricangirlbeads

Ganiu, also known as King Turgah, is a Ghanaian-born artist, entrepreneur, and founder of The African Girl Beads. After journeying through Libya and Italy, he arrived in the Netherlands as a refugee, bringing with him a rich heritage of craftsmanship rooted in his family’s bead-making tradition. Now based in Amsterdam, Ganiu creates unique handmade jewelry using traditional Ghanaian beads, and blends vintage fashion with bold, bead-embellished designs. You can find him at his stand in Amsterdam’s iconic Waterloo Market, and in community spaces across the city, where he facilitates creative workshops for refugees. During this event, he is present with a special selection of his crafts.

Het Fort van Sjakoo pop-up

Bookstore Fort van Sjakoo has been a fixture in the heart of Amsterdam since 1977. It began in a squatted live-work space, resisting a planned highway through the Nieuwmarkt neighborhood, and was officially legalized in 1988. The Fort is run by a collective of volunteers and specializes in radical leftist and socially critical literature. At this edition of the Abolitionist Assemblies, a pop-up Fort will be present with essential readings.

Would you like to attend this program, but don’t have the means to pay for a ticket? Send an email to info@felixmeritis.nl, we can work something out.