I’m A Fucking Panther by Anders Rundberg, Leo Palmestål and Jennifer Jerez

On June 1:st we returned to our old folkhighschool in Munka Ljungby. On the invitation of the artschool, we screened the film I’m A Fucking Panther by Anders Rundberg, Leo Palmestål and Jennifer Jerez.

In February 2011, inspired by the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, a group of young people of color in Gothenburg, Sweden, organized themselves and formed the Panthers for the Restoration of the Suburbs. The film follows their organization through various activities and protests

“Biskopsgården is a socio economically exposed suburb to Göteborg, Sweden. The last couple of years this suburb has suffered from reductions in the welfare system, causing increasing poverty and social vulnerability. As a result, criminal gangs grow stronger and shootings resulting in deaths have almost become an everday occurance.

A group of young people in the area refuse to stand by and watch while the world around them collapses. Inspired by The Black Panther Party For Self Defence they organize themselves and form the Panthers For The Restoration Of The Suburbs. They demand participation in the decisions taken by politicians and officials in order to create a shift in power which means more power to the people.”

– quoted from https://imafuckingpanther.wordpress.com/english/

We began the evening with a radio interview with Murat Solmaz, a founding member of the Panthers. In the interview he talks about his days as a student at the folkhighschool in his suburb, what the teachers meant to him, and how he helped organise the students in order to save the school when it was threatened with closure. In the talk following the film, we quoted statistics from researcher Tobias Hübinette on the segregation of the Swedish job market and of housing. The students in the audience were great, braving the cold of the evening throughout the whole of the program, and contributing with questions and opinions of their own.

 The students of the folkhighschool!