Whores Day - Action Days 1.-5.June

[Program for the 5.June below]

On June 2, 1975, hundreds of sex working women in Lyon, France, occupied the St. Nizier Church. They demanded dignity, safety, and labour rights in the face of constant police harassment, state repression, and patriarchal exploitation. That historic act of defiance sparked an international movement — and its legacy lives on in the ongoing fight for sex worker justice.

This year marks 50 years since that uprising. And in Berlin, we honour it not only with remembrance — but with action. For the last five years, the Sex Worker Action Group Berlin and supporters have organised public demonstrations on June 2nd, amplifying the voices of our community. In 2025, we shift our strategy. Instead of marching through the streets, we are building space: holding ground, deepening connections, and expanding our reach.

From June 1st to 5th, sex workers and supporters will gather across Berlin for a citywide event series. We’ll take up space in symbolic locations — including the Zwölf-Apostel-Kirche (Twelve Apostles Church) — where we’ll host panels, film screenings, dinners, and workshops. Some events are for sex workers only, others are open to the public. We will also publicly launch Germany’s first-ever Sex Work Decriminalisation Bill - written by sex workers.

This is part of a Europe-wide week of action coordinated by the European Sex Workers Alliance (ESWA), during which sex worker-led groups across the continent will reclaim churches and other spaces — echoing the call from Lyon 1975 — and demand justice, rights, and safety for all sex workers.

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This is urgent.

The Prostitutes Protection Act is under evaluation. Repressive policies threaten to be expanded. Laws like the so-called “Swedish Model” are gaining traction across Europe — criminalising our clients, pushing us into risk, and eroding our autonomy.

At the same time, we are witnessing a global turn toward fascism. Across Europe, and here in Germany, the far right is rising. The growing support for the AfD shows us how fear monging, nationalism, and anti-migrant rhetoric are being used to divide us. We are watching people move away from one another — away from solidarity, away from justice.

We cannot afford to stand apart. Sex workers, racialised people, migrants, trans and queer people, working-class communities — all of us targeted, all of us expendable under fascist systems — must stand together. We cannot allow ourselves to be separated or silenced. We must build bridges where systems want borders.

This is more than a sex worker issue.
This is about all of us.

In a time of global grief and brutal repression — as a genocide is being perpetrated in Palestine, ethnic cleansing continues in Sudan, and neocolonial extraction devastates the Congo — we refuse to separate our struggle from others.

None of us are free until all of us are free.

We are calling on all people, especially those outside the sex worker community, to stand in solidarity with us. Whether you are part of labour organising, queer and trans justice work, anti-deportation movements, climate justice, disability rights, or feminist struggles — your presence matters. This is not just our fight — it is a fight for all of us.

Our Demands:

• Rights for All! From workers’ rights to migration justice. No human being is illegal.

• Decriminalisation Now! End mandatory registration of sex workers and all forms of criminalisation.

• End Genocide! Silence is compliance. Decolonise all struggles.

• Intersectional Solidarity! Prioritise the most marginalised in every movement.

• Digital Rights! Stop surveillance, porn bans, data extraction, and state tech violence.

• Abolish Prisons and Police! Stop deportations. End police violence and incarceration everywhere.

• Fight Fascism! No to fearmonging, division, colonialism and state repression.

We invite you to listen, discuss, learn, share space, and build power together. Come eat with us. Mourn with us. Strategise with us. Celebrate resistance. This is a living movement — rooted in love, rage, and collective vision.

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Program 5. June

BIPoC Sex Worker Day! for all Black, Indigenous and of Colour Sex Workers!

@Domina Studio Lux Berlin
Tempelhofer Damm 145, 12099 Berlin

12:00-15:00 Brunch and BIPoC WhoreCare

@Casa Kua
Naunynstr 72, 10997 Berlin

19:00-23:00 Dinner for BIPoC