Martin Luther King Lecture and Performance Competition

• Date: 07 December
• label.tijd 19:30
• Location: The Lighthouse, Haagse Hogeschool Den Haag 

“There is a type of constructive non-violent tension that is necessary for growth”

On the 7th of December at 19:30, just before International Human Rights Day, the yearly Martin Luther King lecture will be held. The theme is ‘Civil Disobedience’. Inspired by Martin Luther King, we investigate the necessity of civil disobedience and the many inspiring shapes it may take, then and now. With an inspiring speech by Clarice Gargard and three talented performers that won the Martin Luther King Performance Competition 2022.

“You may well ask, “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored…. I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive non-violent tension that is necessary for growth.”
(Martin Luther King jr., ‘Letter from the Birmingham Jail’, 1963)

How do you make injustice visible? How do you uncover the blind spot of the people for structural and institutional racism, without using violence? ‘Hello?! See and feel what happens and how that is!’. Martin Luther King jr. stimulated civil disobedience: remarkable actions that create uncomfortable and tense situations, and thus stimulate thought and confront the people. Peaceful and creative actions that try to navigate from confrontation to empathy and dialogue, with in the end, positive change.

During the Martin Luther King Lecture we discover the different ways of civil disobedience, and let ourselves be inspired by disobedience, creativity and confrontation and not by anger or fear.

Programme (19.30 – 21:00)

• Inspiring lecture by Clarice Gargard
• Performances by the winners of the MLK Performance Competition
• Q&A with the audience