“RAINBOWFLASH” BALLOON RELEASES FOR MAY 17 2013 IN GERMANY & 7 OTHER COUNTRIES

If you haven’t yet joined the global mobilisations for May 17 2013, and you’re looking for a public action which can easily be planned in less than 2 weeks, you may want to consider a coloured balloon release, or “rainbowflash” event. It’s pretty cheap – all you need is to rent a helium canister and buy a few packs of balloons (or get people to bring their own). So if you are a company or organisation, it’s especially easy to do, but if you are a group of friends, a sports team or a not-for-profit org, for example, it’s also low-cost if you pool resources amongst a few of you.
Moreover, you would be joining actions planned already in over 20 towns and cities, in 8 different countries: Austria, Australia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, and South Africa !
If you are organising something for May 17 anyway, it might also be a nice way to get more connected to what’s going on around the world on the Day as well.
The “rainbowflash” project was originally started by a small group of LGBT activists in Germany in 2008, who decided to get people together in a public place to release balloons in the colours of the pride flag. They also attached personal messages to the strings of the balloons – as a way of reaching out to others. The idea quickly multiplied across different cities in Germany and was taken up as well by LGBT activists in Russia in particular as well.
Since then the project has grown and, in 2012/2013, the organisers of the rainbowflash project called on the IDAHO Committee team to lend a special support to the idea – in the hope that it might inspire connected yet unique local actions around the world on May 17, 2013. Which it has! Activists in 35 countries have now joined the call to participate in the Global Rainbow Flashmob for IDAHOT 2013.
And not just in the form of balloon releases, but rainbow dance flashmobs, rainbow street theatre, face painting, chalk festivals, musical flashmobs, and many more really creative forms of protest – all of this will come together to give a common vibrancy and buzz to May 17 actions this year.
But balloon releases still do have a strong presence on the list of global events this year as well. And people in different contexts are re-working the format in their own way.
Activists in South Africa, from the group Iranti-Org advised that they would accompany their rainbow balloon release with the message, when they all fly up into the air, ’you can never kill us all’. Whilst activists in Kenya are inviting participants to “write your name, name of a Rainbow friend you would like to remember, perhaps a lost love etc…. on the balloon. If you are still not out, you could perhaps make it your own way of coming out by writing your own name and releasing it to the world.”
To see the full list of events and to participate in an existing rainbowflash balloon release, log ontowww.rainbowflash.org and click on the relevant country on the map.
We should add that the organisers of these events have thought carefully about potential environmental and health and safety issues – for more information about how to make your event safe & green log ontowww.rainbowflash.org/ideas-f… and click on the relevant page.
For further information and queries you can also email contact@dayagainsthomophobia.org.