Credit: MEGA
On Thursday 17 October 2019, the first "Rock de Rack" festival, organised by the Ministry of Equality between Women and Men, took place at the Rockhal in Esch-Belval.
This large-scale event enabled young people to make their voices heard on the issue of gender equality and focused on the essential steps for democracy since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1919.
More than 200 secondary school students from ten schools participated in educational workshops organised by the Press Council, the University of Luxembourg, the Consultative Commission on Human Rights, BEE SECURE, CID Fraen an Gender, the Youth Parliament, the Equal Opportunities Service of the City of Dudelange, the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH) and Marat Schacht. The event dealt with the topics of women's history, democratic values, equality and sexism in the media in a fun and creative way.
In the afternoon, attendees participated in the interactive "Rock de Krees" debate, organised in partnership with the Youth Parliament and the National Student Conference. The debate, open to the general public, was held in the Rockhal Club and stimulated enthusiastic discussions between the panel and the plenary.
On this occasion, Luxembourg's Minister for Equality between Women and Men, Taina Bofferding, praised the commitment of young people: "Equality between women and men is an important pillar of democracy and it is essential that we all contribute together. It's good to see that young people are not disinterested in politics- on the contrary!" She added: "What counts is that every young person can express their talents, skills and desires, without being held back by stereotypical images".
After the interactive debate, various musicians took the stage at the Rockhal. Performances from "Sonic Boom", as well as the winners of the Screaming Fields Song Contest (also placed under the theme of gender equality), Francis of Delirium, Yadson and Nicool, closed this first edition of the Rock de Rack festival.
