Sweden’s music festival Bråvalla last year ended on a sour note after many cases of rape and sexual assault were reported. Police in the south-eastern district of Östergötland, where the annual festival took place, said they received four rape and 23 sexual assault reports. In 2016, there were five reports of rapes and at least 12 of sexual molestation. Bråvalla was officially shut down for good.It’s a similar scene at other events in Sweden. With the safety of young women on the line, in November 2017, Swedish comedian Emma Knyckare came up with the idea of creating a music festival which would work as a safe zone and replace the Bråvalla Festival.Emma Knyckare. Credit: WikipediaApart from women, the event, called Statement Festival, which is being held presently from August 31 to September 1 in Gothenburg, welcomes non-binary and trans people.Cheekily enough, the date and venue of the event were disclosed on International Men’s Day: November 19. “We thought it was an appropriate day to talk about it – a reminder of the issues women still face from men,” Knyckare had told a local newspaper.“We do not claim that Statement Festival is the solution to the problems with the sexual violence – it’s a reaction to it,” the event’s website says, adding that its team hopes the event will “not be necessary” in the future.“We work exclusively with women, non-binary and transgender persons,” the first-time host told Euronews. “This ranges from artists to catering to security personnel.”The comedian credited the #MeToo movement for making ti easier to organise the festival. In fact, Knyckare and her team managed to crowdfunding the whole festival and received more than 300,000 donations.“Now we no longer have to justify our desire to create a safe place, a free zone. [But] it’s not the solution, it’s a reaction to the problem”, she told the BBC in an interview.
