DENMARK: American activist Chelsea Manning will give an exclusive talk about rights and personal engagement at Roskilde Festival. It will be her first European speaking appearance since the commutation of her sentence in 2017. The talk constitutes part of the festival’s Equality programme, which has run for the past three years, and is designed to inspire festival-goers to take a stand and broaden their mind.
Chelsea Manning – then known as Bradley Manning – was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 after leaking classified documents related to the United States’ war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
One of Barack Obama’s last presidential acts was to shorten Manning’s sentence. Manning has identified as a woman since her release and is an active part of the fight for public transparency in a digitalised world, as well as an advocate for transgender rights.
Chelsea Manning will talk about activism and making a change in the world at Roskilde Festival on July 5.
Head curator at Roskilde Festival, Mette Woller, said: “The story of Chelsea Manning is dramatic and personal, and it’s highly relevant in 2018. We believe that festival-goers will be particularly interested in her will to make life-altering decisions and deal with the consequences. This won’t be a one-way talk; we encourage the participants to be an active part of it, ask questions and inspire each other.”
Whereas Chelsea Manning uses her story and words as her weapons of choice, popular street artists ±Maismenos± and Bankslave will demonstrate their dissatisfaction with global inequality at the festival through visual works in the public space. Their works will be placed in key locations at the festival, making them a big part of the visual experience for its 130,000 attendees.
