Loesje

Loesje (/ˈluːʃə/; Dutch: [ˈluʃə]) is an international free speech organisation started in Arnhem (Netherlands) in 1983 and went international in 1989.[1] Its charter is to spread creativity, positive criticism, ideas, philosophical ponderings and thoughts on current events by way of short slogans on posters. The posters are signed by Loesje, which is a Dutch female name, representing "a world wide collective of people who want to make the world a more positive creative place".[2][3]

UKRAINE
WHEN DEMOCRACY ISN'T WORKING
PEOPLE ARE

Loesje is currently to some extent active in over 30 countries, including Argentina, Armenia, Bosnia, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States of America, Morocco and Palestine. In one country it is possible to have several more or less active writing groups.

It is not clear how many active writers there are and also the number of people who decide to spread the posters that can be downloaded from the poster archive.[4] The organisation cannot keep track of who spreads posters and where, partly because it is impossible to see how often a poster is downloaded (or printed at home) from the website, and partly because Loesje is not responsible for any misdeeds of individuals who paste posters on places where it is illegal.[5]

Between 2005 and 2013, Loesje's international headquarters were located in Berlin, but since then Loesje International has moved back to Arnhem.[6] From there Loesje implements and coordinates many diverse international projects around the world. Loesje gives creative writing workshops, for team building for example and joins conferences about issues that connect to her values, such as this environmental conference called Caretakers of the environment international in 2012 in Maastricht in the Netherlands. Loesje is especially active on World Press Freedom Day.

Controversy

While Loesje aims to write texts from a positive point of view, not all posters are always appreciated. In 2012, a local Loesje group in Amsterdam created a poster with the text "to honour Friso let's go binge-drinking on Queen's Day". Prince Friso was at that moment in coma in the hospital in London. The Dutch Loesje office distanced itself from this text, which was only published in Amsterdam. [7]

Links to websites of specific countries

References
  1. "This is Loesje". Archived from the original on 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2016-05-30.
  2. "This is Loesje". Archived from the original on 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2016-05-30.
  3. How Loesje posters are changing the world, Getty Science, november 2017
  4. Poster archive
  5. Sticking law
  6. Address of Loesje International
  7. Pijnlijke Loesje-poster over prins Friso (in Dutch), Algemeen Dagblad
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