Bruxelles Bagarre Club

Bruxelles Bagarre Club is a trans·feminist collective that organises English / Thai Boxing trainings and self-defence workshops in chosen mixity without cis men, since 2019 in Brussels. We are an independent collective, promoting antifascist, antiracist and antisexist values.

We believe that sport should not be a privilege of certain individuals/groups, so we try to make our trainings as accessible as possible, refusing any kind of discrimination based on class, race or gender. As individuals subject to sexism and / or homo-lesbo-transphobia, we suffer daily violence to which we are supposed to give peaceful answers. Through the practice of boxing, we do not just learn a sport, but we grant ourselves the right to self-defence, learn to handle our emotions and fight back the feeling of paralysis and impotence. Sport becomes a way for a collective commitment through our bodies and for being aware of our strength.

Who's involved in it ?

The trainings are addressed to women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, with or without experience in sport. The project involve up to 40 members and queer people is part of the coaching team.

What’s your origin story and your motivation?

Bruxelles Bagarre Club was born three years ago, from a meeting between a boxing coach, with experience in grassroots sport and political projects abroad, and a Bxl based feminist collective. They launched the boxing classes in chosen mixity, initially for two months. The classes were very popular and there was nothing like this in Brussels before, so we felt the urge to create a bigger project, with a long-term vision and clear values: the practice of sport as a political tool, to reclaim our bodies, to fight oppression and discriminations and to build a community.

Do you want to share a special memory with us?

Every training and every demo is very special for us, but something that goes beyond our "routine" are BBC summer camps. Every year we are hosted by a squatted farm in the Belgian countryside and we organise all sort of workshops. These are very unique moments: we grow as individuals by sharing and deepening the relation among ourselves and we grow as a collective by strengthening our communication and organisation, finding a better way of working together.

What are some of your favorite spots in Brussels?

All the spaces that have hosted us and gave us the possibility to train and in general all the safer spaces made by and for gender minorities in the city.

Could you describe the accessibility of your space?

We have a temporary location at the moment, wheelchair accessible, reachable by public transport, inside bike parking.

Where can we find you virtually and/or physically?

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Bruxelles Bagarre Club, 2022

*based on queer archives