What exactly did Mala Junta launch?
Mala Junta, the Berlin party series founded in 2018 by DJ TOOL, Hyperaktivist and Nayme, has stepped into the record business with its debut label. The first release, MJR001, is a 22-track compilation billed by Resident Advisor as a document of "the relationship and exchanges that have grown around the party and its wider community." The lineup runs from co-founders DJ TOOL and Hyperaktivist to contributors including Priori, Kim Ann Foxman, DJ Babatr, Regal86, DJ Fuckoff, Yazzus, Mary Lake, Eoin DJ, Audrey Danza, Bozzi & Cardini and Decoder, per RA's report published August 31.
Where does the money actually go?
Here's the part that separates MJR001 from a normal various-artists comp: nobody involved takes a cut. Per Resident Advisor, the full proceeds go to 3ezwa, a Berlin association that provides financial and legal assistance to people facing repression or criminalisation for showing solidarity with Palestine. That means every artist on the tracklist, from a Berghain regular like DJ Babatr to New York's Kim Ann Foxman, effectively donated a track rather than released one.
The full proceeds from the record will be donated to 3ezwa.
Why turn a party's label into a legal fund?
Mala Junta has spent seven years building a reputation well beyond Berlin, playing rooms like Berghain, Bassiani and FOLD and festival stages at Dekmantel and Primavera Sound. Launching a label was the obvious next step for a party with that kind of pull. Choosing to route all of it through a legal defense fund instead of splitting royalties or building a war chest is the statement: for Mala Junta, running a queer, community-rooted party in 2026 and staying silent on who gets criminalised for activism isn't really an option.
