Call out and announcement of a day of action at detention and deportation centers
lawaaidemo
The No Border Network, founded in the Netherlands in June, calls for a
nationwide day of action on October 27th 2012, seven years after the
fire at detention and deportation center Schiphol, that cost the lives
of eleven people.
Several groups in the country organize a demonstration or another
action to be announced at a detention or deportation center in their
region. There will also be a demonstration at the freedom restricting
center in Ter Apel and more announcements are to be expected.
October 26th 2005: shortly before midnight fire broke out in the cell
complex at Schiphol. The complex turned out to be a fire hazard, the
communication poor, the fire brigade was standing in front of the
wrong gate, guards could not get doors open and the military police
rushed the refugees that were let out of their cells into a cage, at
gunpoint. Eleven people suffocated and burned in cells that had not
been opened. Traumatized refugees were thrown in isolation.
Responsible ministers got off scott-free. A Libyan refugee, Ahmed Issa
al-Jeballi, accused of causing the fire, is up to this day still
fighting for justice: acquittal.
When the Schiphol fire is discussed, fire resistance is the issue. A
feigned solution was found in building a new border prison at Schiphol
West, a bunker of which the management will largely be privatized and
be in the hands of construction company BAM. The city of
Haarlemmermeer signed for its construction, because it is their
territory. At the same time, last year the city of Haarlemmermeer took
control of the commemoration of the Schiphol fire and announced that
it would be the final commemoration.
It is not fire resistance that should be the issue, but the existence
of border prisons on its own.
When migration detention is discussed, the circumstances are the
issue. Report after report comes out about bad food, the lack of
medical care, the frequent use of isolation cells, aggression of
blundering private guards of the company G4S, and intimidation by the
'Dienst Terugkeer en Vertrek' (Department of Return and Departure).
But it is not circumstances that should in the first place be the
issue, but the existence of border prisons on its own.
When the foreigners law is discussed, alternative methods of forcing
people to leave the country are the issue. Humanistic and religious
organizations often agree with this, and make an effort to further
programs for so called voluntary return.
But it is not alternatives that should be the issue, but the existence
of the racist foreigners law on its own.
Voluntary return does not exist. People only return 'voluntary' after
having been under pressure for a long time, in the freedom restricting
location with a daily obligation to stamp, after having been forced to
live on the street, been locked up on a regular basis, in fact been
outlawed, gotten sick, desperate, and in the end see no way out
anymore. Women and children that cannot be kicked out on the street,
are being placed in so called family locations where strict penal
regimes prevail and where there is no recreation space for children.
The government presents migration as a problem. But it's not migration
that is the problem, but the exploitation of all those countries where
refugees come from. Whether it is because of war, drought, flooding,
famine, repression, religious or political prosecution, no man flees
voluntary. Return, as it is called so beautifully, can therefore never
be voluntary! The Western democracies, that have built their
prosperity on the capitalist destruction of land, air and water, the
theft of resources and slave labor, respond to the refugees, that seek
a better life here, with repression. A machinery that is aimed at
separating useful people from useless people, all by capitalist
standards. Laws, police, border control, identity control, everything
is aimed at controlling migration from poor countries. And
multinationals profit.
With this day of action we state: right to freedom of movement and
settlement for all. No alternatives or nicer cells, but abolition of
all prisons in which people are being broken for the sole purpose of
realizing their deportation, willingly or unwillingly.
Commemorate not only the deaths of the Schiphol fire, but commemorate
all deaths caused by the policy of migration control. The suicides,
the drownings in the Mediterranean Sea, the sick persons that starve.
Take action against the murderous practices of the Fortress of Europe!
The city of Haarlemmermeer wanted the commemoration of last year to be
the final one. Therefore commemoration day becomes day of action on
October 27th, with demonstrations at the following locations:
Detention- and deportation center Schiphol Oost - 14.30, pre
gathering 13.30 uur, MKZ, Eerste Schinkelstraat 16, Amsterdam. Sign up
to be on the bus! Mail to: info@no-border.nl, subject: 27 oktober
Schiphol. Call out by Citizens initiative october 27th.
Detentiecenter Kamp Zeist - 14.30 uur near Kamp Zeist, corner
Kampweg/Richelleweg (at overpass), Soesterberg. Call out by AAGU
Detention- and deportation center Rotterdam, 14.30 at the
detention center. Call out Occupy Rotterdam
Detention center Alphen aan den Rijn, 15 uur train station Alphen
a/d Rijn. Call out by AFA Den Haag.
Vrijheidsbeperkende locatie Ter Apel - 14.30 uur at the VBL Ter
Apel. Read the call out by AFA Fryslan, onderzoeksgroep Alaska and
Werkgroep Vluchtelingen Vrij.
Family location Gilze-Rijen - Get together at 13.00 hrs,
Steenakkerplein in Gilze, from there we walk to the Family location
Gilze-Rijen, Prinsenbosch 2. Arrival at Family location: 14.30 hrs
Action lasts until 15.30. Call out anarchisten in Brabant
More, and more details will follow.
No Border Network
