> get active for concrete solidarity to stop deportations!
>
> Last summer, 8 people from Vienna refugee protest were deported. Right
> now, the Austrian state is carrying out a new deportation attack on
> refugee communities all over Austria – Pakistani as well as Chechens,
> Gambians, Nigerians and others.
>
> On 9th of December 2013, several people were deported from Austria to
> Lahore / Pakistan. According to informations from fellow refugees there
> were at least eight persons from Vorarlberg, Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck
> and Linz. According to refugee reports, the police arrested people by
> surprise, without informing them beforehand that they were facing
> deportation.
>
> More people got letters by the police saying they have to leave Austria
> within 14 days, putting them, too, under the threat of deportation.
> This happened, for example, to a group refugees presently living in a
> refugee camp at “Hotel Adler” in Schruns/Vorarlberg; similar things were
> also reported about other asylum seekers staying in Vorarlberg. That
> means that more people are concretely facing deportation threat during
> the next days!
>
> Deportations are forceful replacements and never happen voluntarily,
> they are a clear violation of human rights and bring people in great
> danger, not only in countries where there is civil war. There are a lot
> of different problems and threats from which people are fleeing.
> So-called “democratic” western countries actively produce reasons to
> flee by destroying other countries through wars, economic exploitation
> and supporting authoritarian and murderous regimes. Everyone living in
> the “western world” is responsible for not looking away and showing
> solidarity!
>
> The Austrian asylum policy is causing many problems: The asylum system
> is not made for giving access to a peaceful life for refugees, but to
> exclude. Refugees' stories of what happened to them are constantly
> ignored and ridiculed by Austrian authorities. Asylum decisions are
> based on often false information provided by the Austrian foreign
> ministry and embassies – not on what the real background of the
> individual persons is. Sometimes, judges and authorities ask for
> information from ministries of refugees` home countries, but these
> informations are lies. Authorities and judges don't work independently,
> but they have a political task: They are expected to give positive
> asylum decisions only to a very small number of people. And then there
> are only two chances, because already after a second negative decision
> in the asylum trial, people are facing deportation.
>
> Asylum seekers in Austria are treated as “most wanted criminals”, as the
> police make a lot of efforts to find and arrest people for deportation
> and even new prisons are built up only for refugees.
>
> For 2014, the Austrian government announced “improvements” of the asylum
> system, like providing better “Dolmetschers”. Although this shows that,
> at last, after already many people suffered, were excluded, lost their
> lives, the authorities realized that there are massive lacks in the
> asylum system, we do not believe that the system itself, which is
> causing the problems, will be changed. The system still serves the
> interests of those who restrict free movement of people and the
> interests of private companies and organisations who make business with
> the lives of refugees!
>
> The danger for refugees in Austria now is: It seems that the authorities
> are trying to get rid of many refugees who got negative decisions by
> deporting them before the implementation of new asylum rules in early
> 2014!
>
> We call for active resistance against Austrian authorities who threaten
> refugees with deportation! And we want to criticize sharply the role of
> Caritas which is running a lot of the refugee houses in Vorarlberg and
> other areas from where refugees are picked for deportation and doesn't
> show any visible protest or practical solidarity with the victims of
> deportation!
>
> To bring this inhumane system to an end and to stop deportations, we
> have to organize and take to the streets. We have to put pressure on
> those in power, but at the same time get active ourselves.
> We all are responsible.
>
> No one is illegal – stop deportations!
>
>
>
>
>
> [The authors of this article have different statuses in Austria, we are
> people with and without papers, some have a refugee-background and some
> not.]
>
> Last summer, 8 people from Vienna refugee protest were deported. Right
> now, the Austrian state is carrying out a new deportation attack on
> refugee communities all over Austria – Pakistani as well as Chechens,
> Gambians, Nigerians and others.
>
> On 9th of December 2013, several people were deported from Austria to
> Lahore / Pakistan. According to informations from fellow refugees there
> were at least eight persons from Vorarlberg, Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck
> and Linz. According to refugee reports, the police arrested people by
> surprise, without informing them beforehand that they were facing
> deportation.
>
> More people got letters by the police saying they have to leave Austria
> within 14 days, putting them, too, under the threat of deportation.
> This happened, for example, to a group refugees presently living in a
> refugee camp at “Hotel Adler” in Schruns/Vorarlberg; similar things were
> also reported about other asylum seekers staying in Vorarlberg. That
> means that more people are concretely facing deportation threat during
> the next days!
>
> Deportations are forceful replacements and never happen voluntarily,
> they are a clear violation of human rights and bring people in great
> danger, not only in countries where there is civil war. There are a lot
> of different problems and threats from which people are fleeing.
> So-called “democratic” western countries actively produce reasons to
> flee by destroying other countries through wars, economic exploitation
> and supporting authoritarian and murderous regimes. Everyone living in
> the “western world” is responsible for not looking away and showing
> solidarity!
>
> The Austrian asylum policy is causing many problems: The asylum system
> is not made for giving access to a peaceful life for refugees, but to
> exclude. Refugees' stories of what happened to them are constantly
> ignored and ridiculed by Austrian authorities. Asylum decisions are
> based on often false information provided by the Austrian foreign
> ministry and embassies – not on what the real background of the
> individual persons is. Sometimes, judges and authorities ask for
> information from ministries of refugees` home countries, but these
> informations are lies. Authorities and judges don't work independently,
> but they have a political task: They are expected to give positive
> asylum decisions only to a very small number of people. And then there
> are only two chances, because already after a second negative decision
> in the asylum trial, people are facing deportation.
>
> Asylum seekers in Austria are treated as “most wanted criminals”, as the
> police make a lot of efforts to find and arrest people for deportation
> and even new prisons are built up only for refugees.
>
> For 2014, the Austrian government announced “improvements” of the asylum
> system, like providing better “Dolmetschers”. Although this shows that,
> at last, after already many people suffered, were excluded, lost their
> lives, the authorities realized that there are massive lacks in the
> asylum system, we do not believe that the system itself, which is
> causing the problems, will be changed. The system still serves the
> interests of those who restrict free movement of people and the
> interests of private companies and organisations who make business with
> the lives of refugees!
>
> The danger for refugees in Austria now is: It seems that the authorities
> are trying to get rid of many refugees who got negative decisions by
> deporting them before the implementation of new asylum rules in early
> 2014!
>
> We call for active resistance against Austrian authorities who threaten
> refugees with deportation! And we want to criticize sharply the role of
> Caritas which is running a lot of the refugee houses in Vorarlberg and
> other areas from where refugees are picked for deportation and doesn't
> show any visible protest or practical solidarity with the victims of
> deportation!
>
> To bring this inhumane system to an end and to stop deportations, we
> have to organize and take to the streets. We have to put pressure on
> those in power, but at the same time get active ourselves.
> We all are responsible.
>
> No one is illegal – stop deportations!
>
>
>
>
>
> [The authors of this article have different statuses in Austria, we are
> people with and without papers, some have a refugee-background and some
> not.]