Greece Journey back to the border: first days on Lesvos‏

Dear all,

since yesterday we are getting more an more people to prepare our
Journey back to the border camp in Lesvos/Greece - and like always, we
started already before the start with our activities.

The situation we found here is incredible and maybe we can describe it
as something between a real humanitarian crisis mixed with the feeling
that this is anyway only temporary as everyone knows they will make it
quicker than ever to Germany, Sweden, France or wherever they want - and
that the border is somehow already run over.

There is a big number of new arriving refugees coming every day with
small boats (between 15 and 60 people on each of it) - and they gather
in the overcrowded harbour of Mitilini to make a first quick
registration to be then sent to the tent-camp Kara Tepe or to Moria,
which is in fact a detention center - but now the front door is open and
a big crowd is waiting to get access to the closed part to be registered
there. In the harbour there are the newly arriving people plus those who
got already their registering papers and could leave for Athens -
everywhere people on the move, people sleeping, people frying clothes...

The biggest problem right now is that there is not enough spaces on the
ferry boats to Athens. Right now there are no tickets available until
20th of August, because every ferry is fully booked. The ferry companies
don't want to send extra-ferries - and we think on how to scandalize
this, because this exactly creates the humanitarian crisis on this
island. Today it is already up to 5000 people who are stuck and everyday
the number is growing.

There is a lack of everything: the people sleep without blankets just on
the street, some buy by themselves small tents, the whole harbour is
full of tents. No showers, not even enough toilets. The newcomers are
not transported to the harbour, where they have to register, a lot of
them walk and walk...

We brought thousands of Welcome to Greece guides (see:
http://lesvos.w2eu.net/info-for-refugees/). Mainly in arabic and dari,
which are the most needed languages. We try to welcome and inform people
in the harbour and the different camps and answer their questions. This
morning two boats arrived at the next beaches to our camping and we
welcomed them directly after - and helped them with transport to the
harbour to get registered (which is by the way legalized now: if you
call the police and inform them, you can transport people even if they
are not registered yet without the risk to be criminalized). We are
going to all of the different places where the people are and we prepare
an infopoint with a steady presence in the harbour of Mitilini.

We will from tomorrow on send first pictures and reports from this
incredible situation and publish them on the Blog:http://lesvos.w2eu.net/

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Greece, Journey back to the borders, Part III
Journey back to the border – Part III

Lesvos/ Greece 15.-26. August 2015

Next week, in August 2015 we will return once again to the border– to
the places of our first arrivals and encounters, to one of Europe’s
gates and transit zones.

We will continue to warmly welcome all newcomers and we want to empower
them through our presence. In the very moment as they challenge the
European borders we will stand by them.

If the European border regime becomes history it will be washed ashore
by the wave of our collective NO; our NO to be exposed to war and
repression, our NO to be excluded from education and healthcare, our NO
to be exploited and forgotten. Even if our “No” is not always shout out
loud, it vibrates in every single step of our journeys.

We feel solidarity and a strong connection with our friends in Greece,
who have been confronted with the brutality of the European elites in
another way. Their Oxi! gave us hope when most of us, after a long
journey, tried to find a place in Europe, tried to figure out the
relation to and within the European society. As new European citizens we
demand equal rights for everyone. Obviously, not only migrants are
nowadays used as scapegoats in Europe, but also those who say no to an
austerity program without alternative.

We come back to Mitilini in a time when it is a zone of transit. It is a
chaotic situation, more than ever before. We are aware of the
humanitarian crisis produced by the governments in Central and Northern
Europe that do not take responsibility. There is massive support from
the Greek society, there are catering companies who prepare food without
being paid for months while the EU only funds detention centres,
threatening even the Greek government that they have to pay back EU
money should they turn detention facilities into open reception centers.

We come back in a time when lots of inhabitants of Lesvos are engaged in
day-to-day solidarity work for the newcomers. We know that this is a big
challenge for all. Especially in a time when a lot of NGOs and support
structures take responsibility that cannot be taken by the Greek
government because of lacking financial resources. We follow the stories
of all the helpful hands who welcome the newcomers, who offer food and
water, who donate clothes, who transport the people risking to be
criminalized for this humanitarian act. We are impressed by how many
people, inhabitants and tourists, stand together against the cruel
propaganda of the right wing policy. To find solutions through
solidarity is the best way to say “No” to all the propaganda.

We will try to support these solidarity networks and we stand with the
newcomers who suffer on the streets, left without care by the European
Union, who is not taking responsibility to open at least legal ways
within Europe. We know the routes laying in front of them, via the
train-tracks in Macedonia, through the Serbian forests up to the
dangerous zone in Hungary, the closest door to reach the north – and the
next country that is taking fingerprints that contain the risk of being
deported back. We know it because some of us walked these routes and we
are part of those who tore down the Dublin-system of inner-European
deportations. This is what we will tell our children and grandchildren.

We will come and help to respond to daily needs together with all the
others who have been doing this since months. Besides sun-hats for
children and shoes, we will try to bring as much useful information and
contacts as possible for the travellers. We know from our own history
that this is probably the most needed: to find contacts and to build own
networks. We will listen to their stories and share ours in
unforgettable encounters, because the moment of transit can be a moment
when you envision what you want to reach.

We will remember the border deaths. We are against the continuous loss
of lives at sea – a sea that is a connection between Europe and Asia and
which could be so beautiful. All these dead people would not have died,
if there were safe ways to reach Europe and freedom of movement.

We are going in a time that is full of worries. Some of us will miss
relatives who are still affected by the war in Syria or by the newly
started Turkish military interventions against the Kurdish areas in
Northern Iraq and Syria. Some of us will be thinking of their families
in different countries and feel the loss of not being united.

We will do our small contribution and empower all those who struggle for
another world with equal social rights for everyone. We are very happy
to join all those who have been doing this work for months. We will
dance for freedom of movement on all walls and borders until they fall.
We are looking forward to meet you soon!

Welcome to Europe and Youth without borders
August 2015

We share our experiences here: http://lesvos.w2eu.net/
Youth without Borders
Contact via: contact@w2eu.info

About the first and second journey:
2014: Second Journey back to the borders -> Documentation
2013: First Journey back to the borders -> Documentation
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