“In this way we want to contribute to keep open a path into a new Europe – for those that are arriving as well as for ourselves." ( http://moving-europe.org/ )
Find the Kompass-Newsletter for November with hints to a lot of transnational projects and in three languages with photos by the following links and in full text in english attached:
english version:
http://kompass.antira.info/files/2015/11/44Kompass_Newsletter_Nov15_en.pdf
french version:
http://kompass.antira.info/files/2015/11/44Kompass_Newslettre_Nov15_fr.pdf
german version:
http://kompass.antira.info/files/2015/11/44Kompass_Newsletter_Nov15.pdf
Best regards,
hagen
Kompass AntiRa Newsletter Nr. 44 - November 2015
Europe at the crossroads - Balkan - http://moving-europe.org and http://live.w2eu.info+++ As of 11 November in Lesvos: Sea Watch in operation +++ 11 November in Berlin: Anti-Military Action +++ 14 November in Hamburg: Preliminary Meeting for Refugee Conference and Demo +++ 19 November in Berlin: Refugee School Strike +++ 20 and 22 November in Magdeburg: Networking Meeting for Refugee Women +++ Services for Refugees in Germany +++ Alarmphone is receiving 100 distress-at-sea calls per week +++ Reviews: Jury Jalloh, Ohlauer School +++ Previews: Transnational Social Strike Action Day on 1 March 2016
Dear Friends!
"... Meanwhile an autonomy of migration has evolved, partly as a consequence and continuation of the Arabellion. The new assertiveness of migrants, and the strength with which they enforce their freedom of movement, their right to move, will no be easily crushed by the EU and its policy of fending off migrants....If the Fortress Europe is to be defended, it cannot be achieved peacefully anymore.
Europe is at crossroads: Are hundreds of thousands at the external borders to be condemned to die, to be detained in camps or even to be shot at? ... Europe will change, but it must not fall back into the old patterns of deportation, detention and repression. Instead, Europe could open up and allow a process of re-orientation and pluralisation which would be be fitting of the 21st century. ...
Will all those people that have welcomed migrants enthusiastically be able to withstand the increasing attacks from the political right and the blowbacks that the next months will inevitably bring? Can we communicate that austerity and precarity goes hand in glove with competition and racist division? And will we be able to develop processes of solidarity and common struggles? Are we ready and willing to not merely 'integrate' migrants, but to allow and foster more drastic changes that will also re-align our own lives?..."
http://moving-europe.org is the name of the co-operation project which, with practical emphasis on the Balkan (see below), was initiated at the end of October and with these few lines try to find a political assessment.
And yes, the situation is and will remain contradictory and open.
On the one hand: the right and the racists sense a new opportunity and mobilize, no longer only in Dresden. Simultaneously the EU Governments - and also “Mama Merkel”- step up the control regime at all levels. Accelerated asylum laws, announcement of fast-track proceedings and mass deportations, of deprivation of rights and registration zones: there is no lack of ‘clear terms’ expressing the racist public authority. Reluctant improvements in residence law of recent years are being abolished again with one stroke of the pen.
On the other hand: the rulers know that most of their right-wing populism only feigns legal competence and will remain deterrence rhetoric. The announcement for instance that Afghan asylum seekers will be mass-deported, will not be enforceable, but also rumours can and do make people insecure.
The social movement of migration is and will remain unstoppable though. The institutionalised corridor of trains from Serbia to Austria and then on to Germany is not a favour, but has been set up in reaction to the big flights being unstoppable. “The EU Commission is expecting the arrival of a further three million refugees in Europe until 2017” (5.11.15). This sounds as if fences and the military offer no alternatives and that – at least until now – a majority of the rulers wish to avoid the dissemination of ‘Orbánism’. They know that it would mean the irreversible end of the European promise of freedom.
Besides, the support for refugees from civil society remains perseveringly strong along the entire route: Sea Watch is currently starting sea rescue operations on Lesvos, in the Balkan dozens of local and transnational projects are operative, many on-the-spot welcoming initiatives are becoming permanent, the support chain reaches up to Scandinavia (seehttp://live.w2eu.info/ ).
In the previous Newsletter we already emphasized it: for the coming months the challenge and outlook are in the development of coordinated, common social struggles. This means the development of a solidarity with the new citizens, which demands the same social and political rights for all. Or as aptly expressed in the closing sentence of the mission statement of the abovementioned project: “In this way we want to contribute to keep open a path into a new Europe – for those that are arriving as well as for ourselves."
In solidarity,
The Kompass Crew
Projects and Meeting Dates in November 2015
http://moving-europe.org
“At the end of October we will start with a minibus as a mobile and flexible info and support station in the Balkan, also to offer help in the most urgent cases, but foremost to collect and spread information as well as to show our presence to the ‘security forces’. The bus project will be embedded in a network of activists, who at almost all border crossings and hot spots along the route between the Aegean and Scandinavia, draw up short, regular updates concerning the current situation. These updates will then be communicated to those who need them for their onward travel”. http://live.w2eu.info is the name of the Live Blog of the network Welcome to Europe, where this information is meanwhile being collected and spread. At the end of November, Moving Europe will hold informative meetings in several cities. More details will be published shortly on the above-mentioned website. Also especially recommended is the video clip of the project:
https://vimeo.com/144161283 <https://vimeo.com/144161283>
Probably operative as of 11 November – Sea Watch on its way to Lesvos…
"Again and again the bodies of dead people are washed ashore on the beaches of the Greek island Lesvos. With the coming of winter the passage from Turkey to Greece will become increasingly dangerous for the refugees. That is why Sea Watch decided to start a rescue mission in the Aegean. On Friday 6 November 2015 we will start our mission from Hamburg with a speedboat equipped for rescue operations…
On the coasts of Lesvos, we not only set out to save lives, but also to defend our fundamental European values against one of the deadliest border regimes in history” says crew member Philipp Hahn in view of the current tragedies on Lesvos. “We will stay there until this crime is stopped!” The full press statement and more:
http://sea-watch.org/sea-watch-wird-rettungs-und-beobachtungsmission-auf-lesbos-starten/
Umbruch Bildarchiv has moreover posted a retrospective photo page concerning the Sea Watch initiative in the central Mediterranean:
http://www.umbruch-bildarchiv.de/bildarchiv/ereignis/seawatch.html
11 November 2015 in Berlin, 5 PM, Rosenthaler Platz
Anti-Military Demonstration, Blow the Final Tattoo Whistle, Abolish the German Armed Forces - 60 Years of Bundeswehr, No Reason for Celebrations!
On 11 November 2015 the German armed forces will perform a ‘Grand Tattoo’ in front of the Berlin Reichstag to commemorate their 60-year existence. The Grand Tattoo, the most important ceremony of the Bundeswehr, is a massive military parade with torches, march music, prayer and the national anthem. 3,000 civilian and military participants and guests are expected for the evening of this military spectacle. The Bundeswehr stands for militarisation, war and occupation. It epitomizes authoritarian thought and patriarchal structures. Our goal is the abolition of the German armed forces and a world without war and capitalism. Let us protest against the army and its Prussian-militaristic birthday party!
14 November in Hamburg: Preliminary Meeting for Refugee Conference and preceding Demo
Invitation to all activists fighting for the rights of refugees and migrants to a preliminary meeting for a refugee conference in Hamburg. On the occasion of an international conference of refugees and migrants, taking place in Hamburg from 26 to 28 February 2016, we have the pleasure to invite you to the first preliminary meeting on Saturday, 14 November 2015 in Hamburg. The idea of this meeting is to discuss with delegates of different cities and groups the topics of the conference, the contribution of everybody’s ideas and opinions and a structure to prepare it. We also want to evaluate the content and results of the first conference which took place in Hannover in August 2015…. Saturday 14 November we will begin with a big demonstration starting at 1.30 PM at Hamburg-Hauptbahnhof.
see: http://nevermindthepapers.noblogs.org
19 November in Berlin: Refugee School Strike
Call-up for a strike on 19 November under the slogan ‘Against Racism, whether from PEGIDA or the State, burning homes are the fruit of their seed!’
We are fed up with the state (at a political level) and the Nazis (in the streets) making life hell for refugees! So inform your friends, take them along and join us in a strike against racism, against oppression and for a just society!
Equal rights for all! Full citizen’s rights for refugees means the right to work, full democratic rights and freedom of movement!
Abolish the Lagers! For lodging people in individual houses. Where there is no place: expropriation of unoccupied houses and speculation objects and massive building of council housing!
Become active against right-wing violence! Set up antiracist structures and student groups, organise yourself, go out into the streets and be where the fires are.
No room for racism! For a broad youth movement against any form of oppression.
https://www.facebook.com/events/512934825529150/
Refugees Welcome!
21 and 22 November in Magdeburg: Women’s Caravan Networking Meeting
… For the meeting some women will prepare reports about their home countries and about women’s reasons to seek refuge. We want to share our stories and discuss together how we, as a women’s caravan, wish to go on from here. All women who are interested in a dialogue are warmly invited!
When: from 21 November 12.00 AM until 22 November 02.00 PM
Where: Hot „Alte Bude", Karl-Schmidtstr.12 in Magdeburg
In order for us to plan better, please announce your participation at : habibi@riseup.net or by telephone at 0157-71965201
Further News
Service/Counselling/Advice Offers for Refugees in Germany
Pro Asyl has drawn up, in German and English, a list of all kinds of counselling centres and other advice offers:
http://www.proasyl.de/de/service/beratung/angebote-fuer-fluechtlinge/
http://www.proasyl.de/en/service/legal-advice/angebote-fuer-fluechtlinge/
Alarmphone receiving 100 distress-at-sea calls per week !
In its last weekly report (for the end of October) the hotline for boatpeople reported that in this week almost 100 distress calls from the Aegean were received; at the same time there were again and again reports about deaths by drowning and otherwise.
More info at: http://alarmphone.org
Reviews
Oury Jalloh
The Initiative in remembrance of Oury Jalloh again called up for a press conference on 27 October 2015, in order to publish the results to date, concerning the Oury Jalloh case, as well as to demand again that the case be treated as a murder and investigated thoroughly and completely….
http://thevoiceforum.org/node/4013
Ohlauer Schule
New Court Decision of the High Administrative Court in October 2015
The High Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg decided in favour of the Ohlauer school against the notification of eviction of the school by the District Court. The Court Decision can be found here: http://oplatz.net/2015/10/02/court-decision-in-favor-of-people-from-the-gerhart-hauptmann-school
Report: http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/986665.gericht-ohlauer-fluechtlinge-duerfen-bleiben.html
Previews
Transnational Social Strike Action Day on 1 March 2016
Early October a transnational meeting took place in Poznan. The collective closing statement calls up for a collective action day on 1 March 2016 against the ‘government of mobility’ and in particular the exploitation of migrant labour. The full statement can be found in many languages on the website: http://www.transnational-strike.info
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