World Europe Moving On - #Refugees #Migrants One year Alarm Phone‏

Alarmphone’s anniversary brochure is out! The different contributions in
this brochure reflect on many remarkable experiences made by Alarm Phone
members in the project’s first year of existence.
>> http://alarmphone.org/en/intros/1-year-documentation/

PDF-download of the brochure:
http://alarmphone.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2016/01/AP-1year-Doku-Screen-04-DS.pdf

Introduction

Everything is possible, everything can be transformed by strong social
movements!Through our Alarm Phone project and during this incredible
year of successful struggles for the freedom of movement, we learned
this lesson once again.

OCTOBER 2014 Although we decided to operate the Alarm Phone throughout
the entire Mediterranean Sea, during our preparation process we could
hardly imagine how to make effectively use of our hotline in the Aegean
area. Illegal PUSH-BACKS by Greek coastguards were daily practices at
that time and while discussing this issue with refugees who had directly
experienced such life-threatening situations, we thought it would be
impossible to develop strategies for real-time interventions to prevent
these practices.

OCTOBER 2015 Up to 100 distress calls and messages reached our shift
teams in one week alone and nearly all of them came from the Aegean Sea.
Every day and night rescue operations were carried out with realtime
support of the Alarm Phone – an unexpected U-turn! This changing dynamic
was the consequence of several intersecting factors: Syria had come into
power and halted most of the illegal push-back practices and also
dismantled some pillars of the Greek-European detention regime.

More and more refugees and migrants were under pressure to leave and
move towards Europe and they succeeded to open up a corridor to the
north, heralding the long summer of migration. And between boat people,
escorting groups of migrant communities and our Alarm Phone, an amazing
communication process and network developed, able to support the
(attempted) sea crossing of thousands.

This anniversary brochure provides information and an evaluation of
these dynamics, not merely for the Aegean region but also concerning
conditions and social struggles in the Central and Western Mediterranean
Sea. The different contributions in this brochure reflect on many
remarkable experiences made by Alarm Phone members in the project’s
first year of existence. Most of its articles were composed by working
groups or individual members of our transnational network and are thus
reflective of the decentralised character of the Alarm Phone and its
collaborative approach. We have grown into a network of more than 100
activists who belong to various groups, have multiple backgrounds, and
live in cities all over Europe, northern Africa and elsewhere. We hope
you will enjoy our brochure and we always welcome your feedback.