„… Aren´t the construction and extension of continuous everyday structures the most sustainable answer to the racist mainstream which seems to gather strength unchecked?…"
The german version of our following monthly newsletter was published in german speaking networks already two weeks ago, thus the call for the Thessaloniki Nobordercamp still was right in time…
As we needed - as usual - some more time for the translations, the introduction appears a bit outdated now. But you will find more updated announcements and valid transnational information for next weeks as well: in english full text below and on our website by the following links in three languages.
Best regards,
hagen
english:
german:
Kompass – AntiRa – Newsletter Nr. 51, July/August 2016
15/7 to 24/7: No Border Camp Thessaloniki … and Münster +++ From 15/7 in Berlin, Bielefeld, Brandenburg: No Stress Tour +++ 25/7 to 14/8: Summer Bus Tour by Wome in Exile +++ 4/8 to 7/8: Solidarity4all – Camp against the deportation camp im Bamberg +++ Central Mediterranean and Sea Watch Air +++ Push Back in the Aegean in the presence of Frontex +++Europe´s best hotel in Athens +++ Röszke II and situation in Hungary +++ Roma protests for the right to stay in Berlin and Regensburg +++ campaign by JoG +++ Petition for language courses for all +++ struggles against new labour law in France +++ Lexit not Brexit? +++ Reviews: Demo at embassies in Berlin, Welcome2stay, Defencing Festival +++ Preview for September and October: Blockupy blockade of the Labour Ministry in Berlin, Transnational Social Strike meeting in Paris
Dear friends,
Come to the No Border Camp in Thessaloniki! It starts next Friday (15/7) and it might be one of the biggest and most transnational camps in the history of No Border. Various convois from Spain, Italy, the Balkans, and Germany have announced themselves, activists from Turkey and Tunisia intend to join. Thousands of refugees and migrants live/survive in isolated conditions in camps and factory halls around Thessaloniki. Establishing contact collectively and encouraging self-organisation are central intentions of the days of protest in the „hotspot of the European border regime“. An exchange of initiatives along the Balkans route under the new and old conditions af migration movements being pushed into clandestinity, networking for new transnational projects for freedom of movement, discussions about social struggles and last but not least protests at deportation prisons and at the Greece-Turkey border: the 10 days program promises much practical encouragement in exciting combination. We will see...
For those who can´t or don´t want to go to Greece there will be the opportunity to get together for a camp in Münster at the same time – or to participate in the bus tour by women in exile across Germany, the No Stress Tour through Brandenburg or the Solidarity4all camp against the deportations camp in Bamberg. There are countless possibilities to contribute to the intensification of networks of contact and new local initiatives. Aren´t the construction and extension of coninuous everyday structures the most sustainable answer to the racist mainstream which seems to gather strength unchecked? From the German law for (prevention of) integration to the renewed attempt to outsource the EU border regime to war-torn and dictatorial countries of transit and origin; from Bulgarian and Hungarian militias hunting transit refugees to the xenophobis and racist Brexit campaign in the UK, the success of which will spur on all nationalist assholes: the “divide and conquer” is working out all too well. But in the social-political polarisations across Europe glimmers of hope are appearing. A special example are the mass protests against the new labour law in France which have been going on for four months. The connection of these protests, at least at certain points, to resolute strikes and blockades have made new dynamics and potentials become apparent in recent weeks...
There is more information and numerous links about all this, as well as all the activities listed in this introduction, in the following agenda and summaries in this summer newsletter.
Greetings in solidarity
the Compass team
Dates in July and August 2016
15th of July to 24th July: No Border Camp Thessaloniki
Preparations are taking place and there were several attempts in Thessaloniki to visit dispersed camps and to bond with stranded refugees.
The first multilingual camp magazine was already distributed, see http://noborder2016.espivblogs.net/noborder-newspaper/ for further information.
The second issue is in preparation, written in English, Greek and Arabic.
The program consists of a two-day networking meeting dealing the Balkan route. Many other gatherings and workshops to fight against the border regime and for self-reliant organization are taking place.
Several visits to the camps are planned, next to demonstrations against two deportation camps at the Greek-turkish border.
The full program with an overview poster can be found here: http://noborder2016.espivblogs.net/programme/
Network Beyond Europe organizes a convoy from Frankfurt, through Italy to Greece
See:
Another caravan from Germany can be found here:
Another caravan starts in Barcelona:
15th to 24th of July: No Border Camp Münster
The No Border Camp in Münster takes place at the same time as the No Border Camp in Thessaloniki.
The camp is self-organized and everyone is welcome to join. Bring your ideas, talents, workshops and lots of good temper with you!
Find the call for contribution, program and further information here on the website:
Contact: nobordercamp-ms@riseup.net
From the 15th of July to September: No Stress Tour
Fixed Dates: 15/7., 12/8., 31/8. und 9/9. in Berlin, Bielefeld and Brandenburger Camps. Call for contributions and further informations: http://www.nostresstour.de
25th July to August 14th: Women in Exile Summer Bus Tour
Our preparation meeting wich took place in Göttingen from the 10th to 12th of June brought us one step closer to our goals.
More than 30 women from different federal states in Germany will meet to talk about the current conditions in their areas. Our workshop in Göttingen was all about public relations, activities and logistics during our tour.
Calender: Mon, 25/7. Magdeburg; Tue, 26/7. Halle; Wed, 27/7. Halle/Leipzig; Thu, 28/7. Leipzig; Fr, 29/7, Nürnberg; Sat, 30/7. Nürnberg; Sun, 31/7. Frankfurt/Oberursel; Mon, 1/8. Oberursel; Tue, 2/8. Köln; Wed, 3/8. Cologne; Thu, 4/8. Osnabrück; Fr, 5/8. Bielefeld; Sat, 6/8. Göttingen; Sun, 7/8. Witzenhausen; Mon, 8/8. Bremen; Tue, 9/8. Bremen; Wed, 10/8. Hamburg; Thu, 11/8. Hamburg; Fr, 12/8. Brandenburg; Sat, 13/8. Berlin; Sun, 14/8. Berlin
4th July to the 7th of August: Solidarity4all
Camp against the deportation camp in Bamberg
An alliance consisting of multiple organizations from Nürnberg, Bamberg, Munich, Göttingen, Erlangen, Fürth, Dresden and other cities is going to organize a multi-day antiracism protest camp in August. It is going to be positioned in front of the arrival-and-departure facilities in Bamberg. Besides that there is going to be a demonstration through the city center with various protest actions.
In September 2015 two so-called arrival-and departure facilities opened in Bavaria of which one is in Manching/Ingolstadt and another one in Bamberg.
Refugees who come from declared “safe countries of origin” have to stay in those camps during the whole asylum process. Instead of money they get paid with non-cash benefits.
Because of residential obligations their stay is restricted to the area of the foreigners' registration office.
Shut down from the public and living in inhumane conditions, a high speed asylum procedure is conducted. Together with appeal deadlines the whole process is supposed to take only three weeks.
Most asylum requests get declined and each week mass deportations take place in the camp.
So far, many Romani people got deported. They belong to a group which strongly suffers from racism while their living conditions in the balkan states are disastrous.
Currently there are negotiations with the city of Bamberg concerning with finding an appropriate area for the camp. The city does not want to allocate the areas, which are close to the “Arrival–and–Departure” camps and are favored by the alliance.
Fighting Against Death in the Mediterranean Sea
Between 1996 and 2016 at least 60.000 people died in the Mediterranean Sea, according to a current study. One of them was 6 year old Jennifer who passed away on August the 6th in 2013, together with her parents, on their passage from Morocco to Spain.
Various Europe-Interact activists knew them and tried to tell the story of the congolese family.
One of them, singer-Songwriter Franzis Binder, who takes part in Afrique-Europe-Interact, wrote a song dedicated to Jennifer.
It is not only the story of Jennifer and her family but also a tale on how the widespread deaths in the Mediterranean Sea could be history soon.
The song is available with English and French subtitles, amongst further information about the current situation Morocco:
Central Mediterranean: Thousands of people are still taking off from Libya with boats; further Civil Rescue Ships Support SAR (Search and Rescue) Operations; and Sea Watch launches the Operation of a small airplane
Every week now, thousands of people from Libya are reaching Sicily, after having been taken aboard by the Italian coast guard, by military ships or by civil rescue ships close to the Libyan coast. Doctors Without Borders reports many people being injured and the detention and abuse in Libyan jails show their effects on them.
It is still unclear if and why the military ships of the EU react only seldom promptly to a SOS and why they do not fill in the gaps that occur on the known routes when civil rescue ships are taking the saved ones to Sicily.
Besides the ships of Doctors Without Borders (Bourbon Argos and Dignity I), of SOS Mediterranee (Aquarius), MOAS (Phönix), Sea-Eye and Sea Watch, three more ships have arrived from Spain and Germany to take part in the rescue operations: Jugend Rettet (“Youth saves”) with the ship Iuventa, Pro Activa with the ship Astral and DgzRS with the ship Minden. It can definitely be seen as a very positive development that more civilians are getting active directly on site. But this should not distract from the fact that even a well coordinated EU sea rescue programme (which so far does not even exist rudimentarily and is denied politically) would not prevent people from drowning, as long as they are forced to embark overcrowded plastic boats or old barges because of a lack of save passages. A rescue operation by the above mentioned ships is anyway only possible in a limited way outside the 12 mile zone and riskless only outside the 24 mile zone. Inside of these coastal zones the Libyan coast guard is operating, as well as the military, which are hardly distinguishable from the official coast guard and are even threatening with armed force in order to get hold of the boats used by Refugees. Over the last months several thousand Refugees were brought back to Libya this way.
In late June, the Sea Watch project started to implement an idea which was demanded widely but denied by the EU officials in charge: The use of a small airplane to monitor the coastal line and systematically and promptly start the locating and rescuing of the Refugee boats. Sea Watch writes about this on the 29th of June: “The first test flight of the Sea-Watch Air was a success. The crew of the Sea-Watch Air and the Humanitarian Pilots Initiative (HPI) detected two rubber boats off the Libyan coast on their test flight! Their positions were forwarded to the sea rescue headquarters in Rome and the people on board were later on salvaged by rescue ships. The plane started at 6 o'clock local time from Lampedusa towards the SAR area and was in the air for only 1,5 hours. It is striking to see what all we can achieve as a private initiative – and what the EU denies to achieve.” http://sea-watch.org
Push Back in the Aegean in the Presence of Frontex
“This reveals how the deal with Turkey violates human rights: The Greek coast guard brutally and illegally pushed back – and Frontex was watching”, as the WatchTheMed Alarm Phone outlined what happened in the early morning of June 11th off the Greek Island Chios. 53 Refugees, among them 14 children, had taken off in a rubber boat from the Turkish Cesme towards Chios. In Greek territorial waters they were stopped by a ship of the Greek coast guard. At first they were told to be safe and able to apply for asylum. But then the people, which came among others from Syria, Iraq and Eritrea, were forced at gun point to change onto a ship of the Turkish coast guard and were brought back to the Turkish coast.
The helpline project for boat people reconstructed the events while being in direct contact with those affected. GPS data proves the passage and position of the boat on the Greek side of the sea border. And even photos, taken secretly with a phone, are documenting this act of illegal push back.
The TAZ reported about it:
Europe's Best Hotel in Athens
“The best hotel of Europe has opened! Already in April. And this morning our donation campaign for the City Plaza Hotel in the center of Athens has started, in order to finance good food, clean hallways, a drug store, a hair dresser as well as language classes, a library and legal advise for the 400 Refugees in the hotel.”
The call, a film clip, posters, postcards and more can be seen on the site of the campaign: http://www.europas-bestes-hotel.eu
Röszke 11 and something about the situation in Hungary
11 refugees who had been detained in September 2015 at the Hungarian-Serbian border got a scandalous trial in June 2016 in Szeged.
Summarized reports in English from Moving Europe you can find here:
and with more details from the Hungarian support group Migszol:
Since the closure of the Balkan corridor in March 2016 it's not longer the big number of people who try to gettheir way from Macedonia or Bulgaria to Serbia and then from Hungary to Austria and Northwest-Europe but still 300 people per day. The reaction of the Hungarian government is to tighten the laws. The aim is to legalize actually illegal push backs to Serbia. On top of that there are vigilante groups active in the Hungarian border area who propagate their hunt for refugees in an offensive way.
Concerning this devolpements in Hungary we recommend the recent English report from Migszol:
Refugees totally unwanted: New report about the situation in Hungary
„The right of asylum in Hungary is in fact not there. The Hungarian government is doing everything to repeal persons in need of protection. A new report of PRO ASYL and bordermonitoring.eu shows why refugees should not be deported back to Hungary.“
Protests of Roma for the right to stay in Berlin and Regensburg
In the last newsletter we already informed you about the persistent protest of Roma against their planned deportation. Now, middle of June they started their second occupation action:
and there is an appeal for a demonstration on the 10 July in Berlin.
On 5 July another active group of Roma who are threatened by deportation occupied the cathedral of Regensburg. “At 11 am they went into the cathedral in a decided manner. Immediately they unrolled banners with the flag of Sinti and Roma and the sentences “You can't stop us” and “Right to stay for all”. First they were mentioned by the visitors of the church. Short time after the first press people came who were informed by social media and email. … From their appeal: “Our ways to an equal right here are blocked. In the countries we came from we expect pursuit, racism and exclusion. No donation from Western Europe can solve our problems there. We only can be on the way or occupy something.”
This protest achieved its intended result. The diocese of Regensburg grant them a temporarily right to stay in the rooms next to the cathedral and provide them with the most necessary things. http://www.alle-bleiben.info/balkan-fluchtlinge-besetzen-regensburger-dom/
Petition from JoG and BumF: No limitations of youth welfare – Future perspectives for young refugees!
Thousands of unacompanied minor refugees get into independence and training. For this support was needed – but this support is in danger now: German federal and state governments negotiate about the limitation of the aids. Therefore we, the federal association for unaccompanied minor refugees and youth without borders, say: Don't save up the future! (Spart nicht an der Zukunft!)
Sign here for a strong youth welfare: https://weact.campact.de/petitions/keine-einschrankung-der-jugendhilfe-zukunftsperspektiven-fur-gefluchtete-jugendliche
More information: http://www.b-umf.de
Petition – Language courses for everybody!
To learn German is a basic condition for integration and participation in public life. The possibility to work and to have a independent life is based on the ability to speak the common language. Still there is no nationwide supply of language courses for fled people. This has to change!
Since autumn 2015 a chosen part of refugees has the right to attend a course while their process of asylum is ongoing, a so called integration course which teaches basic German. Only asylum seekers who have a “good chance to stay” profit from this new rule.Everybody else receives for months or years only a rudimentary language development or nothing. We consider this to be wrong and demand a comprehensive supply for language courses for ALL refugees in Germany: Access to integration courses for all refugees!
Please support our demand and spread and sign the petition:
Persistent struggles against the new Labour law in France
On 9th of March the protests started, since 4 month mass mobilizations with partly very militant demonstrations, strikes and blockades. Despite and against the state of emergency, brutal police repression and EM-hustle... We recommend the continuous reporting by labournet, look here:
Look also the recent texts and links below concerning the transnational social strike.
Lexit instead of Brexit?
Labournet commented after the Brexit: “Among the infinity of reactions to the outcome of the British referendum on EU membership - Brexit – two main trends can be identified. On the one hand there are all those who see the world as being on the verge of disaster, because supposedly the idea of Europe is in critical danger. Mostly they seem hardly to notice that, in doing so, they equalize the treaty-defined neo-liberal EU with Europe as a matter of course. On the other hand there are those who for the 1387th time demand a more social Europe, with as many chances of its realization as hitherto. No main trend, yet also present among left-wing political groups and trade union members – also in Great Britain – is the opinion, that this was ‘merely’ a defiant act against the dictatorship of capital. The fascist manhunts in England (to be compared only with those of Frontex in the Mediterranean) in the days after the referendum, perhaps ought to be given some more consideration… With this contribution of 27 June 2016, a commented compilation of material by Helmut Weiss, we will not be able either to answer the question how the necessary could be done, without defending the EU, or the national state. But we can bring certain trends in the reactions to the public’s attention …”
Another two texts/links worth reading:
Reviews:
Demo against EU migration policy in Berlin
On 9th of June, at the initiative of Afrique-Europe-Interact in Berlin, a demonstration against the massive deaths in the Mediterranean and the current EU migration policy was held (together with actions in Sokodé in Togo and Kita in Mali). Some very beautiful pictures of the demonstration can be found here:
Welcome2Stay in Leipzig
“800+ people, wow! – and what next? First we want to say THANK YOU. Thank you for the three monumental and exciting days with solidary discussions, Popcorn & Hüpfburg, with five languages and contributions from a broad political spectrum, and of course with more than 800 people who turned this weekend into what it was.
Where do we go from here? To be honest, we do not know it exactly ourselves. With Welcome2Stay we set an open process in motion. A process that does not yet have a clear defined focal point it must be elaborated by many of us, it needs a new ‘we’, it must to be curious, or maybe it ‘must be’ nothing, but could be many things. Network? Alliance? Organisation? Label? Regular assembly? We want to find out together with all of you.
An important outcome of our meeting: we want to meet you again. On 4th of September in Berlin, the day after the nation-wide demonstration against racism, we will gather to work together on Welcome2Stay…”
An important outcome of our meeting: we want to meet you again. On 4th of September in Berlin, the day after the nation-wide demonstration against racism, we will gather to work together on Welcome2Stay…”
More about the first evaluation, photos, livestreams at: http://welcome2stay.org
Defencing Festival at the Slovenian-Croatian border
Camp and infrastructure on two sides of the border separated and controlled by NATO barbed wire fencing, add to this a once-in-a-century thunderstorm which flooded all the tents and made the shared picnic at the green border literally ‘fall through’ … - no easy conditions and the participation remained surveyable: 70 activists on the Slovenian and 80 activists on the Croatian side. Yet the transnational composition of the group and the participation of refugees made for a few exciting workshops and debating groups. And the local groups want to follow up on the initiative and make ‘Defencing’ a permanent process for the exchange of views…
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/defencing/
Contact: d10.ljubljana@gmail.com
Previews for September and October
Blockupy on 2th of September: blockade of the ministry for Social Affairs and Employment in Berlin
On 3th of September Blockupy takes part in the huge demonstration in Berlin against racism and the AFD, see https://www.aufstehen-gegen-rassismus.de , while moreover calling for a blockade of the ministry of Social Affairs and Employment on Friday, 2th of September: “… we want to mark it as one of the central places of their policy of precarity and pauperization, of the hierarchisation of misery and of borders, of the export of Agenda 2010 and of the German role model.
We will corner them in public because the currently planned attempt to debar EU immigrants from their social rights is yet another example of social division along national lines. We reject this policy of pauperization, exclusion and demarcation – and from now on we will bother them and be active in those places where this policy is being planned and executed: in the party headquarters of the AFD and of the supposed centre party, in the job centres of this world and, last but not least, at the lobby associations of capital, such as the BDI/BDA….”
Find the entire call and more at: https://blockupy.org/6522/die-akteure-und-profiteure-von-spaltung-abschottung-und-austeritaet-markieren/
Transnational Social Strike Meeting from 21st to 23rd of October in Paris
From the invitation: “…Against the combined action of the European labour market policies, against the illusion that the renationalization of political initiatives and of the anti-migration policy could be the right answer, and against capitalism and neo liberalism, we must realize a transnational convergence of the struggles. The massive social strike which currently takes place in France, addresses its message also to us. Strikes in all production and service areas are accompanied by massive mobilizations in the cities. This even involves the precarity workers who are not represented by the unions and who once in a while succeeded in interrupting the production of value as well as the realization of profits. Experiments in this direction have occurred before over the past years: the strike of migrant workers, the strikes in the logistics sector and along the production chains, as well as in the health care section – in France they have now reached the magnitude of a mass movement. Solidarity and overcoming the division between the struggles at work and elsewhere are now our common political goal…”
The entire call in several languages and more at: http://www.transnational-strike.info