From our Kompass Newsletter for October 2016, now in three languages available again.
Full english text attached, below the links to the layouted versions with fotos.
best greetings,
hagen
english: http://kompass.antira.info/files/2016/10/53Kompass_Newsletter_Oct16_en.pdf
Kompass – AntiRa – Newsletter no. 53, October 2016
…Starting 8.10. in Bavaria: March From Munich to Nuremberg +++ Greece: „Hotspot“ Moria Burnt Down After Protests +++ Balkan Route: March (attempt) from Belgrade and renewed Live Feed +++ Worsening Situation in Calais +++ 21. - 23.10. in Paris: Transnational Social Strike Conference +++ 28.10. in Budapest: Demonstration in Solidarity with Röszke 11 +++ 29.10. in Nuremberg: Demonstration „Fighting Causes of Flight” +++ Welcome to Greece Guide – New Edition +++ Valetta Process +++ Reviews: Pro Asyl Award for Human Rights for Father Mussie Zerai, Alarm Phone Meeting and Ferry not Frontex in Tanger, Strike Conference Frankfurt +++ Outlook: 19./20.11. in Frankfurt about the Possibility of an AntiRa Conference in 2017; 3./4.12. Conference in Hamburg against the G20 in July 2017…
Dear Friends,
scandalous deportations from Italy to Sudan, an extortionate remission agreement between the EU and Afghanistan, a planned new deal with Egypt – hardly one day passes without disturbing news and plans of deterrence from the various levels of a completely ruthless border regime. But at the same time, there is no day passing by without confrontations and struggles for the freedom of movement either! While the EU is trying by all means to equip Libya to be the new watchdog, on the two days of the 3rdand 4th of October alone 10,000 people entered the boats towards Italy. While ministers of Syriza in Greece maintain the “island detention” as demanded by the EU, the largest “Hotspot” on Lesbos burned down. While the very few holes on the Balkan Route are getting closed down by even more fences and military, more than 400 Refugees try out a new “March of Hope” from Belgrade. Fierce conflicts from Ceuta to Calais, and in Bavaria self-organized refugees start a protest march from Munich to Nuremberg on the 8th of October...
Straight through Europe spaces were and are fought for. Migration and the question of (equal) rights permanently determine the discourses of society. The following little example shows, that not everybody is moving to the right on these polarizing issues: On the strike conference at the beginning of October in Frankfurt, the chairwoman of the union NGG (which is not exactly known to be specifically radical) was asked how she coped with members voting for the AfD. Her answer was something close to this: “Of course we are having a substantial debate about it. But when single colleagues resign because of our clear position against the AfD, then” – literally – “fuck it!(Scheiß drauf!)”.
Along these lines, with anti-racist regards,
your Kompass-Team
Dates and information for October 2016
From 8th to 22th October in Bavaria: March from Munich to Nuremberg
After weeks of protesting at the Sendlinger Tor, self-organized refugees mobilise for a new march:
On the 8th of October, we are going to start a protest march from Munich to Nürnberg to protest for our right to stay, and against the discrimination by the Bavarian integration bill. Why is Nuremberg the destination of the protest march? The head office of the federal office for migration and refugees (BAMF) is located in Nuremberg. We will go there because this is the place where they decide about our asylum applications. On our route we will have stops in ten other Bavarian cities in order to have the chance to make our protest more public every day and to mobilise other refugees, just as being able to get more support in society.
Why are we walking? We came from different countries and have travelled thousands of kilometres to get here, so we will continue moving until we get our rights. They deny us our basic human right of freedom of movement. For people who are at the beginning of their asylum process, the place of residence is allocated, and people are obliged to stay at this place. Also refugees with a ‚Duldung‘ are forced to tell the foreigners’ office where they are staying all the time. People with a residence status are not able to decide where they want to live.
Why are we demanding the right to stay? All of our demands are included in the right to stay. We are demanding the right to stay, to work, the right to education and the right of choosing our places of residence. All of these are citizenship rights, and that's why our main demand is the right to stay.“
More information, all stops as well as an urgent call for donations here:
Greece: „Hotspot“ Moria burns down after protests
At around 5PM in the evening of September 9th of last year, a fire started at the Hotspot Moria on the Greek island Lesvos. In the last weeks refugees protested again and again because of the inhuman living conditions there. Tents and living containers had caught fire, over 4,000 refugees had to be evacuated. The homeless seeking protection had fled to the fields around or to the nearby village Moria. Since last month the situation on Lesvos is tense: in the middle of September 5660 seekers of protection had been held there, although the Hotspot is calculated for 3500. Furthermore there has been the rumour that mass deportation to Turkey will take place. At the same time there is no perspective for the detainees to leave the island in any other direction.
After the attack the camp burnt down almost completely. In October 2009 the government closed the former island prison Pagani after unaccompanied minors have setted their cells on fire. “Dante's Inferno” should be history. To this day the Greek government is not able to take the only reasonable path of letting the people enter the mainland. Instead, they fulfil their part of the EU-Turkey-Deal. This deal states that more boats will come to the aegean islands if there is again a passage to the mainland. Not only in Moria, but on all other islands and as well at the mainland rebellions, protests and hunger strikes take place against this cynical politics. “Open the borders” is still the most shouted slogan at the actions. Those struggles concerning freedom of movement need our support.
Balkan Route: (Attempt) March from Belgrade and live feed in a new layout
NoBorder Serbia: statement regarding the self-organized march of migrants
“A group of about 400-500 migrants began another March of Hope today (4.10.2016) from Belgrade to the Serbian-Hungarian border. At the time of writing they are in the vicinity of Stara Pazova. They are moving under the oversight of the Serbian police and members of the controversial government commissariat for/against refugees. Some of the march's participants are considering returning to Belgrade, due to the exhaustion and relentless pressures they are subjected to….”
Full statement here: https://noborderserbia.wordpress.com
More information about the Balkan Route and Serbia at http://moving-europe.org
Here you can check out the the live feed of Welcome to Europe with updated information about the Balkan Route in a new layout at: https://live.w2eu.info
Aggravation in Calais: building of a wall and complete clearance planned…
From the mailing lists: “There are many more than 10,000 in the jungle, many many more. It is totally impossible to pass the jungle in such a short time. Most of all the eviction should be fought against, by every means at our disposal. The demonstration yesterday (1.10.16) although repressed - they roasted us with tear gas - was a great act of rebellion and international solidarity. More of that is needed, please keep coming to Calais. There are two court cases pending, one for the restaurants and one for the minors, for which there are no plans. More legal challenges can be made, for the women and their children in Jules-Ferry, for the right to occupy the land that should be treated as a legal squat. Political campaign to stop the eviction…”
More info at https://www.facebook.com/stop.eviction.calais/
21. - 23.10. in Paris: Transnational Social Strike Conference
“The last months France has been turned upside down by the movement against the labour law. We have greeted it as a prolonged and massive experience of social strike because of the combination of strikes in the key sectors of the economy with a social mobilization that filled the streets, the squares and the metropolitan space. While mainly directed against the labour law, the mobilization has also addressed the world, that is a wider spectrum of issues having to do with the ways in which precarity hunts both labour and living conditions, depriving people of the possibility to choose their future and move around autonomously. The approval of the labour law, in line with many other labour reforms in Europe, the escalating social and political tensions that are crossing not only France but all of Europe, the transnational character of austerity measures and the EU crisis management confront us with the problem of how to turn the French mobilization and its novelty into a transnational opportunity. After our first annual meeting in Poznan, the transnational day of coordinated action of 1.3. and our first assembly in Paris we, the Transnational Social Strike Platform, now have to ask ourselves, whether we want to recognize the French labour law as a national expression of European neoliberal policies and how we can overcome the national dimension of the struggles against these policies …”
For Calls, a registration for the conference and the soon released detailed program seehttp://www.transnational-strike.info
The provisional program:
21.10, 6PM-9PM: panel discussion «From France to Europe»
22.10, 10AM-1PM: thematic workshops around issues such as logistics, migrant labour and mobility, care-work and reproduction, organizing within and beyond trade unions
3pm-6pm: general assembly around common perspectives and common claims
23.10, 10AM-2PM: final plenary assembly
28.10. in Szeged/Budapest - Free the Röszke 11! – Solidarity with the imprisoned refugees in Hungary!
In September 2015 Hungary closed its borders for refugees who were traveling along the so-called Balkan Route. Thousands of people were stranded at the Hungarian border; days of protests and disputes with the Hungarian police followed. Later the Hungarian police, completely randomly, arrested 11 refugees and brought charges against them for ‘illegal border crossing’, participation in ‘mass riots’ and ‘terrorism’ (in the case of Ahmad H.).
In the show trials against ten of the accused judgement was already given in July.
On 28.10.2016 another trial day will follow against Ahmad H. who is accused of ‘terrorism’ and is alleged to be a ‘ringleader’. He risks getting a prison sentence of 25 years. Amnesty International, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and other NGO’s repeatedly criticized the proceedings on grounds of considerable legal flaws. An international alliance demands the release of the accused and on the spot supports the trials and people involved. The alliance calls for monitoring the trial on 28.10.2016 in Szeged and for a demonstration of solidarity in Budapest on the day before, or after the trial.
Current info at: http://freetheroszke11.weebly.com/
29.10. in Nürnberg: Demo under the motto ‘Fighting the causes for flight’
“At the moment between 60 and 90 million people are on the run worldwide. There are many reasons for fleeing. People flee e.g. because of the destruction of their conditions of existence, because of wars and political persecution, they flee due to hunger, poverty, ecological catastrophes, slavery, forced marriages, persecution on grounds of ethnic affiliation or religious membership, of their gender or their sexual tendencies.
Naming the reasons for fleeing – building solidarity!
The reasons for fleeing have one thing in common: their causes lie in repressive relationships. An economic system geared to profit and competition creates injustice and poverty everywhere in the world and produces causes for flight in many regions. This system is characterized by being patriarchal, but as a repressive relationship the patriarchate – which for half of humanity means suppression and abolition of rights – is far much older than capitalism…”
Complete call and more information at http://fluchtursachen.tk
Welcome to Greece Guide – new edition
Welcome to Greece – current update from Oktober 2016 now online: In the third year the guide “Welcome to Greece” was made by Welcome to Europe in a row. In english – and in a few days also in arabic and farsi – the most important information concerning situation and contacts to the structure of support in Greece are collected, also for those ones who are kept imprisoned after the EU-Turkey-Deal on the greek islands and for those ones who are stuck on the greek mainland after the closure of the Balcan Route. Soon many guides will be printed in arabic and farsi and distributed in Greece.
Englisch: http://w2eu.info/greece.en.html
Arabisch: http://w2eu.info/greece.ar.html (update coming soon)
Farsi/Dari: http://w2eu.info/greece.fa.html (update coming soon)
Valetta-Prozess I:
There is no day without reports about new deals from EU with african governments. Against this background activists from the malian section of Afrique-Europe-Interact demonstrated in Bamako in front of the german embassy on 09.09.2016, because of a cancelled deportation hearing.
Report, pictures and declaration here:
Valetta-Prozess II:
Through the last years countless articles, statements and TV-documentaries came up in the course of the Valetta-Process concerning the sharpening migration policy from the EU towards Africa.
On the website of Afrique-Europe-Interact many of those texts are well sorted to get informed: http://afrique-europe-interact.net/55-0-Frontex-Grenzregime.html
Review:
Pro Asyl-human rights award for Father Mussie Zerai
On 17.09.2017 Pro Asyl gave their human rights award to Father Mussie Zerai who supports for more than ten years the sea rescue and accomodation of refugees in Europe.
He helped more than thousands of asylum seekers and migrants who have been in risk of death on the sea with his private mobile.
Greetings came also from eritrean refugees from Hanaus:
"To some of us you have given the strength to overcome horrible situations. Some of us got rescued in the sea through your intervention. Some of us got your inspiration for a project of solidarity.
Thank you from Lampedusa in Hanau and WatchTheMed Alarm Phone“
NoStress-Tour:
After four stations the NoStress-Tour takes a break. With regard to empowerment the tour has been a big success, said the organisers. In contrast the response of the respective residents and also of many anti-racist groups was weak which is again an argument for the fact that it is difficult for self-organised projects of refugees from the point of view from the preparation team.
Video documenation and evaluation papers are supposed to come, just like many pictures of the vier stations are documentated on the Website of Afrique-Europe-Interact:http://afrique-europe-interact.net/1531-0-Bilder-NoStress-Tour.html
Alarm Phone Meeting and Ferry not Frontex in Tanger
In late September more than 80 activists from over 16 countries met in Tanger to discuss the situation and perspectives of the WatchTheMed Alarm Phone. The Hotline project has been operating for two years; it is available around the clock and has received over 1700 emergency calls from all parts of the Mediterranean Sea. Tanger in Morocco is one of the places from which small boats take off for Spain... and people have to take this dangerous route because the EU visa regime bars them from using safe ferries. With a a banner action on the ferry from Tanger to Tarifa and with a small sailing boat Alarm Phone activists called attention to this injustice; Ferries not Frontex once again was the appropriate slogan.
Strike conference Frankfurt
Up to 700 trade union activists and other strike supporters met in Frankfurt from 30/9 to 2/10 to exchange strike experiences and discuss future strategies in several large meetings and numerous workshops. The dominant topic of the opening panel was how to work against the new racist divisions (and the AfD).
Prospects:
19th - 20th October: Meeting in Frankfurt – for a big antiracist conference in 2017?
At the Welcome2Stay meeting in early September in Berlin there was a first workshop, in November there was a first preliminary meeting: would it be sensible and feasible to organize a big unified antiracist conference in 2017 in which experiences and activist circles of the refugee conference in Hamburg, the Welcome2Stay conference in Leipzig, and the earlier No Border lasts forever conferences come together? Those who are interested in working towards this please contact kmii-hanau@antira.info
3-4/12 in Hamburg against the G 20 summit in July 2017…
Invitation to action conference
“On July 7th and 8th the G20 summit will take place in Hamburg. The heads of government of the 19 richest and most powerful countries on earth will be accompanied by 6000 delegation members, surrounded by about 3000 journalists and, needless to say, fenced off and protected by a police and secret service army of at least 10000 troops. All this will take place in the centre of Hamburg: in the Messehallen, the town hall, the Elbphilharmonie. Wide-ranging multilevel barriers, passport checks, evacuated apartments...
In many political groups and spectres deliberations about the necessary protests and action against the G20 summit have already begun. There are very different approaches: Some focus on right to the city,others on climate politics, yet others on flight and migration or capitalism as a whole. There are ideas of a counter summit, a big demonstration, disobedient actions around the conference venue or in the whole city...”
The full call and more can be found here: