March of refugees and Sans Papiers (immigrants without papers) in Brussels +++ Fight for the school in Berlin and Lampedusa in Hamburg +++ Time to act – Resistance against Dublin II/III +++ International migrant struggles +++ From July 14th: Rafting tour with Women in Exile +++ Other announcements for the upcoming weeks +++
Dear friends!
Global freedom of movement, papers for all and no deprivation of rights or exploitation – with these demands, refugees and so called Sans Papiers (immigrants without papers) from several European countries came together in Brussels for the march for freedom at the end of June. More than 1.000 active participants coming from all parts of the migrant struggles protested together in transnational unity with multilingual slogans and in a dancing to angry, but anyway strong atmosphere. But apart from few discussions and working-groups, the action camp was dominated by tension and internal arguments. The actually great potential could only rarely be used productively, because the differences in terms of content as well as the various organizational structures in competitive positions polarized the participants too much. Even though the multitude of migration movements did not (yet) come together as hoped, there were many valuable encounters and new connections (as you can see below). As already described in the last newsletter, the march itself represented the union of a strong transnational group, which will influence the ongoing and upcoming fights from Berlin or Calais to Tunis or Melilla…
On the borders of the EU territory, the social resistance grew stronger: Frontex, as symbol of the armament build-up, has metaphorically its back against the wall. In defiance of the surveillance program Eurosur and of all the forward shifting, the migration movements are less stoppable than ever. The recurring pictures impressively present the increasing social fight for freedom to move: Hundreds of migrants unitedly attack and surmount the fences of the Spanish enclave in Morocco. At the same time, round about 60.000 refugees and migrants crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy in the first six months of 2014, far more than in the whole year of 2013. The Italian government reacted since October 2013 with marine action to the critique on the mass of deaths in front of Lampedusa. But since the “boatpeople” cannot be sent back to Libya, “mare nostrum”, as the operation is called, becomes more and more an unintentional rescue program. It is as well a success – paid with tremendous sorrow – of the continuously growing migration movement as the consequence of the North African upheavals that swept away the European watchdog regime in Maghrib.
On board the marine boats in the Mediterranean Sea as well as inside the refugee camps on Sicily, more and more refugees successfully refuse to be fingerprinted. The united action against Dublin II/III starts more than ever already on the arrival on the outer borders. And undiminished, the resistance against these “inner borders of the EU” continues in many places (see short reports).In Hesse, a light aircraft had to be chartered in the middle of June to impose Dublin deportations to Italy with force. The three affected refugees from Eritrea had repeatedly successfully refused the forced transport by scheduled airliner. The racist persecution enthusiasm of the authorities also reflects a desperate deterrent attempt, so that the resistance against deportation does not spread. Having this in mind, Welcome to Europe recently published a new appeal called “Time To Act” summing up the different action options. It ends with the appeal to support for the possible return of the deported from Italy, Hungary or Poland and to reinforce the transnational network structure. So: With this in mind: Solidarité avec les Sans Papiers! (Solidarity with the immigrants without papers!”)
All the best,
the Kompass Crew