Donnerstag, 31. Dezember 2009

one wish: AZADI ! FREEDOM ! and 25/26/27.january2010 trial in Vincennes

to all people we met in Pagani this year,
to all the people starting their journeys now
to all the people who are since years on their way .
to all people looking for a safer life
and peacefull days
and get confronted with the euopean union and the police brutalities
one big wish!
that the coming year bring us all with big steps closer to our aim:
freedom of movement is everybodys right!


we are here and we will fight!
happy new year!

-----------------------------------

January 25th, 26th and 27th:
trial of the revolt that set the detention
centre of Vincennes on fire

The revolt, which led to the fire that destroyed the largest prison for
foreigners in France, is a concrete and historical response to the
existence of detention centres and to the whole of the policy of control
of the migratory flows.

On January 25th, 26th and 27th, ten persons will be tried for this revolt
by the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris (a court which tries
misdemeanours).
Our solidarity has to be at the height of the stake: the acquittal of the
accused and beyond that, freedom of movement and installation.
The largest detention centre in France burnt on June 22nd 2008.
>From June 2008 to June 2009, some ten former detainees have been arrested
and imprisoned - most of them for nearly one year - in preventive jail.
They are charged with "damage", "voluntary destruction of the buildings of
the Vincennes administrative detention centre", and/or "aggression in band
against a police officer, without causing an incapacity of work for more
than eight days".
Movements of protest of the locked up sans-papiers have taken place
ceaselessly during the six months before the fire. Hunger strikes,
beginnings of fires, refusing to be counted, and individual or collective
oppositions followed each other during this period. Outside,
demonstrations and actions exposed the very existence of these centres and
support the revolts.
On June 21st 2008, Salem Souli died in his room after he had asked in vain
for medical care. The next day the detainees organized a march in his
memory, which was violently repressed. A collective revolt followed and
the detention centre was reduced to ashes.

A TRIAL FOR THE EXAMPLE
To prevent this type of revolt from spreading, the State must strike hard,
it has to find culprits. Ten persons were arrested to serve as examples.
We do not care whether they are "culprit" or "innocent". By the punishment
of these persons, the State wishes to make disappear revolts, denials of
submission, and acts of resistance from the part of those who are, or will
be in the future, between the walls of these centres.
The Vincennes revolt is not isolated. Wherever are detention centres,
revolts will spring up, fires will start, flights, hunger strikes,
mutinies, and destructions will take place. It has been so in France
(centres were burnt in Nantes, Bordeaux, and Toulouse), and in many
European countries (Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain) or in
countries to which border control is outsourced such as Turkey and Libya.
The fire at the Vincennes detention centre is not only a symbol: as an
immediate consequence of the disappearance of its capacity for 280 people,
rounding up and deportations greatly decreased in the Paris region during
the following period. Concretely, arrests were avoided by the thousands.
This act of the detainees has put out of order for a while the deportation
machine.

JAILS FOR FOREIGNERS: THEY LOCK UP, DEPORT, DISSUADE IMIGRATION

The detention centres are a step between the arrest and the deportation.
They are used to lock up the passengers for the time necessary to gather
what is needed for a deportation, namely a passport or a pass issued by a
consulate, and a plane or ship reservation.
The more a State wants to deport, the more it builds detention centres.
Their numbers increases ceaselessly everywhere. In Europe, the trend is to
make locking up longer, which not only allows deporting more people, but
also dissuades immigration.
These locking up places are actually punishment places. As such, they are
more and more built on a model of prison: monitoring by video, small
units, isolation cellsŠ For example, the largest detention centre in
France now being built in France at Le Mesnil-Amelot (with capacity for
240 persons) that will open in a few weeks is designed according to this
model. In the Netherlands, where suicides and "unexplained" deaths are
frequent in the centres, detention lasts 18 months and may start again
immediately after freeing, in very small individual cells, sometimes in
prison-boats, with scarce access to air.

THE UNDOCUMENTATED FOREIGNERS: BOTH A HIGHLY ADAPTABLE MANPOWER ...
Detention centres are a part of the "migratory flows management" policy,
which in turn is elaborated according the criteria of the "chosen
immigration" which means according to the needs of manpower in the
European countries. That bosses of the rich countries use migrant workers
to increase their profits is nothing new. Be it within a legal framework,
such as interim jobs or the former "OMI contract" (which allowed to fit
the right of presence in the country to the seasonal working time), or in
illegal work, the foreigners most often find jobs in the toughest sectors
(the building industry, restaurants, cleaning, seasonal worksŠ) These
sectors ask for a flexible manpower, one which adapts to the immediate
needs of production.
On top of the absence of rights due to their status, for instance in case
of an accident, the permanent threat of arrest and deportation obviously
enables the bosses to underpay them, indeed not to pay them at all (it is
not infrequent). This equalizing at the lowest level of salaries and
working conditions enables the bourgeoisie to enhance the exploitation of
all. The repeated strikes of sans-papiers show how much the French bosses
and the State need this manpower, but they also show that the sans-papiers
can check them and get regularizations when they organize collectively.


...AND AN IDEAL SCAPEGOAT

The migratory policy, of which the detention centres are a gear, is also
used to stigmatize the undocumented foreigners. The State makes of them
the scapegoat for the hardships of the population of France. The
spectacular use of deportations by the State takes its part in showing how
great a "danger" the irregular immigration would be for France and Europe,
and at the same time the efficiency of a State, which protects its
citizens from this danger.
The State uses artefacts such as the above mentioned "threat of
underground immigration", "rascals in the suburbs", "veiled women", or
such as the campaign for the national identity to wake up the worst
chauvinist and racist feelings, and to try and create a consent for the
power and the world it produces.
BORDERS EVERYWHERE

The detention centres are indispensable for the implementation of a
European policy to control the migratory flows, which, while it claims to
abolish the borders within the Schengen space, reinforces them outside,
notably with Frontex.
And so the control is outsourced at the outer doors of Europe, in
agreement with countries such as Libya, Mauritania, Turkey or Ukraine, to
which funds are given to lock up foreigners who are deemed unwanted, even
before they make it to Europe.
At the same time, within the Schengen territory, borders are scattered,
become movable, and thus are everywhere: every identity check can lead to
a deportation. For the border is not only a line limiting he territory, it
is above all a point of checking, of pressure and, of sorting out. So the
street, the communication lines, the administrative buildings, the banks,
the interim work offices already function as borders.
The detention centres are pieces of the deadly borders of the Schengen
Europe, as are all camps for migrants, They are places where one waits,
locked up, sometimes without limit and without trial, where one dies for
lack of care, where one kills oneself rather than be deported. Borders
must be abolished!

For all these reasons, and because there is no "good" management of the
migratory flows, because everybody must be able to decide where he wants
to live, we are in solidarity with the accused of the revolt and the arson
of the Vincennes detention centre!


ACQUIT ALL THE ACCUSED
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND INSTALLATION
CLOSE THE DETENTION CENTRES
NO PAPERS AT ALL

ACTION WEEK JANUARY 16TH TO 24TH 2010
Collectif de solidarité avec les inculpés de Vincennes
liberte-sans-retenue@riseup.net

Montag, 28. Dezember 2009

A ministry like no other...

A ministry like no other...
A year ago, in an article entitled "Refugees at the Labour Exchange" we talked about the struggle of undocumented migrants in Paris who had occupied since May 2, 2008 the Labour Exchange near the Republic Square. On June 24, 2009, the strong-arms of the CGT brutally expelled 1,300 occupants. Last week we were able to visit the new place of occupation, in Baudelique Street in the 18th arrondissement. There is a considerable movement, probably the largest we have seen so far in Europe. This magnificent adventure continues and is growing even in a general indifference which is frightening. We urge everyone to go to meet them and support them in every way possible. Here is an interview with Orhan Dilber, a Turkish trade union activist who spent years in the jails of the military junta after the 1980 coup. Refugee in France, he is now a spokesman for the Collective of undocumented Turkish and Kurdish involved in this occupation.
This collective was formed from the occupation in July 2009 of an abandoned large building belonging to the Caisse Primaire d'Assurance Maladie (CPAM),located 14 Baudelique Street, called the "Ministry for the global regularization of all undocumented migrants”. We participated in the occupation. Since, our group is one of ten collectives located behind the Ministry.
Before the occupation, there was no structure or group of Turks and Kurds alike. In the 90s, there was a group of undocumented Turkish, at the time of the Church of St. Bernard, but it was temporary. It must be said that Turks and Kurds have different characteristics compared with other groups. The majority of undocumented migrants from Turkey are Turkish-speaking and not French speaking as most undocumented migrants from former French colonies are.
I am not myself without papers, but my friends needed a French speaking spokesperson. Of course they manage, they all have jobs, but when there are debates within the community or election of delegates, we must have our discussions in Turkish, our common language.
Currently the Turkish and Kurdish group includes 1,300 people. When I saw the great movement behind the occupation in Baudelique Street - the largest movement in France - I questioned the undocumented Turkish and Kurdish. There are over 3,000 people who occupy this five floors 4,300 m2 place. There are meeting rooms, training rooms. We are proud and happy to be among the founders of this Ministry. Who are these undocumented Turkish and Kurdish? Have they been in France a long time, is there still people arriving from Turkey?
Some comrades have been here for over 20 years, have had no papers for dozens of years. The majority have been here for about 10 years, but others have been in France for less than a year. What explains the fact that there was no group before is that most of these people came to France for political reasons. For the Kurds, it is the national crackdown which prompted them to seek asylum, and France is still the country with the most asylum seekers. For the Turks, they are activists who have had problems with the state and the Turks in general have also sought political asylum. During the 80s and 90s it was fairly easy to obtain, but now it is no longer the case because the OFPRA (French Office for Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons) decided two months ago to include Turkey (with Serbia and Armenia) among the safe countries whose citizens cannot get asylum. But we already saw for over a year that most asylum applications were rejected.
We realized that the situation changed and you must now seek regularization through work. Anyway, they all work. This is the system in France which makes them work illegally. France does not welcome these
people with indulgence and generosity. It leaves undocumented asylum seekers to themselves. In other countries, there are detention camps for asylum seekers and you stay until the end of the process. Either you can stay or you can leave again. Here, when you apply for political asylum, you are told, "you have to go to the prefecture, you make your request there, here is a certificate (before it was for one year, now it's three months). You have no right to work, but you can move freely, and it is renewable.” What does this mean? Go work on the black. This means, go find your compatriots in the Turkish community who have been here long, sub-contractors who work for large companies providing discounted labour through undocumented workers. When they come to apply for asylum, the Turks and Kurds are immediately in contact with these networks in order to work. Since they work in their community, comrades have been here for 20 years and do not speak French. They remain isolated.
It can’t have been simple to create such a group. These are people who came for political reasons, but there have been many disputes between forces on the left, many tensions between Turks and Kurds ... Basically it's been pretty good?
Yes, this is exceptional. I had this experience already in Turkey where I was a trade-unionist. I saw that the different political or ideological positions disappear when you are on strike. A problem such as lack of paper brings people together. Here in our community, there are militants of the Kurdish cause and Turkish nationalists who would be enemies if they were in Turkey. They are all facing xenophobe politics which reject everyone together in the same way as the Malians and others. The system makes no difference to their origin. Here at the Ministry, there are over 25 nationalities from five continents. Of course, the majority are Africans, but there are Hispanics, Asians, Russians, Ukrainians, etc. In the group we have never had any problems.
At the Labour Exchange, there were weekly events, many actions, training, and language courses ... What happens at Baudelique Street?
Here's even better than at the Labour Exchange. Activities are much richer because we have so much space. The particularity of this occupation is that occupation has the longest duration. If you consider it started just after the Labour Exchange one, it's been almost two years. We were used occupy churches for several months. This occupation is very massive with more than 3,000 people, all the time. Usually when we speak of an occupation, it is about occupying and not moving. Here we continue to mobilize every week together, but also while travelling. Every Wednesday we organize an event on the grand boulevards of Paris and then we are heavily involved in other events, for example in solidarity with those who challenge the privatization, or at the rally in front of the MEDEF...
Many volunteers provide language courses, or social assistance to help people get medical help, or make representations at the Social security... Lawyers come to help with files for legalisation.
Now, among us, there are dyers. For example, a group gathers the pieces of bikes, which are a bit everywhere in Paris, and make new bikes out of them, a little strange, but which work anyway, and which are distributed to those in need. These people didn’t have a workshop anymore because they had been evicted by the police. Then they asked to be housed here. There is plenty of room. They started making bikes; they have not yet participated in demos with the bikes, but they think they will do it soon.
Apprentices in filmmaking give training, they show the undocumented, especially women, how to handle a camera, how to make a movie. The possibilities are enormous. That's what nourishes and enriches the movement. We live, however, certain isolation, because every time we go out in the streets of Paris and the media talk, they never specify that we are the group that created the "Ministry" in the Baudelique Street. We are accustomed to being manipulated by the press. It is a little similar with the unions and associations. We are invisible.
At the Labour Exchange there were major conflicts with the CGT. Then it was the CGT cleaning industry section which helped launch the occupation of the CPAM large building. I heard that five unions support the movement. But then this is not a very active support?
The support is weak. Sud/Solidaires have been with us since the beginning, the cleaning section of the CGT and the CNT are present, but not all the unions of course. The CGT has a firm and clear position. They are not for the overall regulation of all undocumented. Now they are in a movement of strike pickets1 and call for the regularization of these 5500 strikers there and that's all.
What happens with the building? I read that the top management of the CPAM wanted like to kick you out of this place, but within the CPAM there were protests from employees who felt that it was not right to expel undocumented workers.
Immediately at the beginning of the occupation, we contacted employees of the CPAM and held a meeting with union representatives at Baudelique Street. They gave us their support, saying they would prevent the evacuation of this place because they are in solidarity with the undocumented. It is a kind of guarantee, and as we got past the month of September we are safe until March. There is already a decision to evacuate, but it cannot be applied because of the winter truce on evictions.
You think it will be difficult to stay beyond March?
This will depend on the balance of power. This place is special because it was vacant, empty. If we occupied a place in use, we could not stay longer than a few weeks. Now there are picket lines, which make occupations for one or two weeks, but after they are evicted. This occupation is very special because it gives us the opportunity to organize a movement to develop something else. These are elements that make our movement become stronger. The press and the left are not used to this...
I have the impression that the big unions and political organizations always want to control and organize movements like that, but here they see that the undocumented are quite capable of organizing themselves. It’s exactly like that. I note that the French left wants to do everything for others, but in acting themselves, sacrificing for the undocumented. But they cannot accept that undocumented migrants are beginning to organize. That is why collectives of undocumented migrants are not known, recognized, visible. The GISTI, Cimade, the League of Human Rights, and the humanitarian organizations are yet here for us. At the beginning, the LHR did not come, but they have since Aubry started speaking of the undocumented before the elections
.
Does it progress on the level of regularisations? Djibril, a spokesman at the Labour Exchange said there had been there a hundred people regularised. Has it continued?
After the evacuation of the Labour Exchange, for over more than a month, the occupants who had been expelled were camping on the Boulevard du Temple. Negotiations were held with the Prefecture of Police which said that if we stopped this occupation in the street, they would examine 300 cases. But there haven’t been 300 regularisations, perhaps half. Police said it felt fooled because we left the boulevard but we went somewhere else and we continue to claim the overall regularization of all undocumented migrants. Apart from that, there have been no regularizations. As we kept on demonstrating before his door, we were received twice by the Cabinet of Eric Besson. We must first finish with these 300 cases they have
1 Today, more than 5.000 sans papiers are on strike in the Paris area, supported by the CGT. This strike touches 1800 firms and temporary agencies.
promised. Then we want all prefectures to recognize the collective undocumented as interlocutors for monitoring files. Of course the government insists on the implementation of the "case by case" policy instead of an overall unconditional regularisation of all undocumented migrants.
What interests us is first to break the ice, because collectives are not recognised. After so many years of mobilisations, we must leave traces, obtain official recognition.
At the same time, it also is about acknowledging the problem of "isolated workers", because the CGT only defends workers in workplaces where there are several undocumented migrants, in larger companies ... At the Labour Exchange and Baudelique Street there are more people working alone or in small businesses. They are not considered as workers. The problem is there. At the heart of our movement are illegal workers. During the heat wave, I remember that the Health Minister said that if the elderly were not being looked after by us, the losses would have been double. There were already 15,000 dead in ten days. It was not only the care for the elderly, but also the people sick, the children ... France needs the undocumented labour. You get money when you have children in order to increase the population, but what are we supposed to do? Working and having children? They need nannies...
For the continuation of your movement, there is a date soon which will be important, I think...
Since the creation of the Ministry, although this has not been very visible to French people, the undocumented in other regions have seen that it works. So there were meetings with the groups from other cities. We have decided to hold a big demonstration of undocumented on January 9th in Paris, starting from the Baudelique Street. We are of course demanding an overall regularisation, but we know that it will not happen at once. Moreover, when we are regularized, what does that mean? We will always be workers, former undocumented, but exploited strangers. There will always be problems. So a structured organization is very important, because even after the regularisation we will need solidarity, an organization in order to obtain our rights at work, decent wages, safe conditions at work, etc.
At the same time we develop relationships with unions. We are no longer strangers isolated away from the class struggle in France, but we're in it. With the movement of the undocumented we prepare for the future too. I think the future of undocumented is also the future of French workers. We always forget it. The French think they are here just out of generosity, solidarity, they see themselves as supporters, but why do you support us? Is it for charity? No, this is for you. When there are undocumented workers working illegally, it means that insurance companies are increasingly empty, there is no pension fund. They will tell you that you have to work until age 70, even later, as they fail to pay pensions because they do not collect the contributions from all undocumented. And all this makes wages go down. There are privatizations, sub-contractors, so it's not just the problem of undocumented, but that of all workers, of the French workers, who must be here with us, not to support us, but to fight for them.
December 15, 2009
Nicholas Bell, Forum Civique Européen, St-Hippolyte, F-04300 Limans
nicholas.bell@gmx.net

Mittwoch, 16. Dezember 2009

noborders sticker

Freitag, 11. Dezember 2009

noborder09 lesvos postcards part 2






Donnerstag, 10. Dezember 2009

noborder lesvos09 postcards -a diary without days -part1.









for solidarity every day!

Mittwoch, 9. Dezember 2009

Sonntag, 6. Dezember 2009

Donnerstag, 3. Dezember 2009

for ALEXIS killed on the 6.12.08

in Athens from a riot policeman.
and for all migrant women and children and men who died in the greek borders and those who managed to enter alive but are faciing the racism of the state.

Freedom of moovement!
is everybodys right
respect too.

oktober 2009 Pagani-revolts minister and closure

the text of the dvd is in german but soon an englisch version will be available.

Dies ist der versuch in 10 minuten

über 10 tage in oktober 2009 in mitilini zu erzählen

über den weg von der revolte zur freiheit

und wie es zur momentane schliessung von pagani kamm.

Oktober ist die begehrsteste zeit für migrantInnen

um aus der türkei nach griechenland zu kommen.

Das meer ist noch ruhig ,die saison zur ende.

Viele versuchen diese letzte chance zu nutzen.


Die höchste ankunfts zahlen sind immer in oktober.

So war auch pagani voll mit etwa 800 menschen als wir zurück kammen.

Hungestreiks ,durst streiks , revolten bestimmten jetzt den alltag in Pagani .

Bei unsere ersten zaun besuch erwartete uns eine überaschung!

Die minderjährige hatten hofgang!

So konnten wir uns austauschen und erfuhren

das sie sich selber den hofgang organisiert hatten


In dem sie revoltiert hatten.

Feuer in die zellen gelegt.


Abends würden sie wieder in die zelle gezwungen

und das schloss repariert.


Als wir uns verabschhiedeten

einer der jungs rief:


we will give everyday revolt , so that you come here.


Am nächsten tag konnten wir wieder von nah reden.

Dieses mal hatten in ne andere zelle revolte gemacht.

We can´t live here anymore.

We want our freedom to continue our way.


Die riot bullen die seit einige zeit im Hof sich aufhielten

waren aggressiv und drohten das sie bei jeder neue Revolte 2 Leute festnehmen werden .

Egal ob sie sich an der Revolte beteiligt hatten oder nicht.

Die Drohung würde Realität

was die Wut größer machte.


Da die meisten MigrantInnen uns nicht kannten

versuchten sie uns ihre Situation zu erklären.

als wir dann sagten das wir

schon mal hier

auch mit mehrere -leute demonstriert haben

grinste einer und sagte :

no border no nation stop deportation!

Er war seit 4 Monate in pagani .


Bei unsere tägliche oder nächtliche besuche am zaun

fragten wir ob sie wollen das wir ihre Beschwerden und Geschichten im internet veröffentlichen

wir stellten alles auf der Seite

und am nächsten Tag manche davon sagten das ihre Freunde

in andere Länder

das gesehen haben.

Das gefühl ausserhalb der mauern von pagani gehört zu werden,stärkte sie.

Sie bedankten sich

und mehdi sagte:

Sorry instead of love we give you trouble!


Am Abend vom 21 Oktober erfuhren wir vertrauensvoll

das der neue vice Innenminister

(was jetzt Minister für den Schutz des Bürgers heißt)

ein überaschungs Besuch nach pagani machen wollte.

keiner sollte das wissen damit er die Zustände selber sehen könnte.

Am nächsten morgen standen wir vor dem Zaun und staunten nicht schlecht.


Das Schrott Auto, was vor der eine Zelle seit Monate hingeschmissen war

war plötzlich entfernt

der Dreck auch

stattdessen MigrantInnen schlenderten hier und da

als ob es alltäglich wäre im Hof.

Manche saßen zur zweit zur dritt .

Es sah aus wie ein inszenierte Landschaft.


Der Minister vice Kamm begleitet von Menschen aus internatiponale NGOS, pro asyl, unhcr aber auch den prefekt und polizeichefs .


Das Tor ging auf und wir alle gingen rein.

der minister ging in jeder zelle rein ,

ohne presse, und hörte sich die geschichten der mensch an.

Er ging von zelle zur zelle und viele erzählten ihre besondere geschichten und er hörte zu.

Als er zur der minderjährigen zelle kam

sagten sie ihm

das am Abend davor

die riot bullen sie verprügelt und gedroht hatten

wenn sie es jemand sagen würden

sie heute Abend noch mehr zu prügeln.

Sie sagten das dem Minister

der versuchte ohne erfolg das aufzuklären.


Danach in eine pressekonerenz im Hof mit alle Zellen Türen offen

sagte er:

Dantes inferno wäre nix gegen dem, was er hier gesehen hat .

und das pagani geschlossen gehört.


Die migrantInnen voller Hoffnung auf ne sofortige freilasung waren am jubeln.

Temporäre familienzusammenführungen würden von alle fotografiert .

familien mitglieder die seit wochen in getrennte zellen eingespert waren

konnten sich endlich sehen und anfassen.

Dann ging der Minister und wir auch.

nur die gefangen blieben und die riot bullen .

Abends ,war die Wut der enttäuschte Menschen noch größer

und sie legten wieder Feuer.


die riot Bullen hielten ihre versprechen

und ließen sie einzeln aus der brennende Zelle raus und prügelten jeden einzeln .

6 Migranten würden verletzt ins Krankenhaus geliefert .

einer davon nachdem er 2 Stunden ohnmächtig im Hof lag.

andere mussten sich selber behandeln.


Am nächsten morgen

als Besuch von eine NOG rein kamm erfuren sie über die Prügel Orgie.


Die MitarbeiterInnen der NGO beschlossen

sofort anzeige gegen die Polizisten zu ersatten

und 147 Migranten unterschrieben

das sie zeugen des Vorfalls waren.


Plötzlich an diesen Nachmittag würden viel mehr Menschen als sonst freigelassen.

Wir merkten das darunter

zeugen des Vorfalls waren.


Diesmal würden sie auch so freigelassen

das sie das Schiff nach Athen rechtzeitig kriegen konnten .


Trotzdem haben wir Interviews machen können mit welche die erzählten das die Polizei sie Unterdruck Gesetzt hat:

entweder bleibst du bei dein aussagen und bleibst in pagani 8 Monate noch

oder du ziehst deine Unterschrift zurück

und kommst heute noch frei

und darfst auch noch 4 Freunde mitnehmen!


Haben alle gemacht.

aber uns die Geschichte erzählt,

und weiter als zeugen zu Verfügung gestanden.


Dank den vielen zeugen

die schnell entfernt werden sollten

kamen viele Menschen frei, die nächste tage.


Aber auch die Revolten spitzen sich zu.

Während der jetzt täglich findende Freilassung Nachmittags

würde von den zurückgebliebenen ein riesen Feuer gelegt

das die Zelle endgültig unbewohnbar machte.


Die freigelassene würden immer rechtzeitig zum hafen gebracht,

so das sie das Schiff verpassen mustten und nur beim ablegen angucken konnten .

Sie blieben im hafen ohne Tickets , ohne essen, ohne Schlaf Möglichkeit.


Nach der anzeige gegen sie, beschloss die Polizei sich aus pagani zurückzuziehen .

Sie wollten nicht mehr handlange der politik sein und machten nur noch schichten vor dem Tor.


Das personal verschwand auch.

Von Tag zu Tag gab es mehr offenen Zellen Türen.

Tagsüber draußen essen, fusball spielende kinder ranten rum..


In der zwischen zeit knallte eines morgens,

ein Holz bot mit mehrere menschen aus afghanistan

gegen ein Felsen

nur paar Meter vor der Küste von Korakas entfernt.

8 Frauen und Kinder ertranken.


Wir suchten im Krankenhaus nach überlebende .

und erfuhren das der prefekt sie in ein Hotel untergebracht hätte.

Abends am Zaun von pagani lernten wir Arif Soldier kennen

ein überlebender, der von seine Frau únd Baby getrennt würde

und im Knast gebracht.

Aus versehen“ wie uns gesagt würde , nachdem wir auch das öffentlich gemacht haben.

Am nächsten tag konnte er zur seine Familie.

Ein fischer hatte sein baby seine frau und ihm gerettet in dem er selber ins wasser gesprungen war.


In der zwischen zeit, die Revolten gingen weiter.

In der Stadt traf sich das offene Plenum aus verschiedenen Politische zusammenhänge und beschloss eine pressekonferenz vor pagani zu machen und eine Demo. Mit der Forderung der sofortige Schließung.


auch papa stratis kamm zur preesekonferenz und verteilte in seine besondere art kleidung und spielzeug.

wärend er über zaun sachen reichte,konnten die menschen auch sich selbstbedienen.

Bei der Pressekonferenz sprachen auch Mehdi ,ein minderjährige afghane stellvertretned für alle von hinter dem Zaun.

Die ganze lokale presse war vor Ort und berichtete.


Abends beim nächtlichen besuch ,hörten wir singen und tanzen aus der eine zelle.

Sie feierten das am nächsten tag solidarische menschen eine demo für ihre freilassung machen würden.


Am nächsten abend bei der Demo durch die Stadt kamen auch die MigrantInnen mit die die letzte nacht im -Hafen draußen geschlafen hatten ,


Weil sie nicht rechtzeitig freigelassen würden um das Schiff zu kriegen

und keiner Fahrkarten von der Präfektur bekommen hatten.


Da das Wetter kalt geworden war , und darunter Frauen und Kinder sich befanden, würde beschlossen für die Nacht ein Uni gebaüde zu besetzen .


Die Demo würde angeführt von etwa 30 migrantInnen und es folgten hunderte von solidarische menschen .Auch die überlebende des schiffsunglücks sind mitgegangen.

Geschlossen ging ein teil der demo dann zur Uni

wo warme räume , essen und gastfreundschaft spürbar würde..


Am nächsten Tag kamen die letzten raus .

In der hektik der letze minuten

sprang ein mensch wieder rein der was vergessen hatte .

Als alle ihre langersehnte papiere, mit der auforderung in ein monat griechenland zu verlassen, in der hand hatten

blieb nur noch 1 Mensch drin .

Ausgerechnet er, der eine rosa Karte hat und arbeitet in mitlini !

Er versuchte seit tage sein fall aufzuklären , ohne erfolg.

Abends kamm auch er endlich frei.



Am nächsten Tag mussten wir uns vergewissern das pagani leer war.


Neben abgebranntem Matratzen draußen

lag ein Riesen schlüsselbund.

bis ich das Foto gemacht hatte

sprang aus ein privaten Auto ein uniformierte Polizist der mich anmachte was ich mit den Schlüssel

wollte.

Es wäre seiner!


Ich sagte: wir brauchen keine Schlüssel! die Menschen wollen Freiheit.


Das Tor war auf

die Putzfrauen waren drin,wir auch

Stücke Stoff überall festgemacht mit gebete ,durchhalte -Parolen erinnerungen an noborder

und überall ein Brandgeruch in der Luft.


Die Wände sagten:

sie wüssten wie Revolten gehen

und werden es weiter erzählen.


Drei tage später gab es schon wieder menschen die den Wände zuhören wollten :


die einzige noch einigermaßen heile Zelle würde ,

mit offenen Tor und ohne personal ,

als übernachtungs möglichkeit von der präfektur benutzt,

für neu ankommende.


Pagani ist zu .

Alle zeugen und erfahrene revoltierer sind weit weg,

befreit gegen schweigen.


Pagani wird weiter genutzt

aber nicht nur die Wände wissen jetzt

wie widerstand geht.

Pagani ist zu,

der staat ist nicht rassistisch,

die bullen töten nicht,

die erde ist eine scheibe.


Sonntag, 29. November 2009

Turkish police denies right to seek asylum and proceeds with deportation preparations.

Meanwhile at the border or on the way: daily refoulement and deportations.
This is maybe one story of so many, but we still want to share it with you.


Turkish police denies right to seek asylum and proceeds with deportation preparations.

Afghan refugee J. disappears at the beginning of November. His fiancé living in Germany, worried sick after not having had contact for three days, tries everything to find out what happened. She calls all kinds of organisations, including the Helsinki Citizens Assembly in Istanbul, which supports refugees in Turkey. Together they finally find out that J. and 19 other refugees from Iran and Afghanistan were arrested in Muş around 7th November. Although he wants to seek asylum, he is detained, while the police prepare his deportation.

His fiancé knows J. wants to seek asylum. 24 year old J. whose mother died, when he was born, is the only one left of his family. In 2000, he fled to Iran after his father was killed by the Taliban for refusing to collaborate. After 9 years in Iran, where he was constantly discriminated, he decided to move on to Turkey, his home country still being too dangerous for him. Even if the dangerous area J. originally comes from, well-known for drug production, is controlled by the new government today, the people who are responsible for his father's death and threatened him personally are still very powerful there.

Smugglers take him and 19 other refugees into Turkey. Only short time after crossing the border they are arrested by the police in Muş. The police don't take their applications for asylum seriously. They tell them that people from Iran don't have any chances to seek asylum anyway. J. emphasises that he is from Afghanistan. Two days after being taken into custody, he is taken into court. J. tells the court that he wants to seek asylum. The judge says his chances are 50-50%. He signs a paper thinking this is for his asylum application.

The detainees are nervous. The police tell them they will deport them. They take blood samples and threaten to cut their hair. They tell the refugees stories: they could fight for the Turkish military in Iraq for 2 years, get 100 000 Euros and a living permit for Turkey afterwards. Some accept. J. doesn't, he is determined to seek asylum. Meanwhile the UNHCR has found him. They call Muş police department. The police officer confirms that J. has been their detainee for a week, but says they were not aware of the fact that J. wanted to seek asylum. The UNHCR kindly requests them to check the information. And while the UNHCR waits, J. is beaten; his mobile phone is taken off him. He obviously had contact to the outside.

The police continue to deny his right to apply for asylum and proceed with their preparations for deportation. Although J. is not an Iranian citizen and has no papers at all, they take him and some of the other detainees to the border, without success. On the third day they have to return. The UNHCR calls again, they have started all administrative procedures, but the police say J. has signed a paper in which he accepts his deportation. There is nothing more for the UNHCR to do. The UNHCR has to trust its national partners. There is no way to check the existence or the authenticity of such a document, let alone under which conditions it was signed.

This was written on 25.11.2009 at 12.00. J. was deported to Kabul with other people from Afghanistan only 13 hours later. One day before Eid.

According to the UNHCR over 12.900 people officially applied for asylum in Turkey 2008.

The prisons and detention centres are full and it is impossible to know how many people were legally and illegally deported.

No refoulement! Stop deportation! No detention centres anywhere!

Freitag, 27. November 2009

saturday 7 november 6 palestinian children aged 2-12 found drawn in the Turkish coast

Hopes wash up on Aegean coast as dead bodies

Nothing has changed in the Aegean Sea. The journey of hope(lessness) for those searching for a future at the brink of despair ends in sorrow.

The lifeless bodies of six Palestinian children aged between 2 and 12 wash up on the shore.

Over a week ago 19 Palestinians, of which more than half were children, were crammed into a small boat in the town of Turgutreis in Bodrum to head to the Greek Island of Kos.

They brought nothing along with them except their dreams. But death interfered in the hopes of six children after the boat overturned 500 meters from the coast.

The tragedy was mentioned as a disaster that had occurred between the two Aegean coasts, while the deaths of immigrants, which has come to be perceived as commonplace, were simply just another number for statistics.

http://www.clandestina.org/indexa_e.html

-----------------------------------------------------------

since 1994 , 492 refugees have drawn in the aegean sea and 823 are missing ,

1.315 human beings that died because of the european border policies.

In the mines of Evros 82 persons have been killed , during the same period of time.

http://www.clandestina.org/KEIMENA/KEIMENA_OCTOBER_2009_04.html

Montag, 23. November 2009

Infopoint for refugees in berlin at the european komission


Ladies and Gentlemen!

I bid you all welcome on behalf of the Agency for Freedom of Movement! We are very pleased to greet you here today on the occasion of this festive and forward-looking action.

In the last thirty minutes we have heard and seen with what defensive measures people who enter the European Union in search of a better life are confronted.

The International Organization for Migration, IOM, attempts to prevent people from leaving when they are still in their native country.


The European border patrol agency Frontex and the border guard agencies stop people even before they reach the external borders of Europe and force them to return to where they came from.

In the countries of the EU people are held in detention camps and deportation centers. We want these conditions to become a thing of the past as soon as possible!

It will take some time for the European refugee policy in its present form to be abolished, but we do not want to wait, we want to take action today. That is why today, at the Pariser Platz in the very center of Berlin and thus easy to find for everyone, we open the first Infopoint for Refugees in Germany!!!

The Infopoint will serve to welcome all those persons who until now were denied access, all those who – irrespective of their reasons – want to settle down in Europe for a while or forever.

We from the Agency for Freedom of Movement have gained our first experiences this summer on the Greek island of Lesbos, where a spontaneously set-up and improvised Infopoint has more than lived up to our expectations. We now import these experiences into Berlin and will build on them.

For this reason the European Commission (and the European Parliament) will have to vacate their offices in the Europahaus (“House of Europe”). After all, they are responsible for regulations such as the Dublin II Convention and for institutions such as Frontex and thus for the distress of tens of thousands of people and the death of thousands of travelers.


Those who do not have the right color of skin or the right nationality and who do not have enough money and therefore have to enter the EU without papers, have generally lived through much sorrow: the painful separation from family and friends, the uncertainties about the further course of their journey, having to improvise rapidly in unforeseen situations, suffering from hunger and not having a safe shelter, sometimes being confronted with a hostile local population and of course with hostile border guards.

These people nevertheless go their way and arrive here. We want to support them. The Infopoint offers the new arrivals a first shelter on the upper floors of the Europahaus. It furthermore provides accommodation for people’s further stay, or possibilities to travel in case the final destination has not been reached yet. It offers food and drink and first financial support, so as to allow people to move around freely and get acquainted with the city. The Infopoint offers medical care and psychological treatment where needed. It offers the complete spectrum of communication media to allow the new arrivals to contact their dear ones at home and their acquaintances and communities here or in other countries. Help with translation in all languages is offered as well.


The Infopoint offers legal advice and the support of lawyers to allow the arrivals to find their way in the labyrinth of asylum and migration law; it also provides mediation for getting a job.

And – this is essential ladies and gentlemen – it offers all conceivable papers people may need in order to live, move and work here in peace, or to safely continue their journey. This means passports for all, work permits, visa, etc.!!! Papers for all and for everything!

Voluntaries – often people who have had their own experiences with migration – give introductory workshops into the social structure of this country and share their experiences.

The café on the ground floor is a place where travelers can network; and fellow travelers can meet again here. It is open to all interested people who which to make contacts.

In a word: as of today the Infopoint for Refugees offers a place where people who have arrived in Europe are heartily welcomed!!! We therefore would have liked to call our Infopoint accordingly Welcome Center. But this concept is often cynically used by the authorities of European States to refer to reception and detention centers where new arrivals are held in deterrence. We do not want to have anything to do with this, nor with the unpleasant associations connected to these prisons and methods!


Our Infopoint is one step towards the abolishment of such prisons and towards a society where no-one is excluded due to color of skin, origin, sex, economic status etc. We still have a long way to go. We hope that the next step will be the creation of many Infopoints at the external borders of Europe, for instance on the Greek islands, as well as in the European core countries!

Ladies and gentlemen, we now invite you to join the festive cutting of the red tape and to toast with sekt on this occasion!







Sonntag, 22. November 2009

we don´t forget! 6.12.08

Freitag, 20. November 2009

Iranian refugees in hungerstrike since the 19.10.09 in athens



“Hello! Let me introduce myself. I am Mahmeud, one of the Iranian political refugees
that United Nations High Committee for the Refugees has already recognized as political refugees at 2006.
But, unfortunately, since we entered Greece and applied for asylum from the state, about 2 years ago, we haven’t got any answer yet. That’s why we started hunger strike on 19 October. This is a peaceful protest to show them that we want our rights.
They just gave us a red card but you know that red card is nothing and whenever they want they don’t renew it.
When we go to Petrou Ralli, we are constantly insulted from the police. People from Pakistan and Afghanistan are insulted even more than us. Greece is very different from the other west European countries, especially as far as the way they treat immigrants and refugees is concerned. Most of our friends with same cases who went to Germany, Switzerland, England and France were recognized as refugees and they were put in camps with housing facilities and were paid 300 euro monthly and they could also take classes to learn the country’s language.
In Greece everything is different.
For example, if we enter this country from one island, like Samos, they send us to a camp,
which is in fact a prison, and if you are an Iranian, you have to stay there between 1 to 3 months and if you are an Afghany, you have to stay there between 1 week to 10 days.
It depends on how much money the European Union pays to Greece for refugees from different countries and on the relationship between Greece and the country of the refugee.
Then, after they take our pictures and fingerprints, they give us a paper that writes that we have to leave this country in one month.
But, you know, according to the Dublin agreement, if they take your fingerprints in a country of the E.U., you have to stay in this country and if you are caught in another country of the E.U., they send you back to the first country.
As a result, we cannot stay in Greece, we cannot go legally to another country of the E.U. and we also cannot return to Iran because we are considered national enemies there and we will face the danger of imprisonment or execution.
After that, they give us the red card and that’s all. I know that the Greek government gets a lot of money from the E.U. for the refugees but they never gave them to us.
Also, the UNHCR didn’t send us to a country with the proper facilities and so I had to pay 1000$ to a smuggler to bring me from Iraq to Turkey and 1200$ to another to come from Turkey to Greece. I borrowed this money from my family in Iran.
After I paid so much money and had too much suffer, I was very happy to see the European Union’s flag in the first Greek island I arrived at.

I thought that the suffering was finished and that I could continue my life safe and comfortable. I told the Greek committee for refugees that I need shelter for the coming winter but they ignored me.

So, I stayed in an old building near Omonia square (Efetio), which was in a very bad condition. There wasn’t electricity or water and we used a small window to enter and exit because the main door was locked. The building was very dirty because it was used as a public toilet by the people. And in winter, we got sick because of the cold. Sometimes, other immigrants were mugging us and abusing us.
We took some pictures of the building and we send them to the media and then the police violently evacuated the building. Now, the building is sealed and guarded by the police. After that, we had to live in parks and in the street. The Greek government hasn’t built any facilities where we could learn Greek language, that’s why we couldn’t find a job.
I don’t know how much we have to wait until they give us asylum and live in this country like all the other people…”
HUNGER STRIKE UNTIL WE ARE FREE!

We are political refugees from Iran, protected by the special status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. We cannot return to Iran because we face the danger of imprisonment or even a sentence to death, nor can we go legally to another country.
Although we are re recognised as political refugees, the Greek state refuses to give us our legal rights and at the same time gets funds from the European Union without using this money to support the refugees.
We demand the international regulations to be implemented and the Greek state give us all the required papers (white card, travel documents).
We request the help and the support of individuals and organisations in Greece and all other european countries.
We go on a hunger strike on Monday 19 October, in Propilaia, Athens protesting peacefully until the satisfaction of our demands.

http://iranianrefugeesfromtipf.blogspot.com/