All Included

Category: actie

  • We Are Here

    Welcome to visit us! 19e vluchtpand (Burgerweeshuispad 301, Amsterdam, voor support 06 – 84 88 07 15)
    Brandbrief: Buitenschuldprocedure: niet voor vluchtelingen, mei 2016

    Waarom de ene uitgeprocedeerde asielzoeker mag blijven en de andere niet, dec. 2014

    Buddies gezocht voor bewoners vluchtgroep, nov. 2014

    Bad Brood Bed regeling, nov. 2015

    Rapport “Opvang van asielzoekers Vluchthaven succesvol”, juni 2014 (evaluation Vluchthaven – english version)

    WE ARE HERE is a group of refugees without papers, that want to make our problem visible. We moved from the tent camp at Notweg to the Vluchtkerk, than to the Vluchtflat in Slotervaart, to the Vluchtkantoor near Leidseplein, Vluchtbajes & Vluchtgebouw and Vluchtgarage,Vluchttoren, Vluchtgemeente, Vluchtkei, Vluchtpoort.

    self-organized migrant protests in the Netherlands


    Jullie kunnen de vluchtgroep We Are Here financieel steunen o.a. voor eten/gas/licht: bankrek. 609060 tnv XminY o.v.v. We Are Here. Bedankt!

    flyer We Are Here

    www.wijzijnhier.org
    Facebook: Wij zijn hier: https://www.facebook.com/WijZijnHier
    Twitter @wijzijnhierNL

    Bedankt_Wearehere_alleportretten1 Bedankt_Wearehere_alleportretten23 Bedankt_Wearehere_alleportretten106 Bedankt_Wearehere_alleportretten134

    MARYAMA, 22 jaar, afkomstig uit Zuid – Somalie. Zij is 5 jaar in Nederland. Haar asielaanvraag is afgewezen.

  • Open letter concerning the African-European Summit on Migration in Valletta, Malta, November 2015

    Afrique-Europe Interact

    [FR ci-dessous]

    9th November 2015 | African-European summit on migration: Open letter to the african governments

    On the occasion of the African-European summit on migration in Valetta, Malta (11th – 12th November 2015) Afrique-Europe-Interact has published an open letter which is mainly adressed to the african governments.

    Your honorable ambassadors,
    Dear media representatives,
    Dear ladies and gentlemen,

    this letter is addressed to the ambassadors of those African countries who will be present at the African-European Summit on Migration in Valletta. Moreover, we want to address the European public and thus European political institutions. As transnational network with member groups from a number of African and European states, we fear that in Valletta the European Union will yet again attempt to ruthlessly push through its interests – not least of all by relying on its simple economic supremacy. This not only becomes visible through the drafts of the final declaration, which have so far come to light, but also through the corresponding plan of action. More so, as is heard from inside the negotiations, the EU is following an extremely uncompromising course. A high-ranking representative of the African Union reported to the media service “Afroonline”, that already in the pre-negotiations no substantial dialogue has come about: “What we came to see from the EU is a monologue which aims to force their agenda onto us.”

    In this respect we would like to call upon the African governments not to agree to any solutions in Valletta which run against the interests of the African population – of which also refugees and migrants are a part, who are on their way to Europe or who are already there. More precisely: African countries should reject the European claim, that the primary aim of the summit in Valletta is to diminish irregular migration, including the readiness to accept or sign comprehensive deportation treaties with the European Union. Accordingly any attempt to tie payments of development aid to the implementation of measures of migration policies (the so called “more-for-more-principle”) has to be rejected. Rather a political course is to be striven for, which respects the fundamental rights of migrants and refugees – particularly in transit states such as Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, in connection with a sustainable development strategy which is based on an economic upturn for the broad population in Africa.

    What are the precise plans for Valletta? Four thousand participants, among them heads of state from 35 African states and 28 European countries, are expected at the African-European Summit. This summit is not only planned to be follow-up to the Migration and Mobility Summit in Brussels in April 2014. Also, the previous results of the Rabat Process as well as the Khartoum Process are to be summarized. Both processes are primarily concerned with the control of migration, dictatorial regimes such as Eritrea or Sudan being also part of the negotiations in the Khartoum Process since 2014. Officially five negotiation topics are set up for Valletta, according to the German government: Fighting the causes for flight, legal migration and mobility, international protection and political asylum, combatting human trafficking and human smuggling as well as progresses concerning repatriation and readmission.

    Strikingly enough, the European Union signalizes no willingness whatsoever to turn away from its brutally interest-driven political course, which time and again produces the causes for flight that are supposedly sought to be “combatted”. One example of this is the recent demand put forth by the EU, that African states should ratify the highly controversial EPA-Freetrade Agreement (“Economic Partnership Agreements”) by 2017. Despite the fact that this will intensify cut-throat competition amongst African producers, these treaties plan the elimination of costums barriers for 80% of European products. Needless to say, that the state budgets of many African countries urgently require customs revenues. Similar pattern shows in many other areas, too: driving out local agrarian produce by pushing cheap export goods from the EU to the African market, by pushing the sale of African land to international investors (read: landgrabbing) or the mere fact that Africa looses up to 20 Billion Euro revenues per year through legal and illegal tax trickery by international corporations, to name but a few. In the face of this situation we want to appeal to you, the governments of Africa, to dare to nail your colours to the mast and to only agree to decisions which in fact sustainably improve the situation of your citizens:

    • Say No! to any form of politics aiming to seal off borders at the periphery of the EU, which forces refugees and migrants – women and men alike – to dangerous land and sea routes and No! to the increasingly brutal militaristic measures, aiming to hinder people from entering the EU (as for example the operation EUNFVOR at the Libyan coast). Thousands of dead African people are a terrible catastrophe for the involved families, friends and neighbourhoods. The ongoing externalization and hence elimination of refugee protection has to be met with decisive resistance. Huge refugee camps, as planned e.g. in Niger, cannot solve the problem – also because Niger counts as the poorest economy of the world. Instead what is to be expected are catastrophic conditions, as can be witnessed right now in the so-called “hotspots” on Lampedusa, the Greek island of Lesbos or the Serbian border. In this context we also want to appeal to the North-African countries, to refrain from their role as border police for the EU. The terrible scenes at the fences of Melilla and Ceuta or deportations to desert zones trample on the idea of transafrican solidarity. And the same was valid for the dramatic experiences with the camp Choucha at the border between Tunisia and Lybia as well (2011-2014).
    • Say No! to any form of forced repatriation from Northern Africa or Europe – do not sign any readmission agreement or contracts concerning the acknowledgement of EU-transitpasses (“laisser passer”). The real donors are the female and male migrants, who despite their often very precarious existence, transfer more money to Africa than the whole development aid of industrial countries comprises. The currently offered prospect of doubling the number of legitimate visas – amongst others to African students – is a joke and does not present a real solution for the actual needs of African migrants in terms of adequate education and work conditions.
    • Say No! to the multimedia campaigns which the EU wants to carry out in a number of African countries to prevent people from leaving. Neither the dangerous passages, nor racism or the deprivation of rights which influence the situation of migrants and refugees in Europe are an arbitrary fate. More than anything they are the imperatively condemnable result of deliberate policies set out to harass, wear down and exploit people. Relating to this issue, the red card needs to be shown to the cynical, yes racist, differentiation which is currently made between “well-educated” and hence welcomed civil war refugees from Syria and not welcomed “poverty refugees”.
    • Say No! to the ratification of the EPA-Freetrade Agreement and to all other economic measures enforced by the EU such as privatization in case of debts or tax exemption for international investors. In relation to this, the 1.8 billion Euro Emergency Aid Trust Fund is to be rejected as mere sham. Contrary to the official line, which claims that with this ridiculously tiny trust it is aimed to stabilize the situation in the Tchad region, at the Horn of Africa and in North Africa, it is planned to combat irregular migration with yet more measures based on security policies.
    • Say No! to all conducts which entail corruption, collusion and nepotism as well as bad governance, with which African governments themselves add to the aggravation of the permanent crisis in Africa. In this sense it is up to African institutions such as the AU or the ECOWAS to put pressure on autocratic and violent regimes such as Eritrea, Sudan or Burundi as their politics have already driven hundreds of thousands of people to flee.

    Lastly we would like to appeal to you, the African governments represented in Valletta, to accompany this multi-facetted NO! with a powerful YES!: A Yes, that on one hand aims to reach solidarity and fair settlement of interests between Africa and Europe (systematically taking into account the historical European responsibility for the long-term consequences of slavery, colonialism and climate change) and the realization of free movement as a steadfast human right on the other. It can not be emphasized enough, that it is not possible to control or stop migration and mobility! Instead it should be highlighted that the only effective alternative to sealing borders and deportation consists of unhindered and/or circular migration as it has always been culturally deeply rooted in all regions of Africa for decades and centuries.

    Kind regards,
    Afrique-Europe-Interact

    P.S.: On the occasion of the summit in Valletta, the Malian section of Afrique-Europe-Interact will hold a press conference on Tuesday, 10th November 2015 in Bamako

    [FR]

    09.11.2015 | Sommet afro-européen: Lettre ouvere aux gouvernements africains

    À l’occasion du sommet afro-européen sur la migration à La Valette, Malte (11.11.2015-12.11.2015) Afrique-Europe-Interact a écrit la lettre ouverte suivante.

    Chères ambassadrices, chers ambassadeurs,
    chers représentants et chères représentantes de médias,
    mesdames et messieurs,

    cette lettre est adressée aux ambassadeurs, ambassadrices et consuls qui ont une représentation diplomatique en Allemagne. Elle concerne aussi les pays africains qui seront présents au  « Sommet de La Valette sur les migrations ». Toutefois, nous voulons également l’adresser aux opinions publiques européennes afin donc d’interpeller la politique européenne. Parce que nous, en tant que réseau transnational avec des membres dans différents pays africains et européens, nous craignons que l’Union européenne par le biais du sommet de La Valette, essaie d’imposer encore une fois ses propres intérêts. Notamment en usant de leur supériorité économique pure. Cette crainte est fondée non seulement par les conceptions connues jusqu’à présent pour une déclaration finale, mais aussi basée sur les analyses du plan d’action de l“UE correspondant qui l’accompagne. Du côté des cercles de négociations on peut s’attendre à ce que l’UE soit extrêmement intransigeante. Un haut représentant de l’Union Africaine a d’ailleurs informé le service de média “afroline”, qu’il n’y avait jusqu’ici aucun dialogue véritable dans les entretiens préliminaires : “Ce que nous voyons de la part de l’UE, c’est un monologue, qui vise à nous imposer leur ordre du jour.” à -t-il déclaré.

    Dans cet ordre d’idées, nous voulons en appeler aux chefs de gouvernements africains au rejet à La Valette de toutes les solutions qui seront dirigées contre les intérêts des populations africaines – parmi lesquelle d’ailleurs les réfugiés et les migrant-e-s qui sont sur les chemins vers l’Europe ou qui sont déjà arrivés en Europe. Plus précisément : les pays africains devraient apporter une réponse négative au mot d’ordre européenne dont l’objectif principal à La Valette est de discuter sur “comment freiner “ la migration illégale et de faire signer les accords de réadmission. En conséquence, est à rejeter toute tentative qui oriente les flux d’aide au développement vers la mise en œuvre des mesures migratoires (le soi-disant principe du “plus pour plus”). Par ailleurs, est souhaitable une politique qui non seulement respecte les droits fondamentaux des migrants et des réfugiés, en particulier dans les pays de transit en Libye, Tunisie, Algérie et Maroc, mais qui doit également être connectée à une stratégie de développement à long terme basée sur une reprise économique en faveur de la vaste majorité des populations d’Afrique.

    Qu’est ce qui est exactement prévu à La Valette?

    Au sommet afro-européenne, 4.000 participants sont attendus, y compris les chefs d’État de 35 pays africains et de 28 pays européens. Le sommet doit se rallier non seulement au sommet sur la migration et la mobilité qui a eu lieu en avril 2014 à Bruxelle, mais en plus, il devra servir à relayer les résultats récents du processus de Raba entamé en 2006 en intégrant le processus de Khartoum en vigueur depuis 2014. Les deux processus sont consacrés en grande partie au contrôle des migrations, mais dans celui de Khartoum figure aussi les négociations avec des régimes dictatoriaux tels que l’Érythrée ou le Soudan. Officiellement, cinq sujets d’action devraient être discutés à La Valette: La lutte contre les causes de la fuite, la migration légale et la mobilité, la protection internationale et l’asile, la lutte contre le trafic d’êtres humains, et les progrès en matière de retour et de réadmission.

    Il est frappant de constater cependant, que l’Union Européenne n’a signalé aucune volonté d’abandonner sa politique qui crée à travers l’orientation sur ses propres intérêts, des causes de la fuite qui sont toujours officiellement “combattues”. Par exemple, l’UE a récemment demandé que les accords de libre-échange de l’APE (“accords de partenariat économique”), controversés depuis des années, doivent être “ nécessairement” ratifiés par les pays africains en 2017. Ceux-ci en echo demandent une élimination des barrières tarifaires pour 80% de tous les produits de l’UE bien que cela ne ferait qu’accroitre la concurrence acharnée pour les producteurs africains. Sans mentionner le fait que pour de nombreux pays en Afrique, les recettes douanières constituent une part importante des recettes de l´Etat. La situation est similaire dans d’autres domaines socio- économique, par exemple dans l’élimination des produits agricoles Africains face aux exportations bon marchés subventionnées par l’UE en Afrique et les operations de spoliations des sols africains aux investisseurs internationaux (mot-clé: l’accaparement des terres) ou dans le fait que l’Afrique perde chaque année jusqu’à 20 milliards d’euros à cause de manigances fiscales légales et illégales utilisées par les sociétés internationales. Compte tenu de cette situation, nous voulons faire appel à vous, chers gouvernements africains, afin que vous annonciez la couleur au sommet de La Valette et approuviez seulement les décisions qui seront en fait de nature à améliorer durablement la situation de vos citoyens:

        • Dites Non ! À toute forme de politique raciste aux frontières extérieures de l’UE qui pousse délibérément les réfugiés et les migrant-e-s sur les routes terrestres et maritimes dangereuses. Non à ces politiques du cloisonnement qui essaient d’empêcher leur arrivée en Europe, en usant des méthodes militaires de plus en plus brutales (comme dans l’opération EUNAFVOR avant la côte libyenne). Chaque année des milliers de décès d’Africains sont une tragédie terrible pour les familles, les ami-e-s et l’image des pays africains. La poursuite de l’externalisation et donc le rejet de la protection des réfugiés par l’UE doit être fermement repoussé. Les camps d’accueil gigantesques qui sont prévus au Niger, ne peuvent pas résoudre le problème. Car ils augurent des conditions catastrophiques à craindre, comme c’est actuellement le cas dans les soi-disant “Hotspots” à Lampedusa, sur l’île grecque de Lesbos et sur la frontière serbe – en outre, le Niger est l’un des pays le plus pauvre dans le monde en termes économiques. Dans le même contexte, nous souhaitons également faire appel aux pays d’Afrique du Nord afin qu´ils abandonnent leur rôle gendarme en faveur de l’Union européenne. Les scènes terribles aux clôtures de Ceuta et Melilla ou les déportations dans le désert foulent l’idée de la solidarité intra-africaine aux pieds. Il en fut de même pour l’expérience dramatique du camp “Choucha” aujourd’hui fermé à la frontière tuniso-libyenne (2011-2014).
        • Dites Non ! À toute forme d’expulsion forcée d’Afrique du Nord ou d’Europe – ne signez pas des accords de réadmission ou la reconnaissance d’un laissez-passer européen. Il faut noter que les donateurs véritables sont les migrant-e-s qui envoient malgré leur situation parfois extrêmement précaire, plus d’argent à l’Afrique que l’aide totale au développement qu’accordent les pays riches industrialisés. Le doublement promis de la délivrance de visas, entre autres aux étudiant-e-s africain-e-s, est ridicule et n’est pas une réponse aux besoins réels de formation et travail des migrant-e-s africain-e-s.
        • Dites Non ! Aux campagnes de dissuasion médiatique que l’Union européenne veut effectuer dans plusieurs pays africains. Parce que non seulement les points de passage sont dangereux, mais également la situation en Europe marquée par la privation de droits et le racisme n’est pas un destin inévitable. Au contraire, elle est le résultat de la politique gouvernementale de tracasserie, de démoralisation ciblée et de l’exploitation économique ce qui doit également être critiqué haut et fort. Dans ce contexte, un carton rouge doit être donné à la distinction cynique ou même raciste entre les réfugiés bien éduqués et donc souhaités de la guerre civile de Syrie et les réfugiés de la pauvreté et donc non-souhaités de l’Afrique.
        • Dites NON ! À la ratification des accords de libre-échange de l’EPA et à toutes les autres mesures économiques, forcées par l’UE, comme les privatisations à cause de la dette ou des exonérations fiscales pour les investisseurs internationaux. Dans ce contexte, les fonds d’urgence de l’UE de 1,8 milliard d’euros, mis en place à l’occasion du sommet de La Valette, devraient être rejetés comme un simple trompe-l’œil. Parce qu’avec ces fonds minuscules, il n’est pas planifié – comme officiellement affirmé – de stabiliser la situation dans la région du Sahel, dans la région du lac Tchad, dans la Corne de l’Afrique et en Afrique du Nord (ce qui ne serait pas possible avec ce montant). Il s’agit plutôt à ce sommet, de combattre la migration irrégulière par des mesures de sécurité.
        • Dites NON! À la corruption, au clientélisme et la mauvaise gouvernance, à cause desquelles les gouvernements africains contribuent eux-mêmes au renforcement des crises permanentes en Afrique. Dans ce sens, les institutions africaines telles que l’Union africaine ou la CEDEAO doivent exercer aussi une pression ciblée sur les régimes autocratiques et violents comme en Erythrée, au Soudan ou au Burundi, où la politique a déjà provoqué la fuite des centaines de milliers de personnes.

    Enfin, nous voudrions faire appel aux gouvernements africains représentés à La Vallette de connecter ces multiples Non! à un fort Oui: un Oui, qui vise d’une part la solidarité et le juste équilibre des intérêts entre l’Afrique et l’Europe (sous la considération systématique de la responsabilité historique de l’Europe pour les conséquences à long-termes de l’esclavage, du colonialisme et du changement climatique), d’autre part la réalisation de la liberté de circulation en tant que droits de l’homme inviolable et inaliénable. Il serait donc bienvenu d’insister sur l’incapacité de contrôler ou même arrêter la migration et la mobilité. Il convient de souligner pour terminer que la seule alternative au cloisonnement ou à l’expulsion, c’est la libre circulation, comme elle est culturellement enracinée dans toutes les régions d’Afrique depuis des décennies, et même pendant des siècles.

    Cordialement,

    Afrique-Europe-Interact

    P.S. A l’occasion du sommet de La Vallette la section malienne d’Afrique-Europe-Interact va, le mardi 10.11.2015, faire à une conférence de presse à Bamako.

  • protest tegen landgrabbing in Sanamadoug/Sahou in Mali

    18.04.2016: Protest of the two villages Sanamadougou and Sahou (Mali) against landgrabbing +++ The responsible investor has received loans from – among others – the African Development Bank +++ The German government was in this and other cases misled with explicit false information +++

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    Landgrabbing is one of the most controversial topics of the Malian politics. But the case of the two villages Sanamadougou and Sahou in the Office du Niger is probably one of the most scandalous ones: Since 2010 the Malian investor Modibo Keita has appropriated a bigger part of the agricultural land of the two villages. Officially Modibo Keita has concluded a contract with the Malian state over the land. But the land, which is only roughly outlined in the contract does obviously not comprise the land of Sanamadougou and Sahou (which among other things becomes clear on the basis of the irrigation canal mentioned in the contract).

    Despite these evident contradictions the African Development Bank has granted Modibo Keita a loan of 16,8 million euro in september 2014. It is remarkable that it was one of the credit covenants that no juridicial procedures are pending concerning Sanamadougou and Sahou and that the families affected had received compensation (the German government has played a central role concerning the conclusion of these terms.) Modibo Keita has confirmed both, but both is not correct as Afrique-Europe-Interact could demonstrate together with the villagers. Because the fact is that a trial, which started in february 2012 is interrupted since the end of 2012 – although the court has ordered on 20th of december 2012 by decision that an assessor shall be appointed for the clarification of the matter. In addition money was payed only to single persons, but not to the respective heads of the households; therefore no deeds of assignment concerning the land are available.

    Sanamadougou and Sahou have in the past years again and again caused a sensation nationally and internationally. Not only did the renowned Oakland-Institute in the US present the case in a report on landgrabbing in Mali, there is also a long report from the human rights organisation FIAN International. In Mali the case was controversially discussed in parliament on the 2nd of july 2015; inaddition the farmers affected have written countless letters and have conducted numerous actions. However, nothing has happened until today.

    It is against this background that this morning (18th of april 2016) the two villages have started with a field occupation right next to Sahou – claiming the immediate restitution of the complete land before the beginning of the harvest season 2016/2017. They are supported on the one hand by several neighboring villages from the region Sansanding as well as the peasant grass-root union COPON (Coordination of the farmers in the Office du Niger). On the other hand the transnational network Afrique-Europe-Interact is actively supporting the protests, accordingly about 40 activists from Bamako are on site together with numerous media representatives. Furthermore, Afrique-Europe-Interact has written an open letter to the Malian president, the African Development bank and the German government. In this letter the central information is documented in summary – including the mentioned court decision of 20th of december 2012. The letter is available in three languages:

    German: http://afrique-europe-interact.net/1432-0-Antwortbrief-an-BMZ.html
    English: http://afrique-europe-interact.net/1438-2-Lettre-au-Prsident-
    IBK.html?article_id=1438&clang=1
    French: http://afrique-europe-interact.net/1438-2-Lettre-au-Prsident-
    IBK.html?article_id=1438&clang=2

    Afrique-Europe-Interact calls upon the international public to seek exchange with the Malian authorities and the African Development Bank. Because it should not be that on the one hand Europe demands the struggle against the causes of flight and on the other hand several thousands of farmers in villages like Sanamadougou and Sahou are dispossessed of their means of existence (while the German government has been misled with verifiable false information). In this context we explicitly want to point at another case of landgrabbing in the region Siengo Extension, concerning which Afrique-Europe-Interact has also written an extensive statement to the German and Malian authorities. Because Siengo Extension is also therefore juicy, because here corrupt appropriation of land by governmental officials has taken place in a project financed with means of the German development cooperation. The correspondent letters in German and French are available on the website of the network as well.

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    Due to the war in the north it was not possible to do the protest last year. A sit-in was planned in june 2015. Here is the background:

    Today 16th of june 2015 protests against landgrabbing in the Malian Office du Niger region will take place in the two villages of Sanamadougou and Sahou. More precisely, the peasants in question are organising a sit-in near Sahou in front of the farm business of Modibo Keita who arranged to be ‘offered’ the land by the Malian government. About 50 activists of the Bamako section of Afrique-Europe Interact already arrived yesterday in Sahou – together with several journalists. In addition, 100 members of the COPON (the farmers union at the Office du Niger initiated by Afrique-Europe-Interact) will participate too.

    Generally we can say that the preperation for this action were not easy, but at the same time it is a great success that all the villagers, the activists of Africa-Europe Interact and COPON decided to make this action (one day before the start of Lent). More info on Transnational Resistance against Land Grabbing in Mali / Renewed Protests by the Inhabitants of Sanamadougou and Sahou (pdf 10.2 KB) and The Connection between Urban and Rural Areas.
    Afrique-Europe Interact supports the sit-in also financially. Our collection through Crowdfunding will continue until the end of June: https://www.betterplace.org/de/projects/27746

    2nd of june 2015 | Solidarity ralley for Sanamadougou and Sahou in Berlin
    http://afrique-europe-interact.net/1373-0-Solidarittsaktion-2-Juni-2015.html?article_id=1373&clang=1

    Video “Journée de réflexion Saou et Sanamadougou 2015”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81rA6Triu64

    presentatie Strijd tegen landroof in Mali door Bakary Mamatou Traoré, boer en vakbondsactivist uit Office du Niger (13 april 2015 te Amsterdam)

  • Benefieten We Are Here: zaterdag 13 juni en zondag 5 juli 2015

    https://www.facebook.com/WijZijnHier?fref=nf

    Komende zaterdag 13 juni organiseert Wij Zijn Hier een swingend, informatief en smakelijk benefiet evenement voor & door Wij Zijn Hier.
    **** Entree is gratis!****

    Het evenement vindt plaats in de Vluchttoren aan de Sande Bakhuijzenstraat 2 te Amsterdam. Van 16:00 tot 22:00 zal de Vluchttoren haar deuren gastvrij openen met veel internationale lekkernijen, fantastische bands & dj’s, speeches en informatieve documentaires.
    Dit is in navolging van een zeer succesvol benefiet in de Vluchtgarage enige tijd geleden en eveneens als tegenuitnodiging voor de studenten van het Student Hotel, die recentelijk de vluchtelingen welkom heetten voor een feestje.
    Iedereen is van harte welkom! Zowel bekenden als nog onbekenden van de Wij Zijn Hier groep.
    Het doel is informatie over WZH geven, elkaar leren kennen, informatie uitwisselen, geld ophalen voor het noodzakelijke levensonderhoud van de bewoners en natuurlijk een gezellig feestje met elkaar maken. Met de fantastische dansers onder de vluchtelingen is dat gegarandeerd!
    11427229_975278842505679_7037315718993514682_n
    Een tipje van de sluier wat je kan verwachten:
    Heerlijke Ethiopische Injera, smakelijke vis uit de oven, kruidige kip met rijst en de beste Ethiopische koffie op traditionele wijze bereid….en meer!
    Muziek zal een kleurrijke afwisseling zijn van artiesten van buiten & binnen de Wij Zijn Hier groep! Namen volgen snel maar één geven we alvast weg…Grote Prijs van NL-winnaar en finalist van ‘De Beste Singer Songwriter’ Rogier Pelgrim! Maker van het strijdbare nummer met bijbehorende indrukwekkende clip ‘Won’t go Back’ over en met de vluchtelingen van Wij Zijn Hier.
    Verdere informatie over de activiteiten volgt de komende dagen!

    Laat je verrassen zaterdag en kom langs!

    ★ ★ ★ STRAATFEEST ★ ★ ★ ZONDAG 5 JULI 2015

    Benefiet voor de vluchtelingen van de “We Are Here” groep
    http://ostade233.nl/

    ZONDAG 5 JULI 2015 ≡ 14.00 – 19.00

    In de buurt van de van Ostadestraat 233, Amsterdam

    ≈ PROGRAMMA ≈

    • 14.15-14.45 Billenbijter, Roos Dansverhalen Poppenspel en Dans
    • 15.00-16.00 Fanfare van de Eerste Liefdesnacht
    • 16.00-16.10 Babs, Spoken Words
    • 16.10-16.40 WE ARE HERE LIVE
    • 15.00-16.30 Kiko Kinderatelier, creatieve workshop, windmolens maken
    • 16.40-17.00 Aardblij, Soupsisters Kindertheater
    • 17.00-17.15 Pink Refugee Rabbit, politieke scherpe recht voor d’r raap act
    • 17.15-17.45 KeGeKu, Live Latin music and Jazz
    • 17.45-18.15 Dj Sca … dansen op betoverende geluiden
    • 18.15-18.30 Loterij t.b.v. vluchtelingen Wij Zijn Hier
    • 18.30-19.30 Dj Sca … dansen op betoverende geluiden
    http://ostade233.nl

     

  • Letter from Choucha 2015

    Dear All,

    Choucha refugee camp that was officially closed by the responsible UNHCR leaving hundreds in limbo at the camp till date,at the Tunsian-Libyan border, since 2011. We would like to update you about our situation, though there is not much to be updated about: we are still displaced in the deserted remote camp. All plight not to be forgotten, though the camp was officially closed by the UNHCR, there are people still leaving in it.

    The situation in Choucha calls for urgent intervention, since we are suffering mental,physical psychological violations and torture, that reduces human power of concentration in the middle of nowhere. Extreme cases speak for themselves: a Sudanese is laying in Choucha after three major surgical operations that involved the spinal cord and his urine system, being abandoned in the camp without medical attention (negligence)and other several consequent cases denied. Moreover, we lack running water, sewage, food, and we are forced to beg alimentation on the main street heading to Libya. We believe every sane mind today knows that hunger is the world’s n. 1 health threat, that kills more people than any disease or virus that has ever been discovered. It is better for things to be stated with a direct factual basis. We are being placed in a life threatening situation.On the other side, we cannot go back to our countries of origin because of the individuals risk of persecution (same reasons we put forward in our requests for asylum to the UNHCR).

    Local integration is not a solution to Choucha for several reasons:
    .The general climate of discrimination and racism that many of us have to face,as demonstrated by several complains and testimonies had gone through without attention.

    . Lack of asylum/refugee system,that,even if its been enacted today Choucha is not supposed to be the experiment for the practise,hence many will remain under the impairism of past experience.
    .It has severally been stated officially to us in meetings with members of the government,choucha is not and has never been a priority topic of discussion and as human,we are the victims suffering and living the situation without any impact or support from the government,knowing fully well that the camp is situated in the middle of nowhere,the deserted remote geographical location chosen for the camp (6/7 km away from the day to day troubled border,putting us in a dangerous position).
    · Some of us were arrested in 2014 three consecutive times for exercising our legitimate rights of demonstrating,the authority and all human rights defending groups failed to help us,putting into consideration that our lives in Choucha for all these years is on hold,neither were we showing pleasure during all these process.Protesting against these decisions/situation that has existed all these years long,without suitable durable solution to end our plights.
    · Demographic arc of instability,i.e,political,economic E.T.C.
    Our appeal to the Tunisian government as host of Choucha refugee camp, hence its easy to perceive in all given statements  “that our demand for resettlement to a safe third country with effective system of asylum/refugee protection”, “not local integration in Tunisia”,as a proposed plan/program,human right leagues/experts,activists and the civil society,IS to urge the camp responsible UNHCR,under whose authority the camp was  established to accomodate the victims,consequence of the Libyan 2011 crisis and with whom our legal cases were registered and the International Committee upon the agreement/s with which the camp was enacted and closed, as well the essence base of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights were made.
    Our struggle is instigated by our own suffering and our own experience,It is a struggle for the rights to live with human dignity in harmony with equal rights and justice,fair opportunities,to be accorded resettlement,not confined to Choucha open detention.
    Our Demand And Appeal To UNHCR And The International Committee
    .To be accorded resettlement to a safe third country counting with effective system of refugee/asylum protection.Not local integration.
    For all these reasons given,we call on your support of our course and demand.

    Remaining forgotten refugees at choucha/Unhcr camp of Libyan/Tunisian border

  • Choucha refugee camp to be closed – 2014

    Letter from Choucha  2015 (more info on choucha: here)

    Tunisia, the humanitarian emergency of the Choucha refugee camp
    Lamia Ledrisi / Mediterranean Affairs, 15 June 2015

    C_1bcd2ddce6

     

    To UNHCR, IOM, the Tunisian Red Cross, the Tunisian government and all the actors involved in the management of Choucha camp,

    12.10.2014

    Aware of the notice given by IOM and the Tunisian Red Cross to the people still living in Choucha camp about the forthcoming eviction of the camp, we, as a group of researchers, activists, academics and members of human rights organizations from Europe and Tunisia, denounce the intolerable treatment that you are planning to do against the refugees who have been living in the camp since 2011, with no effective solution for a space to stay. Humanitarian actors left those refugees dying in the desert after the official closure of the camp in June 2013, and most of them in fact have tried to cross the sea risking their lives –some also died. Now, you are trying to chase them from the only space they have for living, and without giving them any solution to their illegal) status in Tunisia – both refugees and rejected refugees are currently without a residence permit. You suggest them to resettle themselves in the Tunisian cities, but which kind of integration are you thinking about for people that UNHCR has denied of the international protection and who are now treated as illegal migrants in Tunisia?

    You have also encouraged them to go back to their country of origin, as if they would have gone to Libya and then fled to Tunisia for leisure. Some of them were born in Libya or in Choucha and have never seen their so-called country of origin, others fear political persecution in case they go back.. Moreover, the ridiculous amount of money offered by IOM for the “voluntary return” sounds as a mockery to those who spent years and years in Libya and whose life there has been destroyed by the war. The other automatic non-solution that you have not the courage to explicitly tell, is their last resort to take a boat and cross the Mediterranean: you are leaving them with no solution than risking to die at sea.

    With this statement we would like to address also the European Union to resettle in Europe all these (few) people left at Choucha camp and to state that we won’t leave people in the Choucha camp alone. We will monitor your actions. What you are trying to do as an ordinary measure, is indeed something that we will try to oppose in all the ways that we can. By leaving the people in the desert and now planning to evict them, you show the failures and the consequences of the European politics of externalization of asylum. These people have been living in the desert in a dangerous zone near the Ras Jadir border since 2011, while in Libya the political crisis is getting worse and worse: how can you say that they are not people of humanitarian concern? Many of them are sick, old or women with children – at least for those most vulnerable people there must be a solution! We do not say that Choucha is the solution for them: a camp is never a solution, actually it is a system of containment of people’s mobility. However, today Choucha is not a camp anymore, it is the only space where they can stay, and it is the space in which they carry on their struggle for claiming their resettlement in a third country: Many of them tried in vain to integrate in Tunisia, did not get jobs, experienced racism and bad treatment – so they returned to the camp.They are not still there for living their life at Choucha, but as a form of political collective struggle to demand a real solution, and you have been trying to tame their resistance since the beginning.

    Acknowledging the work all of you have done in the aftermath of the Libyan war we strongly believe that it is highly inhuman not to think of a concrete solution for people still living in the Choucha camp and who are unable to return to their so-called country of origin. These people are striving to survive since more three years now. Thus, we will continue to support their struggle and to hamper in any ways your strategy of abandonment and illegalization of people, and we will closely follow your next steps, firmly demanding to UNHCR and to the European Union:

    a) The resettlement of the people at Choucha camp in a safe third-country and to grant all of them a humanitarian protection as people who fled the Libyan war, that was supported also by European states

    b) To reopen their asylum dossiers considering the current geopolitical situation at the Tunisian-Libyan border

    c) To grant all the people at Choucha a concrete possibility of building their life in a safe space and to immediately regularize their juridical status

    d) To not evict the camp and to allow people from Choucha to come to Europe in a safe and legal way.

    1359405606-choucha-refugee-camp-demonstrates-in-tunis

     

    Report Choucha camp Aug. 20 2014

     

    A brief report from Choucha refugee camp in Tunisia, close to the Ras Jadir border with Lybia

    Choucha, that space still exists:

    Three years and half after the opening of Choucha refugee camp , nine kilometers from the Libyan border of Ras Jadir and in the midst of the Tunisian desert, about 150 people still live there despite UNHCR officially closed the camp in June 2013.

    The tents are placed just few meters from the main road that connects Tunisia and Libya, and so people at Choucha wait that Libyans leave them food and water. In fact, UNHCR had already stopped to give food and water to the rejected refugees in October 2012, pushing them to abandon the camp and suggesting people to return to Libya or to their country of origin with IOM’s return projects. On the contrary, many of the rejected are still at Choucha, since it is incredibly hard for them to find a “legal” job – labelling them as rejected, UNHCR has de facto produced them as illegal migrants on the Tunisian territory – and consequently also to find an affordable place for living in some Tunisian towns. “At least, Choucha is free, the desert is free”: for this reason, also among those who moved to Medenine, Tunis or Ben Guerdane, a huge number has come back to the camp – by now, a self-organized camp. Even some of the statutory refugees have been living in the camp for three years and half: those who have been denied of the resettlement in a third country in principle have been “offered” by UNHCR and the Tunisian Red Cross to stay in Tunisia with a program of local integration. But many refused and claim to be resettled out of Tunisia, since there are not even the basic legal conditions for staying there and the economic crisis makes almost impossible for them to build a new life.

    Indeed, to date Tunisia has not a proper refugee law, despite it has signed the Geneva convention. And if on the one hand the presence and the work of UNHCR is tolerated, actually the Tunisian government does not release any residence permit to the refugees. Today at the camp there are people seriously ill and who cannot move, and those among them who have not the refugee status are not even allowed to receive the first medical aid –or better, according to the Tunisian law they are entitled to that, but actually at the hospital in the city of Ben Guerdane rejected refugees from Choucha have been denied of care. “We are feed by Libyans!”: people at Choucha repeat this, remarking that neither UNHCR nor other national or international organizations support them in any way. And so people wait Libyan cars passing on the main road, and throwing them bottles of waters, bread and milk.

    Choucha has now become a military zone, and only the army is at the camp, all humanitarian and international organization left the last year. But the conditions of those who are still there is not less worry than any other context that is now labelled by UNHCR as a humanitarian concern. Certainly, it cannot be described in terms of emergency, since that condition have been persisting in the same way since 2011 –it is rather a permanent condition of being dismissed from any humanitarian gaze, the junk of the Libyan war.

    “Choucha does not exist anymore”: this laconic statement is repeated by all the organizations that were involved in the management of the camp and of its ‘inhabitants’ – IOM, Red Cross, UNHCR, Danish Refugee Council, Islamic Relief. In five words they erase a space and the presence of those people still there.

    Actually, Choucha has become a centripetal space for those who are rescued at sea: after being taken to Medenine, most of them go to Choucha, to find a place to stay. But the Tunisian army, in cooperation with UNHCR tries to block them, since the current plan is to definitively empty Choucha and to transform it into a pure military zone. In September the camp probably will be evicted by the Tunisian army for “security reasons” , and the people still living there won’t have other solutions than going back to Libya and then maybe trying to cross the Mediterranean, or remaining illegal presences on the Tunisian territory. This is in fact what many of the people at Choucha have done in the last months going back to Libya and paying 1200 dollars for trying to cross the sea on overcrowded vessels: some arrived in Europe and now are in Italy or Germany or Sweden, and many died at sea. Instead, those who have been rescued by the Tunisian Navy are put into jail, since as they try to “illegally” leave the country, de facto they loose their refugees status, as UNHCR’s officer in Zarzis firmly stated.

    UNHCR is shielding its “politics of discharge” – that leaves people of humanitarian concern abandomned in the desert – sending ahead Tunisian organizations like the Red Cross, to do the “dirty work” with the people rescued at sea (migrants are registered for the asylum claim in Medenine by the Tunisian Red Cross and asylum seekers are not allowed to go to UNHCR office). When two refugees from Choucha went to UNHCR headquarters in Tunis two months ago, one of them very ill and demanding to solve his health problems, they were put into jail by Tunisian authorities while they were waiting to enter UNHCR office. A similare sort happened to the group of rejected refugees that in February started a sit-in in front of the European Union delegation in Tunis: all of them were put into jail for two weeks and then taken to the camp.

    In fact, also those who accepted the so called local integration programs state quite clearly that no integration is de facto envisaged by Tunisian authorities that have not given any possibility to refugees to regularize them. And UNHCR’s projects for local integration play precisely with this ambiguity, namely with the actual impossibility to grant a residence permit.

    Migration policies is after all also a politics of numbers: in order to count as a problem or as an issue to be tackled, the people in question must be a considerable number, otherwise “they are just few persons in the desert, they are about 100 people, nothing”. The politics of waste makes that after an incessant production of differentiated migration profiles, something that cannot be assimilated remains. The uncountable few or the lesser evil”, those that no humanitarian concern can take into account. They are few, just a small amount of waste that confirms that the exclusionary politics of asylum has succeeded…More or less 100 people: this is the vague answer that UNHCR gives when you insist with them to talk about Choucha. Instead, the last week people counted themselves to face such elusive number and say: “we are 134, no more, no less. We demand resettlement and protection for everybody, no more, no less”.

    In the face of all this, refugees and rejected refugees at the camp stress that Choucha still exist as well as the persons who lived there without accepting to give up their struggle: “we have been living in the desert for three years and half, and we are in danger in this desert. There is no solution for our lives staying here”.

    The impossible demand incessantly made by refugees and rejected refugees for being resettled in a third country, actually is for us the only way for actively supporting the struggle of people at Choucha camp. Challenging the codes and the boundaries of what can be “legitimately” demanded is part of a struggle that does not claim but acts and takes those rights that are not envisaged for the “waste”-people at Choucha camp. Tunisia is currently preparing an asylum law with UNHCR and the European Union – a law that is one of the main stake of the Mobility Partnership with the EU, signed in March 2014 but that actually is still under negotiation. The establishment of a proper asylum system in Tunisia will be certainly a fundamental step for all the refugees that in Tunisia have accepted the local integration program; however, this cannot be taken as a reason for giving up the struggle of the persons who are still in Choucha, and who after three years and half in the desert have only that space for staying. What they demand to European states is to go beyond UNHCR’s partitioning system that sorted between refugees, rejected refugees and non-resettled refugees and to start from a very simple point:

    beyond their escape from the Libyan conflict, they have been living in the desert for three years and half, now are also abandoned by all humanitarian organizations, and they must be entitled of a humanitarian protection from those countries that were involved in the Libyan war.

  • Watch the Med Alarm Phone

    For Boatpeople in Distress at Sea and in Cases of Pushback

    Campaign “Ferries not Frontex” towards an open Mediterranean space! (march 2016)

    WTM Alarmphone verklaring 1 jarig bestaan (12 okt. 2015)

    In solidarity with migrants at sea! The Alarm Phone 3 years on with dutch press release

    Moving On – 1 Year Alarm Phone Brochure and the many remarkable experiences made by Alarm Phone members in the project’s first year of existence (23 jan. 2016) with dutch press release

    News, Reports & Investigations

    THIS NUMBER IS NOT A RESCUE NUMBER!
    But an ALARM NUMBER to support rescue operations!

    What to do if you are in distress at sea or getting pushed back:
    1. Call first the coast guards and tell them about your situation of distress
    2. Then call the Alarm Phone
    3. Note that we cannot rescue, we do not have boats or helicopters
    4. We will make sure that your distress call is noted and acted upon
    5. If you are not promptly rescued by the coast guards we will inform the public media and politicians to put pressure on the rescue services.

    —————————————————————————————————

    Alarm Phone Nr.:  + 334 86 51 71 61

    —————————————————————————————————

    We know coastguards act quite differently. There are areas where they do their job well and rescue promptly. But refugees also report that they get pushed back by coast guards or are treated violently. When a distress call is received, we will call the coast guards ourselves, and follow up on their response, making known to them that we are informed and ‘watching’ them. We want to support you in protecting your lives and your right of freedom of movement.

    FAQ (10 questions posed to the WTM alarm phone project),

    Safety at Sea / Instructions for a Distress Call.

    Transnational Monitoring against the deadly injustice at sea! (how Watch the Med works) and

    Risks,Rights &Safety at Sea (informations for people considering to cross the sea).

    For a push back operation, see “They want to see us drown” – Survivors of a push back operation in the Aegean Sea report 16.11.2014 / Chios/Greece-Cesme/Turkey

    For the deadly delays in rescue operations, see the exemplary case from the 11th of October 2013 when more than 200 boat people drowned: Shipwreck 11th of October 2013.

    For general information about the situation in certain european countries for refugees – see: w2eu.info / welcome to europe

    Moet een kapitein een bootje met migranten in nood redden? (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

     

    [Press Release, 8th of October 2014] *Watch The Med Alarm Phone against Left-to-die cases at Sea* »Our project is no solution, but an emergency intervention«

    Call for “Watch The Med Alarm Phone” for Boatpeople

    (signatures below!)

    11th of October 2013: Refugees from a sinking boat called again and again Italian coastguards via satellite phone in order to be rescued, but their SOS signals were not taken seriously. The boat carried more than 400 people and was shot at in the night before by a Libyan vessel. Despite the Italian and soon later the Maltese authorities having been warned of the imminent distress of the passengers, rescue efforts were delayed for several hours and patrol vessels arrived one hour after the boat had sunk. More than 200 people died, only 212 people were saved.

    What would have happened if the boatpeople could have directed a second call to an independent phone-hotline through which a team of civil society members could raise alarm and put immediate pressure on authorities to rescue?

    One year after the tragedy from Lampedusa on the 3rd of October     and after the left-to-die case mentioned above, the situation is no less dramatic. Although the Italian military operation “mare nostrum” led to the rescue of about 100.000 refugees and migrants within the last 11 months, only in the central Mediterranean area more than 1300 boatpeople became new victims of the border-regime. In the beginning of 2014 we witnessed more death at the external borders of EU: on the 20th of January 12 refugees died when their vessel sunk while being towed at high speed by a vessel of the Greek Coast Guard aiming to push it back towards the Turkish coast.
    And on the 6th of February the Spanish border guards shot with plastic-bullets at swimming migrants who tried to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. More than 14 people died as a result.

    These cases are not isolated    , but rather the most obvious amongst many similarly deadly violations perpetrated against migrants at sea throughout the Mediterranean. Would these deaths have occurred had civil society been informed and had exercised its pressure and influence before rather than after the incidents?
    We can no longer bear to remain helpless as tragedies repeat themselves. We want to do more than condemning these violations after the incidents. We believe that an alternative alarm network established by the civil society on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea could make a difference.

    We neither possess any rescue-teams, nor can we offer direct protection. We are aware of our limited capabilities and of the provisional and precarious character of our initiative. But we want to immediately raise alarm when refugees and migrants get into situations of distress at sea and are not rescued promptly. We want to document in real-time and scandalize immediately when boatpeople become victims of push-back operations or are sent back to countries such as Libya, where migrant rights are repeatedly violated. We want to intervene with political pressure and public mobilisation against the daily injustices at the external borders of the EU.

    We know that such pressure can be effective because it has been exercised already for several years by a few individuals who, through family and solidarity ties, have received phone calls from migrants at sea, alerted authorities and made sure that rescue operations had been carried out. We want to broaden and strengthen this network and reinforce its political role in support of migrant rights and the freedom of movement.
    Thus we aim to establish – in close cooperation with the monitoring project Watch The Med – an alternative alarm-phone running 24/7 as of the 10th of October 2014. It will be managed by human rights activists from both sides of the Mediterranean and offer a multilingual team. We will advise all persons in distress at sea to first alert the officially responsible rescue teams. But we will also call the coast guards ourselves, and follow up on their responses, making known to them that we are informed and “watching” them. If they fail to respond, we will gather all imaginable political and public pressure to force them to do so.
    We will alarm captains of commercial boats close by as well as international journalists, requesting the support of politically active religious leaders of all confessions as well as support of famous supporters. We will use the critical net-community for just-in-time-campaigns and call everybody to contribute with the creation of further forms of intervention.

    The left-to-die cases at sea, the human right violations of the EU border agency Frontex and coast guards in all areas of the Mediterranean Sea have to be stopped immediately. We need a civil society network on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea which can enforce political pressure for the lives and the rights of boatpeople, and we want to be part of it.

    Such an alternative alarm network would be a first but an urgently required step on the path toward a Euro-Mediterranean area that is not characterised by a deadly border regime but by solidarity and the right for protection and the freedom of movement.

    An Initiative of: Welcome to Europe  |  Afrique Europe Interact  |  borderline-europe  |  Noborders Marocco  |  Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration  |  Voix des Migrantes

    Signatures for the call:

    Madjiguene Cisse, former Sans-Papier-Movement in Paris, Dakar | Étienne Balibar, Philosopher, Paris | Elfriede Jelinek, Author & Nobel Literature Prize Winner, Vienna | Fr. Mussie Zerai, Habeshia Agency, Rome | Mohanad Jammo, Physician & Survivor of 11.10.13 Shipwreck, Aleppo/Bad Bergzabern | Fabrizio Gatti, Journalist, Rome | Jean Ziegler, former U.N., Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Geneva  |  Emmanuel Mbolela, author of ‘Mein Weg vom Kongo nach Europa’, Amsterdam  |  Boats4People  |  Imed Soltani, La Terre pour Tous, Tunis | José Palazon, Pro.De.In, Melilla | Mikel Araguas, Andalucia Acoge | Conseil des Migrants Subsahariens au Maroc | Petja Dimitrova, Artist, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna | Antonio Negri, Philosopher, Paris | Nina Kusturica, Filmmaker, Vienna | Network of Social Support to Refugees and Migrants, Athens | Gabriele del Grande, Journalist, Milano | Jesuit Refugee Service Schweiz | Stiftung:do, Hamburg | Ousmane Diarra, AME (Association Malienne des Expulsés), Bamako |  Stefan Schmidt, Captain of Cap Anamur 2004, Refugee-Commissioner of Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck | FTDES (Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Économiques et Sociaux), Tunis | ODS, Sevilla | Karl Kopp, Director of European Affairs PRO ASYL and ECRE, Frankfurt | Amadou Mbow, AMDH (Association Mauritanienne des Droits de l’Homme), Nouakchott | Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo, L‘Altro Diritto, Sicilia |  Elias Bierdel, 2002-2004 Leiter der Cap Anamur, Austria | Martin Glasenapp, Medico International, Frankfurt | Patrice Boukar Zinahad, A.R.A.CE.M (Association des Refoulés d’Afrique Centrale au Mali), Bamako | KEERFA – Movement Against Racism & Fascist Threat, Athens | ATMF, France | ARCI, Italy | Ferenc Kőszeg, Honorary Chairman of the Hungarian Helsinki-Committee, Budapest | Borderline Sicilia Onlus | Sandro Mezzadra, Border and Migration Researcher, Bologna | Osaren Igbinoba, The Voice Refugee Forum, Jena | Solidarité sans Frontières, Switzerland | Village all together, Mytilini | Association Les voix libres, Strasbourg | Article 13, Tunis | Daniel Moundzego, ARSF (Association des Refugees Sans Frontieres), Douala | Ilias Panchard, Co-Präsident Junge Grüne Schweiz, Lausanne | All Included, Amsterdam | MigSzol – Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary | Humanistische Union, Germany | Barbed Wire Britain | Balthasar Glättli, Fraktionspräsident Grüne, Schweiz  |  Orcun Ulusoy, Researcher, The Hague | Maria Bacchi, Comitato Scientifico Fondazione Langer, Bolzano & Associazione Mantova Solidale | Chabaka, Tanger  |  Antiracist Initiative of Thessaloniki |  Gergishu Yohannes, Initiative gegen Tod im Mittelmeer 2009 e.V. Bonn  |  Karl Heinz Roth, Social Historian & Physician, Hamburg  |  Michael Genner, Asyl in Not, Vienna  |  Conseil des Migrants France  |  CADTM Europe  |  Africa con voz propia  |  APDHA, Spain  |  The Refugee Councils, Germany  |  David Fedele, Filmmaker, Sydney  |  Franck Düvell, Researcher, COMPAS, Oxford  |  ALECMA (Association Lumiére sur l`Emigration Clandestine au Maghreb)  |  Rete Antirazzista Catanese  |  Comitato NoMuos/NoSigonella, Catania  |  Paolo Cutitta, Migration researcher, Amsterdam  |  Federica Sossi, Università di Bergamo  |  Hélène Yamta, La Voix des Femmes Migrantes, Rabat  |  Sabine Hess, Leiterin des Labors für kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung, Göttingen  |  Campaign to Close Campsfield  |  Luciana Zarini, retired teacher, Palermo  |  Maria Rosa Ragonese, teacher, Palermo  |  Association Horizons Migrants; bordermonitoring.eu  |  Wolf Dieter Narr and Dirk Vogelskamp, Commitee for Basic Rights and Democracy, Berlin/Cologne  |  Ahmed Jlassi, Filmmaker and University teacher, Tunis  |  Atmf (Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins de France). section Bas-Rhin  |  U.D.E.ES, l’union des étudiants de Strasbourg  |  CCFD-terre solidaire Strasbourg  |  Hatem Gheribi, Tunisien, Strasbourg  |  Mehdi Mohamed Amadir, Moroccan, Strasbourg  |  Omar Naman, Syrian refugee, Strasbourg  |  ATTAC Liège  |  Initiativkreis MenschenWürdig, Leipzig  |  Prof. Sabine Broeck, Research Group Black Knowledges, Universität Bremen  |  glokal e.V., Berlin  |  Lampedusa-Bündnis Göttingen  |  Integrationsrat Göttingen  |   Imam-Jonas Dogesch, Network of Migrants Organisations in Mecklenburg­-Vorpommern  |  Fouad HASSAM  |  Peter Birke, SOFI, Göttingen  |  Barbara Cárdenas and Willi van Oyen, Left Party, Hessen  |  Action-Alliance against Deportation, Rhine-Main  |  no one is illegal, Hanau  |  Lampedusa in Hanau  |  no one is illegal, Cologne  |  NoLager Bremen  |  transact  |  Netzwerk Kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung  |  European Civic Forum  |  Peter Marhold, Helping Hands, Vienna  |  Ulrich Brand, Institutsleiter und Professor für Internationale Politik an der Universität Wien  |  Network for the Political and Social Rights, Athens  |  Augenauf Bern  |  Bleiberecht Bern  |  Sans-Papiers-Anlaufstelle Zürich SPAZ  |  Johannes Bühler, Autor des Buches “Am Fusse der Festung”, Fribourg  |  Salvatore Pittà, Journalist und Aktivist, Bern  |  Pauline Milani, Präsidentin SOSF, Lausanne  |  Myriam Schwab-Ngamije, CSP Vaud, Lausanne  |  MediNetz Bremen  |  Die Linke Bremen  |  Recherche International e.V., Köln  |  Charlotte Wiedemann, Journalistin, Berlin  |  Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft WiSe e.G.  |  Stadtkommune Alla Hopp, Bremen  |  Tobias Linnemann, Diplompädagoge, Bremen  |  Bruno Kraft, Diplompädagoge, Bremen  |  Luca Bräuer, Schüler, Bremen | Veith Weers, Bremen |  Barbara Funck, Studentin, Bremen |  Cornelius Hertz, Galerist, Bremen |  Sarah Lempp, Journalistin |  Ted Gaier, Goldene Zitronen  |  SOAS Detainee Support (SDS), London  |  Cetta Mainwaring, Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo  |  Right to Remain, London  |  kein mensch ist illegal, Hamburg  | Association pour la Défense des Emigrés Maliens (ADEM), Bamako  |  Association Retour Travail Dignité (ARTD), Bamako  | Association des Migrants Repatriés de Libye et de la Cote d’Ivoire (AMRLEC), Bamako  |  Association des Femmes et Enfants Repatriés et Migrants de la Cote d’Ivoire (AFERMACI), Bamako  |  Association des Jeunes Reoules de l’Espagne de la Commune Yanfolila (AJRECY), Yanfolila  |  Hellenic League for Human Rights, Athens  |  Solidarity Social Clinic (KIA), Thessaloniki  |  Yiorgos Tsiakalos, Professor Emeritus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  |  Spyros Marchetos, School of Political Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  |  Jérôme Valluy, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne  |  Gilles Reckinger, Department of History and European Ethnology, Innsbruck  |  Alexander Pollak, SOS Mitmensch, Vienna  |  Anna Fuchs, Berlin  |  www.migrazine.at – Online-Magazin von Migrantinnen für alle  |  Medinetz Freiburg  |  Die ganze Bäckerei, Leipzig  |  Sieglinde Rosenberger, Department of Political Science, Head of the research group INEX ‘The Politics of Inclusion & Exclusion’, Vienna  |  Peter Herrmann, EURISPES, Rome  |  Stefan Thimmel, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Berlin  |  Angelika Wahl, Frankfurt  |  Konstantinos Tsitselikis, Associate Professor, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki  |  Athanasios Marvakis, Associate Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  |  Institute of Race Relations, London  |  Gurminder K. Bhambra, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick  |  South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group  |  No One Is Illegal, England   |  L’Association Rencontre Méditerranéenne pour l’Immigration et le Développment (ARMID), Tanger  |  Spitou Mendy, SOC-SAT, Almería  |  Noborder, Frankfurt  |  Helga Dierichs, Munich  |  Matthias Plieninger, Hamburg  |  Ramona Lenz, Medico International, Frankfurt  |  Ivana Domazet, Refugee Council Brandenburg, Potsdam  |  Antirassistisches Netzwerk Sachsen-Anhalt  |  Arbeitskreis Antirassismus, Magdeburg  |  Anne Bathily, Brussels  |  f.lo.p.s, autonomous feminist women-lesbian group, Bremen  |  no-racism.net, Vienna  |  acompa, assistance group for refugees, Bremen  |  Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mediterranean  |  Kommune Niederkaufungen  |  Natalia Paszkiewicz, Anthropologist, London  |  Alexander Stoff, Vienna  |  Hannelore Stoff, Vienna  |  Susanne Heim, Berlin  |  Youth without Borders, Germany  |  Afghans United Association, Athens  |  Österreichische Lagergemeinschaft Ravensbrück & Freunde, Vienna  |  Nadine Kegele, Author, Vienna  |  Dr. James Brassett, University of Warwick  |  Alev Korun, Abgeordnete zum Österreichischen Nationalrat, Vorsitzende des parlamentarischen Menschenrechtsausschusses  |  Thalia Tsalouhidou, Apothekerin, Solidarische Klinik, Athens  |  ausbrechen, Paderborn  |  David Loher, Social Anthropologist, Bern  |  Harald Bauder, Ryerson Centre for Immigration & Settlement (RCIS), Toronto  |  Andrea Ypsilanti, Institut Solidarische Moderne, Member of the Hessian parliament (SPD)  |  Bremer Friedensforum  |  Analyse & Kritik, newspaper for left debate, Hamburg  |  Resf13, Réseau Éducation Sans Frontières, France  |  Dietrich Gerstner, Kirchlicher Entwicklungsdienst – Menschenrechte und Migration, Hamburg  |  Tom Rodriguez-Perez, Football Beyond Borders, London  |  Yasmine Accardo, Activist, Naples  |  Flüchtlingsinitiative Bremen  | Heinz Nigg, Visual Anthropologist and Community Artist, Zurich  |  Athanasios Papaisiou, Teacher at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki  |  Flüchtlingsrat Bremen  | SolidaritéS (mouvement anticapitaliste, féministe et écologiste),  Suisse  |  Ulla Jelpke, MdB, Innenpolitische Sprecherin der Fraktion DIE LINKE, Berlin  |  Frans Zoer, Visitors Group to migrant detention centre, Amsterdam  |  ASTU (Action citoyennes interculturelles), Strasbourg  |  FelS (Für eine linke Strömung), Berlin  |  Senol Akkilic, Integrations- und Jugendsprecher der Wiener Grünen im Rathaus  |  Kritnet Schweiz  |  Mattea Meyer, Kantonsrätin SP, Zürich  |  Salvatore die Concilio, SPAZ Vorstand und alt Gemeinderat SP, Zürich  |  Shedhalle, Zürich  |  Solidarités, Switzerland  |  Sarah Schillinger, Migrationsforscherin und Aktivistin, Basel  |  Ueli Mäder, Professor für Soziologie, Basel  |  Andrea Vogel, Ärztin, Bremen  |  Joachim Welsch, Osnabrück  |  Katerina Stavroula, journalist, Athens  |  Elias Perabo, Adopt a Revolution, Berlin  |  Dr Chris Rossdale, Royal Holloway, University of London  |  Center for Political Beauty, Berlin  |  Christiane Benner, Geschäftsführendes Vorstandsmitglied der IG Metall, Frankfurt  |  Vicki Squire, Associate Professor, University of Warwick  |  Solidaritätsnetz Sans-Papiers, Bern

     

    The Watch The Med Alarm Phone is a novel project which will be launched in October 2014 by activist networks and civil society actors in Europe and Northern Africa. It responds to the human rights violations and the unabated dying of migrants and refugees at sea, as well as the militarisation and externalisation of EU borders. 2014 is already the deadliest year ever recorded with at least 3000 people dying in their attempt to overcome Europe’s external borders. This year, the Italian navy launched the ‘Mare Nostrum’ operation, an ambivalent process that further extended Europe’s border surveillance and (potential) repression of migratory movements but that became also appropriated by about 130.000 migrants and refugees who made it to European shores. However, the Mare Nostrum operation is ending and replaced by ‘Frontex Plus’ and it seems certain that the new mission will not be as extensive as Mare Nostrum had been so that even more people will die in their attempts to cross the border.
    This alternative alarm network is the first and an urgently required step toward a Euro-Mediterranean area that is not characterised by a deadly border regime but by solidarity and the right for protection and the freedom of movement.

  • Actions in solidarity with the Choucha refugees

    The many actions in solidarity with the Choucha refugees, see Afrique-Europe Interact1359405606-choucha-refugee-camp-demonstrates-in-tunis

     

  • Declaration conference migration Sokodé

    oeh-logo_gif_klein19/04/14 ATELIER SUR LA MIGRATION

    THEME : « Etat des lieux du phénomène migratoire : enjeux et défis pour la jeunesse africaine »

    DECLARATION FINALE (more…)

  • visit to Association Togolaise des Expulsés in Sodoké

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    Here is a short first report of the visit of the Togo-delegation of Afrique-Europe Interact consisting of 4 Togolese and 3 European members of AEI Europe and 2 Malian members of AEI Mali.
    180414_ATE_AEI2

    The aim of the delegation is to support our new member, the Association Togolaise des Expulsés (ATE), and to meet more organizations of the social movements in Togo.
    We met quite some activists of migrant, womens and human rights movements, journalists, lawyers between 14th and 23d of 2014 in Lomé capital and in Sokodé where the ATE is located and where many (deported) migrants come from or live. We were also interviewed together with the ATE (first time) at a live radio in Sodoké.
    180414_ATE_AEI3
    We met so many deported refugees whom we interviewed : one drugged before/during, one imprisoned for 6 month after arrival in Lomé, one family with three children born in Switserland deported after 17 years (!) in Europe and now begging in the streets of Sokodé -, families of migrants that drowned in the sea form Nigeria to Gabon.
    180414_ATE_AEI6
    We had a very good exchange between ATE and AEI about possible common projects and common ideas.
    190414_ATE_conference1
    The conference ATELIER SUR LA MIGRATION – Thème : « Etat des lieux du phénomène migratoire : en jeux et défis pour la jeunesse africaine » was well attended, some 100 people including 30 expulsed migrants, a table ronde sur le thème : – Deportation et la politique migratoire Européenne, Suivi des migrants dans les pays d’acceuil, Developpement et démocratie.
    190414_ATE_conference4
    Followed was the projection de film « Da.Sein » sur la situation des migrant-e-s de retour forcé de l’Europe suivi de commentaire.
    200414_ATE_interview4deportee who explains how he was send from Amsterdam to Senegal with his hands tied behind his back, his legs tied together and his head pushed between his legs. After one night at the airport prison in Dakar he was sent tied to Lome.

  • Togo delegatie Afrique-Europe Interact

    15- 27 april 2014oeh-logo_gif_klein

    DELEGATION SOCIAL MOVEMENT TOGO

    The transnational network „Afrique Europe Interact“ is sending a delegation to Togo from 14th to end of april 2014 to mobilize social movements for transnational cooperation. The delegation consisting of Togolese, Malian and European activists will visit groups in the Lomé capital (social movements), in Sodoké (Association Togolaise des Expulsés) and in Aného (land grabbing due to phosphorus mining). The film ‘Being.There’ on migrants deported back to Togo will also be presented on aconference on deportation and migration. A brochure on the Togolese social movements will be made after the trip and an info tour organized in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

    map coast Ne_Touche_pas_a_cette_parcelle Le_Vieux cabane_offerte_par_office_Togolais_des_Phosphates delegation_victims_Phosphat_mining second_victim view_on_destroyed_land work_certificate Phosphates_train_at mine

    Afrique-Europe Interact

    Afrique-Europe Interact (AEI) is doing practical cooperation between social movements in Africa and Europe since 2010, focusing on the aims of global freedom of movement and development in the sense of social justice and equality. The AEI organized in 2011 the caravan Bamako-Dakar ‘for freedom of movement and fair development’ (http://goo.gl/vMUaGy) when some 250 people – mainly activists from Bamako – traveled by road to the World Social Forum in Dakar. On the way the caravan stopped meeting social movements in the country side and doing actions against EU-funded deportations at desert borders and at the Frontex office in Dakar. The caravan was mainly organized by the Association Malienne des Expulsés. The AEI consists of grass route organizations in Europe (Germany, Netherlands and Austria) and eleven organizations in Mali. The organizations in Mali and Europe come per continent together and discuss projects, aims and cooperation.

    The planning of a caravan on land grabbing and uranium mining in Mali planned for 2014 (http://goo.gl/6gqKRH) was delayed due to the war in the North and the invasion of (post)colonial troops. A white march of the population lead by the AEI from Bamako to the border between territory of the Malian army and the Touaregs (http://goo.gl/djZFjZ) was made impossible by the arrival of foreign troops. Malian members like the Fédération des Associations de Migrants de Mali, Association pour la Défense des Emigrés Maliens, Association des Refoulés d’Afrique Centrale au Mali and the Association Malienne Expulsés have been visiting Europe several times to talk in open meetings about their struggle in Mali and how we can cooperate. A brochure on social movement in Mali (in german and french) and a film (in 5 languages) was made after the caravan.

    The AEI has been active on freedom of movement in Tunesia and Morocco: Boats4people in 2012 (http://goo.gl/zYa0Lb) , Watch the Med in 2013/2014 (http://watchthemed.net/), against violent repression of border control at Ceura/Melilla 2013/2014 (http://goo.gl/FtbB8B) and support of rejected refugees at the former UNHCR Choucha camp at the Lybian Tunesian border in 2011/2014 (http://goo.gl/lny5yP) . Another project is the organization of a conference ‘mining without arms’ with social actors in Congo in 2014/2015 in the Netherlands organized in cooperation with congolese in diaspora.

    All Included, dutch member of Afrique-Europe Interact, took part in the caravan Bamako-Dakar, in Boats4people – with different support actions in different cities in the Netherlands in 2011/2012 -, in the delegation to Choucha in 2012, an intervention action on Choucha at an UNHCR debate in The Hague in 2012 and a protest at the Spanish embassy, the Moroccan consulate and the European House in the Hague and Rotterdam in 2013 regarding the death at the border of Ceuta/Melilla in that year.

    Delegation journey of Afrique Europe Interact to Togo in April 2014

    One of the groups the AEI has contact with since the caravan is the Togolese Association of Deportees / Association Togolaise des Expulsés (ATE), who is active for the rights and for the respect for people who were deported from Europe or other African countries back to Togo. To strengthen this cooperation, AEI network is organizing a delegation trip to Togo in April 2014. The delegation consists of 8 people: three Togolese activists who had fled from Togo years ago and who are now active in struggles for the rights of refugees and migrants in Germany and Austria, one activist from All Included Amsterdam, one from the Munich caravan, one from Vienna and two Malian members of the African section of AEI. The ties between the AEI Afrique and the ATE developed during the caravan Bamako-Dakar that the ATE joined. In march 2014 the Association Togolaise des Expulsés visited Bamako for a closer contact with the Association Malienne des Expulsés. The ATE was very pleased with the exchange of experiences and wishes to have other meetings with associations in the region struggling for the promotion and the protection of the rights of forcely returned migrants. The ATE and AME made a strategic plan to prepare the visit of the delegation of AEI Europe in april. The AEI delegation is going to spend several days in Sokodé / central region of Togo together with the members of the Togolese Association of Deportees.

    In this context, the following activities are going to take place in

    activities Sodoké

    -Public debate about the meaning of flight and migration for Togolese society, about the situation of people who were deported and about the politics of the ‘deportation machine’ in Europe. In this context, it shall be possible to get into a dialogue between experiences of people who fled to Europe and struggled for the right to stay there and those of young people in Togo who have the wish to find a better life outside their country, but who are also often involved in social movements and political protest in Togo.

    -Presentation of the documentary movie „Being.There”. This movie was produced in 2013 in Togo and Nigeria and tells about the lives of people who were deported from Austria and Germany. This film shall now be brought back to the place where it was produced and shall be made available for Togolese activists who are trying to create awareness for the empowerment of people who were deported or returned by force in Togolese society. The film makers Aylin Basaran and Hans-Georg Eberl will also be part of the AEI delegation traveling to Togo.

    -Radio feature with a local radio station in Sokodé.

    Besides this, other meetings with activists of social movements are planned to take place in Sokodé and in Lomé, the capital of Togo:

    meetings social movements in Sokodé / Lomé

    -Togolese women’s movement: This movement has made itself known through numerous activities to overcome male dominance, sexist patterns of relations and poverty in families as well as in the Togolese political system. Togolese women’s movement has also been a vibrant part of the protests against the regime of president Faure Gnassingbe and for the liberation of political prisoners.

    -Protests on education issues: Throughout the last years, Togo has seen a lot of protests of university and school teachers and students struggling for better salaries, for the right to have access to education and against education reforms affecting the living conditions of students. Moreover, protests in the education sector are an expression for the outrage of many young people against bad future perspectives in a country that has been impoverished by authoritarian and corrupt elites and by neocolonial dominance.

    -Association Togolaise des Droits de l’Homme: The Togolese Human Rights Association has been working for years on documentation of human rights abuse through state security forces against members of opposition movements. It is part of a broad protest movement against the government in place.

    -People concerned of land grabbing for the extraction of natural resources: Phosphate, which is used for production of fertilizers, but also in production of weapons, is one of the most important export products of Togo. At the same time, people living in the areas of extraction of phosphate don’t benefit from profits made by the production of fertilizers, while their soils used for living and for agriculture are destroyed for the mining industry.

    -Beside all these topics of present political activism the participants of the delegation are also interested in aspect of memories of colonization of Togo by Germany and later by France as a concequence of the Berlin conference in 1884 and also in the question of impacts of colonialism on the present social and political reality.

    The AEI delegation is going to make a documentation of the encounters and discussions during the journey in different types of media. An info brochure on the position of expulsed migrants in Togo and other social movements will be made after the trip. The aim is to build up more long lasting cooperations between movements in Africa and Europe. Important are the clear links in issues of the social struggle in different African countries – like land grabbing, migration, mining -. Afrique-Europe Interact wants to play a role in supporting a stronger movement of autonomous African movements. During the trip a blog will be published on the All Included and Indymedia (and hopefuly Afrique-Europe Interact) sites with web feature, film clips and radio features.

    After the journey to Togo, there shall also be info- and film presentation events in different cities of Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

    More information on Afrique-Europe Interact:

    http://www.afrique-europe-interact.net/?article_id=113&clang=1

    More information on All Included: http://www.allincluded.nl/

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  • The deported people are not forgotten!

    Association Togolaise des Expulsés (ATE) – the Togolese Association of the Deported

    Les expulsé(e)s ne sont pas oublié(e)s! The deported people are not forgotten!

    By Gerit Boekbinder

    Togo: Flight, migration and deportation
    Migration and flight are an important part of life for many people in Togo. The past 20 years there were several great waves of flight. Many Togolese people in opposition were forced to save themselves after the downturn of the mass revolts against the regime of military dictator Eyadéma. (more…)

  • picketline spaans consulaat: opheldering over de doden aan de grenzen van Ceuta en Melilla!

    25 februari 2014. Activisten van Afrique-Europe-Interact hebben actie gevoerd bij de ambassades van Marokko en Spanje in Berlijn ter nagedachtenis van de doden in Ceuta van 6 februari 2014. Op 27 februari werd in Amsterdam bij het Spaanse consulaat gedemonstreerd door We Are Here vluchtelingen en No Border activisten. Voor video’s zie:
    http://www.afrique-europe-interact.net/?article_id=1146&clang=2

    Oproep Picketline bij Spaanse Consulaat:
    Opheldering over de doden aan de grenzen van Ceuta en Melilla!
    Ter herdenking van de doden van Ceuta en Melilla en voor het stoppen van het moorden en opjagen van migranten aan de grenzen van Fort Europa, organiseren ‘We Are Here’ en het No Border Netwerk donderdag 27 februari 2014 vanaf 16.00 uur een picketline voor het Spaanse Consulaat aan de Frederiksplein 34 in Amsterdam. Vrije migratie en vestiging voor iedereen en overal!
    Met de heldere eis ‘Opheldering over de doden aan de grenzen van Ceuta en Melilla’ wordt de internationale gemeenschap opgeroepen, om in de laatste week van februari protestherdenkingen te organiseren voor Spaanse en Marokkaanse consulaten, ambassades en of andere overheidsinstellingen afkomstig uit die landen.
    Op 6 februari probeerden 400 migranten in een collectieve actie de zwaar beveiligde grens van de Spaanse enclave Ceuta in Marokko vanuit zee te overwinnen. Het betreft een van de twee directe buitengrenzen van de EU op Afrikaanse bodem. De Spaanse Guarda Civil beantwoordde deze poging om het grondgebied van de EU te bereiken door op mensen in het water te schieten met rubberen kogels en traangas. Marokkaanse agenten van de grenspolitie, ondersteund door lokale racisten, namen vanaf de wal deel aan de moorddadige klopjacht. Tenminste negen mensen verloren op die dag het leven, en ten minste 50 worden volgens de groep ‘Illegale mensen uit Sub Sahara in Marokko’ nog steeds vermist. Tientallen raakten gewond en werden illegaal gedeporteerd naar Marokko.
    De moorddadige klopjacht aan de buitengrenzen van de EU is het directe en door alle EU-lidstaten bewust gekozen gevolg van de uitgebreide militarisering en de externalisering van de buitengrenzen van de EU. Het is onderdeel van de oorlog van de EU-migratieregimes en haar bondgenoten tegen allen die zich het recht nemen op vrij verkeer tussen Afrika en Europa. De ruim 300 slachtoffers van de ramp bij Lamperdusa zijn nog niet begraven of een volgende ramp heeft alweer plaats gevonden. In dit geval laat de Marokkaanse overheid zich als een betrouwbare poortwachter van de EU inzetten. In de hoop op bevoorrechte economische en politieke betrekkingen met de Europese mogendheden creëert Marokko een soort voorgeborchte voor migranten bij de muren van Fort Europa.

    De internationale oproep van Interact (transnationaal netwerk) is in Nederland overgenomen door de migrantengroep ‘We Are Here’ en het No Border Netwerk Nederland. Het moet afgelopen zijn met de militarisering van het grensregime. De grenzen van Fort Europa worden steeds verder naar Afrika opgeschoven (externalisering van de EU grenzen). Dat de Marokkaanse staat moet stoppen taken te vervullen wat betreft EU grenscontroles.

    Ofwel: opening van alle Europese grenzen en in het bijzonder bij Ceuta en Melilla. Vrijheid van beweging en vestiging voor iedereen. En opheldering over de slachtpartij van afgelopen 6 februari.

    Zie ook:
    – a href=”https://no-border.nl/oproep-ter-herdenking-van-doden-ceuta-en-melilla-decentrale-acties-bij-spaanse-en-marokkaanse-instituties/#duits” target=”_blank”>https://no-border.nl/oproep-ter-herdenking-van-doden-ceuta-en-melilla-decentrale-acties-bij-spaanse-en-marokkaanse-instituties/#duits
    – http://www.afrique-europe-interact.net/?article_id=113&clang=0
    – http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/videozone/nieuws/buitenland/1.1880828

  • actie Spaanse consulaat/ambassade NL ter nagedachtenis van doden Ceuta 6 februari 2014

    25 februari 2014. Activisten van Afrique-Europe-Interact hebben actie gevoerd bij de ambassades van Marokko en Spanje in Berlijn ter nagedachtenis van de doden in Ceuta van 6 februari 2014. Op 27 februari werd in Amsteerdam bij het Spaanse consulaat gedemonstreerd door We Are Here vluchtelingen en No Border activisten. Voor video’s zie:
    http://www.afrique-europe-interact.net/?article_id=1146&clang=2

    Oproep Picketline bij Spaanse Consulaat:
    Opheldering over de doden aan de grenzen van Ceuta en Melilla!
    Ter herdenking van de doden van Ceuta en Melilla en voor het stoppen van het moorden en opjagen van migranten aan de grenzen van Fort Europa, organiseren ‘We Are Here’ en het No Border Netwerk donderdag 27 februari 2014 vanaf 16.00 uur een picketline voor het Spaanse Consulaat aan de Frederiksplein 34 in Amsterdam. Vrije migratie en vestiging voor iedereen en overal!
    Met de heldere eis ‘Opheldering over de doden aan de grenzen van Ceuta en Melilla’ wordt de internationale gemeenschap opgeroepen, om in de laatste week van februari protestherdenkingen te organiseren voor Spaanse en Marokkaanse consulaten, ambassades en of andere overheidsinstellingen afkomstig uit die landen.
    Op 6 februari probeerden 400 migranten in een collectieve actie de zwaar beveiligde grens van de Spaanse enclave Ceuta in Marokko vanuit zee te overwinnen. Het betreft een van de twee directe buitengrenzen van de EU op Afrikaanse bodem. De Spaanse Guarda Civil beantwoordde deze poging om het grondgebied van de EU te bereiken door op mensen in het water te schieten met rubberen kogels en traangas. Marokkaanse agenten van de grenspolitie, ondersteund door lokale racisten, namen vanaf de wal deel aan de moorddadige klopjacht. Tenminste negen mensen verloren op die dag het leven, en ten minste 50 worden volgens de groep ‘Illegale mensen uit Sub Sahara in Marokko’ nog steeds vermist. Tientallen raakten gewond en werden illegaal gedeporteerd naar Marokko.
    De moorddadige klopjacht aan de buitengrenzen van de EU is het directe en door alle EU-lidstaten bewust gekozen gevolg van de uitgebreide militarisering en de externalisering van de buitengrenzen van de EU. Het is onderdeel van de oorlog van de EU-migratieregimes en haar bondgenoten tegen allen die zich het recht nemen op vrij verkeer tussen Afrika en Europa. De ruim 300 slachtoffers van de ramp bij Lamperdusa zijn nog niet begraven of een volgende ramp heeft alweer plaats gevonden. In dit geval laat de Marokkaanse overheid zich als een betrouwbare poortwachter van de EU inzetten. In de hoop op bevoorrechte economische en politieke betrekkingen met de Europese mogendheden creëert Marokko een soort voorgeborchte voor migranten bij de muren van Fort Europa.
    De internationale oproep van Interact (transnationaal netwerk) is in Nederland overgenomen door de migrantengroep ‘We Are Here’ en het No Border Netwerk Nederland. Het moet afgelopen zijn met de militarisering van het grensregime. De grenzen van Fort Europa worden steeds verder naar Afrika opgeschoven (externalisering van de EU grenzen). Dat de Marokkaanse staat moet stoppen taken te vervullen wat betreft EU grenscontroles.

    Ofwel: opening van alle Europese grenzen en in het bijzonder bij Ceuta en Melilla. Vrijheid van beweging en vestiging voor iedereen. En opheldering over de slachtpartij van afgelopen 6 februari.
    Zie ook:
    – a href=”https://no-border.nl/oproep-ter-herdenking-van-doden-ceuta-en-melilla-decentrale-acties-bij-spaanse-en-marokkaanse-instituties/#duits” target=”_blank”>https://no-border.nl/oproep-ter-herdenking-van-doden-ceuta-en-melilla-decentrale-acties-bij-spaanse-en-marokkaanse-instituties/#duits
    – http://www.afrique-europe-interact.net/?article_id=113&clang=0
    – http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/videozone/nieuws/buitenland/1.1880828