Kompass-newsletter No. 130 - 12/2024+01/2025
Syria between hope and fear +++ 14 December in Dortmund: Demonstration for justice for Mohamed +++ Church Asylum from Darmstadt to Bremen +++ Call for donations from Refugees4Refugees for a shelter in Lagos +++ Albania Deal for now failed +++ borderline europe & Maldusa: Detention, illegalisation and the so-called CEAS reform in South Italy +++ From Mazara/Sicily to Frankfurt: Refugees in Libya demand evacuation +++ Sea Watch: Mare Solidale - an EU rescue programme for the central Mediterranean +++ Imprisonment of human rights activists in Tunisia +++ Arrival figures for 2024 in the Mediterranean and in Germany +++ New journal from Afrique-Europe-Interact +++ Resource List Against Anti-Black Racism in Northern Africa +++ Arms company makes money from refugee camps +++ Regularisation campaign in Spain +++ Upcoming events: January 2025: events to mark 10 years of Alarm Phone in Berlin, Paris, Zurich and other cities; 22 January 2025: important court decision in Valetta regarding El Hiblu 3
Dear friends,
In Syria, a dictator is being chased away, and the people on the ground, as well as those who have fled from there, are moving between hope and fear.
In Albania, the Meloni government has been forced to close its externalised deportation camp for at least the next few months after multiple legal defeats.
In Spain, a campaign for the regularisation of undocumented migrants is gaining momentum, initiated by grassroots movements, and providing a remarkable counterpoint to the mainstream European practice of deportations.
Three hopeful developments at the end of the year, which, however, cannot hide the fact that 2024 was marked by more racist agitation and a brutalisation of the border regime in so many places.
Anyone taking a closer look at the annual figures for new arrivals in 2024 in the Mediterranean or in Germany might be surprised at how many people have nevertheless made it across, given the permanent tightening of laws. Over 186,000 arrivals in roughly equal numbers on the eastern, central and western coasts of southern Europe are far fewer than in the last (record) year. But the numbers remain remarkable when compared to the last 10 years, and the same applies to the approximately 216,000 initial applications in Germany by the end of November 2024.
Next year, in September 2025, it will be ten years since the peak of the summer of migration. Memories of the breakthroughs in the Balkans, the march of hope in Budapest and the welcome demonstrations across Europe in 2015 now seem like something from another time. And yet they are closely linked to the current refugee and migration movements and, in reference to chain migration, are likely to be an important factor in the ongoing assertiveness.
Struggles for the right to stay and against deportation, structures of solidarity on the routes of flight and migration, support for self-organisations in particular: we remain true to our priorities in the last issue of this year and hope for a better 2025. We wish you a happy new year.
The Kompass crew