Kompass-newsletter Nr. 146 - 07+08/2026
5–24 July: The Let Fear Go Tour is visiting many cities +++ 4–8 August 2026 in Cotonou, Benin: World Social Forum with a Freedom of Movement Delegation +++ 26 August to 3 September 2026 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Caravan for Solidarity, Equality, Unity +++ Popes visit to Spain and Lampedusa +++ Regularisation in Spain +++ Information on the introduction of the CEAS/pact +++ Recommended reading: The ‘Black Atlantic’ route facing Fortress Europe – boat people and large-scale extractive projects +++ Reviews: 17 to 19 June in Hamburg: Youth Without Borders at the Conference of Interior Ministers; anti-AfD mobilisation in Erfurt +++ Appendix: Statement by Deportation Alarm
Dear friends,
On 4 July, over 50,000 people came to Erfurt to protest against the AfD party conference, with over 15,000 of them taking part in the blockades alone. These are both encouraging figures reflecting the mobilisation in Thuringia, in which We’ll Come United also took part in an anti-racist bloc. In the network’s call to action and during the demonstration, the activists highlighted something that is, however, all too often overlooked: “These days, we are confronted not only with the AfD’s racist rhetoric on forced remigration, but also with racist political decisions made by those in power. We are committed to stopping the AfD, but we also fight every day against every form of racist policy: against mass deportations, against the new racist laws, against policies that drive refugees into poverty and detention, and against deadly border regimes.”
On the same day, Pope Leo was visiting Lampedusa, one of the focal points of the EU’s external borders. “The fact that Leo is visiting the island just on 4 July – the 250th anniversary of US independence – is seen by many as a clear signal against the US’s brutal deportation policy. The previous evening, on Friday, Leo was due to be awarded the National Constitution Centre’s Medal of Liberty in Philadelphia. Yet he stayed away from the US…”, writes the Taz in a detailed and worth-reading article on the subject. Already on 12 June, during his trip to Spain, the Pope had visited the Canary Islands and, coinciding with the tightening of EU asylum policy through the introduction of the CEAS, paid tribute to those who had lost their lives on the Atlantic route. Speaking of Spain: the deadline for regularisation ended here on 30 June, and the figures have exceeded all expectations. Instead of the estimated 500,000, 1.3 million migrants have applied for papers.
Looking ahead: from 4 to 8 August, the 18th World Social Forum (WSF) will take place in Cotonou, the capital of Benin – the first time to be held on the African continent since the 2013 and 2015 forums in Tunis. Several transnational networks active in Africa and campaigning for the right to freedom of movement have decided to send a large delegation to Cotonou. A joint programme in a dedicated ‘Migration Village’ is currently being organised, with panels on externalisation, the criminalisation of migration and the CommemorAction network already confirmed as key topics. A starting point for this participation in the WSF was informal discussions at the Transborder Summer Camp near Nantes last August. Accordingly, the idea for Cotonou is to use the gathering there – in the ‘spirit of Nantes’ – to organise a small ‘Transborder Camp of the South’.
With solidarity from the Kompass crew