Kompass – AntiRa – Newsletter No. 71, July/August 2018
+++ Against the axis of shame: for open harbours and solidarity cities +++ Sealift: Thousands on the streets and demonstrations go on +++ From 23.7. across Germany: Women in Exile on Summer-Tour +++ Since 23.7. in many cities: Film about Iuventa/Criminalization of Jugend Rettet +++ At 24./25.8. in Hamburg: big Ballhaus Assembly and germanwide coordination meeting for We`ll Come United +++ From 29.8. in Frankfurt: Yallah-Exhibition and Info-Events +++ Alarm Phone with endless calls from boats from Morocco+++ (Chain)Push Backs from Slovenia and Croatia to Bosnia +++ Calendar in September: from safe spaces for solidarity cities to the big We`ll Come United Parade at 29.9. in Hamburg +++ 20.9. in Salzburg: Demo against the summit of isolation and social control +++ Review: Summercamp We`ll Come United, International Demonstration in Ventimiglia +++ Outlook: 13.10. in Karlsruhe: Regional Demonstration against nationalism, racism, deportation; Transnational Social Strike Treffen im November 2018 in Stockholm +++
Dear friends,
firstly a brief notice on our own account. The summer edition of our Kompass is this time a little bit later but more comprehensive and the next newsletter should go public already at the end of August. We hope and we want to contribute, that September will become a particular month of multiple and dynamic initiatives against racism and exclusion and for freedom of movement and for equal rights. A first preview can be found in the calendar below: from decentralized activities in reference to the 3rd anniversary of the „march of hope“ after 4th of September to the big We`ll Come United Parade in Hamburg at 29.9.!
It can always get worse?
In March, after the right wing election victory in Italy, we already mentioned the issue of the „axis of shame“: Salvini, Kickl, Seehofer… Within last weeks the reality overrun in a rush all what we had to fear. Civil sea rescue operations in the central mediterranean were brutally closed down and criminalized, to leave people drowning is justified more than ever as strategy of deterrence. Shifting camps to Albania or North-Africa, new border controls, socalled „Ankerzentren“ and hotspots, accelerated procedures and mass deportations - the gang of interior ministers is galopping on with foaming at the mouth. The horror-cabinet feels carried by racist sentiments and they sit in the corridors of power to escalate on all levels the policy of exclusion by new decrees. Does this ghost-train rush on for further „Orbanisation“? Is it possible, that a (german) interior minister can keep his job while he celebrates the deportation of 69 people back to war in Kabul as a gift for his 69th birthday?
From indignation to resistance?
No doubt, we are in a defensive situation, more than ever. We try to stop the roll back against achievements, which developed in 2015/16 by the interplay of selforganised refugee- and supporting welcome-movement. In the recent polarization of the society the aggressive rightwing populism appears even more louder and more assertive. But some weeks ago already first hopes for an „anti-Trump-effect“ came up. Single voices of indignation intensified - latest through the stage-managed government crisis by Seehofer - to a chorus of critizism even in the mainstream medias. Seehofer obviously miscalculated by riding the wave of Salvini. And the starting points of a counter movement against the racist offensive generated considerable mobilizations in the meanhwile, in Germany, in Italy and all over Europe.
From Palermo to Sealift …
Let us mention several important moments of the last six weeks: in the beginning of June the party conference of the left (die Linke) confirmed its demand for open borders, Sarah Wagenknecht (most promiment person who questioned this position) and her right wing/nationalist course is inside the party more isolated then ever. When the interior minister of Italy, Salvini, announced the closure of the harbours for all rescue NGOs at the 10th of June, thousands protested in italian cities, including several mayors as Leoluca Orlando for Palermo and Luigi de Magistris for Naples. In the middle of June the call for „Solidarity not homeland“ was published, within two weeks 15.000 people signed it with their names. End of June the progressive municipality of Barcelona demonstrated practical solidarity with civil sea rescue services and also the senate of Berlin published a clear statement to welcome and accommodate new refugees. „Sealift not Seehofer“ got a main slogan after 7th of July in a wave of protests, which started in Berlin, Hanover and Frankfurt with thousands on the streets and which still is ongoing in many cities with local demonstrations. At the 14th of July thousands of people demonstrated for open borders in Ventimiglia near the italian-french border. In the same day in Palermo the mayor and the archbishop used the festive day of Patrona St. Rosalia - with 400.000 people on the streets - for a common call for open harbours and for sea rescue. At the 19th of July the mayor from Naples invited for a conference, in which the opening of the harbours are demanded and Salvini was named as criminal, who has to go on trial (only one day before the rescue ship of Open Arms had documented, that the socalled Libyan coastguards left alone three persons on a destroyed rubber boat, only one person could be rescued alive). At 22nd of July in Munich despite heavy rain about 50.000 people took part in the demonstration „ausgehetzt“ (for the end of racist agitation) against racism and for safe passages…
September-offensive?
The outcries and protests of course have to be louder, wider and more sustainable to break the repressive-racist dominance. But that a lot of activities happen, despite the summer break, in Italy as well in Germany, appears as a good sign and demonstrate: much more is possible! The month of Septembers offers many opportunities, from the local to the germanwide level. Particular important would be, that the new (mainly „white“) Sealift-initiative will win continuity and will come together latest at 29.9. in Hamburg with We`ll Come United. 25 buses are already booked for the big parade, first of all selforganised refugees and migrants will arrive by it. This number could be doubled easily, if all active groups get involved in the mobilization. Lets make September to a month of strong fights for the right to stay and for freedom of movement. The unbroken struggles of migration are the main points of reference: at the external borders and in the inner cities. Lets use the indignation and protests to build daily structures of resistance. For flight support and for safe spaces! Lets create real corridors of solidarity. From Athens via Velika Kladusha/Bosnia to Zurich, from the boats starting in Tanger via Barcelona to Amsterdam, from the central med via Palermo to Berlin: all flight routes remain contested spaces. Or to use the headlines of two worth reading new publications: „the power of migration“ meets, creates and needs „the utopian power of the cities“!
With solidarity greetings,
the Kompass-crew