Kompass-Newsletter No. 81 - 08+09/2019
+++ 24.8. in Dresden: Power Parade Block by We`ll Come United with further networks at the Indivisible demonstration +++ 31.8. in Paderborn and Büren: big demonstration against 100 years of deportation prisons +++ 1.-9.9. in Unterlüß: Camp for Disarm Rheinmetall +++ Central Mediterranean: further fight for every boat +++ 20.9. everywhere: Global Strike of the Climate (Justice) Movement +++ New Alarm Phone Report on the Western Mediterranean +++ Brochure on 10 Years Welcome to Europe +++ Review: Transborder Summer Camp near Nantes/France; Mass Protest against Deportation in Leipzig; River Blockade from Seebrücke in Frankfurt am Main +++ Outlook: October 18-20 in Berlin: Strategy Conference of the Bewegungsstiftung; November 1-3: Tribunal goes Chemnitz +++
Dear friends!
Come all to Dresden AND to Paderborn/Büren! Two german wide large-scale demonstrations of the anti-racist movement in a row: next Saturday (24 August) for the We'll Come United Power Parade Block in the Indivisible Demonstration, one week later (31 August) for the central demonstration against deportation prisons. Two strong signals in the summer of solidarity - together against the racism of the street and against the racism of the institutions.
Making daily struggles visible, encouraging each other, never giving up: these were and remain central motivations at We'll Come United. And at least two events and developments of the last weeks impressively demonstrate the continuity of the struggles: the Transborder Summer Camp in France at the beginning of July and the return of the civilian rescue fleet in the central Mediterranean at the beginning of August.
From the closing statement of the Summer Camp Orga crew of 16 July: "We are still speechless and touched: with more than 500 activists from all over Europe and northern and western Africa we shared amazing days of mutual empowerment and strategical exchange. Our concept, mainly to approach networks of daily practice and to invite friends via friends, might have contributed to an atmosphere, which was characterised by strong respect for each other and by incredible self-organisation. Despite and against the dominance of the right wing rollback and nationalist polarisation, the transborder summer camp created a space of hope, strength and solidarity - with a clear commitment to go on and extend the infrastructure for freedom of movement and equal social rights to and in all our different realities.“
From a speech of WatchTheMed Alarm Phones during a demonstration of sea bridge in Frankfurt on 10 August: "It is remarkable: despite and against all the repressions of the last two years, despite and against the continued criminalisation of sea rescue, five ships of sea rescue organisations are again in action today. Ocean Viking and Open Arms have already been mentioned. In addition there are Alan Kurdi, See Watch and the Italian rescue ship Mare Jonio. Together with the two small aircraft Moonbird and Colibri as well as with our Alarm Phone we try to form a first rescue chain in the Mediterranean Sea. The aim is to build corridors of solidarity that oppose the murderous policy of exclusion by the EU and the nation states in a practical and concrete way. From the high seas to the cities, we want and must develop infrastructures that follow the tenacity of migratory movements: for a Europe of welcome, for the right to come and stay.“
Last but not least, Fridays for Future and climate justice groups are mobilising for global strike days on 20 September. The Seebrücke has already published a call for support. At the Climate Camp in Pödelwitz near Leipzig at the beginning of August, anti-racism, flight and migration were main themes of the conference. And in October, a strategy conference in Berlin will focus on the cross-over between different social movements. In more and more places and spaces discussions on comprehensive questions for a socio-ecological transformation are present - in which the demands for freedom of movement and equal rights have meanwhile become a given part.
In this spirit: for bridges instead of walls! Open the borders - especially in people's minds!
Solidary greetings from the compass crew