Kompass-newsletter No. 131 - 02/2025
On 6 February, transnationally in many places: CommemorActions +++ 15 February in Hanover: germanwide network meeting on the „Asylbewerberlesitungsgesetz“ and against payment cards +++ 15 and 19 February in Hanau and in many places: commemoration and events for the 5th anniversary of the racist terrorist attack +++ 15/16 March in Rome: transnational network meeting against migrants detention +++ 10 Years of struggles and much more: Echoes No. 15 +++ Fight against Dublin Regulation: Statistics 2024, new Bulgaria report +++ Refugees in Libya: Strong statements and press conference against release of Libyan torturer in Italy +++ Current reports on the situation in Tunisia +++ TSS/TMC: Who's afraid of asylum seekers? Rethinking our struggles in the European war against migrants +++ Retrospective: 20 years Oury Jalloh; Alarm Phone 10 years events, El Hiblu 3 ++++ Outlook: First invitation to the chain of action for the 10th anniversary of the Summer of Migration
Dear friends,
„The political situation is and remains a disaster. The fact that the racist super-asshole can now triumph again in the USA will inspire all racists in the world to even more agitation and exclusion…" When we formulated this in our Kompass Newsletter last November, we could not have imagined that CDU-Merz (conservative party) and FDP-Lindner (liberal party) would so quickly resort to Trumpism and direct collaboration with the Nazis of the AfD (neo-fascist party). The terrible act in Aschaffenburg (the murder of a small child and a man by a mentally ill person from Afghanistan who was in the asylum process, on 22 January 2025) provided the desired opportunity to turn the election campaign entirely towards racist agitation and anti-immigration laws. The course of events in the parliament on 29 January 2025 then speaks for itself: just a few hours after the Auschwitz commemoration the so-called „antifacist firewall“ collapsed. The subsequent spontaneous protests on the streets and Merz's defeat in the anti-immigration act may provide short-term comfort, but if, as in the mass demonstrations in January 2024, the outrage is no more than a flash in the pan, this caesura will be followed by blatant deprivation of rights and racist violence.
Let's take a look at post-fascist Italy: last week, the friends of refugees in Libya and Mediterranea managed to expose the release and flying out of a Libyan wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, causing a scandal that received widespread public attention. Investigations were opened against Meloni for aiding and abetting a crime, and in a high-profile press conference in Rome, the testimonies of those affected by the Italian and EU-sponsored torture in Libya came to the fore. Two days later, the third legal defeat followed for the italian government in its attempt to lock people seeking protection in deportation camps in Albania. The 43 people affected had to be taken to Bari for the asylum procedure, as the resistance had once again been successful.
Finally an outlook: 2025 marks the tenth anniversary of the summer of migration. The self-organised breakthroughs on the Balkan route, the successful ‘March of Hope’ from Budapest in September 2015, the subsequent collapse of the Dublin regime and the welcome actions at countless arrival stations nowadays seem like something from a different time and world. But they have had lasting effects to this day, in the persistence of the migration movement and in the growing solidarity structures along all flight routes. In reference to this, a first transnational call for actions in summer and autumn 2025 is currently circulating: „…We may be a minority in increasingly racist societies, but we exist, and together we can fight back against racism and fascism! We want to come together, and through common struggle, create a space for joy and hope in these dark times. Struggling in solidarity with people on the move must be a central component of the struggle against fascism today! With this vision of struggle we want to invite all refugee and migrant selforganisations, all networks of solidarity and support to join and to prepare a transnational chain of decentralized activities throughout coming summer and culminating in September 2025…“ (See https://trans-border.net/index.php/free-movement-open-borders-end-deaths/)
In this spirit with solidarity greetings, the Kompass crew