Kompass – AntiRa – Newsletter No. 82, October 2019
+++ On Lesvos: 10 years Welcome to Europe +++ In constant operation: 5 years WatchTheMed Alarm Phone +++ De-Confiscation Now! - Statement on the Malta Summit +++ 3-6 October in Jena: 25 years The Voice Refugee Forum +++ 5 October in Pforzheim: Day of action against deportation prison +++ 10.10. in Berlin: Premiere of the Mediterranean-Monologues +++ 12.-14.10. in Erfurt: Meeting of We`ll Come United +++ 18.-20.10. in Berlin: Strategy Conference of Bewegungsstiftung +++ 21.10. in Berlin: "Return at any price? - Medico event +++ Campaign "me against deportation" +++ Roundletter No. 3 from "In which society do we want to live?"! +++ Review: 24.8. in Dresden: Indivisible and Power Parade Block; 31.8. in Paderborn and Büren: Major demonstration against 100 years of deportation detention; 20.9. Global strike of the climate (justice) movement +++ Outlook: 1.-3.11.: Tribunal goes Chemnitz +++
Dear friends,
Ten years Welcome to Europe, five years WatchTheMed Alarm Phone: two transnational networks are more active than ever and have little reason to celebrate in view of the persistently repressive to deadly EU border regime. But they can look back on a continuous and effective practice that has left its mark across Europe, built solidarity structures and made countless friendships.
www.w2eu.info emerged in September 2009 - in the middle of the fightings during the Nobordercamp on Lesvos. In this respect, it was no coincidence that in the past few days over 60 activists with all kinds of migration experiences met again on this Greek island, see http://lesvos.w2eu.net. They protested with music flash mobs and memorials in and against the monster hot spot Moria, but above all they were on the road in an effort to encourage people in transit, not least with the fighting experiences of the past ten years there.
alarmphone.org started in October 2014 as an emergency call project against dying at sea in the central Mediterranean. But at the same time alarm plans for the Aegean Sea as well as for crossings from Morocco to Spain were worked out. Over the past five years, the hotline project has accompanied and supported a total of over 2800 boats on all three flight routes. Today it is better than ever anchored in the respective regions and communities of refugees and migrants.
Welcome to Europe and Alarm Phone have developed into continuous infrastructures for the right to freedom of movement, following the tenacity of migratory movements in the fight against the EU border regime. They form practical approaches for "corridors of solidarity" from external borders to inner cities. Or as the forthcoming 5-year brochure of the Alarm Phone is titled: "From the Sea to the City".
"40,000 people filled the streets of Dresden with solidarity on 24 August 2019 - that was not a sign, that is a strong announcement! We have made it unmistakably clear: Together we will not only fight against the shift to the right, but also fight for a different, open and free society...". Thus the indivisible coordination group formulates very aptly in an initial assessment of the great mobilization in and after Saxony. We'll Come United was one of the main organisers of the Power Parade Block, in which more than 10,000 people led the huge demonstration with ten trucks, see also https://www.welcome-united.org/de/trucks-3/ .
"MigrAntifa" was one of the central slogans to express new search and connection processes for the mobilization in Dresden. The next meeting of We'll Come United will take place in Erfurt in October, where further focal points will be defined and structures expanded. One week later, Bewegungsstiftung will host a strategy conference in Berlin. Not least against the background of the mass mobilizations of the climate (justice) movement, many activists from various movements will work together to create a common reflection space for cross-movement exchange.
"Connecting processes! We consider these to be decisive if we want to make mutual progress in the direction of a socio-ecological transformation". Thus the initiative "In which society do we want to live?" explaines its participation in the conference and we will report in the AntiRa Kompass in November about all these perspective discussions for the „uprisings into the 2020s" in more detail.
With solidarity greetings from the Kompass team