Kompass-newsletter No. 106 - 07+08/2022

 

On the racist massacre in Melilla +++ 12-17 July near Nantes: Transborder Summer Camp +++ 22 July in Munich: Funeral march on the anniversary of the OEZ attack +++ 24 July in Kassel/Documenta: Event on flight help +++ 4-7 August in Berlin: 20 years of Women in Exile +++ 27. August in Rostock: Demo on 30 years after the pogrom in Rostock Lichtenhagen +++ Reviews: Forensic Architecture in Frankfurt, Tribunal NSU-auflösen in Nuremberg, NoLager-AntiRa-Conference in Göttingen, 25 years no one is illegal in Kassel, +++ Outlook: 3-6 September in Tunisia: CommemorAction, 30.9./1.10: in Brussels: March for "Rights, no Death!" 

Dear friends,

24 June 2022 at the Melilla fence: the attempt to cross the border fortification turns into a racist massacre. Another day of mourning and anger in the face of an ever escalating brutalisation and militarisation of the EU border regime.

Just a few weeks before this border crime, an Alarm Phone network meeting had taken place in Morocco, largely organised by the sub-Saharan members of the transnational sea rescue project. Below we document excerpts from the chat communication between European and African activists in the days after the racist murders.

"Dear all,

Our thoughts are with you all these days. Faced with the images of badly wounded and dying people being guarded by the police with no concern for their dignity and lives, we are still searching for words. Now as we write to you, it seems that at least 31 young people have lost their lives, and we fear that the number may continue to rise by the hour. They have been killed by the murderous fence, by an increasingly brutal and militarised police force on both sides of the fence and by an increasingly militarised European policy that treats our brothers and sisters like a wartime invasion.

We still lack words and we are still trying to find a language to express this deep wounding. But what we already know is that there is deep sadness and also strong anger. We will continue the struggle - ultimately for our right to friendship and communication across all forced separations. Our thoughts are with you all today. We hope that we will soon find the time to talk about what is needed in response. Today we just want to say: we are with you, with the survivors, with the families and friends of those who lost their lives. We will keep them in our memory in all the struggles to come. May they rest in power and peace".

Answer from Nador: "I am here and it is so terrible. Since Friday until now, when I am talking to you, there is no more security for us. I have to hide like so many others. There are so many who have lost their lives, so many.... many are still in the hospitals. There are so many murdered. We still don't know how many there are and we don't know their names yet. We must remain calm and only with time will we be able to find out the whole truth. We will have to do our own research in the communities. There are many different reports being passed around. It was a very very massive attack, the Moroccan police seemed to be prepared to beat back this storm on the fence with massive force. Very prepared and in the end so many were killed in the process. We have to assume that they were shot at. But how exactly it went down, we still don't know. There have also been arrests of as yet unknown numbers and apparently there are to be quick convictions. It will take time to understand the scale. There are many dead, far too many dead."

Answer from Berkane: "It is so terrible. Wounded survivors arrived in Berkane, but they are still in shock. They say they have seen more than 30 dead. We are trying to understand what happened. It is a shock. All I can tell you is that it is so unbelievably terrible."

Answer from Tangier: "These atrocities committed against sub-Saharan migrants, shooting at them with live ammunition like wild animals, show that Morocco is far from being a country that respects people in migration. Morocco has ratified the conventions for the protection of human rights, and has thus committed itself to respecting our rights as well. Last Friday shows that we are very far from that. Long live freedom of movement!"

Answer from Laayoune: "Since the day before yesterday, we have been experiencing very difficult moments that hurt us when we think of our brothers and see them in front of us, going off hoping to find peace and happiness, on the other side of the fence and unfortunately it is the opposite.... Our tears will not dry until we have identified all those who lost their lives and can bury them with dignity."

Answer from Dakar: "My heart is truly broken and I am depressed by these images. I thank all of you who feel the terrible pain of the loss of our brothers with the families of the victims. In Senegal, no TV station took any interest in this news. Two different registrations for a sit-in in front of the Moroccan embassy in Dakar were banned by the Senegalese authorities. An iron silence."

Answer from Casablanca: "Your words contain a message of friendship that relieves us a little in this pain and gives us hope. We hold this hope deep within us, in the name of friendship and in the name of this common struggle that challenges us all. But also in the name of all the inalienable rights of human beings, whether they are black, yellow or white. We are fortunate to be able to continue to dream and fight for a better world, a world without borders between people and with much warmth and brotherhood. Long live freedom of movement and inalienable rights. Your words will be shared with many of our friends who have been grieving for decades for their relatives who were brutalised and died at those terrible borders that are so visibly deadly and thus so frightening. And yet, we live!"

With greetings of solidarity,

the Kompass team