Das Überwinden der Grenze nach Griechenland und von Griechenland in andere europäische Länder ist nur einer von vielen gefährlichen Schritten für Migrant_innen auf dem Fluchtweg Richtung Europa. Lostatborder erzählt einige wenige traurige Geschichten von unzähligen, von denen wir viele wahrscheinlich nie hören werden.
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Französische Verhältnisse?
Polizeiarbeit in Zeiten der Austeritätspolitik: Kärcher, Statistiken und Tarnac
Die rechtspopulistische Sicherheitspolitik Sarkozys führte nicht allein zu einer Verschärfung des Straf- und Ausländerrechts. Nationalistische wie rassistische Tendenzen wurden weiter stabilisiert. Eine Umstrukturierung der Polizeien ist organisatorisch vor allem durch eine Zentralisierung gekennzeichnet, politisch drückt sie sich durch den Ausbau repressiver Momente aus. Versprach Sarkozy noch lautstark, mit dem Hochdruckreiniger durch die Banlieue zu „kärchern“, setzen die neuen „Reformen“ auf den stummen Sachzwang der Zahl: Die neoliberale Führung der Innenbehörden basiert seit geraumer Zeit auf Statistiken „erfolgreich“ aufgeklärter Straftaten, an denen sich zukünftige Massnahmen orientieren. „Erfolgreich“ ist hier jedoch vor allem die Reproduktion der Herrschaftsverhältnisse.
Reportage von Ursula Voßhenrich
Inforadio Flüchtlinge
Coordinamento Migranti statement after the general demonstration of Migrants held in Bologna on March 23.
I also attach some links to videos and pictures of the demo.
Best
Paola
More than 3000 people, the vast majority of whom were migrants, demonstrated in Bologna on March 23rd. Under continuous rain, the anger of migrants was evident in the compactness of the march: “better that it rains – some said – so that they see that we are strong”. Anger and strength that was very visible and forceful. A migrant worker who had participated to the previous days strike of logistics workers said: “Today celebration must have its conclusion. Yesterday we started our celebration. And today we conclude it here”. This is the truth of the general demonstration of March 23rd 2013 in Bologna.
It was a new and different kind of demonstration, strengthened by the worker and migrant insubordination that the day before produced the strike of logistics workers. This is true first of all because many of the same migrants who organized the strike organized the demonstration. The political centrality conquered by these migrant workers opened a space of action such that in Bologna thousands of other migrants from various Italian cities demanded the abolition of the connection between residency papers and work contract, the closing of all detention centres, a citizenship law that does not ignore their children, the recognition of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. It was a truly transnational space, that united, not only ideally, Bologna with other European cities like Amsterdam and Berlin, and with the rest of the world: from Senegal to Pakistan, from Bangladesh to Morocco, from France to Albania, where through social networks the voices, photos and videos of the Bologna March are already circulating.
The demonstration thus assumed a general political significance. March 22nd and 23rd migrants raised their heads and showed the way forward to other workers. From the many nodes of logistics, from the peripheries and the warehouses they seized the centre of the city bringing into the streets their force, their anger, their lives and their unconditional demand for a future. This demand is that of the migrant women who participated in the march to say that they are not only here to serve. It is the demand of migrant youth who do not want to be educated only to add greater numbers to a work force willing to work at any condition. And the demand of those who live under the sign of precarity and who see, in the struggle and determination of migrants, the force and the possibility of raising their own heads. There were italian workers from a few local factories who for years have supported the struggles of migrants. But there were not that many Italians present, because when migrants move as migrants, when they call to struggle, perhaps its easier to adhere to the march formally, than do something else. But the political liberation from the condition imposed on migrants and the struggle against exploitation are two things that can no longer be kept separate.
The 22nd and 23rd of March migrants forcefully showed that this is the moment! From Bologna, from this anger and force expressed in the streets, from all the situations that supported us and from all the cities in Italy that observed the march from a distance, a strong and clear political message was sent: it is time to abolish the Bossi-Fini law. It is time to end the institutional racism that imposes hierarchies between workers, in Italy and in Europe. It is time to end work conditions of exploitation that from migrant labor have expanded to become the condition of all labor. It is time to end the precarization of labor and life. It is time for organization and struggle.
They said we were a danger to the public interest and we dance, they painted us as victims and we struggle. It is time for the struggle that liberates and that thus is a celebration. It is time, period.
Coordinamento Migranti Bologna
http://coordinamentomigranti.org/2013/03/29/ora-e-il-momento-nuovo-video-facciamo-partire-una-nuova-stagione-per-dire-bastya-sfruttamento-bastabossifini/
http://coordinamentomigranti.org/2013/03/24/23-marzo-bastabossifini-migliaia-in-corteo-a-bologna-video-foto/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coordinamentomigranti/tags/bastabossifini/show/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coordinamentomigranti/tags/lucia/show/
Discontent brews at new detention centre
By Stefanos Evripidou (published on March 30th 2013)
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/discontent-brews-new-detention-centre/20130330
Trouble is already brewing in the new detention centre in Menoyia, after inmates complained about a lack of mobile phone access to the outside world, which resulted in a standoff yesterday with inmates claiming they were beaten and pepper sprayed by police. The new centre, currently holding 118 inmates including 16 women, was finally set up this year for the short-term stay of undocumented migrants and failed asylum seekers who are to be deported. During its inauguration, police chief Michalis Papageorgiou said the centre meets all EU requirements on living standards and would set the standard in Europe and internationally. However, a number of inmates contacted the Cyprus Mail yesterday claiming they had been beaten and pepper sprayed by police after refusing to go into their rooms, holding eight per room. The inmates claimed those in charge of the centre have been cutting off access to mobile telephony every day for a couple of hours, making it impossible for inmates to contact family. „There are people here desperate to get in touch with family in Syria and they cannot because they keep cutting the signal every day,“ said one Palestinian inmate. Another from Iran said he had a wife and child born in Cyprus that he was trying to get in touch with. „We have learnt that they have a switch in the main office which they use to cut off the signal every day for no reason. The connection works fine. CyTA came and checked it,“ said the one inmate. According to another inmate, when he complained about the problem last week, a policeman said they don’t need a mobile connection anyway, prompting the inmate to swear at the policeman. In response, police allegedly handcuffed the man, putting his hands behind his back, and punched him in the chest repeatedly. They then took him to a police holding cell in another town for four days before returning him to Menoyia, said the inmate. Yesterday, after the signal was down for four hours, a number of inmates decided to protest. When police ordered that they return to their wing, holding eight per room, the inmates staged a ’sit-down‘, refusing to budge. „We said we want the mobile signal back. We need to speak to people. We have family in Syria, around the world. We are not criminals, we are refugees with visa problems,“ said one inmate. „Then they came at us with batons and spray, hitting us. I have three people sitting in my room with red eyes and hands,“ he said. Police spokesman Andreas Angelides confirmed there was a problem with the telephone service at the centre and that the lines were down from 12pm till 2pm yesterday. „A group of men protested and refused to enter their wing, causing police to intervene,“ he said. Asked if they used batons and spray, he said: „No, but they did have to make a dynamic intervention so the men would agree to return to their wing and the centre could continue with the rest of its programme for the day.“ He said he was not aware of any mobile telephony problems on previous days. Asked about the use of force, Angelides denied violence was used. „If anyone has a complaint against the police they need to make it official so it can be investigated,“ he said. The inmates also complained that they were living in worse conditions than at the notorious Block 10 holding cells on the grounds of the Nicosia central prisons. „They handcuff is when we leave the room to get medicine, when we have a visitor, for anything; we are not even allowed to accept a bar of chocolate or tea or coffee from our visitors. Why are we treated this way? We are not criminals,“ said one. „I was in block 10 for ten months, it was much better than this,“ added another. The aim of Menoyia was to improve living conditions of people caught in legal limbo, usually awaiting deportation after failing to secure asylum in Cyprus. In some cases, particularly for Syrians or those whose country of origin refuses to accept them back, the wait for deportation could last months or years. Security at the centre is provided by special constables, an issue of contention between parliament and government that had delayed the centre’s operation. The justice ministry was eventually given final say, going with the state’s original plan of using police, including hiring about 100 special constables at a cost of EUR2.8 million.
http://chouchaprotest.noblogs.org/
Fourth day of hunger strike for 41 refugees in front of UNHCR Tunis since one week. They are staturoty refugees who refuse local integration in Tunisia offered by UNHCR. Today three people were taken to the hospital. Pictures and press release in English below.
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Liebe Syrien-Interessierte, liebe AbonnentInnen des Newsletters,
am vergangenen Donnerstag wurde die Universität Damaskus im Zentrum der Stadt von mehreren Raketen getroffen. Durch den Beschuss starben mindestens 17 Personen und mehr als 20 wurden verletzt – Studenten und weitere Zivilisten. Unser Partner, die Union der freien syrischen Studenten, hat deswegen für die aktuelle Woche einen Streik in allen Instituten und Lehranstalten in Syrien ausgerufen. In Damaskus schlugen die Raketen ebenso wie zuvor in Aleppo in der Fakultät für Architektur ein. In den letzten Tagen versank Damaskus zudem durch langanhaltende Stromausfälle für Stunden in Dunkelheit.