Alarm Phone – Against fingerprints
‘Solidarity Messages for those in Transit’ is a video project that emerged through the WatchTheMed Alarm Phone network. It aims to reach travellers along their migratory trajectories, in order to support them when they navigate the many border obstacles and traps that the EU and its member states have erected in their paths. Through the videos, survivors of the border regime who reached their desired destinations and people still on the move, speak directly to the many thousands who are forced onto dangerous migration routes or into inhumane conditions in Libya and elsewhere, to those who risk their lives when escaping via the sea, and to those who face oppression and the threat of forced deportation after arriving in Europe. The videos were shot in Germany and Italy, and share the insights of several people who survived the EU border regime and continue to resist it. Based on their lived experiences, they offer information, warnings, support and encouragement. Some of the videos’ themes include ‘Safety at Sea’, ‘Fingerprints and the Dublin Regulation’, ‘Warnings against Frontex’ and ‘Asylum and Detention’. The first three videos about the fingerprint issue have been released in Somali, Amharic and Tigrinya, with English as the subtitle. While we face a time of repression in the aftermath of the long summer of migration, there are still cracks in the system and we hope that these videos will be spread widely, moving alongside those who travel on despite Europe’s desire to deter.