The European Union is enforcing it’s borders (again)

Yesterday, 15.10.2015, late at night an Afgan refugee has been shot by the Bulgarian border control police, after 50 refugees tried to cross the border Sredets to Bulgaria from Turkey. Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs is using an excuse that the refugees didn’t obey the orders to stop and even though they were not armed the Bulgarian police was compelled to use such force (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/16/afghan-refugee-shot-dead-police-turkey-enter-bulgaria).

This is of course nothing new and surprising for how the EU’s member states deal with the influx of people trying to come within its borders. Let us just remember the rubber bullet shootings by the Spanish border police in February 2014, when an unknown number of people trying to reach “Spanish” side of Ceuta drowned. This is the reality of the European Union’s immigration and asylum system which rather spends money to enforce its borders than help the people who are fleeing desperation from their settings, which is a direct product of Western Europe’s colonialism and decades of interventions by the world superpowers in the 20th century.

If we read the Frontex budget report for the years 2014 and 2015, we see an increased budget injections in external border controls. Citing Statewarch and EU’s budget expenditures to Frontex:

‘The 2015 budget of EU border agency Frontex has been increased by 17.5%, from €97 million to €114 million, with the largest share of the extra funding going towards Joint Operations at Sea Borders.’

(source: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2015/feb/eu-frontex-budget%202015.htm; http://frontex.europa.eu/assets/About_Frontex/Governance_documents/Budget/Budget_2015.pdf).

The EU leaders are currently discussing of giving Turkey 3 billion financial resources and other political-social benefits for its citizens (e.g. better VISA-FREE travel). The idea is to keep (at least) 2 million refugees within Turkey’s borders and ask for its help with enforcing EU’s external borders (source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/15/big-decisions-unlikely-migration-summit-eu-leaders).

Turkey is suppose to be a so called safe county, but we all know that is on the verge of a small civil war (mostly with Kurdish people or people with different political orientation), if we just look at the events that happened few days ago in Ankara, where more than 100 people were killed by most likely state sponsored suicide bombing. Citing The Guardian newspaper:

‘Turkey is currently the main source of the 700,000 people who have entered the EU this year. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is to travel to Istanbul on Sunday for talks with the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, only two weeks before a crucial general election in Turkey, leaving her open to charges that she is boosting the victory chances of his governing Justice and Development party.’

(source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/15/big-decisions-unlikely-migration-summit-eu-leaders).

But the borders are not just on the edges of the Fortress Europe, but also inside it. They are the borders that separate people, who are illegalized by the fascist European Union’s immigration and asylum system, from European citizens. The good example and a symptom of such system is LaGeSo which dehumanizes people to non-beings, who are supposedly claiming benefits from the German state. But let us not forget that Germany is benefiting from such system and has historical and recent responsibilities towards countries that people flee from.

This is why making the so called “refugee” crisis, named by the EU’s institutions and mainstream media, a political issue that must directly adress the EU’s fascist immigration and asylum system, its neo-colonial practices and capitalist-neoliberal development in the recent years. No, there is no “refugee crisis”, but only European xenophobia towards human beings!

Next post will focus on the recent happening at the Balkan route borders and camps.

Until then: Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here!!

Open Letter to those who are governing Western countries (by Emmanuel Mbolela)

Emmanuel Mbolela Open Letter to the governers of the western world

Francais en bas

SUBJECT: CURRENT MIGRATORY CRISIS.

 

Dear governors of the western world,

In front of the chaotic and dramatic situation of the Syrian refugees which we bear witness to today, which adds up to many more, in particular those refugees fleeing African countries, and in front of which you have kept remarkably silent and complicit, which have now caught up with you, but which  you feign to discover with the terrible images of the drowned baby Aylan (may his soul rest in peace), broadcasted these days by your countries’ tv channel, I make it my citizen’s duty to send you this letter. For me it is a way to express my solidarity and compassion for  the Syrian refugees, as I have always done with other migrants and refugees from Africa, and as others have done with me when I was, together with fellow African refugees in the same situation of flight.
Furthermore, I would like to express to you my indignation towards this situation which of course is a result, for one thing, of your domination politics, which you never cease to produce, day and night, in your laboratories, and for the rest, of  the cynical, inhuman, and drastic so-called border-control measures which you have introduced.

First of all, I want to express all my solidarity to the Syrian men, women, children and babies who have lost their own or their beloved ones’ lives because they were fleeing the atrocities of war and  blood-shedding repression skillfully sparked, kept and orchestered by the system of this world’s mighty ones, and who have found themselves left to die and been denied entry in the countries where they could have found refuge. May the death, pain and suffering of these men, women, and defenseless children call out to the entire human community.

My thoughts also go to the migrants and refugees of subsaharian Africa, who fall in the desert, far away from TV channel’s cameras, and to those dying in the Mediterrannean every day, and who shall not be rescued lest, so the western world’s governors, many more try to come.

Europe’s Deportation Machine – Human Rights Activists Monitor

In-depth reportage ZEIT ONLINE in English about the system of mass deportation of refugees in Germany and Europe.

ZEIT ONLINE report:
http://zeit.de/feature/refugees-in-germany-deportation-flights-laws

Interactive:
http://www.zeit.de/feature/deportation-refugees-flights-frontex

Thousands of refugees risk their lives getting to Europe each day. And
many of them won’t ultimately be allowed to stay. The EU has developed a
highly efficient deportation machinery, one which is highly professional
and kept out of the public eye. It works frighteningly well.

Ferry for Freedom

(francais en bas: )

In the face of migration policies that hamper millions of people in the world to move freely and to seek asylum in Europe without risking to die in the Mediterranean, the Tunisian association formed by the families of the Tunisian missing migrants, La Terre pour Tous, , organizes on the 6th September FERRY FOR FREEDOM, a symbolic “illegal” depart in the Tunisian waters to  claim and enact freedom of movement against the deadly effects of the Visa regime, demanding legal and free access to Europe, as claimed by the campaign “Ferry not Frontex”.

Please, support this project with your donation: https://www.lepotcommun.fr/pot/0nvqhh88

The boat will leave from Hammamet the 6^th of September and we ask all the people and associations that struggle for freedom of movement and migrant rights to join and support the event.

Press Statement Anti Frontex Days 2015 in Warsaw

On May 21st, the “International Day without Papers,” migrants, activists and supporters met in Warsaw to protest against the European border policy, and in particular its military wing, the so-called security agency FRONTEX, based in the Polish capital, during its 10^th anniversary celebrations.

The demonstration was part of the Anti Frontex Days where activists met already days before for an exchange, to prepare actions and information material for a strong demonstration to protest, but also to raise political awareness. 200 people carried out a strong and colorful protest starting from the Technical University “Politechnika”, passing a police station, the representative office of the EU as to finally handover a birthday present to FRONTEX in front of their headquarter. With banners, leaflets, performances and multilingual speeches the demonstration was able to reach a lot of public interest about EU migration policy and its deadly effects.

Greetings from Anti Frontex Days Warsaw

Greetings from the Anti Frontex Days in Warsaw/Poland ! Today’s demonstration is organised by different international groups and activists. If you want to see in live pictures and demo of our protest actions here In Poland, see all here, start from 5 pm.

Please check following pages for further information and the live stream:

migracja.noblogs.org

https://cispmberlin.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Droits-de-Migrants/782327021778814
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/cispmberlin

In solidarity with all protest demos against frontex in Brussels, Paris, Rome, and also in Morroco…

“Stop War on Migrants”
DMC
CISPM/Berlin

Semaine d’action contre les politiques migratoires européennes //// Week of action against european migratory policies- Press release

english below….

…………………………….

Communiqué de presse – 19 mai 2015

Semaine d’action contre les politiques migratoires européennes
Week of action against european migratory policies

« Pour la justice sociale et la liberté de circulation et d’installation pour toutes et tous »
 « For Social justice and freedom of circulation and settlement for all »

 La Coalition Internationale des sans-papiers, demandeurs d’asile, réfugiés et migrants (CISPM) – regroupant divers collectifs à travers l’Europe et l’Afrique – lance un appel à manifester le 22 mai 2015. Partout en Europe et en Afrique, durant la semaine du 19 au 22 mai, se dérouleront des actions et des manifestations contre la politique européenne en matière d’immigration, contre Frontex, mais également contre l’exploitation, pour un partage équitable des richesses et la liberté de circulation et d’installation de tous.

10 points to really end the deaths of migrants at sea

by Borderline Europe

Ferries not Frontex! 10 points to really end the deaths of migrants

On April 20, the Joint Foreign and Home Affairs Council of the EU released a ten-­‐point action plan
outlining their response to the recent deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Many other
proposals have also been made over the last few days. We are activists who have been involved in
the struggles against the European border regime for several years and who have been in touch on
a daily basis with hundreds of people who have crossed the Mediterranean through Watch The Med
and the Alarm Phone project. Faced with the hypocrisy of the “solutions” that have been proposed so
far, we feel compelled to undermine their falsity and attempt to open up an alternative space for
reflection and action.

1. We are shocked and angered at the recent tragedies that have claimed at least 1200
lives in the Mediterranean Sea in the last week. We are shocked, although not surprised,
by the unprecedented number of deaths in merely a few days. We are angered because
we know that without a radical change these are just the first of many more deaths to
come in 2015.

2. We are also angered because we know that what is proposed to us as a “solution” to
this unbearable situation only amounts to more of the same: violence and death. The EU
has called for the reinforcement of Frontex’ Triton mission. Frontex is a migration
deterrence agency and Triton has been created with the clear mandate to protect
borders, not to save lives.

3. However, even if saving lives was to be its core task, as it was the case for the military-­‐
humanitarian operation Mare Nostrum in 2014, it is clear that this would not bring
dying at sea to an end. Those who suggest a European Mare Nostrum should be
reminded that even during its mission, the most grandiose rescue operation in the
Mediterranean to date, more than 3.400 people died. Is this figure acceptable to the
European public?

4. Others have called for an international military operation in Libya, a naval blockade or
the further enlisting of African countries for the policing of their own land borders. The
history of the last 20 years in the Mediterranean shows that stepping up the
militarization of migration routes is only cause to more death. Each and every time a
route into the Europe has been blocked by new surveillance technologies and increasing
policing, migrants have not stopped arriving. They have simply been forced to take
longer and more dangerous routes. The recent deaths in the Central and Eastern
Mediterranean are the result of the militarization of the Gibraltar Strait, of the Canary
Islands, of the land border between Greece and Turkey, and of several land borders in
the Sahara. The “successes” of Frontex mean death to thousands of people.

5. International organisations as well politicians from across the whole political
spectrum have denounced smugglers as the main cause of death in the Mediterranean
Sea. Several prominent politicians have compared the smuggling of migrants to the
transatlantic slave trade. There seems no limit to hypocrisy: those who uphold the slave
regime condemning the slave traders! We know very well that smugglers operating in
the context of the Libyan civil war are often ruthless criminals. But we also know that
the only reason why migrants have to resort to them is the European border regime.
Smuggling networks would be history in no time if those who now die at sea could
instead reach Europe legally. The visa regime that prevents them from doing so was
introduced only 25 years ago.

6. Those who have called, once again, for the creation of asylum processing centres in
Northern Africa should be reminded of two examples that are the most accurate examples of what these centres would actually mean. First, the Tunisian Choucha camp
managed by the UNHCR, which abandoned those who sought refuge there from the
Libyan conflict. Even those who were recognized as needing international protections
were left behind in the Tunisian desert, often without any other choice than trying to
cross the sea. Second, the creation by Australia of offshore processing centres on remote
“prison-­‐islands”, which is now hailed by many as a role model for Europe, only shows
how hideous the forceful confinement of asylum seekers can be. These “solutions” serve
only to displace the violence of the European border regime away from the eyes of
Western publics.

7. Faced with this situation, what is to be done? Comrades and friends with whom we
have shared common struggles in the past years have been calling for freedom of
movement as the only viable response to this situation. We too make this demand ours,
as it is the only one that has managed to open up a space of political imagination in an
otherwise suffocating debate. Only unconditional legal access to the EU can end the
death of migrants at sea. And yet we think that a general call for the freedom of
movement is not enough in the current context. We want to consider the freedom of
movement not as a distant utopia but as a practice – enacted by migrants on a daily
basis often at the cost of their lives -­‐ that should guide our political struggles here and
now.

8. These are the reasons why we call for the institution of a humanitarian ferry, that
should travel to Libya and evacuate as many people as possible. These people should be
brought to Europe and granted unconditional protection in Europe, without undergoing
an asylum process which has lost its original purpose to protect and has de facto
become yet another tool of exclusion.

9. Is the idea of a ferry unrealistic? In 2011, at the height of the Libyan civil war,
humanitarian ferries evacuated thousands of stranded migrants from Misrata to
Bengasi, overcoming obstacles such as shelling, constant fire and sea mines. This shows
that even in the current volatile situation of Libya, considering such an action is
possible. Moreover, ferries would certainly be immensely cheaper than the prospect of a
massive rescue mission at sea and of any military solution.

10. The only reality we know is that any solution short of this will continue to lead to
more deaths at sea. We know that no process of externalisation of asylum procedures
and border control, no amount of compliance with the legal obligations to rescue, no
increase in surveillance and militarization will stop the mass dying at sea. In the
immediate terms, all we need is legal access and ferries. Will the EU and international
agencies be ready to take these steps, or will civil society have to do it for them?

The Alarm Phone
wtm-­‐alarm-­‐phone@antira.info
http://www.watchthemed.net/index.php/page/index/12

Call for Protest: Disruption of the event with Frontex director of operations Klaus Rösler on 22.04.2015, 6pm

deutsch unten

10 years of Frontex!

10 years of trafficking with bodies!

10 years and thousands of deaths!

 

„To deliver somebody to the risk of death, to augment the risk of death for specific people, or political death, or dispossession, or deportation.” (Michel Foucault)

 

The closing and total surveillance of the borders implies the control of „the bare life”.This control converges in the military, secret service and police nodal point Frontex. Control of life and death is an execution of violence. Frontex exercises psychological and physical violence: Diagnosis of pubic hair to ascertain the age, testing the DNA to detect kinship relations, psychiatric survey reports to ascertain homosexuality. To the outside Frontex pretends to act responsible, be interested in human beings and presents itself as the protecting power of the European borders. For this reason Frontex publishes fake reports of people traffickers and ghost ships. This Wednesday, Klaus Rösler, as the only guest speaker, will promote the repressive and racist work of Frontex in a public event of the Schwarzkopf foundation. – We want to prevent that and are asking for a loud protest. Come in large numbers!

 

Wednesday, 22.04.2015 – 6pm
Schwarzkopf-Stiftung (foundation)
Sophienstraße 28-29, Berlin-Mitte