25 Days (11 Nov – 6 Dec ’08) of Hunger Strike…A Life of Stuggle…

The Chania hunger strikers have been granted residence permits!

This victory is only a new beginning for the struggle that never ceased!

Read more below about the hunger strike’s course

Read about the events on the the final day of the hunger strike…

On Friday, the 5th of December,or the 25th day of the hunger strike, the Ministry of Interior Affairs promised that the hunger strikers be granted residence permits on “exceptional grounds”.

For the ministry’s masterminds, this might be a maneuver to avoid the pressure the strike stood for; for us, it is a great victory of the strikers’ determination and the solidarity movement’s efforts.

The strikers did not fight for their cases only, but for everyone in their condition. A change in the law was not achieved, yet their decision is a sober one and one that should be respected: a very strong message of courageous struggle has been sent and now it is up to migrants and non-migrants, in Greece as in everywhere, to keep the flame alive – as with every flame set up against Fortress Europe across countries and borders…

….the course of the hunge strike….

Since 11 November migrants in Chania, Crete, Greece, active members of the Crete Forum of Migrants, had been on hunger strike, demanding the legal status they are eligible for, fighting for dignity and equal rights, for them and their families, for all migrants within Fortress Europe. 10 Hunger Strikers had been in hospital since the 29th of November… They continued the hunger strike from the hospital wards….

You can read more about this in posts of this blog:

the hunger striker’s  first public statement featuring their demands and the context of the struggle

and summaries of the hunger strike’s course and related events

the first 10 days 11-20 November

summary of events  20-25 November

summary of events 26-29 November

summary of events 29 November – 4 December

Full information in Greek in www.clandestina.org and the Athens Indymedia.

You can download and watch a video with hunger-strike footage here (no subtitled version yet, still worth-watching).

References in international media about the hunger-strike

• in German at http://no-racism.net/article/2725/
• In English at the libertarian communist libcom.org http://libcom.org/news/african-immigrants-hunger-strike-crete-legalisation-26112008
• as well as at the Womblies website http://www.wombles.org.uk/article2008112302.php
• at the NoBorders Manchester http://nobordersmanchester.blogspot.com/2008/11/solidarity-with-migrants-on-hunger.html
• at the Decentered Balkan Network website http://balkans.puscii.nl/?q=content/chania-greece-migrants-hunger-strike–-first-10-days
• at anarkismo.net http://www.anarkismo.net/article/10726
• the USAToday
• as well as at the inter press news agency http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45006
• and at various indymedia across Europe

This the Initiative for Solidarity (the collective established for organizing and promoting the struggle) email: protoboulia.metanastes.chania@gmail.com