Εurope at the Frontline of the Great Enclosure – Counterarguments to the 3d Forum on Immigration & Development.

The text below presents, in the briefest possible form, counterarguments to the 3rd Forum on Immigration and Development (GFMD2009) that is taking place on the 4th and 5th of November 2009 in Athens, Greece (after two preparatory «Civil Society Days» on the same subject hosted by the Onassis Foundation). It intends to decode certain points that are kept vague in the rhetorics of the GFMD2009, as are the «root causes of migration in light of the current global economic crisis», «migrant integration, reintegration and circulation for development», as well as «policy and institutional coherence and partnerships», the three topics of the GFMD2009 roundtable discussions.

Public Event, Open Discussion in Thessaloniki: “People in mid-air: between deportation and asylum”

PUBLIC EVENT, OPEN DISCUSSION IN THESSALONIKI

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 18.30

LAW SCHOOL, 2nd floor, room 211/212 ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY.

• Karl Kopp, PRO-ASYL, Germany
• Oktay Durukan, HELSINKI CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY, Turkey
• Vassilis Ladas, lawyer, author, journalist, Patras, Greece

organised by

• Hellenic League for Human Rights
• Clandestina Network

Event in Eastern Thessaloniki, Kalamaria, on immigration

Immigrants Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

Event in Theatro Chilis, Kalamaria, 19.00, on Thursday, 22 October, 2009.

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Photo Exhibition
Video Projection
History of Immigration
Open Discussion

Open Assembly of Kalamaria http://protovouliakalamarias.blogspot.com/

Group of Immigrants and Refugees

http://www.clandestina.org/indexa.html

Open Discussion on immigration in Western Thessaloniki

Event's poster, reads something like: - so this thing with immigration always works? - yes, told you so, blame the immigrants and they will go tooth and nail at one another

OPEN DISCUSSION ON IMMIGRATION

SATURDAY, OCT 10, 7.30 PM

@ THEATRAKI, YOUTH PLACE OF THE MUNICIPALITY AMBELOKIPOI, 21 G.GENNIMATA STR., AMBELOKIPOI.

(in case of bad weather @  the open social space of western districts, Patriarchou Grigoriou Pemptou 34, Ambelokipoi (bus 34, Metagogon bus stop).

• WITH A VIDEO PROJECTION

• AND TEXTS TO INITIATE DISCUSSION

organised by

the Open Assembly of  Western Districts

Group of Immigrants & Refugees, Clandestina Network

A brief text about “Dromos” and our engagement with immigration issues

This a part of a text we leafletted at the Antiracist Festival and the streets of Thessaloniki.  About “Dromos” see the “about us” page of this blog.

Call for the march of Tuesday, 7th of July at Thessaloniki – HANDS OFF IMMIGRANTS!

Concentration Camps Everywhere! – Group of Immigrants and Refugees – Clandestina network at the 12th Antiracist Festival Thessaloniki

…about the uprising of immigrants on Thursday and Friday, 21 and 22 of May, in Athens…

This a translation of a text we leafletted in Thessaloniki  the last few days.

clandestinenglish

…about the uprising of immigrants on Thursday and Friday 21 and May 22 in Athens …

… background “snapshots” …

• left: refugee camp in Samos …
• center: Afghan refugee smitten by port police in Patras …
• extreme right: riot police and “Golden Dawn”neo-nazis during their collaboration for terrorizing refugees, 10th of May 2009 …

• left: teenage and children refugees in Patras port run behind trucks in order to board to Italy …
• center: The 24 year old Mazir who was killed by falling into ditch in Votanikos area in Athen, most likely while chased by police near the Asylum Police in Petrou Ralli (as two more refugees in a few months) …
• right: the religious debate has only started …

… and “perspectives” …

“It could have been something else, not the pages of the Quran …”

It could have been an old family photo.  Or a crumpled piece of paper with the mobile phones of relatives and friends in Sweden, England or Germany on it.  It could be some few folded banknotes – this, though, the cops would have seized, not torn.   The cops, who are not supposed to treat immigrants as people; the cops, who are indifferent whether immigrants love those pieces of paper of theirs, the ones they move from one pocket to another, the same pieces of paper which count as many kilometers and borders as they themselves do.  The “waste papers” of the“sans papiers”.

Someone tore up a Qur’an volume and stepped on it.  Symbolic violence. Violence confirming the real degradation, the crass devaluation  immigrants are subjected to by the Greek State, violence imposed in a thousand ways, not at all “symbolic”.  By the Greek State, which permeates racist attitudes and rewards voluntary atrocity.

“It could have been nothing other than the Qu’ran …”

“It could have been nothing other than the Qu’ran, what could make immigrants take it to the streets”  since « only religion» could make them confront collectively the cops of the “civilized world”.   Because “these people” are “pious”. And only some insult to their religion could make them surface out of the rapidly growing ghettos in the center of Athens, in order to rally for something – for their religion, which is of course “absolutely respected” in tolerant Greece … as long as it remains in the basements and the back rooms of  fast-foods.  Which is also true for the lives of “these people”, which are “absolutely respected”in Greece as long as they remain expendable among the urban waste.   As long as they stay available for slavery and death…

“They rallied under the dictates of the imams”, they are “steered”, this is the convenient explanation and perspective for the holders of authority, either grand or small.  Imams ,who try to keep and expand their “flocks”… Let the ones who want to become herdsmen see herds… We don’t. What we see is people and communities from the devastated continents of the globe seeking refuge…

For the Qu’ran? Or for all the reasons of the world …

“Did you see what happened in Athens with the Qu’ran;”. Indeed. What happened in Athens was the clash of cultures, discovered in Greece as well with the usual delay! … The opportunity should not be missed…

It is absolutely clear that the people in the photos enjoying the Greek hospitality, they are not immigrants, refugees, poor people, they are not even Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis …“Muslims, that’s what they are”!

They are not reacting to the humiliations, the tortures, the detention-stables, the workplace-treatment, the deportations … No.  They are doing this «because they are Muslims» …

… and those residents kept shouting to the firefighters in Patras “let them burn” during the recent fire in the refugee camp because…becasue they are Christians …

… and the landlords at Manolada shot migrant workers…

…and the Christian Ministry of Interior Affairs announced new detention mega-camps,creates a prison – warship, plans to limit even further the already negligible asylum rates …

… and the Greek State cooperating with both the Fortress Europe commissioners in Brussels and the neonazis in Athens…

…they all did and do so essentially on… religious grounds…

The only clash of cultures is the one

between freedom and exploitation.

Thessaloniki, May 24, 2009

Group of Immigrants and Refugees – «o Dromos», Baltadorou 7, Thessaloniki

www.clandestina.org

Arslan Tayfun Özkök is still in prison and threatened with deportation to Turkey…

We have already posted about the Turkish leftist and political refugee Aslan Tayfun Özkök here. His case, a case of sentencing a man to immidiate danger by deporting him to the Turkish authoriatarian regime, no matter how outrageous it sounds, has not been resolved yet.   On April 30 his appeal to be released was rejected.  Now the Turkish state has to present by the 8th of May the Greek authorities with sufficient evidence for its claim to have Aslan repulsed.  In the case Turkey fails to do so, he must be released.

We know very well how Greece tries to downgrade and devalue the very notion and idea of political asylum.  All the Greek state strategically plans to be offering in the future  is “humanitarian” asylum, according to its own geopolitical calculationsas, as a kind of exceptional benefit and in the current extremely low numbers or even less if possible.

Aslan’s and Haydar’s cases are only straws in the wind and the wind is already blowing.

Publicity for the issue is crucial.   We must not let this happen.

Hands off the political refugee Aslan Tayfun Özkök!

clandestinenglish

blog in Greek about Arslan: http://ozkiok.wordpress.com/

Hands off the political refugee Aslan Tayfun Özkök!

 

solidarity poster

The turkish leftist fighter Aslan Tayfun Özkök is threatened directly with deportation to turkey by the greek state. We call everyone to support him in order to stop his deportation.

Aslan Tayfun Özkök has fought for many years against the oppressive regime of Turkey. During the 1980s junta he was imprisoned for many years and tortured due to his political beliefs. And also he was adjudicated for a law life sentence by the government of 1980s junta. He had been living outside Turkey for some time now until he was imporisoned again for about 8 months in Cyprus. Immediately after his detention he applied for political asylum which was however rejected by the cypriot state resulting in his deportation to greece. on march 25th he was arrested at the airport by the greek officials and after waiting for 5 days to go through trial he was imprisoned.

In recent years an “antiterrorist hysteria” has prevailed in the countries of the E.U. which targets political fighters and which seems to have worsened with the recent economic crisis. Because for this refugees are slandered as terrorists so as to easily have their rights hurt. This series of attacks has climaxed with the most recent example of the attempt of the greek state -and of the dominant class- to deport ozkok. This hostile act can be faced only with a common fight on the side of the anti imperialist, antifascist, antimilitary powers to prevent his deportation and any other hostile prctice of this sort.

Reality in the modern turkish regime is that every fight for democracy is condemned as a crime. Objectors are murdered in the streets and in police departments. Tortures continue consistently while fighters, intellectuals and writers are imprisoned in type F prisons. Despite all this, a fake image of democratization is given outside as well as within the country. This image is demolished by the reality that people live as the real face of the fascist state is more and more obvious with the daily murders.

By highlighting the pretext of the supposed democratization of the country, the deportations of kurdish and turkish political refuges continue and act as a political partnership for the crimes of dominant class. For this reason, in the case of a deportation of ozkok- who no longer has any safety in turkey, even for his own life- the greek government is responsible. It must resign from this reactionary position and offer him political asylum.

We ask:
For political asylum to be given to Aslan Tayfun Özkök and to all the political refugees.
For Aslan Tayfun Özkök to be freed immediately!

Bridge of People of Anatolia Culture Center
Devrimci Demokrasi (Office in Greece)
Partizan
Atilim (Athens)
Kurdistan Culture Center
Turkiye Gercegi Newspaper
The Other Periodical
Group of Immigrants and Refugees (Thesaloniki)
The Road Culture Center
Clandestina.Org
Albanian Forum of Immigrants