Migrants, Squats.

           Name your country, and migrants will be seen to be treated as less than human, a group to be feared, despised, rejected, a threat to your "way of life" and stripped of their human rights. The richest and most developed countries are among the worst offenders. With the means available to offer shelter and integration, they do the opposite, they herd them as cattle, intimidate and harass them under the guise of their legal system designed to protect the status-quo, however, where there is inequality and a state, there can be no real justice, no freedom. 

The following from 325:

   



In the following report from Greece, anarchists describe the burning of the refugee camp, Moria, and the response countrywide, as well as the latest chapter in other struggles against state repression on a variety of fronts.
        A report by Radio Fragmata.
      Another month, another report on the situation here in Greece. There has been no pause in the repression of the state, nor any peace for the marginalized and excluded. Another historic squat has been evicted, the economic despair many already face is becoming generalized, society drifts towards the right at the guidance of state and corporate media, and the largest concentration camp housing migrants in all of Europe has been engulfed in flames, displacing thousands.
       As in the rest of the world, each morning brings new concerns, new disasters, new forms of precarity. We share the following information in the pursuit of a relentless and borderless solidarity.

-Radio Fragmata, September 2020

Moria Burns—The Greek State Plays Victim

       The refugee camp Moria on the island of Lesvos has burned down.

       The state claims this was the result of demonstrations by desperate people inside the camp reacting to new measures the police had opportunistically declared in response to an inevitable and now unavoidable outbreak of COVID-19 inside the camp. Some 35 cases have been made public as of early September; considering the intense overcrowding of the camp, the number should be assumed to be much higher. Some wonder whether nearby fascists took the opportunity to set fires under the cover of the refugees’ protests. It is certain that some of the villagers wanted those fleeing the flames to burn alive, as they pushed those who tried to flee to the nearby village of Mytilene back towards the blaze.

     If the government’s claim that the fire started from the demonstrations is correct, we can understand this as an act of desperation on the part of individuals protesting against an unbearable situation. Out of all the concentration camps where refugees are contained on islands near Turkey or out of the view of the public on mainland Greece, Moria is by far the most famous, both for its size and for the severity of the conditions. Moria housed over 13,000 refugees, though it was designed for only around 3000. It is a symbol of the racism and dehumanizing policies of exclusion that comprise the basis of modern Europe.

       It was inevitable that COVID-19 would enter Moria. Imposing additional restrictions on the already forcibly isolated and controlled camp brought an already dire situation to the brink. Now thousands are going hungry without shelter, including many children. Facing fascist and police violence, they find themselves in an even worse situation than before.

      In some ways, the New Democracy administration has used the Moria camp to claim that the EU has failed Greece in the so-called “refugee crisis” dating back to 2015. At the same time, the administration has used the camp to fan the flames of xenophobia, framing the conditions in the camp and the desperation of those who occupy it as self-inflicted. The state shifts between these narratives according to what is politically expedient.

Continue reading full article and more reports HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Humans As Things.

 

      Day and daily an army of individuals, families, groups, including children take the decision to try and get out of a raging war area, leave behind their home, possessions, friends and other family members and make the treacherous journey to Europe in hope of a better and safer life. In most cases the death and destruction they are fleeing is a direct result of American and their side-kicks the EU's foreign policy. Many lose their lives in that arduous and treacherous journey, and those who make it to Europe end up being treated worse than cattle, and with less rights than animals. This is the reality migrants are faced with as they enter, so called , civilised Europe. As the article states, "--but the outcry is absent--", why?

     What is happening on the Greek islands is being played out at other locations across Europe
      I am posting this article in full as I believe it should be widely read and spread far and wide.

This from Anarchists Worldwide:

       Just one month has passed in the new year and it already casts a grim shadow over the months yet to come. Blow after blow, new atrocities occur, and the government issues one fascist decision after another. Public outcry is absent.
      Still, almost every day people set out on the dangerous journey across the straits between Turkey and Europe. Forced by a system that criminalizes and negatively stigmatizes migration, people unsafely have to board boats and leave everything behind, in the hope of a better, normal life – and for the EU (and within it the Greek government) no effort seems too big or too expensive to crush said people, no matter the cost.
     The numerous shipwrecks in this month alone shows yet again how dangerous the crossing is. The Turkish coast guard rammed a rubber dinghy, 4 people drowned, one person went missing – and the excuse of missing safety precautions on board is accepted without comment. A fiber boat broke, 11 people died, of whom 8 were children – but the outcry is absent.
     Driven in desperation by a dehumanizing and exclusionary system, a man finds himself during the first days of January in prison. He is locked away in solitary confinement, out of sight. He is a man with known psychological problems and he is left alone. Nobody will take responsibility for him. Death appears to him as the only way out of this hell.
       In response to this, approximately 150 people took to the streets to protest against Moria Camp and the conditions in its prison. In a public statement (in several languages), the violent methods, which are de facto torture, were criticized, and the release of all prisoners demanded, as well as the closure of Moria camp and freedom of movement for all.
        Towards the end of the month around 300 women protested in the streets of Mytilene with slogans such as “we want to be free, we want to be human”. They criticized the horrible living conditions in Moria camp and the ongoing violence. Meanwhile, another hundred women were prevented from participating in the protest and were blocked at the streets entering Mytilene. More than ten non-refugee women that attended the demonstration were removed and taken to the police station. The police were of the opinion that it was they who organized the rally, based on no evidence and only prejudice, the racial prejudice that the refugee community were unable to organise the demonstration themselves, and that it must have been done for them.
Women have to live under constant fear of assaults and rape. Medical help for pregnant women is barely existent. General medical support is scarce. Children grow up in a hostile environment. They are denied their childhood. But the outcry is absent.
      Over 20,000 people are currently stuck in and around Moria camp, having to call it their home. Basic needs are not even close to being met. The ideal environment for violence has resulted in several attacks. Already more than 10 people have been injured and hospitalized since the start of the year. Among those, two men were killed. Some no longer dare to stay in the camp and see themselves forced to endure the cold winter nights in public places. But the outcry is absent.
       On January 22nd, with the slogan: “we want our islands back!”, thousands of Greek civilians went on strike and protested the government’s refugee policy. The general strike was supported by the broad public, and a poster with their inflammatory demands could be seen in countless shops and stores of Mytilene, resulting in the largest protest in the history of Lesvos. Thus, domestic politics evaporates, and the belief that those who have newly arrived are to blame for the old, structural problems of the country spreads.
         This is a perfect example of the recently formed government confirming its desire to show hardness and “strength” by implementing xenophobic policy. Championing the ideal of “out of sight, out of mind”, the first closed camp is already being built on the island of Samos, afar from any civilization. Men, women and children are to be imprisoned there on a general basis, their only “crime”: they came to Europe. They shall be imprisoned for 25 days. Within this time, it is supposed to be decided who is allowed to stay and who will be deported. The new law, however, provides for numerous possibilities to extend detention – up to 18 months if the asylum application is rejected. In addition to this, the time limits for appeals has been shortened, and any appeal must be submitted by a lawyer. This gives rise to the fear that under these circumstances many will not find a representative in time to appeal against a negative verdict.
          But the government cannot wait for the completion of the closed camps to achieve their goal. Thus, on the last weekend of January, 55 people, most of them families, were locked up in a wing of the prison on Kos island. EU law ubiquitously requires a case-by-case assessment of whether there is a reason for imprisonment, and the Greek government flagrantly shows a clear disregard for such legal principle. If even legal principles are so publicly ignored, how are we to believe that any moral or ethical principles, such as a basic human right such as migration, will ever be followed?
       Help and support will never be close at hand. The dehumanization continues. Imprisonment of the innocent, even children, is legitimized by our xenophobic system. But the outcry is absent.
        The closed camps are intended to accelerate and intensify deportations. By the end of 2020, the government wants to deport 10,000 refugees to Turkey – five times greater than the total number of deportations since the EU-Turkey deal was made. So far, in accordance with former practice, many deportations have been prevented (or at least delayed) with the argument that the horrific conditions in Turkey classify a return as unsafe. However, the Greek government has installed a new judiciary for decisions in regards to deportation, and hopes they will decide differently. But the outcry is absent.
      The European Union continues to fully support and implement the entire system. They don’t only demand more “effective (frequent)” deportation but also demand the doubling of EASO (European Asylum Support Office) staff officials to carry out the heinous act. It is not the only staff increase. The cruel, so-called “defenses” continue. The government announced to have 1200 more border police officers in the coming months. Already 400 jobs are advertised for the borders at the river Evros, and 800 are to be added on the Aegean islands.
Now they also want to install a floating dam system on the water. How exactly this is supposed to keep boats away is unclear to everyone. Considering that Lesvos is roughly 70km long, the 2.7km long barrier with blinking lights does not invoke an effective approach to the “issue”. The half a million-Euro project seems even more senseless when one takes in to account that people who are stopped by the barrier have already reached Greek territorial waters, and would therefore have to be rescued and taken to Greek soil under maritime law. But the outcry is absent.
      As well as this, Stage 2 was closed on the 31st January. Stage 2 was the short-term transit camp to ensure people who land on the northern coast can access safety and receive medical aid and shelter. Over half of the total arrivals on Lesvos are on the northern shore. With closing Stage 2, people arriving will be left waiting for hours on beaches, by the side of the road, or in remote rocky areas, with no access to immediate shelter, protection or medical aid; some may even attempt to walk for hours to the south. But the outcry is absent.
      Irony screams out, with all of the events aforementioned taking place in the same month in which the liberation of Auschwitz was remembered during the 75th anniversary of it’s closure, with politicians from left to right wing parties proclaiming: “never forgive, never forget!”. But they do forget. They forget all people who are not wanted in Europe because of their country of origin. They forget the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives because of the current EU policy. They forget the children who have experienced nothing else in their whole life than war, conflict zones and flight, and now are forced to live in hostile environments which provoke child suicide attempts. They forget all the young people who are condemned to do nothing, full of potential – potential Europe desperately needs, but apparently would be provided by the “wrong” people. They forget humanity in view of their own political and economic interests. They forget that fascism is in our midst and again the majority is not only watching but willfully ignoring. Thus, new atrocities take place over and over– but, once again, the outcry is absent. Deafeningly, forever absent.

United we stay- divided we fall.
No borders
Solidarity will win

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

The EU War Against Refugees.

        No doubt tonight, as the clock strikes midnight, there will be celebrations across the globe, parties, food and drink, much merry making and comradeship. However, not for everybody, poverty, deprivation, imprisonment and detention centres, don't evaporate, refugees don't suddenly find a home. The suffering continues, it's just that most of us shut it out for a spell, perhaps we need a break from the poison fruits of the capitalist system and from the various states' power-grid of phoney borders, but we should not forget, the EU war against refugees takes no holidays.

This from Enough is Enough:

The Militarisation of Lesvos:

             Sometimes you don’t know where to start. Maybe that  Twitter “temporarily” warns people for my personal Twitter account because of “suspicious activities” (Hey Twitter maybe I logged in with a Greek IP adress because I am in Greece right now..)???
        But to be honest that’s a typical first world problem in comparison to the war against refugees the EU member states are fighting here on Lesvos. If you walk along the harbor of Mytilini, the capital of Levos island, you still see them; the small picturesque fisher boats. But nowadays you have to focus on these beautiful small boats to see them. When you see the big canons of a British “Border Force” ship, you start to ask yourself are they going to shoot and sink the dinghy boats with refugees one day? The big navy and Frontext ships are dominating the little harbor of Mytilini.
           And yes these ships also rescued a lot of refugees, but the Greek coastguard ships were also involved in illegal pushbacks to Turkey. Something the Turkish coastguard ships were also involved in. Sometimes the Turkish and Greek coastguard ships also attack the people on the dinghy boats with sticks or even sunk them, as can be seen on footage in a documentary I made here in September
       In the harbor of Mytilini I saw navy and Frontex ships from Bulgaria, Great Brittain, Greece and Italy. They are patrolling the sea between Turkey and Lesvos island. But you also see a lot of military- and Frontext vehicles on Lesvos. They come from countries like the Netherlands, Italy and Greece (just to name a few). The whole island is full of cops and military. Refugees get randomly checked in the city center of Mytilini all the time. You can observe several of these racial profiling operations when you drink a coffee on Sappho square. Day by day.

       The mutual aid work that we are doing here is one part, but we also document the situation and try to support people who are in danger to get deported. This all takes place in a hostile and militarized environment. In September I was chased by cops while taking pictures of the Moria Camp and last week a cops also wanted to check me, but I was lucky both times and was fast enough. The long days of buying food, sanitary products and other things people need for their daily life, documenting the situation and the work on legal issues and political stuff take their toll. I planned to report every day, but often I am to tired to write anything after the long days of work on the island. 
      Today is the last day of 2017, many people will celebrate New Years Eve but I don’t feel like celebrating at all and I have to save energy for the coming weeks. As part of the Cars of Hope team I will celebrate a bit with some of the people who are stuck here on Lesvos. I have a lot of wishes for the coming year, but I am afraid the EU member states will intensify their war against refugees.

Read the full article and view more videos HERE:

The Non-Story Of Desperate People.

          We all know the flights of fancy taken by our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. They flit from shock, horror, spectacular, amusing, to sex, fashion and celebrity parasites, with complete lack of empathy, and little thought for the whole story or the real truth.
       For a while they flooded our minds with images of drowning refugees fleeing death, deprivation and violence, of large trails of men women and children being herded like cattle, in appalling condition, a vision of a monumental humanitarian crisis. Now, to them that storey is boring, so no need to bother with that particular tragedy.
        However, has the flow of desperate people ceased, are thousand no longer risking death to cross the Mediterranean, are they no longer being herded like cattle in appalling conditions, has that particular humanitarian crisis been solved? Of course not, it is out of sight, out of mind, and left to fester, bring misery, deprivation and death to countless innocent people.
        Desperate people are are still, after a death risking journey, landing on Europe's shores, adding to the thousands already denied dignity, humanity and freedom.
        Since Europe's deal with Turkey, the flow of desperate people fleeing the results of the West's foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa, get no further than Greece, so just keep piling up on the Greek islands. Picturesque Greek islands are now a dystopian world for thousands of unfortunate and desperate people, who according to their treatment by European governments, are "non-persons" on the shores of Europe.
        This report from Medium, helps to tell the true story of Europe's treatment of desperate refugees, the story that our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media has deemed "not worth reporting", after all they have royal babies and celebrity sex scandals to cover.

         The Aegean islands are at breaking point. Spread across five islands — Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Kos and Leros — over 11,000 asylum-seekers wait to be transferred to mainland Greece. They wait in detention centres, ‘hotspots’ and make-shift camps, afforded only restricted access to transport, sanitation, food, medical support and their dignity.
         On returning to Chios after 3 months away, the changes are stark. My own return coincides with the final eviction of Souda Camp, a non-governmental camp situated in the centre of the port town of Chios. At times, over 1000 asylum-seekers lived beneath the shadow of the town’s castle walls. With the final eviction of its last 60 residents early in the morning of 21st October, this port town might now claim itself ‘free’ from the perceived nuisances of such embarrassingly close proximity to the continuing humanitarian crisis.
         But out of sight is not out of mind. These residents, along with the 435 refugees that have arrived in the last 72 hours now find themselves crammed into Vial Camp, the governmental, army-run facility 10 kilometres away. Hidden in the mountains, access is controlled and most NGOs are not permitted to enter. With an intended capacity of 1100, Vial Camp currently contains close to 2000 asylum-seekers. Recently, video footage shared by Chios Solidarity exposed the horrendous conditions of the camp. You can watch it here.
       Earlier this week, one young woman gave birth. With no ambulance available, she delivered her baby on the floor of her tent, without any medical aid or attention.
         But in Moria Camp, Lesvos, and in Vathy, Samos, the situations are even worse. On these islands, such were the abominable conditions that the Greek government this week announced plans to transport 2000 of the most vulnerable asylum-seekers on Lesvos and Samos to the mainland. This mass movement of people is a much-needed step in the right direction.
       Since the EU-Turkey deal of March 2016, the Aegean islands have been prisons for the thousands trying to reach Europe. These prisons witness suicides, riots, mental health crises and a fundamental retraction of basic human rights. Last winter, efforts to ‘winterise’ the camps failed systematically, with young and old dying from hypothermia in the camps. As winter approaches once again, last Sunday, the body of a 5-year-old girl was found in Moria Camp, Lesvos. She died from underlying medical conditions aggravated by the cold, the damp, and the denial of access to the medical attention that was the very reason her family came to Europe.
        As the weather turns, over 100 solidarity groups and NGOs on the Aegean islands have signed an open letter calling upon the Greek government of Alexis Tsipras to take steps, transparently and immediately, to avoid a repeat of last year’s horrific winter conditions. The campaign #opentheislands is signed by a powerful force of actors across Europe who have worked to fill the gaps left by governments and the EU.
       As I walk around the town of Chios, streets, sidewalks and cafes that have been the haunts of asylum-seekers for many months are rediscovered by Greek locals. Today, old men shuffled back into the plastic chairs outside the bus station on the port, opening backgammon boards hidden away whilst refugees spent the day in the cafe’s inexpensive shade.
       But the new lease of life this town might feel at having Souda Camp finally closed comes at a great cost to those suffering in the mountains a short drive away.
       Meanwhile, vast swathes of UNHCR canvas have appeared in Vial Camp as its newest residents fight for room. Around me, shocked volunteers cry, ‘How can this be happening in Europe?’ We have sold ourselves a lie. This is the reality. It is this frayed border of Europe that reveals the truth. #ThisIsEurope.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

States' Cattle Herding Exercise.

         The "refugee crisis", I prefer to call it "the humanitarian crisis ignited and exacerbated by Western foreign policy" to the causal  glance appears to be chaos, but I see it as the usual state control. People are channelled and controlled, "the Balkan corridor" and then herded like cattle at border points and the states are getting organised at the point of entry and setting up a deportation system. As usual the various states will disagree on method and pace, but all agree in herding and control over the movement of people.

          From one of the entry points, at a No Borders Kitchen on Lesvos, a report by Contra Info:

        On the island of Lesvos, where the deportation machine is working at full speed, all the camps for refugees are cleared out and the registration center ‘moria’ has showed the true purpose and is now functioning as an deportation centre, NBK is still standing strong and operating at full speed.
         The current situation is that we now host a couple of hundred refugees, who have been hunted down on the island by frontex and police and have no other place to go. The kitchen is up and running day and night to help anyone in need on food, shelter, medical aid and a (semi)safe place to rest, where refugees work side by side with people in solidarity on an equal level. We host, the refugees participate, and together we keep the camp up and daily life running.
        Already the rumors were spreading that NBK will be evicted soon, since its an ‘ illegal’ camp and the last camp on the island were refugees are to be found, besides the unfortunate ones who have been arrested and moved to the Moria deportation center (which is still called a ‘ registration center’ by the officials). For days we have had police coming by in small numbers, sometimes checking passports of people in solidarity, sometimes searching people for drugs outside NBK, sometimes counting the numbers of people in the food-line and taking pictures.. Also they started arresting refugees on the road from NBK to the city of Mytilini, which is a huge problem since NBK as it’s on a dead-end street and there is only one way to walk.

Read the full article HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk