Refugee Strike Berlin: Call for Solidarity
rise up! | 17.10.2013 21:15 | Anti-racism | Migration | Social Struggles | World
At this moment about 25 refugees are in 'dry hunger strike' in Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
Following up a year of countless strikes, protests and occupations, refugees in Berlin started another hunger strike on 9 October. Since 14 October they also stopped drinking. They collapse repeatedly, but stated they will carry on with their strike until their demand is met: that their application for asylum is accepted.
This most recent hunger strike stands at the end of a whole year of refugee-organised actions that demand the end of the murderous European immigration policy which is responsible for thousands of deaths at its borders, as well as the demand to end the repressive and inhumane actions of the German state against the refugees. They demand the right to work, to be able to choose where they live and what they eat. Asylum seekers in Germany are forced to stay in mostly overcrowded remote homes with insufficient medical care, no possibility to get education or to seek legal assistance. They are not allowed to work and have to accept the low quality food provided by the state.
While German politicians love to present themselves as humanitarian heroes – claiming that Germany already takes up a lot of refugees – in reality only a tiny fraction of applications for asylum is accepted. At the same time politicians push for a more repressive European border regime that fends off the people fleeing places that have been devastated on many levels by the actions of profit-seeking European countries in the first place. The most recent deaths of refugees trying to get to the island of Lampedusa mark a new record in the bloody history of the European borders.
But the pressure is rising: refugees in Germany organise one action after the other, and in the last week large demos in solidarity with their struggle and in reaction to the deaths at Lampedusa were held in many cities. In Hamburg and Berlin up to a thousand people took to the streets, holding powerful, confrontational demonstrations that the police was often not able to control.
Let us increase the pressure now! Solidarity actions everywhere!
Live ticker hunger strike:
http://refugeestruggle.org/en
For more information, see
http://refugeestruggle.org/en/about-us
http://www.lampedusa-in-hamburg.org/
http://asylstrikeberlin.wordpress.com/
This most recent hunger strike stands at the end of a whole year of refugee-organised actions that demand the end of the murderous European immigration policy which is responsible for thousands of deaths at its borders, as well as the demand to end the repressive and inhumane actions of the German state against the refugees. They demand the right to work, to be able to choose where they live and what they eat. Asylum seekers in Germany are forced to stay in mostly overcrowded remote homes with insufficient medical care, no possibility to get education or to seek legal assistance. They are not allowed to work and have to accept the low quality food provided by the state.
While German politicians love to present themselves as humanitarian heroes – claiming that Germany already takes up a lot of refugees – in reality only a tiny fraction of applications for asylum is accepted. At the same time politicians push for a more repressive European border regime that fends off the people fleeing places that have been devastated on many levels by the actions of profit-seeking European countries in the first place. The most recent deaths of refugees trying to get to the island of Lampedusa mark a new record in the bloody history of the European borders.
But the pressure is rising: refugees in Germany organise one action after the other, and in the last week large demos in solidarity with their struggle and in reaction to the deaths at Lampedusa were held in many cities. In Hamburg and Berlin up to a thousand people took to the streets, holding powerful, confrontational demonstrations that the police was often not able to control.
Let us increase the pressure now! Solidarity actions everywhere!
Live ticker hunger strike:
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For more information, see
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Comments
Hide the following 5 comments
reader
18.10.2013 09:44
reader
More details wanted
18.10.2013 12:51
Details wanted
Even more details wanted
20.10.2013 11:07
Fact checker
jumping through hoops
20.10.2013 14:38
So I have no intention of jumping through these hoops and hurdles you are trying to set up - that each individual should be interrogated about whether their level of suffering and fear is enough to "justify" being allowed to remain in Europe.
It seems obvious you are starting from a position of mistrust - but look at the risks these migrants have already taken to make their cases publicly visible.
You, on the other hand, could be anyone. If you really want to establish a context in which everyone has to explain and justify themselves you could start with telling us a lot more about yourself - including why you think you have the right to stay in Europe and these people don't.
anonymous
Face the facts
21.10.2013 08:30
Personly I support the right of an individual to move for economic reasons, I used to live in North Yorkshire, now I live in London. The question mark is how many people do we allow to come to Europe because if we do simple "open the gates" our health, education and job market willall be overwhelmed by the additional families that will arrive. Until that number is agreed upon and we all move on from the "fleeing conflict' lie then nothing will change.
Fact giver