Call for supporting refugees in Macedonia

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Current situation / Our experiences in Macedonia:
As the Greek/Macedonian border at Idomeni was closed several weeks ago for all refugees that are not from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, many refugees from other countries got stuck in Greece. They are now forced to cross the border illegally in the mountains and in the forests and walk through Macedonia for 5-7 days to Serbia by feet and from there continue to Europe.
When we (Open Border Crew) drove through Macedonia in December the last weeks, we met several groups of refugees (especially from Marocco, Pakistan and Iran), that were walking for days along the highway, were beaten up and robbed by the mafia and attacked by the police. If they get caught by the police they are imprisoned and pushed back to Greece. From there most of them are deported back to their home countries, where many are facing violence, poverty and punishment.
We supported them on their way by providing clothes, food, equipment like flashlights and bags, information about the route and documenting their stories. You could also drive them (but be aware of the strict laws concerning refugee support in Macedonia).
We urgently ask for international supporter groups to go to Macedonia and to support refugees crossing Macedonia in any possible way! Show your solidarity practically and let’s tear down Fortress Europe!
Concrete ways of supporting refugees crossing Macedonia
* officially (for refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan on transit)
You can volunteer at Tabanovce or Gevgelija. The camps are controlled by government and police (Gevgelia at the Greece border is ‘crisis zone’ therefore access is harder, but in Tabanovce at Serbian border you can basically just walk in by showing your passport). Help is quite organized and coordinated by NGOs (get contact from LEGIS over Refugee Volunteer Map below). Those Camps are Transit Camps which means that people are not staying there for a long time but only wait for their next train or bus to arrive. This can take many hours so food and warm clothes are provided in the camps. Both camps can only be accessed by people from Syria, Afghan and Iraq. Illegalized migrants can not get shelter there and we would not recommend them to go there. Help is needed with transporting, sorting and handing out of donations and providing food.
* support illegalized refugees – REALLY IMPORTANT!
What can you do?
– You can drive along the highways and crossing routes (e.g. train tracks, border regions in Greece and Macedonia). Illegalized refugees mostly walk at night (especially early evening after sunset) in the dark and use the highways and the railroads for orientation (e.g. they walk directly on the highway or on smaller streets close to it in the valley or on the railway tracks). People might be resting or waiting for a pick up by traffickers at gas stations or under highway bridges.
You can supply them with flashlights, jackets, scarves, gloves, hats, backpacks, boots / winter shoes, food, water, tea, maps, money, rain clothes and information.
You can build up a mobile soup and tea kitchen going up and down along the highway.
You might find robbed, injured and traumatized migrants. First aid kit is useful (even if its just used for psychological reasons).
Usually people cross from south to north, it makes sense to drive the same direction. Of course people are afraid of police and mafia, so when you approach them make sure they understand you want to help and not harm them. You should walk slowly towards them and not run. You can say “Salam Aleikum” or “Salam” and offer them water, food or other stuff to show you’re not the cops or the mafia.
You can even drive quite slowly and have a close look at the forest beneath or under the roads. When you find people walking in the bushes and it is impossible to reach them (because there might be a big height difference or a river), you can throw some food and / or clothing packages approximately to where they’re walking.
Remember not to frighten them.
Basic Arabic and Farsi skills are helpful, as well as talking French and English. You might take a dictionary for Arabic, Farsi etc. (You can find important words in different languages on the Refugee Phrase Book)
Medical skills are useful as well. If these illegalized people are injured, they can not simply go to a hospital as they will be arrested and deported by the police after their treatment. Of course there can be cases where help in a hospital is urgently needed. You should inform people about the risks they’re facing going to a hospital (prison and deportation) and they should decide themselves what to do. Try not to panic the people and stay calm in communication.
In Macedonia it is – like in many countries – illegal to transport illegalized migrants in your car. Punishment can be deportation or jail up to five years if you get caught by the police. We heard about successful lifts to the border of Serbia. It is up to yourself to get informed and judge the risks. No one is illegal!
– You can build up a network of supporters and activists in Macedonia, Greece and the whole Balkan for supporting refugees on their way to Europe by getting into contact with activists, organizing meetings, building up shelters and emergency phones…contact other activists and the info phone and get in touch with people from “Solidarnost” in Skopje, people from (No Border) Serbia, Bulgaria etc.
– Help establish safe-houses along the route (in Macedonia and the whole Balkan route) and in Skopje. People are starting to build such a support structure. Call the contact phone to get further and recent information on this. The idea is to bring injured or exhausted (illegalized) refugees to private homes or other safe places somewhere, where they can rest and continue after a while. Keep in mind that the place should stay unknown from police and no one should know about it to avoid repression for refugees and supporters by police.
– Publish the EMERGENCY PHONE FOR REFUGEES in Macedonia.
The phone number is: 0030 694 362 02 06
People/Refugees crossing Macedonia can call it if they are in need of support. The phone will be run by volunteers in Macedonia, on the Greek side of the border and by yourself. When called by refugees, support can be given by going there with the car and offering first aid, money, clothing, food and emotional support.
The idea is to already give the number to refugees in Greece who are planning to cross Macedonia (for example at the “Orfanotrofeio” squat in Thessaloniki, in Athens or already on the Greek islands) or when meeting them on the Macedonian roads.
Remember: You can save lives here. Besides state and mafia, the cold is very dangerous, too. In the north of Macedonia, temperature is 10°C less than in the south. In December, it can get up to -15°C by night. People often underestimate this risk and don’t have enough winterproof clothes.
Useful Information for Supporters in Macedonia and Greece:
Facebook group for refugee support in MK: “Help the refugees in Macedonia” (you can also spread information there): http://j.mp/help-mk-refugees
Refugee Volunteer Map with all places along the Balkan Route where support is needed and how the current situation is at different places.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zddfRUtGScOc.kQBgTQcoV5FM&hl=en...
(you can also spread information there)
Open Border Blog:
http://openborder.noblogs.org/
Blog from German activists. You can find constantly information about the situation in Macedonia, Bulgaria and the Balkanroute there.
Contact and info phone for international activists and supporters in Macedonia:
Phone number: 00389 719 69 173 (based in Skopje)
You can call the number for any questions concerning legal stuff, sleeping places, contacts,…
There is a place for sleeping in Skopje (a flat could be rented by the group “Solidarnost”) and also the left social center “AKSC” (Address: Orce Nikolov 166, Skopje) where you can go, hang out and sleep during the daytime. There you can connect with political local groups, get support and information about Macedonia and if you need sleeping places etc.
You can also ask for contact to other activists supporting refugees in Macedonia right now. If you are supporting refugees in Macedonia it would be nice if you leave a contact for other activists there.
Contact to international activists that are right now supporting refugees in Macedonia:
Phone number: 0049 157 322 67 952
Email: openborders@riseup.net
You can get information about the current situation and contact to other activists in Macedonia there. If you are supporting refugees in Macedonia it would be nice if you leave a contact for other activists there.
EMERGENCY PHONE FOR REFUGEES crossing Macedonia:
Phone number: 0030 694 36 20 206
People/Refugees crossing Macedonia can call it if they are in need of support. The phone will be run by volunteers in Macedonia, on the Greek side of the border and by yourself. When called by refugees, support can be given by going there with the car and offering first aid, money, clothing, food and emotional support.
The idea is to already give the number to refugees in Greece who are planning to cross Macedonia (for example at the “Orfanotrofeio” squat in Thessaloniki, in Athens or already on the Greek islands) or when meeting them on the Macedonian roads.
SPREAD THIS NUMBER TO REFUGEES!
Contact to the Refugee Squat “Orfanotrofeio” in Thessaloniki:
Phone number for international activists at the squat: 0030 694 299 4063
Phone number of the squat: 0030 698 9389 150
Adress is Grigoriou Lampraki 186 in Thessaloniki, Bus 14/14a at bus station “Orfanotrofeio”.
In the squat there are at the moment around 80 refugees staying together with activists from Greece and international supporters. There you can have a rest, a sleeping place, organize, give information to refugees that want to start to Macedonia and Europe,…
Lets build up a network of solidarity all over Europe!
Thank you for your solidarity with all Refugees!
Lets tear down Fortress Europe and all borders!
No border activists, December 2015

The “refugees welcome” culture

Fist published November 16, 2015 on http://africasacountry.com/

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"Refugees Welcome" at FC Dortmund Image via Twitter

In June 2012, several refugees in the city of Würzburg stitched up their mouths to protest the lack of response to their political demands. Four demands have been at the core of the reinvigorated refugee movement ever since: Germany should abolish all Lagers (asylum centres in which the large majority of asylum seekers is housed, sometimes for years and decades, and often in isolated areas of the countryside), stop all deportations, abolish mandatory residence law (Residenzpflicht, a legal requirement for many refugees to only live and move within narrow district boundaries defined by the local foreigners’ office) and guarantee refugees the rights to work and study. The refugee movements’ long-standing critique of German asylum law and the discriminatory regulations governing the lives of many asylum seekers has gained visibility in recent years – yet in the past months, it has been eclipsed in the press and in public debate by the new idea of a German Willkommenskultur (“welcoming culture”). Heeding the history and present of refugee resistance in Germany has never been more crucial.

The recent refugee movements in Germany are part of the larger struggles of immigrants and minorities against racism in post-War Germany (e.g. the Ford strike in 1973, or the movement of Antifa Gençlik, founded in 1988). The history of racist violence, which came to head in the reunified Germany of the early 1990s, provides an important reference point for current debates. Increasing arson attacks on asylum centres, and racist pogroms in the 90s were cited as important justification for claims by politicians and the media that Germany had “reached capacity”. As a result, the German government severely restricted German asylum law in 1993.

Subsequently, self-organisations such as the Refugee Initiative Brandenburg brought their critique of isolation and human rights violations in German asylum homes to international attention. Other refugee organisations such as The Voice, Karawane and Refugee Emancipation developed strategies to reach out to refugees and invite them to join a political struggle for human rights that included speaking out against the total lack of education and work opportunities and denial of health care.

The revived refugee movement in 2012 was convinced that the master’s tools – individualised recourse to the courts and bureaucratic labyrinths – would never dismantle the master’s house. Refugees from all over Germany defied mandatory residence law, mobilised across Lagers and set out on a protest march from Southern Germany to the federal capital, insisting that they must be present and visible when decisions about their lives were made. They occupied public spaces, buildings, embassies, churches, trees and roofs in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Hannover and took to hunger strikes.

While the refugee movement eventually gained access to the mainstream media and shifted the discourse on migration, asylum and refugees slightly, this was recently swept away in the context of Europe’s “refugee crisis”. Starting this past summer, thousands of Germans offered their support to newly arrived migrants, and Germany was lauded in the international press as the ‘welcoming champion’. Yet, while the current flurry of activity offers conveniently de-politicised gestures of charity, it mostly ignored or sidelined refugees who were already self-organized. These groups have made clear that sincere support must engage in the politics that frame causes and experiences of the flight to Europe as well as the experiences refugees make here.

A colonial mask of silence is being put back on refugees through the charity dimension of the Willkommenskultur hype: It “prevents her/him from revealing those truths, which the white master wants ‘to turn away,’ ‘keep at distance’ at the margins, invisible and ‘quiet’”.

Rather than thanking Germany for its supposed generosity, the refugee movement in Germany has not tired to point out the past and present interconnectedness of prosperity and peace in Germany with poverty and war in other parts of the world: it scandalizes neocolonial resource extraction from the Global South and weapon exports, and generally calls for resistance against nationalist, racist and capitalist border regimes. It is uncomfortable for the majority of German society to be faced with people as (political) subjects who frame their demands from a postcolonial perspective, who speak out against rampant racism across German society, and who refuse to differentiate between socio-economic and political refugees by pointing out that economic questions are also political.

But the racist violence of the 1990s euphemised as “concerns of the citizenry” had paid off – and continues to do so. A sharp rise in arson attacks on asylum centres as well as rising rightwing agitation and violence once again occasion sombre warnings by politicians and pundits/journalists about the need to ensure that the “mood” of the population is kept in check.  These public figures suggest that high numbers of refugees will “provoke” racist violence. To prevent violence, they advocate reducing the attractiveness of Germany for refugees by curtailing their rights. Political parties across the spectrum, media, and a significant percentage of citizens now demand deportations and the worsening of living conditions for all migrants – especially those not considered ‘proper’ refugees – in the name of Germany’s “welcome culture” for ‘real’ asylum seekers.

In both the smouldering remains of burned asylum homes and the political manoeuvres that follow, recent history looms large: a first batch of legislation to tighten German asylum law was passed in July, followed by another set of restrictive changes in October. A recent cabinet agreement was hailed by its advocates as the “harshest measures ever to limit the intake of refugees in Germany”. The measures particularly lash out against Roma people from the Balkans fleeing persistent racial discrimination and people escaping poverty. Several countries are newly reclassified as safe countries of origin, meaning people fleeing persecution there have very little chances of getting asylum in Germany. Lager control is tightening; incarceration and deportations increasingly facilitated.

Which path Germany will now follow might depend on which experiences become a reference point in current debates: The shadow of the 90s where violent racists succeeded in having asylum laws restricted or the history of self-organised refugee resistance.  Those who decide to “help” need to start by listening to what refugees actually want. As The Voice activist Rex Osa has reiterated in a recent interview: What refugees demand is that the notion of “help” needs to include support for self-organisations of refugees and requires a double perspective: It is important to look at both reasons for people to flee and the racism they experience in Germany. It is only then that the status quo of self-congratulatory, paternalistic help can be transcended into political solidarity.

*The Inequality Series is a partnership with the Norwegian NGO, Students and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH).
Through writing and dialogue, SAIH aims to raise awareness about the damaging use of stereotypical images in storytelling about the South. They are behind the Africa For Norway campaign and the popular videos Radi-Aid, Let’s Save Africa: Gone Wrong and Who wants to be a volunteer, seen by millions on YouTube.
For the third time, SAIH is organizing The Radiator Awards; on the 17th of November a Rusty Radiator Award is given to the worst fundraising video and a Golden Radiator Award is given to the best, most innovative fundraising video. You can vote on your favorite in each category here.

Authors

Joshua Kwesi Aikins and Daniel Bendix

Joshua Kwesi Aikins and Daniel Bendix are researchers in the Department for Development and Postcolonial Studies at University of Kassel, and are both active participants in the pro-refugee and anti-racism movements in Germany.

Demonstration in Bremen: Refugees Welcome – against Racism and Europe’s fortress policy

On October 3rd, the German government is celebrating the fall of the Berlin wall with the motto “overcoming borders”. At the same time Europe is building multiple higher fences to block its external borders to hinder refugees who are fleeing war, persecution and life threatening circumstances. Being far away from home with hope for a better future costs ten thousands of people their lives or losing their beloved ones due to the fact that they are missing safe and legal escape routes to Europe.

FERRIES – NO FRONTEX! GLOBAL FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT FOR EVERYONE
People are fleeing for various reasons. They are fleeing war, violence, environmental destruction, discrimination and economic deprivation. Many of the escape reasons are based on the destruction of their basis of existence through the EU and its economic interests which are represented through European cooperation. Bremen and its armaments industries are also strongly profiting from this.

FIGHTING ESCAPE REASONS!
Far too little make it to the states where they hope to find a peaceful life with dignity. And far too many of those who finally make it get bitterly disappointed after their arrival. People are traumatized and attacked by racist terror groups. Refugee camps are being burnt down by Nazis. Fears of the population are often being taken out on refugees and are then expressed by racist discrimination and violence.
 
FIGHT RACISM AND NAZI TERROR!
On the outside, Angela Merkel proclaims a welcoming culture. She and the German government are planning further massive intensifications of the Asylum laws: ten thousands of people are fearing the exclusion from basic human rights including social security, welfare and medical care. The government plans to expand imprisonment, deportation and to declare more countries as safe. These differentiations between allegedly “right” and “wrong” reasons for fleeing are feeding the conflict even more which divides the refugees into imaginary groups: “Good refugees” are well-educated professionals for whom the economy can make exceptions when it comes to minimum wage. “Bad refugees” are for instance the Roma from Balkan countries who are systematically discriminated and persecuted. We are fighting against the categorizing human beings.
 
STOP RACIST ASLYUM RIGHTS, SAME RIGHTS FOR EVERYONE!
The political authorities in Bremen force refugees to live in overcrowded camps, gyms, tents, therefore creating unreasonable living circumstances. The Senat of Bremen even declared living in tents as suitable for winter – despite the fact that there is enough living space within the city. The situation of unattended and underage refugees has gotten worse during the last few months. Many of them are declared _ adults by Bremen authorities, in order to withdraw them from youth services, redistribution and increase deportation. Standards of youth _ support and the fundamental right of education are not valid for everyone in the same way.
 

STOP UNREASONABLE CIRCUMSTANCES, HUMANE LIVING CONDITIONS FOR EVERYONE!
The solidarity with refugees within the population is impressive and creates hope, but welcoming initiatives are not enough. We demand:

- NO MASS ACCOMODATIONS OF REFUGEES IN TENTS AND GYMS!
- AFFORDABLE LIVING THROUGH IMMEDIATE SOCIAL HOUSING!
- DAYCARE AND SCHOOLING FOR EVERYONE – MORE TEACHERS, EDUCATORS AND SOCIAL WORKERS!
- STOP ILLEGAL DETERMINATIONS OF AGE FOR UNATTENDED MINOR REFUGEES!
- PROTECTION FOR PEOPLE IN DISTRESS – STOP THE INTENSIFICATION OF ASYLUM LAWS!
- NO WALLS AROUND EUROPE!
- CREATE SAFE ESCAPE ROUTES, FIGHT ESCAPE REASONS!

Together we fight for our rights!
Let’s fight all together against racism and for creating a good life for everyone!
We stand for an open Europe and for one world where no one has to flee.

Supporters:

Acompa
Afrique-Europe-Interact Bremen
À Gauche Bremen
Arbeiterbund für den Wiederaufbau der KPD - Ortsgruppe Bremen
Archiv der sozialen Bewegungen Bremen
AStA der Hochschule für Künste Bremen
AStA der Hochschule Bremen
attac bremen
Blockupy Bremen
Bluna
Bremen Halkevi
Bremer Antikapitalistischen Linke
Bremer Bündnis Soziale Arbeit
Bremer Friedensforum
Umsonstladen bremen
DGB-Jugend
DIDF- Föderation Demokratischer Arbeitervereine Bremen
DIE LINKE Kreisverband Links der Weser
DIE LINKE Landesverband Bremen
Deutsche Kommunistische Partei Bremen-Nord
DGB-Jugend Bremen
Gesamtschüler*innenvertretung Bremen
Feliz Plenum
FemCafe
feministische antifa bremen f*ab
Flüchtlingsrat Bremen
Fraktion DIE LINKE in der Bremischen Bürgerschaft
Initaitive in Gedenken an Laye-Alama Condé
Initiative Nordbremer Bürger gegen den Krieg
Interventionistische Linke Bremen
Jusos Bremen
Karawane Bremen
Katzensprung
Komciwan e.V. (Kurdischer Kinder- und Jugendverein)
Kommunikations Zentrum Paradox
Kurdistan Solidaritätskomitee Bremen
linksjugend['solid] Basisgruppe Bremerhaven und Cuxhaven
linksjugend['solid] Bremen Landesverband
Messstelle für Arbeits-und Umweltschutz (MAUS)
noch eine autonome gruppe (neag)
SDS Uni Bremen
Sozialistische Alternative (SAV) Bremen
Stadtkommune Alla Hopp
Türkei Info Bremen
ver.di Bezirk Bremen-Nordniedersachsen
VVN-BdA Bremen
Zuckerwerk e.V.

Refugees Bicycle tour Against Racism and discrimination in Lutherstadt Wittenberg

Refugees from the local government of Lutherstadt Wittenberg have initiated a bicycle tour against racism, isolation, “Duldung Status”, denial of working permit, denial of residence permit, and arbitration against them for so many years.
The tour starts from Lutherstadt Wittenberg to Vockerode.
Refugees have demanded to legalize all with “Duldung Status” for so many years without compromise and stop destroying their perspectives and lives!
When: 27.09. 2015
Where: Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Main train station)
Time: 12:00
All are invited to support us! Solidarity is our weapon!
Flüchtlingsbewegung Sachsen Anhalt
Refugeecomité Wittenberg (Vockerode)
Contact
015225951740 et 017699321843

Smiling again

 

This is the Syrian refugee and his son who were purposelly tripped by that Hungarian camerawoman as they were fleeing the border police. In better times he used to be a football coach. In any case he is a loving father.

Imagine seeing your country descend into violence, because your countrymen wanted freedom and its rulers responded with bombs. Imagine having to leave your friends, your sports team, your favorite cafe, your job, your house, your pets and most of your belongings. Imagine being a parent knowing that the place where you grew up and hoped to raise your children, is not safe enough for them to grow up in anymore. Imagine to be forced to go somewhere without knowing whether you will arrive, without knowing whether you and your family will be welcome, without knowing whether you will be able to survive.

These people aren't invaders, they haven't come to steal our jobs, they aren't risking their lives and paying thousands of euro's to cross the Mediterranean on a flimsy boat to come live here on benefits.

They are heroes for having the courage to make the choice of leaving everything behind and fighting for a better future for their families.

And to those who attack them, like that horrible Hungarian camerawoman, history will not be kind to you. #EuropeSaysWelcome #RefugeesWelcome

Declaration to the Peoples of Turkey and the World, Signed by 232 Academics in Turkey

Source: http://kurdistantribune.com/ August 9, 2015
Support Us In Our Call!

Kurds celebrate Newroz in 2013, on the eve of a PKK ceasefire

Declaration to the Peoples of Turkey and the world,
Like many people in Turkey, we, as academics, were emboldened by the peace/solution process between the Turkish state and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) officially initiated in January 2013, hoping for a new era that would end the conflicts continuing for over 30 years in Turkey. We have repeatedly stated, especially in our works on Turkey’s history, economy and social relations, that the conflict has affected every aspect of Turkey, turned people into enemies, and increased inequality, discrimination and violence. We have been of the opinion that Turkey was finally going to have a chance to face its truths, democratize and heal its wounds.

We have supported every stage of the solution process between 2013 and 2015. We have stated that the creation of a Wise People’s Committee,[1] the Dolmabahçe Agreement[2] and that enactment of a new law by the Parliament regarding the solution process[3] were positive measures. However, the comparative studies we have undertaken on the ongoing peace processes across the world have shown us that these are not sufficient measures and that the process needs to be supported with various monitoring committees and, as in the case of Mandela, the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan,[4] one of the leading actors of the process, should be lifted. We have noted that the process should not be exploited for the purposes of foreign or domestic policies. We have also stated that deep-seated hostility against the Kurds in Turkey could only end by establishing a Truth Commission and by revealing the tragedies of the past as well as those who are responsible of them.[5]
At the current state of affairs, we regret to see that that the government did not make any arrangements to guarantee the stability of the peace process, and that there are no independent civil institutions to advise and evaluate the sides so that the public can be informed and transparency can be maintained. As of today, it is unfortunate for us to witness that the process is reduced to a tool regarding inter-party competition. The policies concerning Syria, Iraq and Iran have also created an environment where the war has resumed.
It is also unfortunate that despite the warnings of academics, NGOs, responsible politicians and reporters, no steps were taken to prevent the contagious civil war in the Middle East from affecting Turkey. On the contrary Turkey is being rapidly dragged to war.
Tens of peace processes across the world have shown us that the losses are much higher when people take up arms again and that the solution comes only if new democratic spheres are opened. In the last year, we have lost our students in Kobani and Suruç. Only in this past week, we have lost many other young people to the resumed conflict between the state and PKK.
It should be known well that we will never sacrifice our children, our students and none of our youngsters for war. For us, not a single disagreement is more important than their lives and the future they will build.
We invite all parties to a consolidated ceasefire immediately. We ask the government to abandon the language that cause discrimination, hostility and conflict; the responsible reporters to disclose their colleagues that provoke the war; and the parliament to pass laws that will guarantee the continuation of the peace process immediately.
The truth does not develop under conditions of war and today Turkey needs the truth before anything else.
We are declaring to the public: There is only one lesson that the young people can derive from our writings, statements, and lectures and it is that their lives matter and the country will not survive unless they are alive. The core message of the work we do will be that war budgets are compensated by our taxes and that it is the poor who lose their lives in a war. Our philosophy as academics is that nobody has the right to oppress and insult others. Nobody can prevent others from exercising their right to free speech. Our work is concerned with teaching young people to protect themselves from the poisonous feeling of revenge, continue to seek their rights, defend truth against lies and never be discouraged from democratic discourses and actions.
We, as 232 academics who’ve undersigned this statement, invite all academics, teachers, producers and consumers of knowledge, women and men to raise their voice and be a part of democracy and truth.

Signatures:

Abdullah Sessiz, Prof, Dicle University
Ahmet Altınel, Assist Prof, Mimar Sinan University
Ahmet Hilal, Prof, Çukurova University
Ahmet Özdemir Aktan, Prof, Marmara University
Ahmet Uhri, Assist Prof, Dokuz Eylül University
Ali Akay, Prof, Mimar Sinan University
Ali İhsan Ökten, Assoc Prof, Adana
Ali Kerem Saysel, Prof, Boğaziçi University
Alper Açık, Dr, Özyeğin University
Aslı Aydemir, Instructor, İstanbul University
Aslı Davas, Assoc Prof Ege University
Aslı Odman, Instructor, Mimar Sinan University
Aslı Takanay, ABD, Boğaziçi University
Atilla Güney, Prof, Mersin University
Aydın Müftüoğlu, Assist Prof, Ege University
Ayfer Bartu Candan, Assoc Prof, Boğaziçi University
Ayla Zırh Gürsoy, Prof, Marmara University
Ayşe Berkman, Prof, Marmara University
Ayşe Durakbaşa, Prof, Marmara University
Ayşe Erzan, Prof, İstanbul Teknik University
Ayşe Gözen, Prof, Ondokuz Mayıs University
Ayşe Öncü, Emeritus, Sabancı University
Ayşegül Kanbak, Assist Prof, Batman University
Ayşen Candaş, Assoc Prof, Boğaziçi University
Ayşen Uysal, Prof, Dokuz Eylül University
Ayten Alkan, Assoc Prof, İstanbul University
Ayten Zara, Assoc Prof, İstanbul University
Bahar Oral, Res Assist, Çankaya University
Başak Can, Assist Prof, Koç University
Bediz Yılmaz, Assist Prof, Mersin University
Begüm Özden Fırat, Assist Prof, Mimar Sinan University
Berivan Gökçenay, Yıldız Teknik University
Betigül Öngen, Prof, İstanbul University
Biray Kolluoğlu, Prof, Boğaziçi University
Biriz Berksony, Dr, İstanbul University
Birol Caymaz, Assoc Prof, Galatasaray University
Buket Türkmen, Assoc Prof, Galatasaray University
Burak Üzümkesici, Res Assist, İstanbul University
Burcu Yakut-Çakar, Assoc Prof, Kocaeli University
Burhanettin Kaya, Assoc Prof, Gazi University
Bülent Bilmez, Assoc Prof, İstanbul Bilgi University
Bülent Duru, Assoc Prof, Ankara University
Bülent Küçük, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Can Candan, Dr, Boğaziçi University
Cem Özatalay, Assoc Prof, Galatasaray University
Cenap Özel, Prof, Dokuz Eylül University
Ceren Özselçuk, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Cesim Çelik, Assist Prof, Abant İzzet Baysal University
Ceyda Arslan, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Chris Stepehnson, Instructor, İstanbul Bilgi University
Cuma Çiçer, Assist Prof, Mardin Artuklu University
Çağın Tanrıverdi, Ar. Gör, Trakya University
Çağla Aykaç, Assist Prof, Fatih University
Çiler Çilingiroğlu, Assoc Prof, Ege University
Deniz Yonucu, Dr, LSE University
Derya Özkan, Dr, Münih University
Didem Danış, Assoc Prof, Galatasaray University
Dilek Hattatoğlu, Assoc Prof, İstanbul University
Düzgün Çakırca, Assist Prof, Batman University
Elçin Aktoprak, Assist Prof, Ankara University
Ebru Aykut, Assist Prof. Dr, Mimar Sinan University
Elif Babül, Assist Prof, Mount Holyoke University
Elif Göcek, Assist Prof, İstanbul Bilgi University
Emine Meşe, Prof, Dicle University
Emrah Dönmez, Instructor, Işık University
Engin Sustam, Assist Prof, Arel University
Erdem Yörük, Assist Prof, Koç University
Ergin Bulut, Assist Prof, Koç University
Erhan Keleşoğlu, Assist Prof, İstanbul University
Ertan Yılmaz, Prof, Akdeniz University
Erol Köroğlu, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Esra Mungan, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Fatih Altuğ, Assist Prof, İstanbul Şehir University
Fatma Gök, Prof, Boğaziçi University
Ferhat Kentel, Prof, İstanbul Şehir University
Feride Aksu Tanık, Prof, Ege University
Ferruh Akay, Assoc Prof, İstanbul University
Feryal Saygılıgil, Assist Prof, Arel Üniveristesi
Figen Binbay, Assist Prof, Dicle University
Figen Işık, Instructor, Orta Doğu Teknik University
Fikret Uyar, Dr, Dicle University
Funda Başaran, Prof, Ankara University
Funda Şenol Cantek, Prof, Ankara University
Galip Deniz Altınay, Mersin University
Gencay Gürsoy, Prof, İstanbul University
Gökçe Topal, Assoc Prof, İstanbul University
Güçlü Ateşoğlu, Assist Prof, Mimar Sinan University
Gülhan Balsoy, Assist Prof, Okan University
Gülhan Türkay, Prof, İstanbul University
Gülce Sorguç, Res Assist, Ege University
Gürcan Altan, Prof, Trakya University
Güven Gürkan Öztan, Assist Prof, İstanbul University
H. Pınar Şenoğuz, Assist Prof, Gaziantep University
Hacer Ansal, Prof, Işık University
Hafize Öztürk Türkmen, Assist Prof, Akdeniz University
Hakan Gurvit, Prof, İstanbul University
Haldun Sural, Prof, Orta Doğu Teknik University
Hale Bolak Prof, İstanbul Bilgi University
Hejan Epözdemir, Dr, İstanbul Bilgi University
Hilal Akekmekçi, Res. Assist, İstanbul Bilgi University
Hüseyin A. Şahin, Prof, Ondokuz Mayıs University
Ilgın Erdem, Instructor, CUNY John Jay University
Işıl Ünal, Prof, Ankara University
İclal Ayşe Küçükkırca, Assist Prof, Mardin Artukulu University
İhsan Bilgin, İstanbul Bilgi University
İlkay Özkürapli, Instructor, Arel University
İnan Ünal, Instructor, Tunceli University
İrfan Açıkgöz, Prof, Dicle University
Kemal Bakır, Prof, Gaziantep University
Kemal Özay, Assist Prof, Okan University
Kıvanç Ersoy, Assoc Prof, Mimar Sinan University
Koray Çalışkan, Assoc Prof, Boğaziçi University
Kuban Altınel, Prof, Boğaziçi University
Kumru Toktamış, Assoc Prof, Pratt Institute
Kuvvet Lordoğlu, Prof, Kocaeli University
Levent Köker, Prof
Lütfiye Bozdağ, Assist Prof, İstanbul Kemerburgaz University
Mehmet Fatih Uslu, Assist Prof, İstanbul Şehir University
Mehmet Karaaslan, Prof, Işık University
Mehmet Rauf Kesici, Assist Prof, Kocaeli University
Mehmet Türkay, Prof, Marmara University
Mehmet Zencir, Prof, Pamukkale University
Melek Göregenli, Prof, Ege University
Melissa Bilal, Dr, Columbia University
Meltem Ahıska, Prof, Boğaziçi University
Meltem Gürle, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Meral Camcı, Assist Prof, İstanbul Yeni Yüzyıl University
Meral Özbek, Prof, Mimar Sinan University
Mine Gencel Bek, Prof, Ankara University
Murat Birdal, Assoc Prof, İstanbul University
Murat Germen, Sabancı University
Murat Koyuncu, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Murat Öztürk, Assoc Prof, Kırklareli University
Murat Paker, Assist Prof, İstanbul Bilgi University
Mustafa Altıntaş, Prof, Gazi University
Mustafa Kalay, Prof, Mersin University
Mustafa Peköz, Dr.
Mustafa Polat, Dr, Yeditepe University
Mustafa Sercan, Prof, Abant İzzet Baysal University
N. Gamze Toksoy, Assist Prof, Mimar Sinan University
Nazan Maksudyan, Assoc Prof, İstanbul Kemerburgaz University
Nazan Üstündağ, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Nermin Biter, Dr, Ege University
Neslihan Önenli Mungan, Prof, Adana
Neşe Yıldıran, Dr, Işık University
Nil Mutluer, Nişantaşı University
Nora Şeni, Prof.
Nur Betül Çelik, Prof, Ankara University
Nurcan Özkaplan, Prof, Işık University
Nurettin Beltekin, Assist Prof, Mardin Artuklu University
Nuri Ersoy, Assoc Prof, Boğaziçi University
Nursel Şahin, Prof, Akdeniz University
Nükhet Sirman, Prof, Boğaziçi University
Onur Hamzaoğlu, Prof, Kocaeli University
Osman Şahin, Instructor, Koç University
Ozan Değer, Res Assist, Ankara University
Öget Öktem Tanör, Prof, retired
Özen Aşut, Assoc Prof, retired
Özgün Akduran, Assist Prof, İstanbul University
Özgür Müftüoğlu, Marmara University
Özgür Mutlu Ulus Karadağ, Assist Prof, Acıbadem University
Özgür Soysal, Assist Prof, Ege University
Özlem Özkan, Assoc Prof, Kocaeli University
Pınar Kılıçer, Res Assist, Leiden University
Pınar Saip, Prof, İstanbul University
Ramazan Aşcı, Prof, Samsun
Raşit Tükel, Prof, İstanbul University
Rehber Akdoğan, Res. Assist, Dicle University
Rıdvan Şeşen, Prof, Dicle University
Ruken Alp, Dr, Sabancı University
Sami Cankat Tanrıverdi, Res Assist, İstanbul University
Sarp Balcı, Instructor, Ankara University
Savaş Çoban, Dr.
Seçkin Özsoy, Assoc Prof, Ankara University
Seda Altuğ, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Sefa Feza Arslan, Prof, Mimar Sinan University
Selçuk Ertekin Prof, Dicle University
Selim Temo, Assist Prof, Mardin Artukulu University
Sema Bayraktar, Assist Prof, İstanbul Bilgi University
Sema Erder, Prof, Marmara University, retired
Semih Bilgen, Prof, Yeditepe University
Semra Somersan, Prof.
Senem Timuroğlu, Instructor, Özyeğin University
Sevilay Çelenk, Assoc Prof, Ankara University
Şahika Yüksel, Prof, İstanbul University
Şemsa Özar, Prof, Boğaziçi University
Şule Aytaç, Dr.
Şükrü Ekin Kocabaş, Assist Prof, Koç University
T. Elvan Altan, Prof, Ortadoğu Teknik University
Taha Kahraman, Prof, Akdeniz University
Tahsin Yeşildere, Prof, İstanbul University
Tamer Demiralp, Prof, İstanbul University
Taner Gören, Prof, İstanbul University
Taner Özbenli, Prof, Ondokuz Mayıs University
Tansel Korkmaz, İstanbul Bilgi University
Teoman Pamukçu, Prof, Ortadoğu Teknik University
Tezcan Duma, Assoc Prof, Ankara University
Tuna Altınel, Assoc Prof, Claude Bernard Lyon-1 University
Tuğrul Atasoy, Prof, Bülent Ecevit University
Tülin Özdemir Johansson, Assoc Prof, Lassel Üniveristesi
Tülin Ural, Dr, Mimar Sinan University
Uğur Kara, Assist Prof, Anadolu University
Ulaş Bayraktar, Dr.
Umut Şah, Instructor, İstanbul Arel University
Ülkü Doğanay, Prof, Ankara University
Ülkü Güney, Assist Prof, Abant İzzet Baysal University
Vangelis Kechriotis, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Veli Deniz, Prof. Kocaeli University
Veli Polat, Assoc Prof, İstanbul University
Vildan İyigüngör, Assoc Prof, Marmara University
Yahya Madra, Assoc Prof, Boğaziçi University
Yasemin Özgün, Assoc Prof, Anadolu University
Yasin Ceylan, Prof, Ortadoğu Teknik University
Yeşim Edis Şahin, Prof, Dokuz Eylül University
Yıldıray Ozan, Prof, Ortadoğu Teknik University
Yıldız Silier, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Yılmaz Özdil, Assist Prof, Mardin Artuklu University
Yonca Hürol, Prof, Doğu Akdeniz University
Yusuf Çiftçi, Instructor, Mardin Artukulu University
Yücel Demirer, Assoc Prof, Kocaeli University
Z. Umut Türem, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Zafer Ercan, Prof, Abant İzzet Baysal University
Zafer Yenal, Prof, Boğaziçi University
Zeki Kılıçarslan, Prof, İstanbul University
Zelal Ekinci, Prof, Kocaeli University
Zergün Utku Altıntaş, Dr, Gazi University
Zerrin İren Boynudelik, Dr, İstanbul Teknik University
Zeynep Gambetti, Assoc Prof, Boğaziçi University
Zeynep Kadirbeyoğlu, Assist Prof, Boğaziçi University
Zerrin Kurtoğlu Şahin, Prof, Ege University
Zeynep Kıvılcım, Assoc Prof, İstanbul University
Zeynep Uysal, Assoc Prof, Boğaziçi University

Explanatory:

[1] Wise People’s Committee (Akil İnsanlar Heyeti), which was composed of 63 members, was constituted on April 4, 2013 to explain the process to people and to report their expectations from peace.
[2] Dolmabahçe Agreement was declared on February 28th, 2015 by members of the Justice and Development Party (JDP) and People’s Democracy Party (PDP) as the framework for peace negotiations. However, after the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared his disapproval of the agreement, it was disowned by JDP.
[3] On July 15th, 2015, the Law on ending terror and strengthening of social cohesion was passed that gave legal framework to peace negotiations.
[4] Abdullah Öcalan is the leader of PKK and remains in prison since 1999.
[5] Throughout the 1990s when the war between the Turkish state and the PKK was at its peak a number of human rights violations has been committed by the state against Kurds including disappearance, extra judicial murders, displacement, rape and harassment. To this day no one has been prosecuted for these crimes although confessions of former officials who committed these crimes are abound. During 2000s, Kurds living or working in cities of Turkey have been victims of numerous hate crimes.

Contact:

For information contact: barisakademisyen@gmail.com

Erdogans AKP-Regime ends peace process with Kurds

In the evening of 24th of July 2015 turkish military jets have started to bomb several positions of the Kurdish Workers Party PKK, mainly in Northern Iraq. PKK Guerillas have already started to encounter the atacks inside Turkish teritory. This means that the peace process has come to an end, now.

Deadly blast on Youth Camp preparing their help for rebuilding Kobane

A blast has occurred at the ‪#‎Amara‬ Culture Center in ‪#‎Suruç‬ district of ‪#‎Urfa‬ where members of the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (‪#‎SGDF‬) coming from various cities have been staying before their planned cross into ‪#‎Kobanê‬ to help the reconstruction works today.
Many casualties are reported at the scene.

Young and beautiful people from all over Turkey, gathered in Suruç, to cross the border to the war-torn town of Kobane (Syria), and bring smiles to childrens' faces by taking them toys, building for them playgrounds and libraries. They represented determination, courage, altruism, cohesion, selflessness. Their faces and smiles tell us much about them.
Today, afternoon, a bomb took the lives of 31 activists in Suruç, Turkey at a press conference of a socialist youth federation. Many more are wounded. Most of the dead were university students aged 18-22 who felt responsiblity to take a bold initiative in helping hands on the warn-torn people of Kobane - a demolished town.
It was an attack by terrorists and their supporters against HOPE and COHESION. But this shall unite their causes further.
Many protests were organized later at night, to raise voice against the massacre. Turkish government did not surprise, and in typical fashion, devoid of conscience and common sense, attacked the protesters with water, teargas and plastic bullets.

RIP

Statement by Miloud Lahmar Cherif on the federal police's charges against him on racist control

My statement on the federal police's charges against me on racist control

If you are a non-white man or a woman living in Germany, you have probably - at least once during your stay here - been asked by the police to show your personal documents without any obvious reasons behind that behavior. This act could take place anywhere in Germany, especially in the trains, train-stations and public spaces. You might have been also wondering why they did exactly choose YOU among tens or hundreds of white people to ask you for your personal documents. Often is the answer my color of skin, my clothing style, my language ..., everything that makes you look different than this nation.
It is a feeling of injustice when you are the only one in the train compartment who is asked to show your ID, I feel disrespected, insulted, discriminated. I see the police as racist executors!
The police uses the power of law to justify the execution of racist controls, they use the fear that most refugees and migrants are carrying with them from their home countries, they use the unjustified and miserable silence of some us!
The policemen and -women will happily tell you that racism cannot be a crime in Germany, so you can't charge them for being racist at all. But on the other side - if you tell him or her “you are racist!” they will feel insulted and will run to the nearest court to let you be prosecuted for “insult” (Beleidigung). This is the broken logic that the system in Germany tries to play with us.
One of the many definitions of the Racial Profiling is as follow …“Any police-initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than the behavior of an individual or information that leads the police to a particular individual who has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity.”. We are getting criminalized for being or looking different.
On the 07th September 2014 around 14:45h two federal policemen from Meiningen asked me in the train heading to Meiningen to show my ID document for NO REASON. I was the only one controlled because I was the only non-white in the compartment. When I asked them why they are asking for my ID, their answer was as follow “This our job and the law gave us the right to control...”. I told them that this behavior is no more tolerated by court decisions in Germany and gave them some examples where the court said that the policeman hasn't the right to control a person based on his skin color and if that happened than this is racist and no more a “legal control”. I used the Koblenz Court's Judgment as a reference.
I insisted to go to their police station at Meinigen train station to hand in complaint about these two policemen. I spent more than one hour in their station to do this complaint against the two of them. A month later I received a letter from the public prosecution office telling me that I'm accused of “insulting the two policemen” claiming I've told them “you're racist”. I knew that it wasn't more than a sneaky try from them to hit back against my complaint that I wrote with insisting intention of taking the two to the courts. This dirty game that the German policemen routinely play is about LIE. They have lie to justify their wrong behaviors by falsifying misrepresentation.
I am determined to face them in Arnstadt District Court on the 28th May 2015 at 10:00 to expose their lies to the public. I did NOT say what they are claiming. If I would have said it, I wasn't to deny it! Be the witness! Your solidarity is another key in this fight against racial profiling in Germany. Let them hear us!

22.05.2015,
Miloud Lahmar Cherif, – Activist of The VOICE Refugee Forum in Jena

Pennsylvania State Prison Killing Mumia by Medical Neglect and Denial

Mumia Abu-Jamal Needs Medical Care NOW!

Mumia remains critically ill and needs our support to get lifesaving medical care immediately. Watch this gripping short video and find out how.

Germany deports a member of the Sudanese opposition to be killed in Sudan

Statement against the planned deportation of Hamdi Abdullah from the Refugees protest camp at Weisse Kreuzplatz in Hannover written on 04.28.2015

The Sudanese opposition member Hamdi Abdallah, born on 06.07.1985, living in Wingst, Cuxhaven, is currently in Langenhagen in a deportation prision. There he has to wait for his deportation to Sudan scheduled for May 5.

The Sudan is ruled by the islamic dictator Omar Al Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for crimes against humanity and other serious crimes. It is not a phantasm when we say that the German government is cooperating with the sudanese state of injustice and persecution. The oppositional activist Hamdi Abdullah will be exposed to death penalty in Sudan if he is deported there.

Today, April 28, 2015 the police of the immigration authorities Cuxhaven have arrested Hamdi Abdallah when he wanted to renew his passport and they brought him into the deportation prison in Langenhagen. We condemn this criminal act by the German authorities in the strongest terms. We consider the police, the responsible judge, the district and the state parliament of Lower Saxony, the Ministry of the Interior, namely Interior Minister Pistorius, the German Government and the High Commissioner for Refugees of the United Nations as being responsible for the live and safety of Hamdi Aballahs. In case Hamdi Abdullah suffers the death penalty in Sudan, we will use this statement in court as explanation and evidence.

We, refugees from Sudan in Niedersachsen, see ourselves as represantatives of the Sudanese community in Germany. With the protest camp on the White Kreuzplatz we have built a center of our shared commitment for a peaceful and democratic change in Sudan against the islamic dictatorship of Omar Al Bashir. The cooperation of the German government with the Sudanese government raises major difficulties for us in our fight. The cooperation for example resides ins the fact that the German government deports our active, to be put in prison and be killed in Sudan. Hamdi is not the first and will not be the last!

We call on all those responsible in to stop this deportation immediately to end any kind of cooperation with the Sudanese Government and to grant Hamdi immediately the right to stay in Germany. We call on all responsible members of German society to rescue Hamdi Abdallah from deportation to a certain death in Sudan!

STOP deportation! FREEDOM for Hamdi NOW!

Response on racist police violence in Baltimore: Nonviolence as Compliance

Ta-Nehisi Coates Apr 27, 2015
About the Author

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent at The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. @tanehisicoates

Officials calling for calm can offer no rational justification for Gray's death, and so they appeal for order.

Rioting broke out on Monday in Baltimore—an angry response to the death of Freddie Gray, a death my native city seems powerless to explain. Gray did not die mysteriously in some back alley but in the custody of the city's publicly appointed guardians of order. And yet the mayor of that city and the commissioner of that city's police still have no idea what happened. I suspect this is not because the mayor and police commissioner are bad people, but because the state of Maryland prioritizes the protection of police officers charged with abuse over the citizens who fall under its purview.
The citizens who live in West Baltimore, where the rioting began, intuitively understand this. I grew up across the street from Mondawmin Mall, where today's riots began. My mother was raised in the same housing project, Gilmor Homes, where Freddie Gray was killed. Everyone I knew who lived in that world regarded the police not with admiration and respect but with fear and caution. People write these feelings off as wholly irrational at their own peril, or their own leisure. The case against the Baltimore police, and the society that superintends them, is easily made:

Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil rights violations. Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson ....
And in almost every case, prosecutors or judges dismissed the charges against the victims—if charges were filed at all. In an incident that drew headlines recently, charges against a South Baltimore man were dropped after a video showed an officer repeatedly punching him—a beating that led the police commissioner to say he was “shocked.”

The money paid out by the city to cover for the brutal acts of its police department would be enough to build "a state-of-the-art rec center or renovations at more than 30 playgrounds." Instead, the money was used to cover for the brutal acts of the city's police department and ensure they remained well beyond any semblance of justice.

Now, tonight, I turn on the news and I see politicians calling for young people in Baltimore to remain peaceful and "nonviolent." These well-intended pleas strike me as the right answer to the wrong question. To understand the question, it's worth remembering what, specifically, happened to Freddie Gray. An officer made eye contact with Gray. Gray, for unknown reasons, ran. The officer and his colleagues then detained Gray. They found him in possession of a switchblade. They arrested him while he yelled in pain. And then, within an hour, his spine was mostly severed. A week later, he was dead. What specifically was the crime here? What particular threat did Freddie Gray pose? Why is mere eye contact and then running worthy of detention at the hands of the state? Why is Freddie Gray dead?

When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse.

The people now calling for nonviolence are not prepared to answer these questions. Many of them are charged with enforcing the very policies that led to Gray's death, and yet they can offer no rational justification for Gray's death and so they appeal for calm. But there was no official appeal for calm when Gray was being arrested. There was no appeal for calm when Jerriel Lyles was assaulted. (“The blow was so heavy. My eyes swelled up. Blood was dripping down my nose and out my eye.”) There was no claim for nonviolence on behalf of Venus Green. (“Bitch, you ain’t no better than any of the other old black bitches I have locked up.”) There was no plea for peace on behalf of Starr Brown. (“They slammed me down on my face,” Brown added, her voice cracking. “The skin was gone on my face.")
When nonviolence is preached as an attempt to evade the repercussions of political brutality, it betrays itself. When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse. When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con. And none of this can mean that rioting or violence is "correct" or "wise," any more than a forest fire can be "correct" or "wise." Wisdom isn't the point tonight. Disrespect is. In this case, disrespect for the hollow law and failed order that so regularly disrespects the community.

Related Story

A State of Emergency in Baltimore

Days of Rage in Baltimore and Mexico

Greg Grandin on April 28, 2015 in The Nation

Protesters mark the seven-month anniversary of the Ayotzinapa students' disappearance in Chilpancingo, Mexico. (Reuters/Emiliano Torres) 

Yesterday, as Baltimore restaged the intifada, protesters in Mexico, in Chilpancingo, the capital of the state of Guerrero, rammed a flaming truck into the glass-fronted congressional building, and set fire to at least six other vehicles. They had taken to the streets to mark the seven-month anniversary of the disappearances of the 43 students, who have come to represent the hundreds of thousands of dead as a result of US-Mexico’s drug, immigration, and trade policies (a number of the relatives of the disappeared are currently in New York, where they are appealing to the United Nations to end Washington’s so-called Merida Initiative, or Plan Mexico, which sends billions of dollars to Mexico to supposedly fight drugs but which the relatives of the 43 say goes to “suppress dissent”).
Elsewhere this week, in Oaxaca, protesters did damage to the building of the governing Partido Revolucionario Institucional. Videos of the Chilpancingo protest are here, here, here. In Mexico City, demonstrators erected an “anti-monument,” a large red 43 in the middle of the business center.
Obviously, the right way to think about the murder of Freddie Gray and the protests that followed is to think deeply about slavery and post-Abolition racism in the United States. Immediately after the trouble began yesterday, historians and critics on social media were broadcasting information about Baltimore’s history as a slave port, its long history of police brutality, its equally long history of resisting race terror. Apparently, Spiro Agnew’s law-and-order response to a protest that turned violent in 1968 bought him his spot on Nixon’s ticket.
One can also, without diluting the power of that deep history, think about the repression and reaction laterally, as an effect of the same transnational policing and trade policies responsible for the disappearance of the 43 student-activists in Mexico. Since the August murder of Michael Brown and the September abduction of the 43 Mexican students, #BlackLivesMatter and #TodosSomosAyotzinapa are just two of the hashtags that have captured distinct heterodox protest movements that are converging.
I was at an event the other night at CUNY, a “Citizen’s Tribunal,” part of a “caravan” that is bringing the parents and advocates of the 43 disappeared to over 40 US cities (Roberto Lovato writes about it here in The Nation). At the CUNY event, a lawyer for the parents said that the two principal obstacles to “neoliberalism”—and hence the two principal targets of neoliberalism’s enforcers—were the ejidos, that is, peasant communities who still hold and work their land in common, and the rural teacher-training institutes (like the one where the 43 were enrolled), which for decades has taken the lead in protesting the dispossession generated by “free trade.” In the wake of Baltimore, that observation put me to think that Mexican peasant communities and African-American urban communities are broadly structurally analogous in their relation to “free trade” capitalism.
On both sides of the border, the absence of any sane, humane, industrial or rural policy has created concentrations of dispensable peoples. On both sides of the border, children of these dispensable people are most vulnerable. “In 2007, Baltimore City African American infants were almost nine times more likely to die before age 1 than White infants residing in Baltimore City.” In Mexico, the southern agrarian states, including Guerrero, that have suffered under NAFTA have similarly stunningly high rates of infant mortality. On both sides of the border, these people, the victims of failed government policy, are then blamed for the failure of government policy, their culture, their attitude, their “values,” and their music (rap, hip-hop, and the narcocorrido). On both sides of the border, rolling protests, days of rage and frustration like those seen in Baltimore and Chilpancingo have difficulty coalescing into a national movement, building a coalition with elites or national-level political parties due to the fragmentation of politics, itself an effect of government economic policy.

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On both sides of the border, US federal money funds the overpolicing of the crisis. “The weapons that are given to Mexico [by Washington] are used to kill us, not help us,” said Blanca Luz Nava Velez, whose 19-year-old son, Jorge, is among the missing. And on both side of the border, the crisis is generated by federal policies (enacted by both Washington and Mexico City) that are designed to keep pay low and jobs precarious: What demands can a segregated labor force divided by a garrisoned border make on capital that can go anywhere it wants, anytime it wants?
Advocates of the North American Free Trade Agreement did say that economic liberalization would bring about a convergence. They were right. Just wait to see what the TPP brings.

Stop Legitimating Injustice and Legitimate Justice for Refugees 2015

Refugee's manifestation in Lutherstadt Wittenberg on 16.04.2015: With Refugees as Guest Speakers from Schwäebish Gmünd Video: Schwäebish Gmünd Refugee Activists Tour and Discussions on Civil Disobedience against Imprisonment and Movement Restriction (RESIDENZPFLICHT)
Press Conference: 14:00 Hour Date: 16.04.2015
Time: 14:00 Uhr
Venue: Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Marktplatz)
Lutherstadt Wittenberg, April 08, 2015
Refugee self-organizations and initiatives are holding a manifestation to denounce an illicit practice of depriving registered refugees in their legal existence and to demand legalization of “Tolerated Refugees (Duldung)” that have been residing in Germany for so many years without compromise.
The demand addresses to BAMF and its 530 foreigners offices in Germany. The foreign office of Lutherstadt Wittenberge implements inhuman measure that destroys our lives and perspectives and its implementations are not compatible to the Administrative Laws, Asylum Law and the German Foreigners law.
The Foreign Office's inhuman measures contribute to destroy refugees perspective for so many years.1 They interdicted refugees not to work, not to make driving license, not to have bank account, not to have health insurance card, their movements are restricted, subjected to repression and oppression, exposed refugees lives to danger, with deportation treats, deprived refugees their legal existence and right, used as an object of securing their own existence and work, isolated and humiliated and those politically active are criminalized and persecuted.
They used “Cooperation” as a pretext.2
These implementations and aggressive measures applied to refugees in this 21 century contributes in destroying refugees lives and perspectives, deteriorate refugees' health conditions etc, and contradicts the world's inter-dependency and globalization process that the Federal Republic of Germany profits.
Therefore, we demand the legalization of all refugees that have been residing in Germany for so many years without compromise. They should be compensated for their lives and perspective being destroyed.
Stop destroying their lives and perspectives. Stop Legitimating Injustice and Legitimate Justice for Refugees 2015
Flüchtlingsbewegung Sachsen-Anhalt, The Caravan for the Right of Refugees and Migrant and The Voice Refugee Forum
Contact Information
Wittenberg, 017699321843, Vockerode 015225951740, Bitterfeld 015206302191
For more information
http://thecaravan.org/node/4289, http://www.thevoiceforum.org/node/3894 http://refugeeinitiativewittenberg.blogspot.de/2015/03/refugees-protest-manifestation-in.html
1 Up to 10 to 17 years and even more
2 Refugees have presented their official document but still they insisted that he or she does not cooperate

Lampedusa in Hamburg presents: A 3 days manifestation for the continuity of our political fight

Join us as we intensify the struggle for our demands and the right to stay for all.19th-21th March, 16-19Uhr @ our Lampedusa infostand, Steindamm II. you are all invited!!

Ivana Hoffmann will always live in our hearts

Ivana, a 19 year old woman from Germany with combat name Avaşin Tekoşin Güneş died on 7th of March 2015 defending the assyrian village Til Hemis against attacka by the Islamic State.

Refugee Activists on Civil Disobedience against imprisonment

“Residenzpflicht still means Apartheid”
“Lager still means elimination”

 Refugees from Schwäbisch Gmünd on civil disobedience against imprisonment, Restriction of Movement and refugee persecution in Germany
Leke Aremu, Farook Khan, Raphael Paul, Frankline Ndam
We fled from persecution from our various home countries but still the same persecution continues in Germany. We refugees arriving in Germany are already criminalized at the borders by forceful finger printing before our names are even known.
Our political protest started in February 2014 when we discovered the violation of our privacy by being exposed to CCTV camera observation (Close Circuit Tele Vision) that had been installed at the entrance of the isolated refugee Lager in Schwäbisch Gmünd without prior notification. We sent an inmate delegate to the responsible authorities to let them know how we feel about the CCTV camera positioned opposite the entrance of the lager. We stated that it gives us the precarious impression to be held under surveillance control which makes us feel to be prisoners in fear and insecurity to scare us from Self-Organization in the isolated refugee Lager. But the district officials of Schwäbisch Gmünd refused to accept our demand for the removal of the CCTV camera.
Due to this reason, we decided to hold a one month strike from the 3rd of March to 11th of April 2014 with rallies and peaceful demonstrations against the CCTV Camera in the refugee lager, in the city center and at the district administrative office of Ostalbkreis in Aalen for public interest until our demand is met. Instead of negotiating the matter they involved the police to back up their refusal of mediation. We were brutalized by the city police who never was able to comprehend our own side of the story. During the demonstration on the 11th of April 2014 at 14:13 hour the police forces arrived and later attacked refugee demonstrators inside the Lager. Two of the refugees were bitten and injured by the police dogs and four of the refugees got arrested. They only were released after two hours due to the protest of the other refugees in front of the police station. At the same time the CCTV camera silently disappeared.
Our struggle continued by exposing all the different forms of persecution of refugees. That’s why we were humiliated and labeled as so called “trouble makers” by the administrative officials as to justify our criminalization and to target us as enemies of public order and security. Even our photos were published in the local newspapers. Since then we have been receiving many letters of accusations with the aim to stop our protest which led to further exclusion through a three month “stay away order” which banned us from entrance to the social administrative office in the refugee Lager. They set up false accusations of “duress/assault” (Nötigung) as to defame against our freedom to protest as well as to justify police brutality and the ignorance of fficials of the lager against the demonstrators. One of our activists was itten by a police dog released to attack without accountable reason is now till under charges to have prevented police officers from executing their duty although he was just defending himself from further injury. He received penalty order to pay 750 Euro. After he appealed against it, the local court (Amtsgericht) of Schwäbisch Gmünd reduced the fine to 300 Euro. Now the case is pending at the regional court (Landgericht) for retrial. The intention is to find out whether the superior court will still defend the harmful, irresponsible and unlawful action of the police officers against the refugee protest in the Lager in order to uphold the scandalous criminalization of the victims. This lesson we had to learn already from numerous murder cases of refugees like Oury Jalloh and others, who have been killed through the hands of German police officers.
After a Racial Profiling police control on the way to a political and media workshop on self-organized refugee resistance and anti-deportation struggles in Jena, 10 of us have been fined with 130 Euro and 50cent each for breaking the isolation of the notorious lager by intentionally violating the “German Residenzpflicht” – Apartheid Law that restricts refugees to administrative regions of residence denying their freedom to move freely in Germany.
In continuity of our political struggle we have been continuously maltreated and isolated by this apartheid law of so called “Residenzpflicht”. We were racially controlled by the police in the train and consecutively charged to pay fines and charges to the very system of our arbitrary repression. We refuse to pay this “penalty” because we see the “Residenzpflicht” law as an abuse of our basic human right to freedom of movement and from racist discrimination.
Since then, we have been receiving threatening letters of escalating scale as far as coercive detention with the last letter requesting to report ourselves to Ellwangen prison for three day confinement for a matter that we understand to be our basic right in Germany.
As refugee activists we translate this abuse of administrative and legal powers as deterrent expression of injustice, repression and mental torture affixed with the German asylum system.
These conditions make us remember the very dark times and continuities of German nationalist history back through fascist and colonial terror and genocides. We will not stop to stand and fight against the German mentality of supremacy by means of lager isolation, police brutality and abusive perversion of human rights against refugees. We did not flee from life threatening situations to be held again as hostages of exclusion and arbitrariness in the German apartheid and lager system.
We refuse to pay fines for our rights
We refuse to accept any imprisonment “in Silence”
We refuse to accept any state persecution of refugees in Schwäbisch Gmünd and Germany
“Residenzpflicht”-persecution is still going on – the so called “Abolition” is a devious lie
We demand for life decided by our own in freedom and human dignity
We call on everyone for solidarity
Express your views and feelings in public actions
Send in your protest notes to the authorities

Refugees from Schwäbisch Gmünd on civil disobedience

Schwäbisch Gmünd – Political Fight is Our Right
Civil and Legal Disobedience
Time line: Videos and Facebook Documentation
Liberation Bus Tour 30.04.2013 Schwäbisch Gmünd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUvJEfELPtM
(Call: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glo4NpUB4DU)
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Refugee Initiative Schwäbisch Gmünd
Protest against Lager Repression in Schwäbisch Gmünd – written Chronical
and Foto-Documentation
https://de-de.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/photos/a.370255696420901.1...
(10.04.2014)
Refugees Protest continues (11.04.2014):
https://de-de.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/posts/553560818090387
Police Brutality with dogs and Pepper spray as Refugee protest continues
against CCTV (11.04.2014)
https://de-de.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/posts/553776501402152
Call after Police Brutality Escalation on 13.04.2014:
https://de-de.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/posts/554951781284624
Report on Police Dogs biting Refugees in Schwäbisch Gmünd
(Beobachternews 15.04.2014)
https://de-de.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/posts/555731694539966
SOLIDARITY STATEMENT FOR THE REFUGEES in Schwabisch Gmünd by
International Migrants Alliance -European Section (19.04.2014)
https://www.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/photos/a.370255696420901.107...
Protest-Demo in Jena 20.04.2014 Police Station after Racial Profiling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bt8LLtRvfo
Statement: http://thevoiceforum.org/node/3571
Fight Lager Repression – Lagerverfolgung bekämpfen! 03.05.2014
https://de-de.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/posts/566804406766028
Info Tent against Police Brutality and administrative Repression in
Schwäbisch Gmünd 16.-18.05.2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi5legTkI0k
Facebook comments:
https://www.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/posts/578918395554629
https://www.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/posts/576452549134547
Protest and meeting with the Ministry of Integration at Stuttgart
Landtag 05.06.2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBGJ3DJkmLM
Facebook comments:
https://de-de.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/posts/588666127913189
https://www.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/posts/592502494196219
Residenzpflicht Protest Schwäbisch Gmünd 21.-23.08.2014
https://de-de.facebook.com/refugeesinitiative/posts/633210956792039
Residenzpflicht! Keine Haft für Bewegungsfreiheit! – Action Days
Stuttgart 23.-24.09.2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yIXKJ5P4WM
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Associated engagements of Refugees Initiative Schwäbisch Gmünd:
http://thevoiceforum.org/search/node/schw%C3%A4bisch%20gm%C3%BCnd
Refugee Activist stormed Deportation Hearing on Munich Airport (10.04.2014)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.553323328114136.1073741828.307...
Preparation Meeting 20 Years of The VOICE Refugee Forum – Democratic
Insecurity! (06.-07.09.2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yILtzQ_WBTk
Break the Culture of Deportation, Isolation and Elimination
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrjWJ8K48vo
Abolition of the ‘Residenzpflicht’ law?
The most important changes:
For refugees with ‘Aufenthaltsgestattung’ the geographical restriction (restriction of movement) “expires” after three months of stay.
After that they are allowed to move freely within the German territory without a permit.
The obligation to reside in a particular place remains.
Unfortunately, there are many exceptions:
1. A final conviction because of a criminal offense (no minimum penalty or limitation), if it is not because of a violation of immigration laws.
2. Violation of the ”Betäubungsmittelgesetz” (= drug possession), even if there was no conviction by a court.
3. If “concrete measures to terminate residence” are imminent. But this should never(!) be the case with persons with ‘Aufenthaltsgestattung’.
Refugees who fall within these exceptions are, as usual, at the mercy of the foreigners authorities.
For refugees with ‘Duldung’, the geographical restriction (restriction of movement) “expires” after three months of stay as well.
At least in theory: Lawyers fear that the claim of foreigners authorities that “concrete measures to terminate residence” are imminent will enable the authorities to “tie” refugees arbitrarily to certain districts at any time – as before.
These things will stay as they were:
• For asylum seekers in reception centers the stay will remain restricted to the district of the foreigners authority. In Brandenburg this is the Municipality of Eisenhüttenstadt.
• The absurd and unique rule within the German legal system thatviolations of the geographical restriction are first considered an administrative offense and, in the event they are repeated, wilful offense.
More information:
http://oplatz.net/2015/01/13/the-fight-against-residenzpflicht-has-to-go...
http://women-in-exile.net/2015/01/02/changes-of-the-residenzpflicht-law/