Tag Archive for 'opinion'

Shut down Pagani! Azadi!

Another evaluation of the no border camp in Lesvos. By transact!, October 2009. Published in german language in ak – analyse und kritik.

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Never before have we experienced a noborder camp on the outer borders of the EU at which political protests and social struggles for the freedom of movement were as intertwined as they were in Lesvos. International press coverage about the detention centre Pagani was considerable and we return with many new impulses for transnational networking. Even if meetings were characterised by strong disagreements, our evaluation of Lesvos is overwhelmingly positive.

Tomorrow when we continue our journey, we will be refugees again. But till the last minute we will be just people here tonight, friends celebrating together. Who would’ve thought that on this island we wouldn’t have to hide in the woods and that we would get the gift of a night of freedom amongst friends!

Continue reading ‘Shut down Pagani! Azadi!’

the end?

Basically, noborder lesvos 09 started early, and finishes late: Officially, we concluded the camp yesterday, but there is still a lot of people around, helping to deconstruct the camp and to continue political work here in Lesvos. After all, we helped to push quite a few things, but we need to guarantee that they were not just temporary changes, but rather that they are the beginning of completely different migration policies. As always, this is work that takes time. Still, the noborder camp has provided a great start. And if it should turn out that the authorities will go back to business as usual, our answer will be the Noborder Lesvos 2010!

byebye

We, the people responsible for this site, will not write a proper conclusion here. There are different opinions about the camp, we have our own (you can read them out of our posts), and we would like to invite everybody to make heavy use of the comment function on this site to start a debate. On the right top, you can register with a nickname, which makes it easier to post a comment. We will watch comments for sexist and racist language and general abuse and will filter them out. Apart from that, we won’t do any censorship (it is censorship after all, we shouldn’t deceive ourselves about it). Please discuss in a fair way, and don’t reveal facts that should not be discussed in public. We will also try to convert the website into a proper documentation of what happened, to make content more accessible and add other things. You can contact us at lesvos09[at]antira.info, we are collecting everything (digital or to be digitalized).

We want to thank everybody who found the way to Lesvos to make the noborder camp the event it was. Special thanks go out to all the activists (noborder or not) from Lesvos who welcomed us and provided space we needed to do our work. A lot of thanks also go to the Bineio Squat, which provided us not only with a media centre, but generally with space to meet, discuss and relax. Together, a lot of things were possible. We have found many a new friend, and we are convinved that this is not an end, but rather the beginning of yet another transnational, antiracist cooperation. We hope that all the migrants that we had the chance to meet and live together have a safe and not too slow journey to their respective destinations. We know that their way is a hard one, but we will continue to struggle together, here in Lesvos as well as in any other place where we are.

One week in Lesvos, 52 weeks in struggle.

Heute ist nicht aller Tage, wir kommen wieder, keine Frage.

About w2eu

This is the blog of the antiracist network Welcome to Europe. It was formerly known as lesvos09.antira.info.

 

The name Welcome to Europe expresses the discontent and anger we feel when looking at the fatal realities of the European external border: the long documented deaths and suffering have continued for years, and no end is in sight. We stand for a grassroots movement that embraces migration and wants to create a Europe of hospitality.

 

We maintain our focus on the European external border in Greece, but will not limit ourselves to that geographical area. The right of freely roaming the globe has to be fought for everywhere. Join us!

 

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Voices from the Inside of Pagani (2009)

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