Stop deportation! Freedom of movement is everybodies right! Break the racist and antiziganist agenda!
Germany and the other countries within the European Union are not the paradises of democracy and human rights that politicians claim. Germany deports thousands of people each year to countries in which they face poverty, violence, homelessness and often political and racist prosecution; many cases result in torture or the death penalty. Need an example?
- In recent years, Germany has deported several thousand Romani to Kosovo. There, they mostly live in slums where they often don’t have access to medical care and also face racist discrimination. Romani settlements are often placed on top of waste dumps or contaminated land; places that cannot be left by its inhabitants without risk. These facts are particularly haunting when they are placed in their historical context. During the Nazi-era, Germany systematically killed 500,000 Romani people in death camps. More recently, during the Kosovo War in the 1990’s, NATO bombing led to the rise of the right-wing, authoritarian UCK government. As a result, the situation of the local Romani people deteriorated drastically. As a result of pressure by Germany, the new government of Kosovo signed a treaty for the return of the (mostly Romani) refugees.
- A similar treaty was signed by the German Goverment and Syria. Despite the fact that the German government officially condemns the violence of the Syrian government against its own people, 160 deportations to Syria have been announced and at least 10 have actually taken place in 2011 alone. Several cases are known, where the deportees disappeared in torture prisons upon arrival.
- Since 1997, the German authorities have ordered deportations for 3,043 Iranian refugees to Iran and for 19 Refugees to a ‘safe third party country’. In several cases, deported Iranians were stoned to death or executed by other means.
With this the practice of deportation stands clearly in contrast to article 19 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which states that no one can be deported to a country in which they would face inhumane or degrading treatment. That we want to protest against this in Düsseldorf and not somewhere else, is not a coincidence. Düsseldorf airport is the second largest deportation airport in the country (after Frankfurt am Main). From here there are regular charter flights, many of which aid the deportation of Romani people to Serbia or Kosovo.
Deportations are however just a small part of the injustice that is committed against (potential) migrants. After all, only a small number manage to enter ‘fortress Europe’ in the first place. Most of them get stopped at the external European Union borders. For the enforcement of this inhumane practice, the European Union even created its own external border agency called Frontex. Since 1980, conservative estimates predict that as many as 7000 people have died at the borders of the European Union as a result. Some estimates claim that this number could even be as high as 14,000. Most of them drown during the attempt to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa. European Union border-control authorities regularly send these boats back to the open sea under the threat of violence. These deaths are therefore no tragic accidents; they represent nothing less than systematic mass murder!
Unfortunately, the work of the deportation and border agencies of Germany and the European Union cannot be ascribed to the work of professional racists in the immigration agencies. A major part of the ‘normal German’ population agrees with these policies. Racist prejudices, especially against Romani people are still very common. According to a study about 40% of the participants agreed mostly or fully with the statement “I would have a problem with Romani people residing in my area“.
Racism, especially prejudice against Romani people, are closely linked to pressure for efficiency and the ideology of ‘getting people to work’. Either it is claimed that migrants don’t work, or it is used against them that they supposedly take away ‘German’ jobs. Not only are certain racist stereotypes attributed to people; they are at the same time denied to have the right to be something else than just a productive cog in the German economy.
We demand:
- Medical and other supplies for all refugees!
- Good-quality accommodation for refugees! Closure of the refugee houses!
- Disbandment of the deportation and border agency Frontex!
- An instant and lasting stop to all deportations!
- The opening of all external European borders! Everyone has the right to freedom of movement!
- An end to populist racism!
Demonstration:
April 14th 2012, 3 pm
Berta-von-Suttner-Platz (behind the main station)
Düsseldorf
