this is our 5th protocol to form a “lager mobilisation”-group in berlin and maybe later on in brandenburg. again, around 19 people were there – thanks to u all. please add, correct and criticize in the comment section.
protocol #5 – forming a ‘lager mobilisation’ group in berlin
1. introduction
2. weekly action + URGENT ACTION
3. next meeting
13th october 2015, 7pm at migrationsrats office – www.migrationsrat.de
address: oranienstr. 34, 10999 berlin-kreuzberg, right backyard, 2nd floor, please ring the bell, if the door is closed
next to u-station kottbusser tor
1. introduction of the group for the new freedom fighters
our goal is to have a decenteralized lager-mobilisation in berlin and hopefully one day in brandenburg. we already visited some lagers, did some research about the shit living conditions inside and how they are built to make money off of illegalized and isolated human beings we label as “refugees”.
the lager-mobilisation-group is an OPEN group with decenteralized working groups – so join like u want and your personal scheduele allows u to participate; plus we do NOT do anything “illegal”. we are people from all over the world and speak english during our meetings, but german translation is always possible, for other languages hit us up please – or if possible bring your friends with u.
after some re/thinking rounds, practical action and personal connection we developed two guidlines for the coming steps, but these ideas are dynamic and realated to our possibilites and the exprience we gain, a short summary:
I. short and mid-term:
a. we will go and talk with groups who know and can teach about the legal problems and educate ourselves in this direction and then visit again the lagers in small groups and spread this hardly needed information as the people asked us when we were visiting them; in addition to this we take info flyers etc. with us about the legal situations. we also invite (not force…) the so-called refugees living in those lagers we visit to be part of our group.
b. we want also be part of the “neighbourhood/welcoming-initiatives” and bring some alternative ideas and information from the self-organized struggle additional to their great charity work.
–> therefore we need some MORE people who speak different languages like: arabic, albanian, dari/farsi, serbo-croatian, tigrinya, urdu etc. – every languages is needed.
–> decentral working activists: people who are interessted to take care of the lagers in their around their living places like the districts they are living in and contact the people inside of lagers and participate in “neighbourhood/welcoming-initiatives” there – we (will) start very slow but very focused idea on this.
II. long-term:
we are searching for rooms all over berlin OUTSIDE but next to the lagers to build up small communities so people can organize themselves for the time they are forced to live inside of lagers. plus we will accompany them and try to bring alternative content like workshop etc. to those places – if its needed!
–> if u have a room or contact for such rooms (house projects, meeting-rooms), please let us know
–> if u know people for such content/workshops, please connect them to us
2. weekly action + URGENT ACTION
a. some lager visits are planed. reports: next week.
b. URGENT ACTION AND REPORT from seelow in brandenburg, next to polish border:
in german: https://linksunten.indymedia.org/de/node/155384
–> on thursday some of us were there, here ist the first report:
>>>Collected information from the interviews at the emergency accomodation:
– About 194 people live there, but the administration speaks of 175 registered
– Among them are according to the administration each 3 Afghani and Pakistani residents; the people say there were a total of 30 persons from the respective countries
– Accordingly there are 2 people from Africa and 2 from Albania, the vast majority are between 18 and 35 years old Syrians
the biggest problem is the general lack of infrastructure:
– Poor ventilation (people can not sleep and spend all night in the cold because they can no longer breathe)
– Garbage problem: following the administration the waste is collected once per week and it was the problem of the residents; people complain that garbage disposal was 1 in 20 days since arrival
– No privacy; all sleep in the gym, not even partitions
– The bathrooms are indeed on a ‘new’ status, but lacks staff and cleaners for cleaning or is this actually taken by the residents themselves
– Food: the administration claims, the men would get everything they need, they have each 1 cot, a blanket and a hot meal (1 meal per day); for other foodstuffs and hygiene products they get 7 € per day; the area of food distribution is relatively small and there is no kitchen in which you can actually prepare food individually !!!
– No internet, neither to residents, nor the staff
– No / little property and donations of clothes (a common problem, since it is men
– the general consensus in such areas is, that they should be able to help themselves while families need protection
– which is again marginalisation and causing further problems)
– Increasing xenophobia and racist activities in Seelow; these start as insults of the people, up to a fire. Administratives say there was no fire at the site, but an arson attack on the car of an employee in another nearby facility.
– Insufficiently qualified / insufficient staff: 1 conductor, 3 Securities, 2 translators for each few hours a day. However, the staff did not speak the necessary languages, assumably this is the reason for derived misinformation by the residents
– the residents complain, that when they arrived, they were told it was only for a few hours, then a few days and last for several weeks of being in Seelow. After they attempted a demonstration there was an information meeting with the district administration and the Seelow inhabitants (the question remains open whether the refugees were actually involved and represented accordingly) – which seems to have been positive. However, the day, when they went to the bank collectively with the conductor of the place to receive their pocket money, local inhabitants insulted them again publicly.
– Urgently needed are: translators, warm clothing, winter clothing, socks, underwear, footwear, medical care, possibilities of self-organization, privacy, hygiene products, garbage bags, water heater, kitchen items (maybe they are not allowed since there is no kitchen, but the situation is embarrassing anyways), Cleaning agents and detergents, no washing machines and clothes lines. (many things could be easily organized through a better redestribution of the donations in Berlin)
Apparently they are promised to receive 3 washing machines, but before, an appropriate connection must be established for the time being – when ???
– there is no legal advice and possibly even non-conscious information
We brougth leaflets in English, Arabic, Farsi with general information about the application procedure, legal status and correspondents in Berlin. Instead to our question where we could hang them, the office swept them under the table. The argument: They would provide the people with necessary answers, and anyways they can not go to Berlin and otherwise the info sheets would disappear. In the office they would have access to it at all times.
– The office is open from Monday – Friday 13-16 clock for the people. Even though it is a full-time occupation. The rest of the time, the administration lock themselves in the office.
There is supposedly not more helpers. It is 1 social worker per 80 people, but they were abscent at the time of visit
– The hall could be entered by non-refugees only ‘under Regulation’ and protection by an accompanying security, in order to prevent escalation.
– When asked whether an event with inclusion of autonomous groups from Berlin (since there is a lack of neighborhood support) could be organized, this was canceled. The argument is an increased risk of attacks on employees by local Nazis – although before it was claimed that there were no Nazi problems in Seelow
?????
– 2 women are on occasion to visit there. One fo them calls herself the boss and decides what information reaches the people.
However, when the question of what would be needed donations, she spoke of donations for another accommodation in Gusow 3 km. There are several families are housed in bungalows (1 per family) and the children would need a toy. That the men are missing anything possible was probably not important enough
– the general attitude was, they can indeed help themselves
– The inhabitants do not know how long they have to stay (according to information of the line probably up to 6 months). They expected a short-term accommodation, only 2 days ago, they were informed of 3 months and that they had indeed signed the relevant contract. There were complaints about the non-sufficient information / translation, the management denies this.
– The main organization that is responsible for the place is Internationaler Bund. In front of, or next to the shelter there are a retirement home of the AWO and a school.
– Allegedly 25 people could enter a program for receiving a carpentry / horticultural apprenticeship. Concerns sustain since:
a) some people are much better qualified
b) the inhabitants complain of having no access to language courses
c) Who decides? One notices a clear ‘hierarchy’ or preference of the staff of individuals over others
– The staff are clearly overwhelmed. Apparently to the ‘National Director’ he would get 1 additional office worker in his position ???
The current states are absolutely inhumane already at first sight. Even some of the cots are broken and people repetitively tell: ‘They keep us worse than animals, we want to get out of here!’ and ‘We are all going mad here, people cannot sleep any longer, they spend the whole night outside’
It is important to push the country and that more support is exercised by people from outside, as well as mobilization to outwards is urgent. Currently in Brandenburg, the problem seems to tighten visibly and a second Heidenau must be prevented by all means. Urgently needed: political pressure from outside, regular visits and help for the people to establish a proper self-organization, so that their protest / strike can be effective. <<
–> some of us will drive within the next days to seelow to bring some stuff
–> if u want to help contact oplatz.net and they will forward your message to the mailing list
3. next meeting
please read our previous protocols too, we dont want to repeat ourselves every time from zero::
https://www.oplatz.net/2015/09/30/protocol-4-forming-a-lager-mobilisation-group-in-berlin/
https://www.oplatz.net/2015/09/29/protocol-3-forming-a-lager-mobilisation-group-in-berlin/
https://www.oplatz.net/2015/09/19/protocol-2-forming-a-lager-mobilisation-group-in-berlin/
https://www.oplatz.net/2015/09/11/protocoll-1-forming-a-lager-mobilisation-group-in-berlin/
“if u are interessted to join and help us instead of talking blabla or “attend another meeting with no practical result”, please come to our next meeting and get active – PUT IT!”
next tuesday/dienstag
13th october 2015
7pm
at migrationsrats office – www.migrationsrat.de
adress:
oranienstr. 34
10999 berlin-kreuzberg
right backyard, 2nd floor
please ring the bell, if the door is closed
next to u-station kottbusser tor
berlin, 6. oktober 2015 – www.oplatz.net
we are one