this is our 6th 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.
two good news: for the first time, people living in a lager participated in our meeting AND we helped little bit the freedom fighters in seelow (brandenburg, next to polish border) in their protest to close (we will follow the case until its end for sure) their lager; more information: below.
next meeting
20th 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
protocol #6 – forming a ‘lager mobilisation’ group in berlin
1. introduction of the group for the new freedom fighters
2. To Do: reports
3. Reports: Lager Visits
4. Information Pool
5. Next Meeting
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”. right now there are over 23.000 people (official number by lageso) just in berlin in lagers.
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. to do: reports
a. legal workshop
– we got in touch with No Borders Reloaded Berlin, Refugee Law Clinic, Flüchtlingsrat and lawyers and law students, some (not all) got back to us and can help us organize workshops in the lager and give us some material
– question: do you know people who can help with translations? the workshops should be in the peoples
– Bino from Oplatz wants to make self empowerment workshops in 4. Welt Raum, lets connect, he is also on the Refugee Resistance e-mail
– KUB has a collection of links with useful legal material
– would you like to suppport infrastructurally, cook, money raising, child care etc? Give us a shout via the Refugee Resistance e-mail list
– Refugee Law Clinic has a seminar this semester which is open for everyone, but only in German, it takes place every Tuesday from 6-8 pm at the Humboldt-University
b. report from seelow (brandenburg, next to polish border)
update:
read our report about the lager in seelow here:
… AND: good news, that was our dear friend who was following this case wrote us:
“Dear all,
The administration of Seelow called me today, so far we could achieve 2 important goals.
1. They received a great amount on diverse donations as clothes, shoes etc. Nevertheless winterjackets, warm wardrobe, socks etc. are still needed.
Please contact basil_smash@riseup.net if you have anything to donate, or if you have contacts to so called ‘Kleiderkammern’ where we can pick things up. We want to go to Seelow by Sunday.
2. Today, after public pressure, the Landrat announced in the gymnastic hall to the people that they can leave the place by November 1st and that they will have appartments to live in. Thanks to everyone who involved themselves in the process and ‘made trouble’.
So far, we can say, that we luckily managed something. Nevertheless, we still have to have an eye on the spot and make sure, that the government really keeps the promise.
All the best. X.”
old:
media campaign against the bosses of the lager in Seelow (IB – Internationaler Bund)
– media campaign by AL.
– lets meet the students who study at IB to our meeting and see how we can include them in the protest
3. Reports: Lager visits
a)
– South-Berlin, lager for minors, currently 8 people, soon more cause has capacity for 150 people
– the group couldnt get inside
– securities suggested to get in touch with the lager administration to solve this problem
– – other lager is in South-Berlin, there are 400 people in the lager
– the people need internet
– most of the people were Syrians so we need people who speak Arabic
– flyers with legal information were distributed
– small rooms for 2-3 people
– shared kitchen to cook food, shared bath, the people said it was ok
– other initiatives are also visiting the lager
b)
– another lager was visited in Seelow (70 km from Berlin)
– it´s a gym, so no privacy at all, not even in bathroom
– the group was almost kicked out, they talked to the administration and they told them to come another time
– one supporter there who supports with protest actions and teaches German
– 194 people, mostly from Syria, 32 from Afghanistan/Pakistan, 4 from Cameroon, 1 Tschad, 2 from Albania, but the administration gave wrong information
– one kitchen for 194 people, no fridge
– the people have no warm clothes at all, it is urgent to bring warm clothes!
– the boss of the administraton said she would lock the donations and decide herself how and when to distribute them, probably she would use it to create tensions between the different groups of the so-called refugees
– does anyone know how the bring donations from one lager to another? because for example lagers in marzahn hellersdorf are packed with donations maybe we could transport them from one place to another
– we need a car to organize the redistribution
– there is a mobilisation video about this situation: find it on oplatz.net
– updates about the redistribution will be sent on the e-mail list
c)
– there is a request about lagers in West Berlin
– one person at our meeting offered to mediate contacts; he cannot do it alone
d) – East-Berlin
– people from the lager were present at the meeting and reported that there is a need for German courses
– preferably inside the lager because of the people with children
– there is already a course, but only once a week for one hour, this is not enough for so many people
– the single people (without kids) are also willing to leave the lager in order to study German
– get them connected with multitude, women in exile etc.
e)
– North Berlin:
– this Friday another group of people will go to visit a lager, tell us if you want to go
– AWO requests “Führungszeugnis” if you want to become active in the lager
– Any AWO lager requests “introduction” with information about you if you want to become active in the lager
– they create/invent a lot of burocratic problems if you want to get involved
– AWO seems to control the welcome initiative, it is not clear if the other lagers have access to donation pool of AWO
4. information pool
a. get connected: Beusselstraße 26 is a neighborhood house were people can come together, we can tell people about this initiative; there are cooking and German language courses
b. meeting Thursday at 7 pm with the people from Friedenskirche, Ossietzky Platz in Pankow
c. Internet workshop for people in lager
– there is an offer in this group to show people in lager to get connected to the internet via Freifunk
– you can reach A. via the Refugee Resistance e-mail list, she will ask about this offer
– Freifunk was already contacted, there is a form that was sent on the e-mail list which the people have to fill out in order to provide internet in the lagers
– if anyone is interested and has some technological skills to share: the meeting takes place every Wednesday in the Rungestraße 19 (U+SBahn Jannowitzbrücke), C-Base.org at 8 pm in the conference room
d. DGB meeting of housing system
– this Thursday at 10 am in front of the DGB office at Henriette Herz Platz (S-Bahnhof Hackescher Markt)
– the Berlin senator for housing will be there
– lets go there and protest!
5. next meeting
please read our previous protocols too, we dont want to repeat ourselves every time from zero::
https://www.oplatz.net/2015/10/11/protocol-5-forming-a-lager-mobilisation-group-in-berlin/
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 meeting
next tuesday/dienstag
20th 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, 13. oktober 2015 – www.oplatz.net
we are one