[Nettime-bold] noborder digest 2.0

[florian schneider <fls@kein.org>]

noborder digest 2.0
25 JUL 2000
http://noborder.eu.org


1 NOBORDER CAMP IN GERMANY CAUSES TROUBLES
2 ANTIRACIST FESTIVAL IN GREECE
3 NOBORDER ACTION IN KIEV
4 ANTI-DEPORTATION ACTIONS AT AIRPORTS IN BRITAIN



1 NOBORDER CAMP IN GERMANY CAUSES TROUBLES

From: "AG3F" <AG3F@oln.comlink.apc.org>

Hello,

for all of you who likes to come to the NoborderCamp in Forst/Lausitz
(Germany) from July 29 to August 6 (in best English;-):

The camp will be in or near the small German town Forst (Lausitz) at the
borderline of Germany and Poland. If you have a Germany map, find the
town Cottbus, thereby on the righthand is Forst. If you will arrive on
Friday, the best will be to join the meeting point in Cottbus at 16.00 h
(see programme below).

For now, we have problems to get a place for the camp. No private and no
official wants to give us a place. So our first action is to appeal and
demonstrate for a place! Some members of German parliament and others
support us. Until we get a place for the camp we will occupy one in the
city of Forst. Every day from 00.00 to 24.00 h there is an announced
manifestation!

You can get last informations by phone. 
Call 0049-30-6938318 
Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday: 10-12.00 h 
Wednesday: 16-19.00 h 
Thursday: whole day 
Or call the info phone: 0049-(0)178-6012204

---

Events & actions at the 3rd Anti-racist Border Camp in Forst/Lausitz
(Germany)

Following actions, meetings & events are so far planned for the
anti-racist border camp 2000 in Forst/Lausitz (Germany):

Daily: 10,00 Delegates meeting 20,00-21,00 General meeting

Friday, 28.7. Meeting points for travelling to Forst: 13,00 Berlin:
Gneisenaustr. 2a (Mehringhof) 16,00 Cottbus: Saarbrücker Straße / at the
corner of Leipziger Str. (near highway exit "Cottbus Süd") at Shell
petrol station 17,00 Meeting place in Forst City at the water tower
(Wasserturm) - info phone: 0049-(0)178-6012204

Saturday, 29.7. 15,00 Forst: City walk "We Are Here!" and march to the
refugee camp 20,00 NoborderCamp: Initialization meeting with theatre
21,00 Forst City: Prelude concert at the Feldschloesschenplatz

Sunday, 30.7. 11,00 NoborderCamp: "ZAST action" workgroup (see Friday)
13,00 Guben: Teach in against anti-semitism at the "war grave place"
(Kriegsgräberstätte) 14,00 Forst, Wasserstadion: Playing soccer with
refugee groups and "Energie Cottbus" 17,00 NoborderCamp: Informations
about the Mexican NoborderCamp 21,00 NoborderCamp: Discussion: Our
relationships to racism, state and population

Monday, 31.7. 21,00, Forst: Event about labour and poverty

Tuesday, 1.8. in the morning, Forst: Voucher exchange with refugees at a
supermarket or the social welfare office (special law in Germany:
refugees should get no money but vouchers) 19,00 Forst, Bürgerhaus
(community center): Event about the history and problems of escape
assistance 21,00 NoborderCamp: Discussion with "The Voice - African
Forum" (Jena) about the residence obligation for refugees

Wednesday, 2.8., Guben: Adjustment of the Guben trials (about the
hunting to death of an Algerian refugee by young Nazi people and the
violation of the Jewish cemetary) 17,00 Guben, Bürgerhaus (community
center): Event about legal handling of Nazi people 21,00 NoborderCamp:
Discussion about the history of anti-racism in the FRG

Thursday, 3.8. 11,00, Forst: "Labour - hang it high, so nobody can reach
it!" - move to the labour office Cottbus: Action about the situation in
the refugee camp 21,00, NoborderCamp: discussion about the NATO war
against Yugoslavia 21,00, NoborderCamp: informations about the
"Anti-Antifa"

Friday, 4.8. Eisenhüttenstadt: Manifestation against the ZAST (big
refugee camp, central alien office) and the deportee prison 21,00
NoborderCamp: Discussion with "The Voice - African Forum" about:
"Deportation: Not only inhuman, but criminally!"

Saturday, 5.8. Last action: let's see! 22,00 NoborderCamp: Party

Sunday, 6.8. NoborderCamp: Breakfast, then clearing up and common
departure

(possibly) further meetings & actions: Country wide meeting on 4.8. or
5.8. and workshop about the IMF/Worldbank meeting in September in Prague
Workshop: "Stop Lufthansa deportation.class!" (campaign of the "no one
is illegal" groups - see http://www.deportation-alliance.com) Actions
about/against BGS (Bundesgrenzschutz = German border police) Films in
the public space Discussion about co-operation with Eastern European
anti-fascist / anti-racist groups

For more informations see 
http://www.nadir.org/camp00 
(sorry: the most in German language)


----

2 ANTIRACIST FESTIVAL IN GREECE

From:   "Aristos Giannopoulos" <aristosg@hotmail.com> 

Ten thousand people gathered the weekend 7-8-9 of July in a park in
Athens for the 5th antiracist festival. The entrance was free for all
the immigrants but the Greeks had to pay admission! The festival was
organised by the Network for Support to the Immigrants and the Political
Refugees. Too big title for too few people! We were exausted but it was
great! There were representes 81 greek organizations, antiracist ones,
anarchist ones, leftist ones, NGO's etc. But the most important is that
there were 53 or so communities of immigrants, Philippinos, Bulgarians,
Moroccans, Albanians, Ucrainians, Turcs, Senegaleze, etc. There was also
one German comrade! There were three public discussions (one for each
day): 1st day: the woman-immigrant (cheap house labour, prostitution
etc)a discussion mostly conducted by women 2nd day: the multicultural
education, conducted by some grous of elementary scool teachers and 3rd
day: The Left and the news perspectives in Greece. I didnt watch any of
them, because I volynteered to the security teams. Anyway all of the
discussions lasted at least three hours and had an audiance of about 500
people. There were also three conserts (one for each day): latin, rock
and ethnic groups from the immigant communities. There were tavernas
with turkish barbeque (the turkish comrades were really heroic, working
on the grills with a temperature over 40 Celsius) and there were also
african and asian delicasies to be served. There was also a big play
grround for the children of all nationalities, a bookstall with all
kinds antiracist books (about 500 titles), a photo exhibition from the
photography department of Athens University etc. etc. There wer ethree
small bars and party every night till morning! In total, for four days
about 150 people worked for free. The money gathered by the tickets, the
tavernas and the bars will be used (as every year) for antiracist
campaigns, publications and books anf for the operation of the Office
for Support of the Immigrants, which provides all the days of the week
free legal advice for all immigrants.

After all this, the most of us left for vacations. We will meet again in
September 1-2-3, in a camping in Volos.

HAVE A NICE SUMMER!

aristos giannopoulos


----

3 NOBORDER ACTION IN KIEV

From: chienukr@yahoo.com

At 13th July in Kiev in front of four ambassies - of Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Italy and Poland - there was an action against closing the
borders. Some 15-20 persons claiming themselves "Initiative group NO
BORDERS - Ukraine" have come with the banners "No one is illegal", "Open
the borders, close the ambassies", "The real alien is the power" and
fake border bars. They placed the bars on the street and took'em up only
after giving to people passed "entry/exit visa to all the countries".
Also they distributed the leaflets etc. The day was chosen as the day of
first border camp on Polish-Slovakian-Ukrainian border beginning, and it
was also explained.

Czech Rebublic and Slovakia terminated the non-visa regime with Ukraine
on 28th June for entering the EU. Italian ambassy was the nearest of
EU's country. And Poland proclaimed that it doesn't want to introduce
visa regime with Ukraine but will do it at 2003 for entering EU.

There was some media coverage of the action which is unusual for
Ukraine.

Sorry for writing so late - I was in polish camp the next days.

The future actions planned.

Greetings,

Maxime, Kiev


----


4 ANTI-DEPORTATION ACTIONS ON AIRPORTS IN BRITAIN


SUCCESS OF ANTI-DEPORTATION ACTION ON BEHALF OF AMANJ GAFOR  

The anti-deportation action yesterday (Friday 21st of July - 2000) on
behalf of the Kurdish refugee Amanj Gafor was very successful as this
was cancelled. However the support group doesn't yet know what his
situation is like and will be on the alert in case new developments
occur. The next step is to get a trustworthy solicitor in charge and try
to have Amanj's case reviewed by the High Court. The High Court didn't
look at his case at all when it was decided to deport him this week. So,
thanks to those who helped us joining the action and to those who sent
their support. Keep informed about further developments. 

STOP THE DEPORTATION OF AMANJ GAFOR!  
The action in the airport Activists gathered in Gatwick airport early in
the morning (the flight had to be checked in at 7.00am!!!!). The plan
was to picket the desk where the flight for Munich was departing while
another activist who had bought a ticket for the same flight was
checking if Amanj Gafor was among the passengers and if so would try to
stop the plane as had been done the Tuesday before when campaigners
supporting the Zairean refugee Salim Rambo managed to stop the flight
and put British Airways in an awkward position which forced them to get
the refugee out of the plane.    However,( we don't know why) the home
office was aware of us trying to mobilize activists with the same
purpose. On the day before the deportation was due, the Bristol support
group got on a mission phoning and e-mailing campaigners through human
rights, Kurdish, direct action and media e-mail lists. When the RIP act
is still being discussed it's quite obvious for us that internet
surveillance and telephone tapping is a common practice of the state: 
THE HOME OFFICE DECIDED TO CANCEL THE DEPORTATION iN THE NIGHT BEFORE IT
WAS DUE !!!!   
The support group received a phone call that evening from one of the
local councillors informing about a phone-call from the home office
saying that they cancelled the deportation because they were AWARE OF A
PLANNED HUGE PROTEST IN THE  AIRPORT. We believe that one of the main
reasons to make this decision was the previous action of Tuesday.
Obviously, being involved in these matters, we can't trust the
institutions so easily and even less when the situation is so crucial.
The action continued as planned in case they were using one of their
tricks.

As we said before an activist went on board, the only way to know if
Amanj Gafor was  there as refugees don't go through the main desk.
Meanwhile protesters started leafleting (leaflet enclosed after this
press release) and collecting petitions, the best way of knowing  that
people are supporting your actions. The reaction was good. A BA worker
suggested to one activist that passengers didn't care. He was showed all
the collected  petitions and desisted to make further attempts to stop
her.   Other activists were holding banners reading "Deportation Stop!"
and "British Airways = Collaborators" . The slogans were "Stop the
deportation now", "Amanj Gafor must stay" and shouts like "This
government has deportee 15000 people in 3 months many of them through
British Airways", "there is a deportation going on NOW", "British
Airways is involved in the deportation of hundreds of innocents", and
more (we didn't stop). The reaction of the British Airways staff wasn't
so good : it was clear to us that even though this company is profiting
considerably from this dirty business (15.000 deportations from January
till April 2000) they do care about their image and the possibility of
their customers being disturbed by activists. British Airways staff
asked us from the beginning to leave, and with the Airport Code in their
hands explained to us that they owned the premises and that we didn't
have any right to stay there. Once the first shouts started they got
even more angry and asked us to shut up.   The police were called
immediately and they informed us of the same. our reply was also the
same one: we were there to try to stop a deportation happening and we
weren't moving till that happened. By this time the uniformed British
airways staff had outnumbered the protesters. The police too, so the
protest looked even and more  serious. The time for the flight was near
and we had manage to delay arrests up till then. Then we folded the
banners and left escorted by the Metropolitan. A phone-call on the
mobile confirmed the news: AMANJ GAFOR WASN'T IN THE PLANE!.    

Once we left the airport the next step was to find out if Amanj was
still in the detention  centre. We went to the so called Tinsley House:
a nice name for a detention centre with big fences surrounding more
fences topped with barbered wire, CCTV cameras and  "prison" officers
all over (according to one of the guards this is not a PRISON),  where
400 refugees from different countries (East Europe, Senegal, Maroc,
Kurdistan, etc) await to be deported or if they are lucky, to have
asylum granted. This detention centre is run by the firm Wackenhunt.  
Meeting Amanj Gafor at the Tinsley Detention Centre.  We were asked to
come back at 2pm when visits are allowed. So we did. We found we all
were allowed to see Amanj and show him our support and tell him about
the action. Amanj was very happy and grateful and very relaxed compared
with the previous times when his supporters had been translating for
him. He has suffered a serious psychological distress as consequence of
his situation facing continued deportation in different countries and
previous prosecution in his country.   Amanj didn't know how to thank it
and was very confused about the fact that some unknown people had run a
risk to stop his deportation. We explained that here the legislation can
be tough -specially with those ones like the asylum seekers who don't
have any rights....- but that still we have some liberties and can
protest publicly. Obviously for some one who comes from Iraq and from
Kurdistan this is unthinkable, so he thought we were facing imprisonment
but on the Iraqi way (days in a cell, beatings, torture....).    Amanj
wasn't very clear about his future. he was well aware of what was
awaiting him if he went back to Iraq: as he said, "if I am back I am
lost". But he was worry that because of us making trouble he could be
retaliated (you always have to think that this is  seen through the
mentality of someone who has experienced very serious situations). He 
also wasn't clear about the consequences the action could have as he
knew that some of  his now prison mates have been kept for months in the
detention centre while his case was reviewed.  What he was grateful fir
was for having someone caring fro him out those walls and that is
something makes us proud too, because Amanj doesn't have anyone in this
country and his English is very limited. It was good that Houri speaks
Kurdish too and she could  transmit our support and explain the action
to him and hopefully she'll be able to help him on the case review too.
Till now all his experience to leave Iraq and avoid death has been an
endless history of personal interests where everyone he has met just
care about making money of him. His mom had to sell the family house in
order to pay for false documentation and someone to take Amanj out of
Iraq. Afterwards he has had to pay  solicitors and advisers. In Britain
he had to pay a solicitor £500 that he made doing  washing up in a
restaurant just to advice him that in his situation the best thing he
could  do was to go underground ( £500 for that !!!!).    

Amanj Gafor's dad was a teacher. He was killed by the Iraqi army for
spreading Kurdish and socialist ideas among his pupils. According to the
venerable  traditions of the Ba'ath's army, once they decide to kill
someone the sons are killed too. Amanj left Kurdistan to find refuge in
the capital Bagdad, but there he was spotted by the militaries and
arrested. he had also refused to join the army before this . The
militaries then proposed him to spy the Kurdish parties and activists in
order to avoid further punishment. When Amanj returned to Kurdistan he
had it clear: he had to leg it.   He managed to go to Germany where he
was imprisoned for months for not having  permission and from here he
went to Switzerland where he suffered the same situation. From here he
came to Britain where it was understood that because he had had his
permission of residence there he didn't deserve it here either. Still,
even though the British government is holding an embargo against Iraq
for more than 9 months and bombing this country because of their
appalling human rights records, the victims of this repression are not
recognized us such. Even though all this evidence in Amanj Gafor's case,
the High Court didn't consider it enough to grant him asylum.....
because they didn't even open the folder of his case!!!

More informations: 
http://www.schnews.org.uk

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