Kompass-newsletter No. 104 - 05/2022

14.5. in Düsseldorf: germanwide Afghanistan-Meeting +++ 19.-21.5. in Berlin: „Assemble Antiracist Struggles“ +++ 21.5.: Start of the Iuventa "Hearing" in Trapani/Sicily +++ 2.6. in Würzburg: Demonstration to the IMK +++ 3.-5.6. in Nuremberg: Tribunal NSU Komplex auflösen +++ 10. to 12. June in Göttingen: germanwide NoLager-AntiRa-Conference +++ borderline-europe on the criminalisation of refugees in Greece +++ Statement: Criminalization of Refugees - The dark Side of EU and UNHCR Policies in Tunisia+++ Update Boat-Driver-Campaign Italy +++ Statement: Lampedusa as an island of peace +++ Review: Pro Asyl on the resignation of the head of Frontex +++ Outlook: Transborder Summer Camp II near Nantes in July 2022...

 

Dear friends,

We start this month with a collage of invitations to five upcoming anti-racist networking meetings:

To Düsseldorf on 14 May: "...Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, many new Afghanistan initiatives have emerged or become more visible. In recent weeks, visibility has decreased, also because the war in Ukraine has come to the fore. We say: "Don't forget Afghanistan !!!". The new German government has made big promises, including implementing a reception program. We must now come together and develop a common political strategy to increase the pressure on politicians. ..."

To Berlin from 19 to 21 May: „For three days („assemble antiracist struggles“) we want to take a close look at … the history of anti-racist struggles in East, West and the reunified Germany. In workshop, exhibition and discussion formats it's not just about looking back, digging up and recording forgotten experiences that have been made invisible, but also about reactivating them for today and tomorrow…“

To Nuremberg from 3 to 5 June:

"...Acknowledge. Elucidate. Change! No more empty promises, trivialisation and depoliticisation of the murdering acts! We want to fill Nuremberg with our presence, show our resistance and make our demands for change clear with the tribunal "NSU-Komplex auflösen". The anti-racist movement of the last years with full streets and squares shows that we have had enough! Let's make the society of the many and struggles for self-assertion and remembrance together unmissable! No next victim! Let's break the continuities of right-wing terror! Let's build a manifesto of the future!..."

To Göttingen from 10 to 12 June :

After two years of pandemic, it is time for us to meet again. We want to strengthen ourselves, engage new activists, create new groups and build and expand our network. The conference is a chance for anti-racist change. It depends on your participation! We can only take action if we are networked and work together. 

The conference is about exchange, but also about concrete planning on how we can work together after the conference. For this we have chosen four main topics: No Lager struggles, anti- deportation struggles, self-organisation and connecting struggles/networking with transnational activism. 

To Nantes/France from 12 to 17 July:

"We are calling for this summer camp to bring together different struggles for free movement and equal social rights. In 2019 we came together for the first Transborder Summer Camp and some of us met again in 2021 at the Convergences in Palermo and Dakar. Both meetings were characterised by mutual respect and interest in learning from each other, by the conviction to create even better cooperation across all borders. We want to continue in 2022 with the same approach and the same goal: To build and expand infrastructures for freedom of movement and equal rights...." 

Afghanistan meeting and „Assembly of Antiracist Struggles" in May, Tribunal NSU Komplex auflösen and germanwide NoLager-AntiRa conference in June, Transborder Summer Camp in July... Encouraging to see a whole series of antiracist gatherings lined up for the coming weeks. All of them physical gatherings where we can "really look each other in the face and feel each other". Five network meetings in different compositions, on different focuses and at different levels. With many intersections and hopefully many activists who will build exactly these bridges and connections. In any case: together against racism, exclusion and deportation. And for continuous struggles for the right to freedom of movement and for equal rights for all.  

In this sense: for an anti-racist spring!

The Kompass Crew