Photo: In the Kara Tepe refugee camp on Lesvos: self-organized music lessons in self-converted buses
June 20 - World Refugee Day and according to UNHCR a day when government and society are called to "let refugees participate in all areas of life - from education to health care to sports". Refugee Solidarity: “What hypocrisy. I experienced solidarity from many people in society – from workers, from neighborhood women, from progressive and revolutionary people. The governments, on the other hand, stand for the inhumane refugee policy, as in the EU and the Federal Republic of Germany, against which we defend ourselves together. This policy is also responsible for the fact that we had to flee our countries. And then we, as refugees, are treated like 2nd and 3rd class people. The governments are turning the EU collection camps into prisons, organizing illegal pushbacks and letting refugees drift back into the sea. Where is the participation in all areas of life, if z. B. Does the Greek government not provide any help with the corona infection in Kara Tepe on Lesvos, with sexual assaults and fascist attacks? Help comes from the refugees themselves, who have organized themselves with residents from Lesvos, drain the flooded tents in winter, set up schools for the children and organize cleanliness in the camp and on the island. Our asylum applications are rejected or not accepted at all because, for example, the federal government arbitrarily declares countries of origin to be 'safe countries of origin' and people are deported to their deaths. Everywhere patronage, harassment and living conditions that scream to heaven - inviolability of the apartment? Does not apply to refugees. The statements of the UNHCR simply degenerate into empty phrases and distract from those who are responsible for these conditions.
Three years ago, on the day of the refugee, Alassa was deported to Italy to live on the road from alms for half a year. When he legally re-entered the country after 6 months, buckets of dirt and lies were spread about him - all of these things are documented, were determined in court and point by point laboriously rejected in the lawsuit. He has meanwhile found an apprenticeship through his own initiative - but the right to live at the place of apprenticeship - none! Freedom of movement apparently does not apply to refugees, not even if they work and pay taxes. "We draw our own conclusions from this misery" - says Alassa Mfouapon - "we organize ourselves, side by side with progressive people and movements in Germany. We are not helpless victims. In this sense, I fully agree with the UNHCR: together we can achieve anything! I learned here that participation in all areas of life means learning how workers here in Germany fight against layoffs and for their rights, how people organize themselves for the environment and the climate and think about a world in which no one have to flee anymore. We can only achieve all this together.”
Alassa Mfouapon, refugee activist and spokesman for the organization “Freundeskreis Flüchtlingssolidarität”: “What hypocrisy. I experienced solidarity from many people in society – from workers, from neighborhood women, from progressive and revolutionary people. The governments, on the other hand, stand for the inhumane refugee policy, as in the EU and the Federal Republic of Germany, against which we defend ourselves together. This policy is also responsible for the fact that we had to flee our countries. And then we, as refugees, are treated like 2nd and 3rd class people. The governments are turning the EU collection camps into prisons, organizing illegal pushbacks and letting refugees drift back into the sea. Where is the participation in all areas of life, if z. B. Does the Greek government not provide any help with the corona infection in Kara Tepe on Lesvos, with sexual assaults and fascist attacks? Help comes from the refugees themselves, who have organized themselves with residents from Lesvos, drain the flooded tents in winter, set up schools for the children and organize cleanliness in the camp and on the island. Our asylum applications are rejected or not accepted at all because, for example, the federal government arbitrarily declares countries of origin to be 'safe countries of origin' and people are deported to their deaths. Everywhere patronage, harassment and living conditions that scream to heaven - inviolability of the apartment? Does not apply to refugees. The statements of the UNHCR simply degenerate into empty phrases and distract from those who are responsible for these conditions.
Three years ago, on the day of the refugee, Alassa was deported to Italy to live on the road from alms for half a year. When he legally re-entered the country after 6 months, buckets of dirt and lies were spread about him - all of these things are documented, were determined in court and point by point laboriously rejected in the lawsuit. He has meanwhile found an apprenticeship through his own initiative - but the right to live at the place of apprenticeship - none! Freedom of movement apparently does not apply to refugees, not even if they work and pay taxes. "We draw our own conclusions from this misery" - says Alassa Mfouapon - "we organize ourselves, side by side with progressive people and movements in Germany. We are not helpless victims. In this sense, I fully agree with the UNHCR: together we can achieve anything! I learned here that participation in all areas of life means learning how workers here in Germany fight against layoffs and for their rights, how people organize themselves for the environment and the climate and think about a world in which no one have to flee anymore. We can only achieve all this together.”
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