German Text: *Fotos - Jahrestag der Proteste gegen das Flüchtlingslager Katzhütte Eine
*Gehlberg: Endlich! Das Isolationslager wird geschlossen
*Presse zu The VOICE Flüchtlingskongress »Asylbewerber fordern Schließung von Katzhütte«
**
Report of the three days of the Refugee Conference, 26- 28.03.2009 in Erfurt
Thursday, 26 of March: The speaker of the refugee congress went with two camera men to the Thüringen Parliament in Erfurt at about 4 pm to deliver the declaration of the refugee protest and the call to close the isolation camps in Katzhütte and Thüringen. The declaration was received and acknowledged by The Vice president of the Parliament. Thueringia refugee council in Erfurt supported the event of the congress with a press release.
Contents:
- Press Conference and Rally at Am Anger in Erfurt City
- Presentation of the refugee declaration to The vice president of the Thueringen landtag
- Congress Refugee Delegation to Katzhuette
- Press review
- Police Control
- Deportation threats
- Meetings of Refugees in Thueringen
First day - Thursday, 26 of March
Refugees from Gehlberg, Apolda, Katzhütte, Weimar, Erfurt, Gerstungen, Eisenach, Jena, Rockensußra - Sondershausen and Caravan activists gathered at 1 pm in the Anger Square in Erfurt. The People came to join the call of The VOICE Refugee Forum to protest against the isolation situation of the Refugees in camps like Katzhütte. The Banner of "Close Katzhütte – Asylum is no privilege" that was carried by VOICE activists and Caravan Hamburg was on the street and hung from a car. Supporters were standing with their placards “Deportation is a crime” near to the Banners of the Refugees. More than 30 Refugees together with different German supporters of different political organization were there to protest. Already some of the Caravan activists had participated in the Press Conference (without Hamza Barakat from Katzhuette, who was planned for the conference on Katzhütte and was controlled by the police in Jena and accused for the violation of the Residenzpflichtgesetz which restricts his stay to the Katzhütte district. He asked to remain in his isolation camp). Reporters from the Press Agencies and newspapers participated in the press conference and reported on the refugee protest action in the local, regional and nationwide medias in Thüringen, including the online press saying that refugees demand for the closure of Katzhütte. (Neues Deutschland und ddp - Freies Wort, TLZ, OTZ, PR-online, newsxl.com, ad-hoc-news, news-times, ekmd, charivari, nealine.de, NRW.TV, Premiumpresse, mainfranken24.de, kreditori.de, (*German Press)
The poor facilities of this street protest action was a typical sign for the difficulties in the refugee protest. The PA for public announcement and the megaphone were not provided by the supporters responsible to provide them for the manifestations in Erfurt. We decided not to demonstrate through the streets of Erfurt to the parliament of Thüringen in Arnstädter Straße without a loud speaker or a megaphone to reflect stronger the protest voice of the refugees. As usual, there were the African drums of The VOICE Refugee Forum that kept on repeating the call to the people to unite and fight together against the racist policy of Germany against Refugees.
The speaker of the refugee congress went with two camera men to the Thüringen Parliament in Erfurt at about 4 pm to deliver the declaration of the refugee protest and the call to close the isolation camps in Katzhütte and Thüringen. The declaration was received and acknowledged by The Vice president of the Parliament. Thueringia refugee council in Erfurt supported the event of the congress with a press release.
There were supposed to be enough numbers of the caravan activists from all parts of Germany who would have been present at the action. Many could not come simply because either the “Residence Obligation law” by “Residenzpflichtgesetz” that prevented them to come or the fear of losing their job in this period of economic crisis caused them to stay at work.
There were also no new banners and posters on the events, not enough fliers and information during the rally and the manifestation. Most expected participants from Sachsen-Anhalt and NRW did not come to Erfurt.
Refugee activists of The VOICE Refugee Forum started with a speech by analyzing the situation of refugees and oppressions they are suffering in this country including isolation. There were calls to unite to fight against these conditions. They said: “Together we are strong; together we can win our struggle against injustice and inhuman situation that this system has posed on us.” Demonstrators shouted with their anger:
“Isolation Camps must be closed” and: “Das Lager muss weg - the lager must go”. An activist of the Caravan Hamburg announced the anger of the refugees against the still existing Katzhütte Lager in spite of so many protests against the intolerable isolation situation in Katzhütte. He explained that due to several protest actions of the Caravan with the support of No Lager Bremen and the Antira Oldenburg the K + S firm in Sottrum which administrated and controlled the Katzhütte lager stopped to extend their contract to continue to work in the lager due to the protest against this ”heim”. The living conditions and housing in Katzhuette are so bad, that K + S is afraid of the scandal and stopped making money out of the misery of the refugees. The activists of the Caravan Bremen gave the message of the refugees from Caravan Bremen: “The Katzhütte lager must be closed.” They also explained that the isolation policy is to break the will of refugees
In the evening refugees gathered in the Fachhochschule, the technical college in Erfurt with the participation of the delegates from Antira/Plenum in Oldenburg and the Caravan Bremen to talk about the campaign of the closing of the isolation camps. They seriously criticized the weakly organized street rally and protest action of the day. They said, we should concentrate more closely and make stronger our forces together to continue our fight.
Everybody said in different ways that when we bring together our fingers we can have a strong fist. We are thousands, each one of us representing the will of a big community of refugees.
A presentation of The VOICE Refugee Forum campaigns activities with the protest to close Katzhütte and the isolation camp 2008 was made. The challenge to organize political campaigns and our activities on self-defense in the refugee community was emphasized.
Due to the poor organization of the rally and the manifestation in Erfurt, we appealed to the participants that the pressure on the works coupled with the several campaigns and the ongoing deportation threats to Syria, the campaign for Aboubakar Wan, the Caravan Conference, Sbaih Mohamed and Katzhütte, the actions on the lager in Remscheid, Posseck and Möhlau, Nigerian deportation hearings and Oury Jalloh commission also weighed much on us before this events.
Reports on Racist Police Control and Residenzpflicht
Apart from the control of a Palestinian protester from Katzhütte Lager because of Residenzpflicht in Jena, 40 meters from the place of the congress rally Im Anger during our rally in Erfurt, the police tried to intimidate some refugee by demanding for their documents but when we intervened, the police gave them back their documents without control.
5 refugee participants from Weimar, Sondershausen (Iran), Eisenach (Sierra-Leone), Jena and Weimar were controlled by the blue uniform police during the day of The VOICE Refugee Congress on the 26th of March, 2009 in Erfurt after the rally in the city. The original documents of two of the five refugees were taken away by police who issued them an emergency note to report in the office of their foreign authority.
They controlled and delayed us to stay under the street arrest for 35 minutes by the police for document control. We told the police that it was a selective and discriminatory control. We gave them the call and program of our congress for a warning.
Day two – Friday 27th March:
A Refugee delegation with participants from Oldenburg, Remscheid, Bremen and Thueringen Gehlberg, Weimar, Erfurt, Katzhütte and Apolda drove to the isolation camp Katzhütte for a visit. In spite of the lack of transport possibilities, we could only arrange two cars for 10 participants, although there were very few people in the camp. Before the departure from Erfurt to Katzhütte, there was a meeting to inform the conference about the intimidation of control in the camp. The refugees were informed that the events had been made public to express our solidarity with the demands to close the Katzhütte isolation camp.
We discussed about the action in the Katzhütte lager and the way to take toward Katzhütte. The refugee delegation visit to Katzhütte of ten persons was a combination of men and women composed of different nationalities with one German activist from the Antira plenum in Oldenburg, one of the refugees living in the camp and one from Apolda previously living there were accompanying the delegation. This delegation arrived at the lager with battle cries of African drums and anger shouts of “Das Lager muss weg”. The few inhabitants of the lager came out one by one to communicate with the delegation, talking about the plans and actions to close the lager.
The living situation in Katzhuette is so hard that the majority of the refugees are running away from this camp in fact to live by friends or families somewhere else. They say they don’t want to be exploited by this capitalist system, to have at least the feeling of a living in a society.
The inhabitants of Katzhütte village like all other German villages around the camp are so closed and conservative that there exists not even a minimum communication with the inhabitants of the refugee lager. In fact their attitude towards foreigners is unfriendly.
One of The VOICE activists said in the camp that his I.D. was taken away by the police of Jena due to the Residence obligation law and showed the different corners of the life in that ruined and wet lager. He said, “here is always cold, to go to WC or shower people should go down stairs in one of the buildings. It is more than 100m away from the rooms of the family section”. Some of the Refugees told us that it is useless to do this action. Then one of the refugees from Remscheid talked of their experience and struggle against vouchers – Gutscheine, the daily signatures, camera
control and short medical papers for the refugees in their lager. He explained how through uniting the solidarity of all refugees in the camp by formulating the demands of refugees on a letter and asking the refugees to support it by their signature, they succeed to win together their fight. Those few refugees in Katzhütte showed their willingness to join the third day of the anti lager congress meeting of the Caravan
In the evening that day, there was a discussion about the problems and the struggles running in Gehlberg and Remscheid. Some new Refugees joining the existing activities of the The VOICE in the Caravan and in this area were to take forward the fight. Before the arrival of the delegates those who did not transport to go Katzhütte discussed about asylum procedures with new asylum seekers from Azerbaijan who are interested to support the struggles of The VOICE and to make public the poor situation in their heim and of the refugees in Gerstungen. Then together we watched the documentary film that was made about refugees in Blankenburg near Oldenburg. This film which is rolled in cooperation with an Iranian refugee activist and a German activist is a strong expression of refugees life in lager conditions and their struggle against it. It is about a music band in the Blankenburg lager and the ideas and the way that they bring out their bad situation to the public by making music.
The third day – Saturday, 28th of March
The day started by evaluating the basic stand points of the Caravan struggles for the rights of refugees and Migrants. One of the Caravan activists made a statement on the struggles of the Caravan. He explained that the Caravan, in spite of its deep concern for the private life of refugees, is not a kind of welfare organization. It can continue the struggle when and where the refugees are standing up for their rights. He said all of us know what the meaning of the threat of deportation is. It destabilizes our daily life, we suffer the laws of Residence Obligation by Residenzpflichtgesetz, not having the permission of going to work, or continuing our studies, not knowing the language and still located in remote areas between closed and conservative communities in isolated camps. We all know about this, but many of us don’t know why. And then these funny and apparently harmless questions of many of Germans like: “Do you feel good here?” Yes, the rulers of this country know why refugees must live in isolation condition, they want to break our will and, more importantly, they know that we are the living witnesses of their crimes in our homelands. They know why we are here, as formulated in the Caravan slogan: We are here because they are destroying our homelands, directly and through their puppet regimes back there. So it is important to explain the struggles of our people against these monsters right here in the belly of these monsters and to join this struggle with our daily fights against their racist refugee politics. In fact, the Caravan is mobilizing and leading this kind of struggle. And certainly, the strong fronts of these struggles are fighting against deportation and for the freedom of movement.
Then, there were some discussions about those laws in favor of refugees.
It was argued by activists that first they make such horrible conditions that many refugees don’t know about it. Secondly, what is there as a law and what they are practically doing is very different and most importantly these laws are written by absolutely few rich and powerful people or nations and that they can take it back whenever they decided to do so.
Afterwards, the programming of particular actions in different lagers started. Refugees from Gerstungen within Wartburgkreis district and Gehlberg within the district of Ilm-Kreis (two refugee lagers in Thüringen) reported on their will to organize themselves and make actions against the isolations camps.
The next part of the meeting was to make arrangements about the urgent cases of deportation.
Aboubacar Wan, diabetic patient in Eisenach, informed us about his critical health situation that made him dependent on the daily insulin. Despite of his health situation he is still struggling to protest his deportation threat to Sierra Leone. He said we refugee should make it an urgent issue to support The VOICE to support the struggles of the refugees here in Thueringen.
He stated that many activists of the Caravan came from Göttingen and Hamburg with people from Jena and Apolda in Thüringen to his court hearing in Gera on the 05.03.2009. Inspite of the negative judgment from the court, the campaign has generated much of public interest but his deportation threat is still on. He cannot trust the deportation regime, there will be more protest if the upper court should reject his lawyer’s appeal against his pending deportation threat. Aboubacar Wan confirmed his will to protest to the end. He asked everybody to join together, because he needs our support and solidarity against being a persecuted refugee in Germany.
Kambiz Azimi, a 21 years old Iranian, reported about his situation and asked the participants for solidarity. Azimi has lost his parents in the Iranian prison, his parents were political activists against the Iranian regime, and he has also criticized the Iranian Regime in his school. Then the police searched his apartment and took his parents. In Germany, he made an application 4 years ago and brought an Iranian court decision as evidence of where they looked for him. If he is deported to Iran, at least 10 years of prison sentence awaits him. Today Kambiz Azimi lives in a refugee lager camp in Rockensußra by Sondershausen in Thüringen. He wants to stay here and work, like everybody else.
Daryosh Mohammad Khan is an accountant from Iran, where he worked in the university and established relationship with the student activists. He distributed dissident leaflets in his workplace, and there he was betrayed by colleagues. He was subsequently fired from work. In Germany, he Applied for Asylum by the Federal Office for Migration and provided the document where he received salary payment for the years he worked at the university. He recently became a member of the Socialist Party of Iran (SPI) in exile. Daryosh lives in Apolda.
In both procedures, the court hearing took place without the applicants in court! Azimi and Daryosh were not informed about the negative decision on their Asylum applications from the court.
At the end there was the planning for the next regional meeting of the refugees on the 18th of April in Erfurt.
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A critical remark from Bremen:
On media reflections on Caravan Nationwide action
It is almost two weeks after the struggle against still running isolation camp of Katzhütte, still we don’t have a report from the Caravan, while we had the reflections of German media on the matter almost at the same night. On the case that many times the media boycott our protest actions, it happened that almost four papers reflected our poor protest in Erfurt. Not the reporters but the managers of public medias are those who decide what to be published and when. This level of policy makers know very well that if they somehow disconnect us from reality they would succeed in defeating us in our just cause of fighting against their dirty and bloody capitalist and colonialist system.
What happened in Erfurt was a protest against isolation camps in Germany (particularly, against the isolation camp of Katzhütte) by the isolated people of the Caravan! In that action you were able to see the lonely drum of Osaren in a side of separated and unorganized refugees that was beating continuously the beats of struggle, you were able to hear the anger shouting of Ralf deep from his throat to report and protest the shameless insisting of authorities to keep on the functioning of the isolation camp of Katzhütte. And the message of the Caravan Bremen by the one person delegation team of Bremen: “Close Katzhütte camp!”
The action was poor not only because we were few unorganized and isolated refugees but much more important because we didn’t act like the voice and speakers of millions of refugees all-around. We cancelled our planned demonstration forgetting that even 5 people of us are able to do a
militant demo; we didn’t have even any leaflets to distribute and to communicate with the people.
Those papers reflect this action, so to say, that we were there to request the big guys to note about the point and to be more merciful toward us.
The operators of this system know well that they can fool the oppressed people for a while with a little bit of “sympathy”, with the promises and empty words, or at most by giving a small portion of our certain rights. And at the same time they know very well how to hide the reality to fool the public opinion and especially how to disconnect us from standing on realities.
Look! Why was there a big action around the murder of Oury Jalloh and not around the murders of Domenic or Oury Jalloh and Laye Konde? Why? You know why, because the people have seen the tortured burned corpse of Oury Jalloh and not of Dominique or Laye Konde. In that case, with the help of Caravan the refugees have seen the naked reality of the crimes of the system by their own eyes.
Yes, while we are fighting against the system, we must at the same time look and judge merciless the reality, whatever it may be, be it either the dirty and bloody face of the regime or be it our weak points, our mistakes...
truth and reality help us to fight better and stronger to change the world and ourselves, it helps us to build our strength...because we are just and the runners of the system are not, because in our struggle nothing is more power full than the truth!
Caravan delegate from Bremen
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The first regional meeting of the The VOICE Refugee Forum after the congress was scheduled to take place on the 18th of April in Radio Frei at 1pm in Erfurt.
The VOICE Refugee Forum, a network of political refugee activists and asylum applicants is organizing a Thüringen wide refugee meeting with the delegates and participants in the ongoing campaign on the deportation threats of refugees, their situations in the Thüringen lagers and isolation camps.
We are meeting to consolidate our struggles against isolation and exclusion of refugees in the various districts, which they are obliged to live under the Residenzpflichtgesetz – without the right to go out of the districts – like the apartheid pass law in South Africa.
The difficulties and challenges that inspired the success of our campaigns in 2008 to renew every effort to sustain the next one year of protest to close the isolation lagers in Thüringen like Katzhütte, Gehlberg and Apolda, including in Gerstungen und Gangloffsömmern.
The refugee heim in Gerstungen (app. 6000 inhabitants) is situated in Wartburgkreis at the river Werra the Hessian border. (Address: Am Berg 1). Gangloffsömmern is a community of about 1000 inhabitants in the district of Sömmerda (Address of the refugee heim: Lange Gasse
2) There will be brief discussions on:
- Our solidarity in the resistance against the persecution and criminalization of refugees in protest against colonial justice.
- The Role of the multinational NGOs and parastate organisations in their
executions of the reform policies of controls against refugees and migrant by: IOM, Caritas, Diakonie including AWO and Red Cross in their management of refugees’ exclusion through the welfare service in the lagers to facilitate the so called “voluntary return projects” from Germany and Europe.
“We do not compromised the politics of stay right for the so called integrated without the others.”
We will call on them and every one to break the silence of injustice and inequality!!
- Reports on Deportations
The Deportation threats of an Iranian and Syrian refugees from Apolda. By Dayoosh and Mustatek from Apolda
The imprisonment of Otto Felix for residential obligation and his deportation threat. He is from Cameroon, an asylum applicant from Saale Orla District (Schleiz). He has been detained in prison since end of March 2009.
Reports on Racist Police Control and Residenzpflicht
Control of Katzhütte protester from Palestine in Jena on the basis of Residenzpflichtgesetz Control of the refugee participants from Weimar, Sondershausen (Iran), Eisenach from (Sierria-Leone), Jena and Weimar by the blue uniform police during the day of The VOICE Refugee Congress on the 26th of March, 2009 in Erfurt The arrest of Felix Otto from Cameroon for violation of residential obligation
There will be information on the critical evaluation of The VOICE Refugee Congress in Erfurt on the 26th of March, 2009 in Erfurt about the poor turnout and participation in the events, lacking information materials to reach the public and the Public Announcement PA unorganized and the media reports. Although some daily newspapers and online magazines published the ddp news agency report but most reports did not indicate The VOICE as the organisers of the refugee congress as such, they carefully avoided hearing much from refugees and their organization. The only exception was the Neues Deutschland Press that informed more of the refugee protest and the program of the congress. (See also the report on the congress)
Participants from more districts and Asylum lagers in Gerstungen, Weimar, Apolda, Erfurt, Gehlberg, Sonderhausen, Somerda and Apolda, Gera, Eisenach and Katzhütte are expected to meet and discuss:
Regional and Nationwide Action dates and events
Struggles against the persecution and criminalization of refugees in Solidarity Resistance to the Colonial Justice
Stop the persecution and criminalization of refugees!
Stop the deportation!
Abolish of the racist laws and the special decrees!
Resist the Colonial Justice!
Make public every act of deportation and racist controls!
Article: The VOICE of the DEAD and those still going to DIE - by Yufanyi Movuh
Mbolo of The VOICE Refugee Forum
I. Our Self-Organisation
II. The Persecution and criminalisation of refugees and migrants.
*The VOICE of the DEAD and those still going to DIE - by Yufanyi Movuh Mbolo of The VOICE Refugee Forum
German Text: *„Die Stimme“ der Toten und derjenigen, die noch sterben
werden“ - Mbolo Movuh Yufanyi von The VOICE Refugee Forum
I. Unsere Selbstorganisierung
II. Die Verfolgung und Kriminalisierung der Flüchtlinge und Migranten
German Text: *„Die Stimme“ der Toten und derjenigen, die noch sterben werden“ - Mbolo Movuh Yufanyi von The VOICE Refugee Forum
https://thevoiceforum.org/node/1184
**
The VOICE Refugee Forum Jena, Adresse: Schillergässchen 5, 07745 Jena
Tel. Handy 0049(0) 17624568988, Fax: 03641 / 42 02 70,
E-Mail: thevoiceforum@emdash.org, Internet: http://www.thevoiceforum.org
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