Hamburg: Antiracist actioncamp with a focus on EU-charter-deportations to Africa

You cannot make me a German by force - no one is illegal - getToeurope

03.Mar.08 - From august 17th to 24th there will be and Antiracist actioncamp with a focus on EU-charter-deportations to Africa from Hamburg Airport in Hamburg. The text below is taken from the invitation to a first city-wide preparation meeting in January 2008.

During a meeting of some Hamburg residents after the protests in Heiligendamm the idea was born to organize a huge antiracist camp combined with powerful action days in Hamburg 2008. In the recent past there have been several antiracist events, demonstrations for legalizations and mobilizations against deportation across Hamburg.

To be mentioned are for example the demonstrations of the Afghan Community for the right of residence, the transcontinental days of the health insurance companies for the medical treatment of people without papers or the human chain against deportation around the Alster.

Issues like integration, education and migration seldom cause a public stir, although there are regularly discussed controversially in local politics. Some of us want to take the swing and euphoria from the blockades in Heiligendamm to realize a significant event in Hamburg. Others are interested in an information and in a glocal(=global + local) networking campaign and to bring fishers from Senegal and Hamburg together. Others are also interested in discussing issues regarding antiracist mobilizations and infrastructures in a public frame.

Inside and Outside

Questions about social and political rights, distribution of poverty and prosperity are on the global agenda. Supported by families or communities millions of people eke out a living (mostly as migrants) to Russia, North America or Europe in order to earn some money and to transfer a part of it back home.

Within this discussion we would like to pipe up with our local affairs: Who does the city belongs to, what is going on in Hamburg. For these purposes we have taken some examples from the big pot to disclose the close connections between the small and big issues.

The senate of Hamburg would like to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Entrance to the world, global trading post and city-tourism Metropolis are few of the catchwords the welcome center spits out. The Foreigners Registrations Office transmit messages like Europe-wide coordinated deportations via Hamburg Airport, transfer of asylum seekers and migrants to the camp in Horst and adverse decisions in respect of legalizations including deportation actions against a lot of Migrant communities. The European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (Frontex) offer basic and advance training in the federal police academy in Lübeck. This military outpost of the European Union, which has been monitoring the West African coast and central Mediterranean with armed boots and digital technology, is on one of the main network of the European Migrant regime.

The port of Hamburg and Hamburg as Metropolis in rendition of services are main conflict zones, if nowadays labor and migration issues are politically discussed together with civil liberty and unionized rights.

The plan

Three meetings have already taking place and we could agree on a camp as a focus in the city and also to enable a network between interested people, facilities, bases and contact points for actions, meetings and coordination.

The ideas of networking, meeting and diversity of actions are motivation for all the people and groups involved. One main interest is to block the Hamburg airport via a powerful action. The external border agency frontex in Lübeck should also be visited by interested guests.

We have got a potpourri of actions, blockades, radio transmissions, school trips, readings, gyro round trip with bicycles and soccer tournament.Our idea is to spread the antiracist demolab and to organize and coordinate a huge public frame.

The groups involved should be responsible for actions and mobilize for it. Creative industries meet antiracist action. See you!