Today [March 2nd] the southern half of the Calais ‘jungle’ enters it’s third day of eviction, in a process the authorities have now said will take 3 weeks to complete.
Here’s some of the acts of resistance that have been happening in & beyond the camp. It’s looking like it’s going to be a drawn-out process, so get busy researching, preparing and taking action now. This post will be updated as more action reports come through. [Read More]
The following audio is a recording made by activists of the self-organized refugee squat Orfanotrofio in Thessaloniki, Greece. This material has been made available to us by our comrades at Crna Luknja, the anarchist radio show at Radio Student in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.
The comrades of Orfanotrofio tell about the conditions that led to squatting this place in Thessaloniki in the beginning of last December and about their struggle to keep the place despite of all obstacles. [Address of refugee squat Orfanotrofio: Grigoriou Lampraki 186, Thessaloniki. Bus 14/14a at bus station “Orfanotrofio”].
This is on the self-organized refugee squat Orfanotrofio in Thessaloniki. (Length: 5:30 min). You can download the audio at: archive.org (wav | mp3 | ogg).
Here you can listen to it directly:
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In the evening of Sunday, January 10th 2016, we occupied the empty building on Themistokleous St. 58, in Exarchia, Athens. The intention is to open up a place where migrants who are blocked here in Greece, because of the European migration policies, can live and self-organize free from state control. We are a group of individuals from different places and of different contexts, connected through the fight against States, nations, borders, lager, prisons, capitalism; eventually against every part of this rotten system of domination that oppresses us. We are open to anyone who agrees with our basic principles and wants to participate in the project without a hidden political agenda.
This squat isn’t meant to be a public service. We aren’t “volunteers” and we don’t see migrants as victims. One of the challenges of this project will be to overcome in practice the separation imposed on us by borders and citizenship. This house seeks to become a place where people organize themselves and learn from one another mutually, regardless of their origins. [Read More]
Photos from yesterday’s solidarity demonstration that was organized by the migrants housing squat Orfanotrofio in the neighborhood of Toumba (Thessaloniki – Greece).
We had the opportunity of making an interview with two activists of the occupied and self-organized refugee center Notara26 in Athens, Greece. The comrades tell us about the origins and ideas of their center as well as of the anarchist influence and importance of the Exarchia neighborhood. They also comment on the topic of governmental (Syriza) policies and the difference of their work to such policies. And they also mention problems encountered in this project.
Some more interviews with anarchist organizations and anarchist projects will follow soon as part of our new series on anarchism and social struggles in the Mediterranean. This is part is on the occupied refugee center Notara26 in Athens, Greece.
Length: 12:36 min
You can download the audio at: archive.org (wav | mp3 | ogg).
Here you can listen to it directly:
[Read More]
On 26th December we visited the Orfanotrofio Squat in Thessaloniki’s Toumba district. A place that was squatted and is now administrated by refugees and the “Anti-authoritarian Space” [1] as well as other active people from Thessaloniki.
About the history
The plan to collectively organize a project like this emerged in September 2015. Connections and contacts between refugees and activists from Thessaloniki were established through the “No border kitchen” in Eidomeni. Together opportunities for meeting and living spaces were sought. Because the border closed three weeks ago (see also part 2 of our report) the creation of a self-organized space got necessary. For many people it became obvious that immediate action was inevitable. Consequently refugees that were rejected at the Macedonian border squatted together with people of the „Anti-authoritarian Space“, the so called ‘Orfanotrofio’. The church owned property was already squatted once in 2013.Three weeks ago, priests together with the cops, threatened to evict the place which did not happen yet. An anarchist comrade estimates the situation right now to be relatively relaxed. According to her, the cops have no reason to evict the place, because there seems to be no apparent political perspective nor will to create spaces for refugees and other socially marginalized groups. Nevertheless, it remains a squatted place and therefore is never absolutely safe. [Read More]
Produced by Elena Askløf and Peter Laugesen / Our Europe. [Read More]
Last week the French police evicted four migrant camps in Calais. These were the only camps in the town itself. Monday’s evictions made it clear that the migrant population in Calais would only be allowed to live in the “jungle”, an area of land on the edge of the town (note: the word ‘jungle’ comes from the Pashto ‘dzangal’, meaning ‘forest’. The name comes from the Pashtun Jungle, a forested area in Calais occupied by Afghans back in 2009, but it is no coincidence that the media has continued to use this term to describe the camps…). The current camp population has swollen to 4000 people due to tightened security at the border and the greater difficulties crossing; 3 people have died trying to cross in the past two weeks. This article is gathered from Calais Migrant Solidarity and gives an update on the latest situation over there. [Read More]
A No Borders Camp has been happening on the Franco-Italian border since June, when the French government shut the border to refugees without travel documents or legal status.
From the camp’s website:
The No Border Camp of Ventimiglia started on the 11th of June, when a group of migrant moved on the rocks in order to resist the police eviction, identification and continue to struggle for their freedom. A group of migrant moved on the rocks in order to resist the police eviction, identification and continue to struggle for their freedom. From that day solidarity networks from different territories have been working to build a permanent laboratory of resistance to repressive politics we see in action on borders. [Read More]
Across Europe, people without papers are refusing to suffer the brutal border regime. From Hungary to France, people are cutting the fences, blocking trains and roads, occupying train stations and public buildings, self-organising and fighting. In Calais, the pace of struggle is picking up with large scale actions now happening on an every day basis, as well of course as individuals and groups taking on the fences every night. Here are reports from the last two days reposted from Calais Migrant Solidarity. Yesterday (Thursday) a crowd of hundreds blockaded the government’s aid distribution centre, demanding free movement not rotten crumbs of aid. Today the crowd marched into town to confront the politicians. Another big action is planned for tomorrow. [Read More]
Tuesday, August 25 2015 The building of the Departmental Federation of the Socialist Party of Haute-Garonne, in rue Lancefoc, Toulouse, was again the target of damage on the night of Monday to Tuesday.
When they arrived on Tuesday morning, the staff of SP 31, discovered the facade stained with blackish oily liquid and several inscriptions on the walls and gate, including “no evictions” and “solidarity with no papers”. […]
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This text on the wave of sans-papiers occupations in Paris tells important lessons for those involved in migrant struggles on the strategies used by liberal democratic states to contain them. If we anticipate these moves, how can we pre-empt them? And what strategic targets are based near you?
Original French text in Lucioles #23 with the title ‘Against states and their borders: revolution’; roughly translated by Rabble.
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