[Video] Συμβολική δράση στο Άγαλμα της Ελευθερίας στη Μυτιλήνη

Συμβολική δράση από το “No Border Kitchen Lesvos” σε συνεργασία με την Κατάληψη στο Μπίνειο, στις 18 Μαρτίου 2021, στο Άγαλμα της Ελευθερίας στη Μυτιλήνη, ενάντια στην Ευρώπη-Φρούριο και τη συμφωνία μεταξύ ΕΕ και Τουρκίας που έκλεισε 5 χρόνια.

Ακολουθεί το ενημερωτικό κείμενο στα αγγλικά που δημοσίευσε το “No Border Kitchen Lesvos”:

Five years. 1826 days.

It has been five years to the day that the European Union and Turkey signed the EU-Turkey deal. In 2016 this deal showed to many the true face of the EU. The disdain and contempt for human life embedded in the structural racism that runs through our societies formalized in a document. A document that would destroy countless lives and force many more to suffer. Words like “irregular migration” and “humanitarian improvements” serve to mask their true intent. To exclude all they consider “other”. In the years that followed the intentions and consequences of the deal became more and more clear.

After thousands of people forced to flee war and poverty sought refuge in Europe, they called it a “crisis”. Instead of welcoming people in accordance with ideas of “human rights” they signed a deal with an aspiring dictator. Instead of helping out, the EU granted legitimacy and financial support to his regime. A regime that continues to oppress everybody that disagrees. And so “safety” is a relative term that is only used when it is useful for Greece or the EU to justify their support and dependence on a state that supposedly goes against everything they stand for. And Erdogan continues to this day to play his position thanks to this deal, using human beings as pawns in his despotic games.

The deal represented a paradigm shift in Greece and on the Island of Lesvos. It facilitated a change in asylum procedures, that shifted one of the fundamental questions underpinning the process. People risking their life to make an asylum claim usually get presented with the question: why did you “chose” to leave your country of origin? Because of the deal, the question is now: Why are you not safe in Turkey? (1) The absurdity of this question knows no bounds. Several months after the signing of the deal there was a coup attempt in Turkey, that was at first used to arrest and jail supposed Gulinists. But as expected later many leftists, supposed PKK members and other dissidents were socially isolated and fired from their jobs, or jailed. In addition to this, Edrogan has been known to at least sympathize with Deash/IS and offer them safe spaces and corridors throughout the country. Regarding the question “is Turkey a safe country”, one person working with us wrote about the EU-Turkey deal (published before on our facebook page with full consent) the following:

“First, I went to Turkey, but actually I wanted to go to Europe. I stay some time in Turkey, to get a job to send money back to my sister. She needs surgery to be able to move the leg again, go to school and have a good life. The good thing was, I got a job and managed to send her the money and she was able to move again, and go to school. After that, I started to think more and more about Europe. Europeans think Turkey is a safe country for me, but it’s not true. Why?

1. Turkey organised a lot of militias for Isis. This makes it dangerous for me to be around. In 2016 they killed a friend in his house because he spoke on social media about the situation in Syria.

2. The police came to my house by mistake. They were looking for Isis members and got the address of my neighbor, but raided me by mistake. For two weeks I was in the police station until they found out I’m a normal person, and I also don’t like Isis.

3. Every week we find a bomb in a different area, and the police come to take it away. For example, close to Taksim I sit with my friend and close to us a suicide bomber blew up a club less than one kilometer away from us. ” (2)

The designation of Turkey as a “safe country” is a transparent lie. But a lie that gets told many times, because it serves the interests of the authorities. It is a lie that has caused much harm over the years.

Instead of people being relatively free to move after arrival, they were now forced into camps. More specifically a camp that had already been build some years earlier, with a capacity of 300 people. The camp was named after the village next to it, and that village was called Moria. The conditions and experiences inside that place have been well documented, and it was this deal that was one of the biggest reasons many people were forced to spend their time there. It also contributed to an increased distinction between “refugees” and “asylum seekers”.

This distinction that is important to reinforce the status quo is a dangerous and false dichotomy one. Sadly it is an idea that is deeply ingrained in the minds of the people that are fortunate enough to be born in Europe.

The deal also facilitated easy deportations back to Turkey. Every week the ferry would come and take those that were captured back to Turkish prisons, where many were forced to stay for months without access to legal support. Despite this, people tried time and time again to reach Europe. The deal also played a large part in shifting the narrative on the Island and Europe at large. With an “alternative” in hand, the authorities were free to double down on the story around that characterized the human beings that were still making the crossings as “invading barbarians” that wanted to destroy our “European way of life”. While this shift was not immediately apparent, the seeds were surely sown in this time period, with again this same deal at its foundation.

It is important to mention the help that the bureaucrats of the EU received in the planning and formulation of the deal. Consultancy firm Mckinsey was heavily involved in constructing the deal. For months, they did fieldwork, researching how the deal would work in practice. They were awarded the consultancy position without any competition, and their involvement was not widely known until last year.

(3) Before that they have also consulted Germany about the processing of their asylum claims. Besides that, they had also helped the American border security agency ICE with some proposals that ICE officials deemed “too harsh”.

(4) Many recommendations made by Mckinsey with regards to the situation in the Aegean that were not implemented by the Syriza, were subsequently used by Nea Demokratia after they took power. The sinister implication of a “consultancy firm” that involves itself internationally with border policy that seems to be exclusively aimed at “efficiency” is obvious. Efficiency means exclusion. The more exclusion, the more efficient. An efficient asylum system means efficient deportations, efficient push-backs and efficient asylum processes means a high rate of returns, “voluntary” or otherwise.

The deal was meant to be a blueprint. A design that could be used in other places, with a few changes. And it was used by both the EU and individual member states. After 2016 followed deals with Libya, where the EU funded a militia and transformed them into a coastguard. Greece made a deal with Afghanistan last year to facilitate voluntary returns and deportations.

(5) The European Union continues to fund states and organisations that supposedly go against their “founding principles” in order to make it more and more impossible for people to find safety and dignity within its borders. Several times Erdogan threatened to “open the borders” when he did not get his way. Last year he loaded people into buses and had them driven to the Evros border region in order to put pressure on the EU. This led to clashes at the border and served to consolidate the far-right in Greece as a whole, but especially on Lesvos. It is clear that the effects of this despicable deal still affects many people to this day. Not only that, but they are reworking the terms of the deal.(6) It is very indicative of the EU’s ideal for the future. Instead of taking responsibility for their liberal values, they chose to renew the deal that has caused so much suffering over the years.

Today we commemorate the five year “anniversary” of the deal with multiple actions of protest and resistance against both this deal and others like it. We commemorate not only the signing of the deal itself, but the people that suffered because of it. Those who were forced to flee their homes because of western funded wars, neo-colonial policies or sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Those who would be arrested, deported or pushed back at sea by the uniformed attack dogs of the state, on behalf of the EU and its Liberal values. A system that sentences people to prison in a kangaroo court and get away with it because they are “others”. This deal and its influence of the year strengthens the belief that nation-states will never bring us the world we want to see.

We reject the social and economic system that values profit over people. Together we join our struggle for a better world free of Racism,Prisons,Borders,Sexism, Homophobia and Classes in solidarity. All groups, collectives and friends joining us in actions and demonstrations on this day in these difficult times, we recognize our common struggles and we see you. All we have is each other.

1826 days and the struggle continues.

No Nations, No Borders.