dutch refugee struggle escaletes; mass hungerstrikes spread

[Sasha]

I'll write a longer report later but over the last few years the struggle against the racist murderous refugee policies of the dutch state have seen more and more resistance, after a series of bomb attacks in the ministry and the home of the state-secraty in the early 90s by the radical anti racist group RARA radical resistance went dormant for a long time only to reawakenend by the catrastropic fire in a detention facilita few years ago, since then radical action spread to the mainstream and since a year or so refugees themselves joined in with action camps on the streets and church occupations.
A few months ago a Russian opposition figure commited suicide in a detention camp where he was illigaly detained. This caused an uproar and the responsible minister had to fight to stay in his job. During this week a African refugee that went on a hunger and thirst strike got suddenly a residence permit because the minister couldn't afford another dead refugee (normally the state refuses to negotiate with hunger strikers).
First of May 30 refugees held on schiphol airport went on hungerstrike. Yesterday more than 60 held in Rotterdam joined them.
I'll keep you up to date whit what happens in this thread.

[Sasha]

Don’t let the thirst strikers die!

Since Sunday we know that refugees in the border detention centers of Schiphol and Rotterdam took action to require their freedom. For that purpose they decided to start a hunger and even thirst- strike.

The protest of the refugees wouldn’t be known to the outside if not at the very day of the start of the strike a solidaritydemonstration of no-border activists passedbythose detention centers. That happened at the 5th of May, the ‘day of freedome’ which reminds of the day when the German occupation during the Second World War was ended.

It is this connection of differenthappenings which brought attention to the fact that people are locked up under horrible conditions, sufferingfromthe fear and insecurity of people that have just fled from violence, terror and persecution. We, activists fromthe NoBorder Network,find it shocking that refugees in the borderprisons don’t see any other solution than hunger strikeor eventhirststriketobreakthe wallsofsilence.This is why we support their fight by making this facts known. This cannot go on!

In the detention center of Rotterdam twenty six persons are in thirst- strike. As FredTeevenknows:this will lead to death within one week. These people, who have no other future than to languish in prison without an end in sight and who are locked away in fear and uncertainty, choose death in the battle for recognition and freedom. There is nobody who could stop them. We would like to tell them: Don’t do that, choose for your life. But for what kind of life, they ask us back. We can hardly give a just answer: for a life in which you die every day, because the political situation wants it like that. That choice is not ours.

But to die from famine or thirst is not a choice! The choice that the hunger- and thirst strikers made is the only way they can stillhave autonomy and agency over their own life’s. Nobody else can make that choice, no guard or manager of a detentioncenter, no doctor in the medical tract and no activist standing outside in front of the wall with a sign. This situation is amazingly sad and we strongly hope that we don’t have to mourn over a death next week.

The power over this is in the hands of only two kind of people: the thirst strikers themselfas long as theychoose to surrender to deportation and imprisonment, or the Secretary of State when they admit that the policies they are keeping bring new victims every day. Moreover when the politicians, making and defending the policies, understand that they alone are the ones who can really decide on the lives of these people. The politics of Fortress Europe that keep building its borders higher and stronger, are politics which can only be described as colonial politics of apartheid. People wanttokeeptheir privileges coming with a paper, namely their passports which they are given to according to their place of birth. This is why poorer countries and people are locked up outside. Alone the one’s which are producing and the people who can be used for the economy are welcomed. The deportation from people has surely nothing to do with a country being ‘FULL’ how it is often shout out. This is a false conclusion in order to bring the ‘own’ inhabitant up against the ‘foreigners’. It is not about a country being ‘FULL’, it is about the economic ‘UTILITY’ of people who are measured by their knowledge and financial position. There is space in this country: for prisons, for vacant office building. There is enough money in this country: for intimidation, repression, hunting and deportations.

Will the European capitalist countries choose their privileges and power over the people who are sufferingor dying inthe prisons and streets? Willpeople remaincriminalizedand deportedbecause those countries choose to keep their in-human and unjust policies?We fear so. And if we are very honest with a thirst striker who asks us whether he has to continue, we can only say that we are not able to decide that from our privileged position. Life is to them, so is the choice for life:Shouldtheydie of hunger or thirst? Or of illness, of a life on the streets, in prisons, on the run, or of torture or murder after deportation?

The No Border Network supports the demand of the refugees in the prison:freedom. The freedom to build a life.The freedomto live. Give the people their freedom. Before it's too late!

No Border Network, May 8, 2013

[Comrade #138672]

Thank you for keeping everyone updated. You are right.

It is a shame that this is allowed to continue. Many racists here want to go even further. Let's hope they do not get what they want.

I seriously fear that it will go much further than this, because they seem to have the cultural hegemony on their side. The Left is very weak now and may not be able to do anything about it for now. We are even betrayed by the PvdA, who should know better than this. They are legitimizing Wilders, who is gaining right-wing votes from disillusioned CDA and VVD voters.

[Domela Nieuwenhuis]

PvdA has finally shown their true colors.
Socialists? HA! No more than pittyfull neoliberals!

That PVV is getting more and more voters is because he is a Nationalist Demagogue.
He tricks people into voting for him, he willfully creates situations where he can show off his being right, only to backstab his voters afterwards.

In 2012, the Dutch Socialist Party (SP) has made a report about the misleading actions by the PVV.
Read it here (http://www.sp.nl/service/rapport/120406_PVV_gedogen_tegen_welke_prijs.pdf). (in Dutch)
At the end of the report is a list of the ten most important broken promises by the PVV from it's election-campaign of 2010. Unfortunatly, the list goes on beyond that.

Even after having been shown those points, people still want to vote for Wilders (who is in fact the only member of the party, although it has more representatives in parliament. Do i hear "authoritarian"?).
Why? fear of losing it all. They cling on to the last bit they think they can control (the Dutch-culture), when in fact it is one thing humans can never control.

[Halert]

It's a really important issue.
It sickens me that our government threats immigrants as criminals.
My heart goes out to the people of the hunger and thirst strikers.
The betrayal of the pvda doesn't surprise me at all. I don't see the pvda as neoliberals more like social democrats.They are just addicted to 'het pluche' and they underestimate the effects of this law.

[Sasha]

Refugees resisting state oppression,and solidarity activism in theNetherlands: hunger strikes and more

Protest and resistance by refugees and solidarity activists inthe Netherlands is meeting serious repression.This isnow getting mediaattention, and provoking new protest as well.

Asylum seekers in a detention centre in Rotterdam haverevolted in recent days. Therevolt was connected to a hungerstrike of detained refugees (1) that has been going on since1 May, first indetention centres in both Schiphol and Rotterdam, currently only in Rotterdam. The resisting refugees are intimidated, someof them putin isolation cells.

Two peopleon hungerstrike also refused todrink, and brought to a hospital, after oneof them explicitly stated that hedid NOT wantto be fed, given medical tratment or indeed, broughtto a hospital. Shortly after that, a judgeordered his release: his detention was deemed unlawful, the man can now awaitthenext phasein theadmittanceprocedureoutsidea detention centre. A small victory forthe refugees struggling and the activists organizing solidarity. That was last week. Also, last week, a numberof solidariry activists went on hungersttrikethemselves for48 hours, as a gestureofsupport(2). Mostof them, 13 on thesecond day, sat nearParliamentbuilding, mostly in thepuuring rain. One of them stopped drinking as well. A few participated in thehungerstrike fromotherplaces, theirhomefor instance. I was oneof them.

Yesterday,l the news ofa revoltinsidethe Rotterdam detention centre cameto theoutside, as activists, standing outside thedetention center in a support demonstration – theseare held daily during thehungerstrike, an Occupy Rotterdam initiative – saw refugees gesticulating in front ofthe windows, pointing to their naked back to bruises and so on. Apparently, refugees revolted and werebeaten, nineofthem. Refugees wereput in isolation. A trusted doctorwho wanted to goinside, was hindered by authorities, so it is still hard to say whatexactly is happening in the horror chambers of theRotterdam detention center. National media is beginning to take note.

Recentevents arepart ofa long chain of protests and resistanceactios of, and in solidarity wioth, refugees. We've seen action camps by asylum seekers in TerApel, Den Bosch, TheHague, Amsterdam. Supportoften comes from remaining Occupy groups and/ or Occupy-related activists. In TheHague, a group ofrefugees now lives in, basically, a squatted church (now called 'Vluchthuis', houseofrefuge), in Amsterdam a similargroup could stay for several months in anotherchurch, called 'Vluchtkerk' church of refuge') fortheoccasion. There have been a numberof solidarity demonstrations, one on 23 March that was sizable (about 2500 participants). And now, there arethehungerstrikes, and the daily support actions outsidetheRotterdam detention centre. Also there areefforts, bot juridical and activists, to stop individual deportations that arehappening on an almost daily basis. Sometimes, lawyer's efforts helped to stop such deportations on thevery last moment. Sometimes not.

This week will seeanotherdemonstration, hopefully a rather big one. The specific goal is a protest against threatened government law to make illegal stay, uh... illigal, i.e. a criminal offense. Therehas been protest against that from refugees, but also from members and supporters ofthe PvdA, the Dutch labour party, who agreed to themeasureas part of a deal with theopenly rightwing VVD liberal party, theotherwing ofthe government. The protest did not achieveits goal of turning theparty around. Coalition politics and loyalty to thestate itselftookprecedence abovetheindignation of part oftheir support base. That indignation was boughtoff with nicewords about 'a morehumaneasylum policy'. The coming demonstration will; target, not thePvdA in particular but the government measureas such. The motto ”Refugee, notcriminal!” Hopefully, theangerthat therepression ofhungerstrikers and other refugees insidejails is proboking, will translatein extra support and militancy on the demo. The action will take placeon W ednesday, 22 May, in TheHague(3).

Thereis moreto comein the fightagainstoppression of migrants/refugees/ asylum seekers/ people without papers. In August, therewill be a No Border Camp in the Netherlands (4). In Rotterdam, ofall places. No doubt, new state-infi flicted horrors will then haveprovoked new actions already. Thefight is ongoing, often quitedesperate, but not without small and encouraging results.

Notes: (1) LutherBlisset, “Solidarity with hunger strikers in detention centres in theNetherlands”, on the website “I am un chien Andalusian”, 10 mei2013, http://iamunchienandalusia.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/solidarity-with-hunger-strikers-in-detention-centres-in-the-netherlands/

(2) Laura Zuffi, “On-going hunger strikeuin The Haguetosupport imprisoned asylumseekers in theNetherlands”, on thewebsite“The Global Oyster", 17 mei 2013, http://theglobaloyster.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/on-going-hunger-strike-in-the-hague-to-support-imprisoned-asylum-seekers-in-the-netherlands-2/

(3) 22-05-2013: Demonstratie: Vluchteling, geen-crimineel!http://rechtopbestaan.nl/recht-op-bestaan/22-05-2013-demonstratie-vluchteling-geen-crimineel/ (scroll further down to seetheEnglish-language call-out.)

(4) websiteNo Border Camp:http://nobordercamp.nl/

More information can befound through websites of groups and networks involved in struggle. Theimportant ones: No Border Network- http://no-border.nl/Werkgroep Deportatieverzet- http://deportatieverzet.nl/ , with an English-language section for refugees themselves: http://deportatieverzet.nl/refugees/Rechtop Bestaan - http://rechtopbestaan.nl/Prime, Participating Refugees in a Multicultural Europe- http://www.prime95.nl/MainW/

Peter storm

Source; http://libcom.org/blog/refugees-resisting-state-oppression-solidarity-activism-nethelands-hunger-strikes-more-1905