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<div class="gmail_quote">[Please DISTRIBUTE widely. Thanks.]<br>
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Dear friends and comrades,<br>
<br>
Stop Deportation, along with other groups in Europe, are proposing a<br>
European Week of Action Against the Deportation Machine, with a focus on<br>
joint European mass deportation flights and Frontex. The proposed date
is<br>
the first week of June 2010, 1st-6th.<br>
<br>
Put simply, the idea is that groups and campaigns throughout Europe<br>
organise their own direct actions, demos and marches against forcible<br>
deportations from European countries, which are increasingly carried out<br>
through joint coordinated 'operations' involving private contractors and<br>
shadowy agencies like Frontex and the IOM. Protests will inevitably
take a<br>
variety of shapes but a series of coordinated, decentralised actions and<br>
protests would make the message clearer and louder. A week, rather than
a<br>
day, of action would allow groups more flexibility to do what they want
to<br>
do.<br>
<br>
By trying to widen the scope and diversity of the groups involved, we
also<br>
want to draw attention to the fact that anti-deportation is not a
'single<br>
issue campaign'. People choose or are forced to migrate for a variety or<br>
reasons, from wars and armed conflicts fuelled by the arms trade and<br>
western interests, through poverty, exploitation, discrimination, gender<br>
oppression, domestic and state violence, to climate change.<br>
<br>
If your group/campaign would like to get involved, whether through
helping<br>
coordinate or publicise the week of action or by organising your own<br>
action or protest in your local area, please get in touch (needless to<br>
say, if you're planning an unaccountable/arrestable action, you probably<br>
wouldn't want to get in touch!). The machine is growing and getting<br>
stronger, and so must the resistance against it!<br>
<br>
Below is a draft callout. Please comment and tell us what you think by
the<br>
end of April. Also, if you have any suggestions or ideas for what people<br>
can or should do, we would be more than happy to hear them. We are<br>
compiling a list of potential targets across Europe, along with
background<br>
information and resources, so any information would be appreciated.<br>
<br>
Stop Deportation<br>
stopdeportation[at-]<a href="http://riseup.net" target="_blank">riseup.net</a><br>
<br>
(Stop Deportation is a loose network of groups and individuals in the
UK,<br>
who campaign and take action against deportation, with a particular
focus<br>
on mass deportation flights. For more information, see<br>
<a href="http://stopdeportation.net" target="_blank">http://stopdeportation.net</a>.)<br>
<br>
----<br>
<br>
Call for a European Week of Action Against the Deportation Machine<br>
1st - 6th June 2010<br>
<br>
Deportation has become an integral part of the European immigration<br>
regime. Hundreds of refugees and migrants are forcibly deported everyday<br>
for doing what humans have done for thousands of years: moving in search<br>
of a better life, escaping poverty, abuse, discrimination, persecution,<br>
war and so on. The right of everyone to travel and live where they want
is<br>
denied for those with the 'wrong' skin colour, passport or bank account.<br>
They are treated like 'criminals' and incarcerated in special prisons<br>
disguised under various euphemisms (removal centres, guest houses and so<br>
on). Racist and sexual abuse and physical violence at the hands of<br>
immigration officers and private security guards are institutionalised
by<br>
legitimising the use of force in deportation operations. Even the more<br>
vulnerable among migrants facing detention and deportation, such as<br>
children and torture survivors, are treated with humiliation instead of<br>
being offered help and support.<br>
<br>
Behind deportations lies a mixture of racism, nationalism and
imperialism<br>
in a global capitalist context: whilst capital and the nationals of the
EU<br>
and other 'first world' countries are free to travel wherever they want,<br>
those on the wrong side of artificially erected borders, whose countries<br>
are often torn apart by these very privileged Europeans and their<br>
capitalist and imperial conquests, are illegalised, criminalised and<br>
prevented from exercising their fundamental rights. They simply cease to<br>
be people; they become 'illegal immigrants', 'over-stayers' and 'failed<br>
asylum seekers' who can be dispensed with when their exploited labour is<br>
no longer needed or when they stand up for their rights. As a
consequence,<br>
common struggles and communities are divided and a culture of suspicion<br>
and surveillance prevails.<br>
<br>
When it comes to deportation orders, the causes of migration are also<br>
conveniently forgotten about. Western-manufactured weapons and armed<br>
conflicts, wars of aggression in pursuit of oil and other natural<br>
resources, repressive regimes backed by our democracy-loving
governments,<br>
climate change and land grabs... they can all be traced back here, to
our<br>
capitalist economies, consumerist lifestyles and imperial interests.<br>
Anti-deportation is not a 'single issue campaign' and people choose or
are<br>
forced to migrate for a variety or reasons.<br>
<br>
To operate a deportation flight, European governments contract a range
of<br>
private and semi-private bodies to do the dirty work for them. Airlines<br>
are a key link in the deportation machine. Not only are they one of the<br>
major contributors to the progressive killing of the planet, many
airline<br>
companies are also happy, in their pursuit of profit, to fly people to<br>
their possible death, both individually and en masse. Other profiteers<br>
include companies providing transport and escort services during
forcible<br>
deportations and multinational security companies, such as Serco and
G4S,<br>
that manage immigration prisons and carry out deportations on behalf of<br>
immigration authorities.<br>
<br>
Then there are those shadowy, unaccountable, inter-governmental
agencies,<br>
such as the EU external border agency (Frontex) and the International<br>
Organisation for Migration (IOM), whose role has become more and more<br>
prominent in recent years as European governments seek to carry out<br>
deportations through joint coordinated 'operations'. This not only saves<br>
them money but also, by putting deportations in the hands of a regional
or<br>
international body, pushes accountability to another level away from<br>
national governments and immigration authorities. Indeed, Frontex has<br>
recently assumed extra powers to charter mass deportation flights on<br>
behalf of European governments, buy equipment and explore satellite<br>
technology to monitor the 'EU borders'. After all, a racist, imperial<br>
super-state like Fortress Europe needs a mercenary army like Frontex to<br>
protect its artificial borders.<br>
<br>
Deportees, including families and children, are often handcuffed and<br>
accompanied by security guards as if they were 'dangerous criminals'
(the<br>
label 'criminal', as used by those in power, is problematic anyway).
There<br>
have been numerous reports of physical assaults and racial and sexual<br>
abuse suffered by deportees at the hands of immigration officers and<br>
private 'escorts' during individual and mass deportations. Proposals to<br>
have 'human rights monitors' on deportation flights, as recently<br>
recommended by a senior EU commissioner, may prevent some of these<br>
practices but will also legitimise the brutality of deportation itself.<br>
<br>
We realise that resistance against deportation is continuous and not<br>
confined to days or weeks of action: people trying to cross the border
in<br>
the most dangerous conditions everyday; hunger strikes and riots in<br>
immigration prisons; deportees and sympathetic passengers refusing to
sit<br>
down quietly on board inconspicuous planes; communities coming together
to<br>
defend their members; regular protests and actions against various parts<br>
of the deportation machine... Yet, more needs to be done as thousands of<br>
people continue to be forcibly deported everyday.<br>
<br>
We are calling upon all concerned individuals and groups throughout
Europe<br>
to join us in a decentralised, coordinated week of action against the<br>
deportation machine in the first week of June 2010. We are calling upon<br>
migrants and refugees and their supporters inside and outside Europe to<br>
organise their own actions and protests during this week in a united
cry:<br>
STOP DEPORTATIONS!<br>
NO TO FORTRESS EUROPE!<br>
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT FOR ALL!<br>
<br>
[There are translations of the callout into many other languages at<br>
<a href="http://stopdeportation.net/node/41" target="_blank">http://stopdeportation.net/node/41</a>].<br>
<br>
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