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07.04.2020 – First anniversary of the
disappearance of our sister Rita
We still demand “Justice for Rita”!
One year ago, on 07.04.2019, our sister Rita was reported missing. Her body had been lying only 200 meters away from her camp in Hohenleipisch and yet it took the police almost three months to find her. The police investigation took another six months to confirm that Rita had been murdered. Only then was Rita’s body handed over to her family for the funeral.
To this day there is no information whatsoever about what happened to our sister. Rita was only 32 years old, left two small children behind and had to spend the last seven years of her life in the camp in Hohenleipisch. During this time she complained several times to the home management about sexual harassment, but her complaints were ignored throughout.
The consequence of ignoring our demand for “abolition of all
Lagers” can be seen particularly well in the current Covid 19
pandemic period.
There are numerous self-organized protests by refugees, especially
in the overcrowded and cramped first-admission camps like Bremen and
Halberstadt (Saxony-Anhalt), who demonstrate against the
accommodations they are housed in.
While contact is
restricted by numerous measures for protection against the Corona
Virus, tens of thousands of people in Berlin live in shelters for
refugees and homeless people, cramped together in multi-bed rooms and
shared facilities like bathrooms and kitchens. At least 30,000
homeless have been placed in precarious accommodation, often without
any social care or quality standards, by the district offices
according to the ASOG, and a further 20,0002 live in collective
accommodation run by the State Office for Refugee Affairs (LAF) with
up to 500 residents per shelter. In this situation, it is impossible
to comply with contact and distance prohibitions. In addition, there
are several thousand homeless people living on the streets, who are
hardly able to protect themselves from the virus. On the other hand,
almost all 150,000 beds in the 800 hotels and accommodation
facilities in Berlin are currently empty, and there are also numerous
holiday apartments and furnished “business apartments” that
are usually rented on a monthly basis.
We demand the
immediate housing of all homeless people in flats and holiday or
business apartments and the dissolution of mass accommodation where
protection against infection is not possible.
Our demands:
Safe and decent
living instead of homelessness and collective accommodation –
immediate measures
Homeless people always belong to the so-called risk groups due to the living conditions on the streets, their situation has been considerably aggravated by the corona pandemic: Berlin emergency overnight shelters were closed or the number of beds reduced. Day care facilities for the homeless closed, too. The supply of food is partly shifted to the streets, the existing supply structure is crumbling. For people on the street, this is an enormous physical and psychological burden.The 350 places recently created at two locations in Berlin for homeless people are far from sufficient for the 2000 people who were recently counted in Berlin living visibly on the streets. The corona virus can spread quickly in the emergency shelters of the “Kältehilfe” – they are a danger to those affected and everyone else.
It
has been
a question of when and not if, corona virus would
find
its
way to lagers in Brandenburg too.
Separate
containers have been set on the compounds and some of the refugees
have been under quarantine. The
first three cases from the refugees who have been quaranted in
Doberlug-Kirchhain
have
now tested positive. The
refugees are now living in fear and scared of their lives because
they are aware, there is very little they can do to prevent
themselves of
being
infected with
the covid-19.
So
far, they are supposed to wear masks, each has been presented with
one because they aren`t more in the moment. They are
still
allowed to go into the city, if necessary but only in a group of two
persons. They have been warned of being fined if the police finds
them breaking the social distance law of 1,5m. The
camp will not be in
quarantine as a whole
unless many refugees in the camp test positive.
Organisations
working with refugees have been demanding for the closure of lagers
for many years and the demands have got intensified since
the break of the covid-19. Press releases from different
organisations in Berlin and Brandenburg and German wide have
been focusing on the
closure of the camps and moving the refugees to alternative spaces.
After police invaded the dention camp in Suhl (Thüringen),
it was obvious for the refugees no solution could be found. Physical
distancing is impossible in the often crowded
way they are accommodated
and
the sharing of the amenities such as bathrooms, toilets and kitchens
or dining halls.
Doberlug-Kirchhain
should be closed immediately! Close all Camps!!
We have already pointed that information in different languages are lacking in the camps. Aft.er starting our video empowerment campaign for women to share their experience and situation they are going through at the moment.
It is very obvious, it is impossible to follow the “social distancing” rules because in the camps, sharing of social amenities such as bathrooms, toilets and kitchen/dining halls. We will keep sharing this information with you regularly.
We, Women in Exile & Friends, will exchange information about the Corona crisis together with the women in the Camps, accompany and empower each other. We will do this digital.
That is what we want to do:
We share our
knowledge about free and easily accessible video conferencing
facilities in telephone conversations. Since there is very often no
Wlan in the rooms, we will need money for the mobile data of the
women.
We break the
isolation by sharing knowledge. The women lived in isolation in the
camps even before the “social-distancing” through Corona.
We want to empower ourselves to demand solid information,
transparency and the right to have a say from the authorities.
We exchange
information on preventive measures to prevent or slow down the
spread of the corona virus. Even though we realise that this is
impossible in overcrowded camps. The problem is a structural one and
cannot be solved by washing hands. Racism and mass housing is the
problem and this can now have catastrophic consequences.
The first part of the
campaign will be to contact the women by telephone, explaining to
them how to take part in a video conferencing workshop.
The second part will be
the digital workshop where we will discuss the impact of the Corona
crisis in the refugee community.
Marching with our allies in Potsdam, on Saturday the 07.03.20. Celebrating International day for women with the motto „We fight together”.
The activities on this
day were as diverse and corouful as the alliances. We read speeches, celebrated
and honoured past women* hereoes who died through femicide or racism. We made
our voices loud by shouting slogans, dancing and singing.
After the demonstration
and the opening of our new space on the 08.3, we diceded to reflect personally
on this years International Women’s day 2020 theme: „I AM GENERATIONAL
EQUALITY: realizing women`s rights“.
Taking into account
that feminism is diverse and we fight together, means looking and acknowledging
each other because we have different fights and different experiences.
This is why, we asked
some of the women* from our group; what fighting together on gender equality
individually means to them:
„Fighting together
on gender equality ….
….is fighting for the
equal access with ease of ressources and opportunities regardless of one being
male or female.“ (E.)
…is to empower women,
with a focus on identifying and redressing power inbalances and giving women
more autonomy to manage their own lives.“ (L.)
… means that our
diversity is one of our strenghts and that we are united in our journey towards
justice.“ (M.)
… means to fight for
equality in all aspectects of life and against all forms of oppression and
acknowledge how they are interconnected.“ ( Ch.)
… means fighting for
more chances for women in all areas, creating space for women in the decision
making table. It also means that women are able to explore and express their
femininity without fear of sexual assault or constriction.“ (S.)
…is the struggle
against the colonisation of our bodies, our minds, our people and territories.
There can be no struggle for equality if there is no struggle against racism.“
(D.)
… is freeing our
minds and knowing we can do what we love without fear of being dominated by any
other gender, regardless of my gender.“ (C.)
On Sunday, March 8th in Hermannstr 22, we inaugurated our Space.
The ceremony started at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m. the ribbon-cutting ceremony to enter the new space was simply wonderful. We had a welcoming speech and a huge thanks to all those who participated in renovating the space and in the organization of the celebration.
This space represents a major achievement for the activities of
our organization.
The inauguration was highlighted by the presence of female activists, women of
different religions, friends, neighbors and refugee women from various
Landkreise of Berlin & Brandenburg.
And this new space has been very welcome into our organization.
We are going to use this room for our various meetings, internal
with our group and external with our anti-racist and feminist networks . We
will organize workshops about empowerment, health, education of refugee women,
and how to include newcomers into the German society.
There also will be a weekly legal councelling for refugee women by
the refugee law clinic Berlin and we are going to organize Küfas, political
events and other activities for the well-being of refugee women, the neighbor
hood and all interested people from the civil society.
This opening ceremony of our new space matched with the date of
March 8th, the International Women’s Day, and was a great success.
We thank all those who contributed and support us on the way to
reaching our goals.
The International Women`s
Day history is celebrated for different reasons in different regions. This is
why, we from Women in Exile and Friends will this year, like every year, reclaim
the streets with other feminist groups because we are many, we are strong and
we fight together.
We join women,
lesbians, inter*, trans* & non-binary people around the world, take to the
streets and fight for our rights against all kinds of discrimination and
violence.
We live in a
patriarchal society with male dominated structure where women are discriminated
socially and politically. We call for participation feminist and solidarity men
along with the women on this day. Together we will make the world will be a
better place.
We invite
you to our Demonstration on 07.03.2020 celebrating International Women`s Day in
Potsdam. The meeting point is at Hbf Potsdam Nord / Babelsbergerstr. at 13.30h
– from there we head towards Filmmuseum, Luisenplatz, Nauener Tor until Platz
der Einheit
We from
Women in Exile and Friends, together with our alliances in Potsdam, will be
marching on the streets on Saturday the 07.03.20 with the motto „We fight together”.
We are many and fight together: we are refugees, black and women* of
colour,lesbians, inter*, trans*, non-binary people and take the advantage of the international
women`s days to go to the streets and
fight for our rights against all kinds of discrimination and violence.
We will get
loud for all the injustices and inhuman treatment as we witness the physcial
violation of refugee on the Turkey, Greece border while the politicians from
both sides are talking of deals and money.
Women in Exile e.V. is looking for sustaining members!
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