|
|  |
Zweedse FOE komt op voor Irakese vluchtelingen
COP15mobilisatie - 18.09.2009 14:30
De beelden uit Kopenhagen, van de ontruiming van de kerk die onderdak bood aan Irakese vluchtelingen, gingen de wereld rond. De Deense smeris liet zich weer van haar beste kant zien en hield aardig huis onder de toegesnelde demonstranten. Interessant dat er nu een persbericht verschenen is van het Zweedse Friends of the Earth mbt deze kwestie. Waar sommige milieu-organisaties en actiegroepen in het licht van klimaatsverandering steeds meer een nationalistische koers gaan varen (denk aan Sea Shepherd), komt het Zweedse FOE met een ander bericht naar buiten.
Politicize the Copenhagenprocess I
Friends of the Earth Sweden sees a need in politicizing the preparations for
the Copenhagen Climate activities in December. We see a need in bringing to
the forefront such issues that shows the hypocrisy and the violence inherent
in continuing the present fossil fuel development model. It is not enough
with the political platforms which initiatives as Climate Forum 09 and
Climate Justice Action are based upon. It is also necessary to continously
express criticism on actual conflicts were our common agenda and its
contradictions with the present politics is shown.
The deportation of Iraq war refugees from a church in Copenhagen is one way
this contradiction is clearly expressed. We call upon other organisations to
sign on to our statement below. We hope we can organise a signiture campaign
on the web soon.
Tord Björk, FoE Sweden
Stop the Violence Against Oil War Refugees in Denmark!
We denounce the violence in Denmark against refugees from the oil war in
Iraq. The violent police action to deport asylum seekers in the Brorson
church in Nörrebro in the Danish capital Copenhagen where riot gear was used
inside the church as well as the use of massive force on the street outside
the church against supporters of the refugees is not humane.
This violence is inherent in the present fossil fuel based development
model. This development model is the basis for unsustainable production and
consumption in privileged countries like Denmark. At the same time the
majority of the population in the world live in places that gets
impoverished. Here the natural resources are exploited benefiting the
privileged rich social classes living elsewhere by the use of aggressive
economic or military means. The result is growing social inequalities and a
global ecological crisis including global warming.
We support the massive Danish civil disobedience against the violence used
against the Iraqi refugees. Hiding asylum seekers in Denmark is a crime. It
has especially severe consequences for priests in the Danish state church as
they are employed by the Danish state. The priest that allowed the refugees
to use the Brorson church as an asylum is now faced with charges from his
employers which may end by the loss of his job. He is supported by
proximately half of the priests in the Danish church and one fourth of the
Danish priests claim that they are willing to hide refugees as an act of
civil disobedience. The violent eviction of the refugees from the church
also caused wide spread protests among the rest of the population. Some
hours afterwards 20 000 people gathered in a demonstration to denounce the
police action and deportation. Thousands of Danes from all strands of
society now claim that they are willing to use civil disobedience to hide
refugees and a lot of actions takes place to mobilise against the inhumane
acts against refugees in Denmark.
We environmental, peasant, pacifist, indigenous, religious and other
movements in different parts of the world call for solidarity with the
Danish civil disobedience movement to protect refugees and demand a humane
asylum policy and practice. We see the respect of the age old right of
church asylum as important for a society that want to call itself humane and
democratic.
We are also worried about the way the Danish state acts in a time when the
causes behind growing number of refugees are going to be discussed a the UN
Climate summit in Copenhagen 7-18 of December. More and more refugees comes
from regions were war and occupation is carried out to enforce the
exploitation of fossil fuels in the interest of rich and privileged
countries or from regions with victims of global warming. Denmark is in
many cases in the forefront of repression and criminalisation of popular
movements. In Denmark contrary to a neighbouring country like Sweden hiding
asylum seekers is a crime and thus a movement which in Sweden includes tens
of thousands of people is criminalised in Denmark. The first organisation to
be sentenced as a terrorist organisation in Denmark according to new laws is
Greenpeace who entered the office of a corporation in Copenhagen and made a
banner drop protesting against GMOs.
The Climate Summit is a historic opportunity to strengthen a global climate
justice alliance among all movements and those governments willing to
acknowledge global and social justice as the basis for solving the climate
crisis. It is of importance for the whole humanity that this voice can be
raised. The massive use of force against those inside and outside of the
Brorson church to enforce the deportation of the refugees puts in question
the willingness of the Danish state to provide the possibility of a
democratic participation in the climate negotiations including movements
from the South. The Danish People¹s Party which has pushed the Danish
government towards more and more restrictive policies towards refugees is
now also calling for a closure of the borders for demonstrators during the
Climate Summit.
We call upon solidarity among all movements supporting climate justice
against repression and escalation of violent police actions against refugees
and movements in Denmark and during the Climate Summit.
Friends of the Earth Sweden
The deportation has been criticised as the Danish state entered the church
and after a while put their riot gear on. This has been claimed by others to
be a lie. But in the end it became clear that although the police did not
enter the building in riot gear they put them on after a while. The police
action outside the church to fulfil the deportation was violent according to
all sources.
The first video showing how the police action and the response developed can
be seen at:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HG1t-pead8
The police video from the action was published later. In the video it
becomes clear that the police had the riot gear on after a while and that
the Iraqi refugees were shocked , some raised chairs over their hads but did
not hit any policemen whith other tried to commit suicide with glass and
jumping from high up. It is claimed but not shown on the video that the riot
gear was used after that some glass was thrown at the police. When the news
was presented it became clear that the violence used by the police outside
the church is accepted as truth both by those criticising the deportation
and those defending the police.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNzGLAB-Sqw
|
| supplements | |
