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Wanneer: 04/09/2017 - 10:03

2 weeks of action days and a big demo on the 16th in Berlin. Join in Berlin or elsewhere!

http://www.welcome-united.org/en/call-to-action/

From September 2nd – Action Days

September 16th – Antiracist Parade / commUNITY-Carnival in Berlin

We won’t get used to what is happening right before our eyes and what is declared as normal: The situation is not getting better. Suffering and death are no exceptions anymore. They shape the daily lives of all those who still do not belong to this country and of those who still seek to come here. People are being insulted, spat on and beaten. The solidarity of hundreds of thousands is mistreated and stamped on. We are looked at with a lot of suspicion. They build fences to prevent us from entering. They deport us to make us disappear. But we are here. We will stay. We have our hopes. We have our dreams. We live. Welcome united.

The memory is fresher than ever
We will not give up. We remember the summer of 2015. Hundreds of thousands opened Europe’s borders. No one could stop them because they didn’t let anyone stop them. They just began to walk. They started moving in order to arrive somewhere. From the train station in Budapest to the Austrian border. Freedom of movement did not remain a demand anymore. The movement took its freedom. For the right to have rights, for the right to presence, to protection, to help and to a future. The “march of hope” remains an unforgettable event in the long history of struggles for the right to escape and migrate.
Still today, we are many. We are still here, and maybe our number even grew. Day in day out, we seek to resist the injustice of the current order. The small and the large protests have become part of our lives. The hopes of 2015 have not yet been suffocated. These hopes have found expression in the acts of solidarity of thousands of people in Germany and Europe. We continue to fight for the refugees’ and migrants’ right to presence, and also for the right to our presence. We provide everyday support. We protest state persecution and deportation. We rise up against the new right-wing populism and old forms of fascism. We are here and we stand with those who came. We are the ones who arrived. Welcome united!

From solidarity to politics!
Existing migration policies have to change – this is non-negotiable. This is and will remain the central position from which we conduct our political work. And this goes out to all politicians:

– For the right to leave and to come: Stop the dying!
The dying in the Mediterranean Sea has to stop. Now. Immediately. There’s nothing to discuss about that. We refuse to accept the normalization of death and suffering at this murderous border: Who drowns is being killed! The deaths of thousands could end already tomorrow if people could board a plane or a ferry to Europe. But instead the oppressors persecute those who help and support. We demand a reversal of Europe’s migration policies! For safe passages, freedom of movement and a welcoming Europe!

– For the right to stay: Stop the fear!
Over the past few years, hundreds of thousands have made it to Germany. But hundreds of thousands still don’t know if they can stay. Without the right to stay they still encounter fear, insecurity and uncertainty instead of being able to start and to create a future. This also includes that we as women don’t have to experience discrimination and violence any longer. Or that the countless families who were torn apart can live together again. We call for a clear stance of all those taking part in the political decision making process: an unconditional right to remain and an end to deportations – now! All those who are here, are from here, and will stay!

– For the right to solidarity: Break the silence!
The law differentiates between different countries of origin and classifies us accordingly: those with a good and those with a bad perspective of staying. Countries are constructed as safe, unsafe or half-safe. The ones affected the most by this exclusion, members of minority groups such as Roma or people who don’t fit the norms of society, are left to stay in a waiting loop of non-approval. We demand the extension of a solidarity which doesn’t make any divide based on ones origin.

– For the right to equal rights: Stop racism!
For hundreds of years now, and not only for the past two years, our society has always consisted of a diverse multiplicity. Who actually still lives where their ancestors were born and who actually still works at their place residence? People have always been coming. People have always been leaving. There is no justification for unequal rights. Whether you are from Syria, Greece, Macedonia, Nigeria, Morocco or Baden-Württemberg. Whether it’s about the right to housing, education, work, mobility or the right to health care. Social and political rights exist for all those who are here. Without exceptions and from the very start.

– For the right to stay: Let’s put an end to global injustice!
For hundreds of years, some countries have robbed other countries’ resources. Slave trade, natural resources, appalling labor and corrupt governments. The wealth of the west is built upon exclusion and exploitation. Europe continues to export a rampant predatory capitalism which kills every day. People escape to Europe because they are left with nothing and want to save their lives. We demand equal rights for all. Everyone has the right to physical integrity, to happiness and a future – everywhere in this world and not only in the west. Nobody wants to have to escape.

Our voices count!
A week ahead of the general elections, we want to show our face. All of us, united on the streets of Berlin. We want to create spaces for all those voices and stories that are usually not heard or that are supposed to remain unheard. These stories remain hardly audible, even in this current ‘electoral campaign for social justice’ , not least as many still do not have the right to vote. We say: Welcome United!
When we take to the streets, we want to be many. Everyone who cares about the common good and solidarity should come out. Everyone who can no longer bear that people are forced to stay in miserable conditions or left to suffer and die at Europe’s borders, should come out. We know well that many have fought for years for their future. Now is the time to raise our voices together. We are more than we think! We’ll come United!

That’s why we call for decentralized actions and local meetings around the anniversary of the march of hope, starting from the 2nd of September 2017 – in your city, your village, your district. Be creative!

We call for a national demonstration on the 16th of September in Berlin – come and join a large parade struggling for societal participation, equal rights, and solidarity.

Welcome united! We’ll come United!