No border, no nation, stop deportation!

Protest camp against deportations to Afghanistan

Posted: August 28th, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Beiträge | Comments Off on Protest camp against deportations to Afghanistan

Wir dokumentieren hier den Bericht einiger Aktivist_innen, die das Protestcamp unterstützen:

Since Friday night dozens of refugees from Afghanistan and other activists have been protesting permanently in the Sigmund-Freud-Park of Vienna right in front of the Votivkirche.

The protest is so far registered for the upcoming week, but “we will stay here until government officials show their will to negotiate our demands”, as one protestor claimed during a speech. The protest joins the recently erupted wave of other protests in Greece, Finland, Sweden and Germany.

The first and most important demand of the protestors is to immediately stop all deportations to Afghanistan. Having in mind the daily news of attacks, horrors and bombings, everybody knows about the conditions in Afghanistan, but nonetheless there is no general public outcry about those deportations back into this deadly war zone.

So far, only the far-right FPÖ party has reacted to the protest adding another racist and nationalist story to their portfolio. Other parties have so far defected any kind of communication, it is to be assumed that they don’t want to loose their racist voters for the upcoming elections.

The Votiv-/Sigmund-Freud-park already saw a major protest in 2012/2013 when hundreds of protesting refugees eventually squatted the neighbouring church demanding the right to stay. A protest which was later crushed by the police and scandalous and invented accusations of human trafficking. Maybe having in mind these powerful protests in the past, the police restrictions for the ongoing protests are absurdly harsh: No chairs, tables, tents, mats or any further supposed camping materials are allowed on the spot. During nights the police even intervenes drastically against people who want to use sleeping blankets to protect from cold and humidity. Recently they even patrolled with dogs and stopped the setup of rain protection.

Nonetheless the protestors have unhesitantly stayed in the park, giving political speeches, sharing collective pick nicks, music and theatre. What makes this protest outstanding is that it is mainly self-organized by the Afghan community itself.

By stressing that “We are here, because you were there”, one protestor linked the ongoing situation to the (post-)colonial past and present of Afghanistan, “Afghanistan is not safe because we had wars for several decades now”, another speaker added. “Why can Austria demand its citizens to leave Afghanistan because of the lack of security, but still want to send us back there?!”, another person asked.

Even in the run-up to the national elections where some “good-willing” people call on the refugees to remain quiet, passive and show a good smile, we – nonetheless or even to greater extent – believe in the power of social and political struggle which challenges Austria’s structures of deportation, domination and racism. Or as one protestor puts it: “They want to deport us now, after the election they will wish to deport us even more. So now is the time to act!”

Therefore we stand in solidarity with the protestors and their demands! We demand an immediate stop of all deportations and call on solidarity for the protestors and those most affected by racist and nationalist policies!
For us, one thing is obvious these days: Solidarity can be so easy, just take a blanket, bring some food and spend some hours in the park together with your friends and the protestors. Also various other forms of solidarity actions that support the demand of stopping deportations to Afghanistan could make a contribution to their struggle.

Given the grimmer future which refugees, their supporters and other activists for radical change will have to endure after the national elections in autumn, our slogan needs to be more than ever:

No Border – No Nation – Stop Deportation!

Follow updates about the protests here (and on various other Facebook pages):
https://www.facebook.com/AfghanistaniRefugees/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1951430948404664/

We will also try to publish some updates on the protests on this site.

The protest has received quite a big media attention, reaching from Afghan to Austrian media.

Find some examples here (in German):

https://cba.fro.at/wp-content/uploads/o94politikspezial/20170826protestggabschiebungen-freudpark.mp3
http://wien.orf.at/news/stories/2862543/
https://kurier.at/chronik/wien/votivpark-afghanen-protestieren-gegen-abschiebung/282.740.906

 

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