ROMA REFUGEES RESISTING AT GREEK BORDER
.... | 19.07.2003 20:34
Thursday 17/7/03 saw heavy action at the greek border check point near Florina when 700 roma from Kosovo tried to enter into Greece, breaking through police lines, getting stopped and beaten up by greek military and border police. This hasn't been their first attempt to cross the border although macedonian and greek authorities triy constantly to break their resistance and chase them away.
ROMA REFUGEES RESISTING AT GREEK BORDER
Thursday 17/7/03 saw heavy action at the greek border check point near Florina when 700 roma from Kosovo tried to enter into Greece, breaking through police lines, getting stopped and beaten up by greek military and border police. This hasn't been their first attempt to cross the border although macedonian and greek authorities triy constantly to break their resistance and chase them away.
Since end of april the roma- refugees from Kosovo stay at the greek- macedonian border between Bitola and Florina, living and resisting in a camp of plastic tents directly at the border check point, face to face with the border police. They are from different parts all over Kosovo, from where they escaped in may 1999 because of NATO bombardment and racist persecution.
After having passed 4 years in a refugee camp in Skopje, Macedonia, where they were pratically imprisioned, the macedonian state wants to get rid of them as quick as possible. Considering the fact that their houses got burned and squatted by albanians or destroyed by NATO bombs they obviously have no future in Kosovo, where killing, racist discrimination, threats and persecution is still a daily reality, especially for roma-people. Therfore they didn't see any other option than moving down south, to Greece, which could have given them some rest of misery and a small life perspective. This perpective is not given in nearly none of the balcan states, where romas are still the lowest class, being marginalized and harrassed like during all their past in Europe.
Of course these mistreatments also don't stop for the 700 romas at the greek border: the macedonian border police refuses the border crossing as well as the greek government which declared that there won't be any reason to let them in. So actually nobody gives a shit about them, apart from the UNHCR, which gives them 1 bottle of water and some biscuits each day for their minimal survival, in their generous, humanitarian way, and prepares their deportation.
The romas have hardly any political or practical support, no media representation or any public interest upon them. Furthermore the roma families have to deal with heavy conditions in their camp: they have to live with all family members in small, self-made plastic tents without any shade in the burning sun, without any medicamental or hygenic support or supplies, while babies get born. They are also not allowed to leave the camp without permission and get beaten up and threatened by fascist border cops who also mess up the toilets systematically.
Roma-people keep on resisting against all these conditions, openly and subtile, so much as they can. There have been also 2 solidarity actions: one taken by members of a international border camp in Macedonia inside the roma camp and one done by 250 international activists who tried to get through the border to the camp during the anti-EU actions in Thessaloniki, demonstrating against borders, nations and racist EU- migration politics.
Until now there didn't exist any clear and official political statement by state institutions in favor of a "political solution". Now the macedonian government, the EU council, the UNHCR and other organisations met in Skopje to discuss, whether to deport the whole camp to Kumanovo, near Skopje, to separate the romas and put them in private houses of other romas (which the romas already refused) or to "repatriate" them, which means bringing them back to Kosovo. These so called options clearly are pointless and unacceptable for the romas, as nobody apart from themselves should decide where they want to move, to stay or to live.
This situation, so unbearable it is, is not very surprising: Greece, as also other NATO states have just used all refugees in their manipulative and hypocritical tradition as usual. They justified in 1999 the bomb attacks on Yugoslavia with the -as they called it- "fascist politics of genocide" of Kosovo's minorities by serbs, who played during all Balcan Wars in the 90's the popular role of the "barbaric, unhuman slaughterers" in western media propaganda to create a common enemy in a complicated conflict. They pretended to intervene in order to "protect" the minorities and the refugees. How much they really cared shows the fact that they bombed also refugee trecks, civilian houses of all ethnics and closed their borders for "their beloved refugees" or deported them all after short time. That the NATO has made the situation in Kosovo by all their actions even much worse is a clear fact but well hidden and always denied by media manipulation.
Following the capitalist necessity, to destroy goods in times of crisis, when constant growth and rise of productivity is not given any more in the production process, in order to rise and increase profit rates again as a capitalistic logic of endless concurrence, NATO states destroy whole countries like Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq,...their whole infrastructures and production systems ( and many people's lives) just to build it completely new up afterwards. In these reconstructions of course they strictly follow their particular strategical interests of economical and political control over global markets, states, regions and people, so the tactics differ in the way that sometimes the complete separation of states in smaller independant regions seems to be more opportune and/ or the imposition of a new dictator, regime etc. for these micro-states or a whole bigger zone while also whole regions get separated from global markets and left in misery.
Roma- people are usually between the different fronts of power conflicts. They never had an own territory, neither a state, political power or big property and also never showed any attempts to reach it, nor have done any expansive or militaristic aggressions. This political history and culture makes them in way different from the rest of all european societies. Escaping from India because of military invasions between the 10th and 12th century, they tried to find a quiet place to settle or live peacefully but racist prejudice and discrimination, persecution, deportations and killing in nearly all european countries always forced them to move from place to place and to deal with a marginalized and extreme dangerous live under minimalistic, unimaginable conditions. Never the less they always resisted racist humillation, threats and harrasments and managed to resist all attempts to expulse or to erradicate them, even until the horrifying genocide brought upon them by fascist during 2nd world war.
This common history is the base and also constitution of european societies with their culture and tradition of countless and ongoing world domination, racist and nationalist aggressions, ignorance, expansive and exploitative attempts all time long. Today's social movements still are marching -more or less aware of that- on this bloody ground created by the history of this dominance culture. so emancipatoric politics and ideas are born to fail if they don't consider that and include anti-racist, anti-nationalistic fights and migrants' struggles in their daily lives.
ACTIVE SOLIDARITY WITH THE ROMAS FROM KOSOVO AND ALL MIGRANTS
NO BORDERS NO NATIONS...IS MORE THAN A SLOGAN
Thursday 17/7/03 saw heavy action at the greek border check point near Florina when 700 roma from Kosovo tried to enter into Greece, breaking through police lines, getting stopped and beaten up by greek military and border police. This hasn't been their first attempt to cross the border although macedonian and greek authorities triy constantly to break their resistance and chase them away.
Since end of april the roma- refugees from Kosovo stay at the greek- macedonian border between Bitola and Florina, living and resisting in a camp of plastic tents directly at the border check point, face to face with the border police. They are from different parts all over Kosovo, from where they escaped in may 1999 because of NATO bombardment and racist persecution.
After having passed 4 years in a refugee camp in Skopje, Macedonia, where they were pratically imprisioned, the macedonian state wants to get rid of them as quick as possible. Considering the fact that their houses got burned and squatted by albanians or destroyed by NATO bombs they obviously have no future in Kosovo, where killing, racist discrimination, threats and persecution is still a daily reality, especially for roma-people. Therfore they didn't see any other option than moving down south, to Greece, which could have given them some rest of misery and a small life perspective. This perpective is not given in nearly none of the balcan states, where romas are still the lowest class, being marginalized and harrassed like during all their past in Europe.
Of course these mistreatments also don't stop for the 700 romas at the greek border: the macedonian border police refuses the border crossing as well as the greek government which declared that there won't be any reason to let them in. So actually nobody gives a shit about them, apart from the UNHCR, which gives them 1 bottle of water and some biscuits each day for their minimal survival, in their generous, humanitarian way, and prepares their deportation.
The romas have hardly any political or practical support, no media representation or any public interest upon them. Furthermore the roma families have to deal with heavy conditions in their camp: they have to live with all family members in small, self-made plastic tents without any shade in the burning sun, without any medicamental or hygenic support or supplies, while babies get born. They are also not allowed to leave the camp without permission and get beaten up and threatened by fascist border cops who also mess up the toilets systematically.
Roma-people keep on resisting against all these conditions, openly and subtile, so much as they can. There have been also 2 solidarity actions: one taken by members of a international border camp in Macedonia inside the roma camp and one done by 250 international activists who tried to get through the border to the camp during the anti-EU actions in Thessaloniki, demonstrating against borders, nations and racist EU- migration politics.
Until now there didn't exist any clear and official political statement by state institutions in favor of a "political solution". Now the macedonian government, the EU council, the UNHCR and other organisations met in Skopje to discuss, whether to deport the whole camp to Kumanovo, near Skopje, to separate the romas and put them in private houses of other romas (which the romas already refused) or to "repatriate" them, which means bringing them back to Kosovo. These so called options clearly are pointless and unacceptable for the romas, as nobody apart from themselves should decide where they want to move, to stay or to live.
This situation, so unbearable it is, is not very surprising: Greece, as also other NATO states have just used all refugees in their manipulative and hypocritical tradition as usual. They justified in 1999 the bomb attacks on Yugoslavia with the -as they called it- "fascist politics of genocide" of Kosovo's minorities by serbs, who played during all Balcan Wars in the 90's the popular role of the "barbaric, unhuman slaughterers" in western media propaganda to create a common enemy in a complicated conflict. They pretended to intervene in order to "protect" the minorities and the refugees. How much they really cared shows the fact that they bombed also refugee trecks, civilian houses of all ethnics and closed their borders for "their beloved refugees" or deported them all after short time. That the NATO has made the situation in Kosovo by all their actions even much worse is a clear fact but well hidden and always denied by media manipulation.
Following the capitalist necessity, to destroy goods in times of crisis, when constant growth and rise of productivity is not given any more in the production process, in order to rise and increase profit rates again as a capitalistic logic of endless concurrence, NATO states destroy whole countries like Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq,...their whole infrastructures and production systems ( and many people's lives) just to build it completely new up afterwards. In these reconstructions of course they strictly follow their particular strategical interests of economical and political control over global markets, states, regions and people, so the tactics differ in the way that sometimes the complete separation of states in smaller independant regions seems to be more opportune and/ or the imposition of a new dictator, regime etc. for these micro-states or a whole bigger zone while also whole regions get separated from global markets and left in misery.
Roma- people are usually between the different fronts of power conflicts. They never had an own territory, neither a state, political power or big property and also never showed any attempts to reach it, nor have done any expansive or militaristic aggressions. This political history and culture makes them in way different from the rest of all european societies. Escaping from India because of military invasions between the 10th and 12th century, they tried to find a quiet place to settle or live peacefully but racist prejudice and discrimination, persecution, deportations and killing in nearly all european countries always forced them to move from place to place and to deal with a marginalized and extreme dangerous live under minimalistic, unimaginable conditions. Never the less they always resisted racist humillation, threats and harrasments and managed to resist all attempts to expulse or to erradicate them, even until the horrifying genocide brought upon them by fascist during 2nd world war.
This common history is the base and also constitution of european societies with their culture and tradition of countless and ongoing world domination, racist and nationalist aggressions, ignorance, expansive and exploitative attempts all time long. Today's social movements still are marching -more or less aware of that- on this bloody ground created by the history of this dominance culture. so emancipatoric politics and ideas are born to fail if they don't consider that and include anti-racist, anti-nationalistic fights and migrants' struggles in their daily lives.
ACTIVE SOLIDARITY WITH THE ROMAS FROM KOSOVO AND ALL MIGRANTS
NO BORDERS NO NATIONS...IS MORE THAN A SLOGAN
....
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