The psychological stress of members of the group is growing. The statement „we did not survive the NATO war in Libya, to die on the streets of Hamburg “, often appears to outsiders as exaggerated. However, even before our arrival, people seeking protection and asylum in Germany have died. They die in the camps due to isolation, the deprivation of rights, and lack of access to essential supplies.
A refugee from a camp in Nördlingen in Bavaria recently described this in such a way: „Camps must be closed because we refugees die in these camps every day! People in the camps are so frustrated that they commit suicide.
One goes to the physician, he only looks at you and says you are healthy, although one is dying internally “

In Hamburg in November 2013 Samuel Mensah died, because he was compelled to live on the streets as he did in Italy. A month before, members of our group found him acutely ill on the streets and took him to the hospital. In the meantime, we have lost several family members in our homelands. The situation of continually being denied the right to work, does not give us the possibility, to send money home for necessary medicine or hospital visits.
In the cycle of flight and deportation so many people lose their lives. The least affected are Europeans – with exception of the Roma, which are a section of the population pursued within Europe. We experienced a lot in the three years of our surviving in Europe.
The image of a united, democratic, humane, civilized Europe, which Europe conveys in our various countries, does not have much to do with our experiences, nor does it have to do with the continuity of colonialism on our continent.
We experience this daily through the ruthless exploitation of resources by Europe and the suppression of any striving for independence and sovereignty.

17 January marks the 53rd anniversary of the brutal murder of Patrice Lumumba, leader of the Congolese struggle for independence and first prime minister of the democratic Republic of Congo. This is one of the many political murders ordered by former colonial powers (why should one actually say former?).Thomas Sankara freed Burkina Faso from the colonial oppression and called for the anti-colonial unity of Africa. He only survived three years presidency, from 1984 to 1987.On July 23, 1992 the young socialist politician named Tavio Amorin was shot dead openly on the streets. His resistance against the regime, that was backed-up by Europe, attracted popular support and frightened the regime.
Those, who openly opposed the misery, that is imposded on us, were assassinated and the murderers where often installed as presidents, not by the power of the people but by weapons, which Europe sold to its new vassal in exchange for the unobstructed plundering of the bitterly needed raw materials.
More misery, more weapons, more violence, more insecurity, more people flee. Africa may not be independent, because Europe is dependent on Africa.
That is a part of the truth about the NATO war in Libya, the division of the Sudan, the war in Mali and also Central Africa. The Congo, the heart of Africa, bleeds since the arrival of the Europeans on the continent still heavily.
Back then, our ancestors were put in chains and kidnapped to other continents, today, we the descendants, are put in chains and deported to our continent.

The image of a united, democratic, humane, civilized Europe, which Europe conveys in our various countries, does not have much to do with our experiences. Europe calls itself a union and a reliable international community of states, whereas, regionally and from country to country the division between poverty and wealth is extreme.
Today in times of the European financial crisis we hear that approximately 100 Icelanders leave Iceland daily due to the high unemployment rate and poverty prospects. In the news we hear about the fear of western Europeans about the immigration of Bulgarians and Romanians, who are now the citizens of the same union.
We hear that Germany needs skilled workers of many fields, while we are refused a work permit at the same time.
Are we more profitable for the economy on the irregular job market or is it just state racism? For our brothers and sisters, who lose years of their life and health vegetating in German asylum camps, this question does not arise anymore.

Racist are not only the past police controls of our people in Hamburg, which fortunately, was strongly condemned by large parts of the society. Racist is the whole system of highly organized isolation, from the special treatment in the camps, to food packets, food and clothes vouchers, “Duldung“, detention and deportation.
Racism was what we experienced regarding the actions of the Hamburg senate.
We say, we would be not here, if we had been able to survive in Italy but when questioned this by school pupils, the Mayor of the city responded by saying „… Italy is a beautiful country….“, We have realised that there is no intention to speak with us but what we do not understand is that many do not see this as racism. Without the NATO war in Libya, we would not be in Europe.
We should live and die on the streets of Europe, from the perspective of the Senat of Hamburg not in Hamburg but in Italy. If the laws say this, then these are racist laws and a society that accepts this, must call itself racist.

Supporters have added „We are more“ to our slogan „Lampedusa in Hamburg – We are here to stay“ and together we can learn to overcome racism and break the colonial chains. Over the past few months several people of various origins have visited our protest tent for information, to seek advice and assistance and to declare their solidarity with us. Others have come simply to get some bread or water.

A lot has happened regarding our struggle for the recognition of our rights and we are still overwhelmed by the enormous solidarity and sympathy in Hamburg. While at the beginning, our voice and our situation stood stronger in the center of public debate, today, it is the positions and actions of supporting circles within the broad solidarity movement, which now determine the public debate.

Attempts to hamper our efforts at self-determination have occurred and the dice have been and remains loaded at our expense as expected in every struggle.
It is important to recognize this without getting stuck, therefore we want to direct the point of view back towards the core problem concerning us.

Two conferences are planned to deepen the understanding and raise awareness on
the relationship between increasing flight and forced migration and the European foreign policy
The experiences of the resistance
the importance of solidarity and the development of reliable structures which contribute to building up sustainable, communities and explore answers to the question „what does one do? “

First Conference
 Title: “What forces Africans to search for a new life in Europe? – We are here, because you destroy our countries”

Saturday, 01 February 2014, 11°° clock to 18°° clock,
Gemeindezentrum Barmbek°Basch, Akonda-eine-Welt-Café, Wohldorfer Str. 30

– Introduction by Dr. Boga Sako Gervais, political refugee and human rights activist. Due to his political commitment he was forced to leave his country,the Ivory Coast in west Africa and currently lives exile in Europe. Dr. Boga will give an overview of the general situation, global politics  and international relations which reinforce migration pressure in Africa by promoting dependency and exploitation
– Country report by Maissara M. Saeed, political refugee and human rights activist: The Sudan, case example of flight and expulsion in a historical context – from the anti-colonial resistance to the current division of the country
– Olaf Bernau, Afrique-Europe-Interact and refugee activists from „Lampedusa in Hamburg“: landgrabbing, uranium mining and resistance in Mali
– further reports are requested: Ivory Coast, Mali, Kongo
– Dr. Norman Paech, professor for international, humanitarian law, will give a lecture on International Law and the NATO with a focus on the war in Libya 2011
– Further contributions and film documentations on transcontinental workings of European/German companies
– Additional reports by members of “Lampedusa in Hamburg”

Second Conference 
Title: „The European war against refugees – Silent death in the camps “

Saturday, 08 February 2014, 11°° clock to 18°° clock,
Gemeindezentrum Barmbek°Basch, Akonda-eine-Welt-Café, Wohldorfer Str. 30

– Introduction by Rosa Amelia Plumelle-Uribe, writer and scientist, Author of the book „white barbarism “, from colonial racism to racial policies of the Nazis
– Short film “The great Hamoudi” conversation with Eric Madi about the living conditions of unaccompanied minor refugees in the German asylum system
– Fortress Europe and Frontex – the strategic importance of the war against flight and migration by Afrique-Europe Interact
– Processes of destruction – isolation and deportation in Germany, Structures of self-organization, Civil disobedience and government persecution
contribution by Rex Osa, the VOICE Refugee Forum Baden-Württemberg
– Supplementary reports by refugee activists Jerry Bagaza from Wolfsburg and Ali Safinaou Touré from Hamburg and representatives of the refugee women conference –

The detailed program is in preparation.

Mass demonstration and political, cultural parade
Saturday, 01 March 2014, 13 clock pm Hamburg mainstation, Hachmannplatz

It is our aim that the procession visualizes ideas of the protest with as many different installations and sculptures as possible. World economy, war, flight, expulsion, refugee camp systems, racist government and authorities, resistance, solidarity, and local communities are some references to the different forms of creative representation we are searching for.
Live Music Acts are also part of the program.

The brutal Nato-Intervention took everything which was dear to us. We have lost our families and lost everything from our former lives. We experienced violence on the Mediterranean and many of us lie dead at the bottom of the sea. The inhumane violence of injustice continued in Italy where we lived under physically and psychologically devastating conditions. Living on the streets of Hamburg, being called criminals, being denied basic human rights, being hunted down by the police like animals – this is also violence. What we need now is to heal from the violent traumatic experiences we have suffered, we need the opportunity to rebuild our lives.

So we would like to ask everyone to see violence in a broader perspective which brings all of us closer to the truth.

We members of the group LiHH and our supporters believe the best way to achieve our goals are through peaceful protests. 

We gratefully acknowledge our supporters; women, men, students and even young school children who have come together to join us in common actions of solidarity. If it was not for the help of our supporters we would have died on the streets of Hamburg, but today Lampedusa in Hamburg has matured into a peaceful protest movement which now numbers of thousands.

We would like to emphasize that despite the large groups of people gathered at our demonstrations, there has been an absentation to commit crimes or acts of violence. This shows discipline, self control and power of our peaceful protest movement. Violence on the streets has not been done by members of Lampedusa in Hamburg. Violence appeared in reaction to state violence. People are frustrated by policies and practices of the state. We share the same frustrations, but we have different views about the best ways to achieve our goals.

It has happened repeatedly that we were made responsible for actions taken in our name, and asked to control or stop them. We want to make one point clear: It is impossible for us to enforce discipline amongst the various protesters. And also we find it strange that we should have to solve problems which we have not caused – these groups are part of German society, they express their anger as they have done all the time, and long before Lampedusa in Hamburg even existed. We refuse to be made responsible for their actions.

In the context of violence we have to make one more point. Parts of the government and the police apparently have an interest to bring violence into our weekly demonstrations. For the last three weeks, more and more police forces have been surrounding our peaceful protest. The last demonstration saw the police even bringing dogs which were aggressively barking at the protesters. Riot police were marching partly in physical contact with the participants of our last demonstration. We had to stop the demonstration to clear this escalated situation. On our way back one protester provoked by the aggressively behaving police dogs climbed over the fence set up by the police. Even though there was no threat to the dozens of police men and women behind the fence, the person was attacked by a dog when one officer released the leash. Bystanders protested loudly and the police reacted with
pepperspray and baton.

For more than seven months we have been demonstrating determinedly and peacefully. The police itself knows this best. But the senate still refuses our legitimate demands which are backed by thousands of citizens of Hamburg. Now it seems to us that the Hamburg government wants to distract the public view from our disastrous situation and our just struggle and instead to project an image of us being violent. Although it is they themselves who exercise violence on us by denying us to restart our lives. The intention to escalate our protests is quite clearly to make people afraid to join, to criminalize participants and to distract from the political content of our demonstrations.

We are sure that on our next Advents-demonstration on Saturday (21.12.) the provocations against our march would have again been increased by the massive police troops which are going to flow into the city in reaction to the big mobilisation for the defence of the left political center “Rote Flora”. We will not let them play this game with our protest. This is why we called off the demonstration and instead decided to only conduct a rallye at 12 PM at the protest tent. All supporters welcome!

Advent-demonstrations

30.11 | 07.12. | 14.12. | 21.12.

always at 12 PM at the Protest-Tent (Steindamm 2, Hamburg main station)

The recent news coverage of the group „Lampedusa in Hamburg“ has been dominated by the events at the St. Pauli church. We want to make clear that the church is only ONE of the sleeping places for members of the group and that the PR work by the church does not represent the opinion of the group.

It is correct, that some members of the group sleeping in the church have applied for a right to stay on humanitarian reasons – most were forced to do this unwillingly by the racist controls executed in October. But the clear majority of the group places absolutely no trust in the offer made by the senate of Hamburg. The „solution“ with the Duldung is unacceptable for us.

We can imagine, what the senate likes about the new position of us refugees: From subjects that self-confidently demand their vested rights we have been transformed into harmless applicants that blindly hope for the good will of the sovereign. Not another word on the fact that exactly this senate kicked us out onto the street in the cold April, that the senate ignored our suffering and the danger to our lives for months and then put even more pressure on us with the racist controls.

As a reminder: The senate’s offer consisted of:

• being able to make individual applications for a residence permit on humanitarian grounds

• being granted a „Duldung“ for the time of the procedure

• being cared for by the state

• in case the applications are rejected, to rely on not being deported until the objection has gone through all courts („guarantee for the procedure“)

We and our lawyers reply to this:

• the senate emphasised several times that the most of the applications will be rejected sooner or later. Senator Neumann publicly declared this on his homepage recently

• a „Duldung“ is not a perspective for our life, no guarantee for anything. We know that people with a „Duldung“ are forced to live in German Lagers for years and that the constant fear of being deported any moment slowly makes them go crazy. We finally want to arrive somewhere and have security for our lives!

• We want to work and not rely on help from the state!

• Even if we are allowed to stay until all legal procedures concerning our applications come to an end – what happens after that?

The offer made by the senate does not consider in any way that we are recognized as refugees of war in Europe already, who were forced to flee by a NATO-war in which Germany also participated. The inhuman living conditions we and many other refugees were confronted with in Italy are the consequence of the failure of the European system of protection for refugees. The situation in Italy is not considered by the senate. But especially against this backround, Hamburg can and must assume responsibility by using the given legal possibilities to grant a residence permit. The §23 is such a political possibility for the senate of Hamburg and we reconfirm our demand for a collective group-solution on the basis of this paragraph.

It is attemted to sweep the lasting inhuman situation of the group „Lampedusa in Hamburg“ under the carpet and the senate presents a trap as a solution for a humanitarian catastophy. Under such circumstances, the transition back to the daily routine has to be disturbed. This is why we call upon everyone to persistantly show the senate over and over again, that the only acceptable solution is the collective residence permit for our group!

Join our demonstrations and show your solidarity! Together we can fight for a change of the inhuman and life-threatening isolationist policies in Hamburg and Europe.