About a Different Journey…

This evening, between the people travelling voluntarily with the NEL ferry boat, there are more than 50 people who do not at all want to make the „return“journey. They have come from areas in the world that are at war such as Afghanistan, Palestine, Somalia. In Europe they are searching for the rights to which they are entitled under international treaties. The greek authorities answer to their desperation by putting them in the prison of Pagani in Mytilini under inhumane circumstances and by legally and practically ignoring their right to asylum.

Their transportation today to an unknown destination is taking place in the context of an overall „cleaning“ of the country and of Europe of people which the state has marked as being „dangerous“, „different“ and „unwanted“. The threat of immediate deportation puts their life in danger in a way we are unable to imagine.

The greek state participates in the making of new european legislation which virtually abolishes people’s right to asylum and that is the reason why these people are sent away before even having been heard.

This event is part of the continuous pogrom directed against refugees with or without papers in greece today. We have been warned that this will be a „hot“summer and indeed we see every day: Agios Pandeleimona in Athens where the state and groups of fascists collaborate against the presence of refugees, or the Efetio building in Athens where many refugees had found a home which was brutally dismantled, the city of Patras where a refugee camp was emptied and than burnt down by special
police units.

Finally we see it at the harbors of the greek frontier islands where the continuous presence of Frontex in close cooperation with the greek coastal authorities take care of the refoulement of refugees who have tried to enter the „paradise“ which the media said they would find in europe.

No one is illegal
Deportation is not a pleasure trip
Deportation can mean death