Difficult days and restructuring of No Border Social Center

Dear friends and supporters of NBK-Lesvos,

We have some very intense, sad and busy days behind us that we want to share with you.

In the past weeks there have been repeated violent conflicts in the Social Center and the surrounding squats. After an escalation a few days ago we reluctantly and with sadness decided to close the Social Center for the time being.

We will not and cannot go on like this.

A few days ago we witnessed an attack on friends in the Social Center because of their nationality. Unfortunately it was not the first attack of this kind in the Social Center. We see this as directly in contradiction to what we are trying to create at NoBorder and we don’t know how we can continue working with the people who were the perpetrators of these aggressions. The bigger part of NBK left the building, but many of our friends still live in the Social Center and surrounding squats who had nothing to do with the attacks. Some of us still live in these squats and a few supporters have decided to remain in the Social Center.

On thing is clear for most of us: we have to restructure and reorganize.

Our Social Center is supposed to be a safe space. Its is meant to be a place without the violence that people face in Moria on a daily basis. To create such a place we have to work together on it, now more than ever. We want a social Center where we meet each other with respect.

In the moment we are discussing and working a lot and we do not know how exactly NoBorderKitchen and the NoBorderSocialCenter will evolve in the next weeks.

So much is clear though:

We stay!

We cook!

We support the people in the squats!

We continue our political work!

Still we are cooking several hundred portions a day for Tsamakia Beach and still we support the people in the squat with all the essential things.

Please understand if we need some time at the moment and cannot react to requests that fast.

We are still active and we still need your solidarity.

As always with a lot of Love and Rage,

your NBK-Crew

Rainy days, deportations coming and chapatti baking- Update on our situation on the island

Despite the pouring rain of the last days we are still here, still working together to create somehow livable conditions.

Since November we have not only the social center but also support several squats. More and more people escape the conditions in Moria and choose to live in the squats. Unfortunately even living in a smoky old warehouse is better than living in Moria. At the moment around 200 people live in the squats. All of them we provide with food and/or the means to cook for themselves. People created communities where we live, eat and sometimes celebrate together.

Although people choose to live in the squats instead of the official camps it’s not an easy live on the island. We still struggle for daily survival. As the number of people living with us has been rising constantly since No Border Kitchen started the first Social Centre in July 2016 we also need more and more support. Furthermore we continue to offer warm food for everyone two times daily. At the moment we cook around 800 meals per day. The Social Centre also offers changing activities for people…the latest being the new Kindergarden.

The squats are not only a place with better food than the official camps but most importantly a place outside of the control of the state. They don’t have barbed wire fence, they don’t have military patrolling and nobody asks for peoples papers. They want to be a safer place for everyone- not only for those being considered eligible asylum seekers by the Greek and European authorities. That makes them unique and thats why we will continue to support and feed all the people that need it.

 

In the last days very worrying news reached us. One is that the Dublin deportations to Greece from other EU-countries will be reinstated from March 15th. In the last years there was no Dublin deportations to Greece because the situation here was considered too bad. The situation got no inch better and still the European Commission recommended that the deportations should start again in March. At the moment there are thousands of people stuck in Greece, on the islands as well as on the mainland, without having met their basic needs like proper shelter, food or access to medical care. Also the asylum procedures are a mess…waiting times are long and information for people about their rights as well as legal support are rare. Returning people back to Greece will make the situation worse for everyone…not only the people that will be forced to return and stay in Greece but also for the people already suffering from overcrowded camps and slow asylum procedures.

The other news is that Frontex will charter new ships to increase the numbers of deportations from the islands back to Turkey. With the EU-Turkey agreement the EU assumes that Turkey is a safe place for asylum seekers. Of course everyone that has been in Turkey or followed the news about the situation there knows that its no safe place at all.

The plan from this Europe dominated by the economically and politically powerful Northern countries seems clear…people will be forced back to mainland Greece from the North, from the mainland to the island and from the island to Turkey and to peoples country of origin.

We are worried about this development. We are worried about the safety of our friends in in all Europe endangered to be kicked out again of the place they hoped to find peace and safety.

Thirdly we got the information that the government plans to give the people money instead of providing them with food. In theory this is great…people can cook food they actually like instead of being forced to eat the crap they are served in the camps. What’s worrying about is that one the amount of money will most probably be insufficient. We fear that we will have to provide much more meals at the end of the month if this system will come into place. Also we are not sure how the camp managments will ensure safe and clean means of cooking for everyone, remembering still their complete failures to provide infrastructure for winter and the gas explosion in Moria camp a few weeks back.  But at the moment we will wait, see what happens and hoping for the best.

Despite all of this we have a lot of moment of happiness when we warm ourselves on a common fire, make chapatti together or dance together to music from the shitty speakers of a mobile phone. All the time we need support to make these moments happen.

If you consider coming to Lesvos don’t hesiate to write us a mail to noborderkitchen@riseup.net. There’s always work to be done, especially if you think about coming for a longer period of time. Also we still have financial difficulties…any amount of donations we can get is needed and appreciated here. If you can donate or organize money by a fundraising event you can send it to

Rote Hilfe OG Salzwedel
IBAN: DE93 4306 0967 4007 2383 12
BIC: GENODEM1GLS
Comment: NBK Lesvos

At this point we also want to thank everyone that supported us in the last weeks! We only are able to do the work we do because of your solidarity. So thank you for everyone that send us money, send us food or showed their solidarity otherwise with us!

As always with a lot of Love and Rage,

your Nbk crew

Kindergarden

Since some days we are making the kindergarden in our Social Center. Its working pretty good.

Tomorrow we start giving the children milk and dry fruits and nuts to keep them healthy and give them the essential nutrients they need! 🙂

Rückführungen nach Griechenland ab März 2017

 

“Es ist daher ein positives Signal der EU-Kommission, dass sie die Lage in Griechenland inzwischen so einschätzt, dass Überstellungen, wenn auch in begrenzten Umfang, ab März 2017 wieder durchgeführt werden können.”

Herr de Maiziére wir wäre es, wenn sie sich mal selber ein Bild von den katastrophalen Zuständen in Moria Camp, Athen oder Thessaloniki machen?
Hier leben tausende Menschen bei Temperaturen um den Gefrierpunkt in Zelten oder auf der Straße! Continue reading

Heavy Rain and snow fall in Moria Camp

The last days we had heavy rain and storms on Lesvos Island.

On top last morning the teperaturs droppes down below 0°C with snow.

Nearly 5000 people living in Moria Refugee Camp, most of them in tents.

See more pictures on: https://www.facebook.com/jojo.schu.39?fref=ts

Bangladesh Demonstration

On the15th of December 90 people from Bangladesh got their results of the Asylumcase. 89 are rejected and are open for deportation after a long and dangerous journey.

They don´t want to accept this decission and made a demonstration for 2 days.
The police tried to end this demonstration in a violent way. Some people got hurt.

We supported this demonstration with food.
This is a quote from their demnads.
“We are refugees who are helpless, landless and moneyless; as a result, have lost everything. We approached here just for shelter. Most people have lost their parents attempting to make the journey. We are seeking the aid from a higher step of humanity in order to seek refuge; we risked our lives across the harsh rivers and fierce oceans. Why come here? Back home, we were faced with problems where heartedly grateful to now be in a democratic country which cherishes human rights. Our futures are much brighter and safer here. Our request, please let us move from Lesvos island by giving permission to go mainland.”

Chapati Day

Last week we had a chapati Day in front of Moria camp. We could give food to 3000 people. We had sun music and a very good atmosphare.

Thanks to social kitchen Mytelini who cooked with us on the field, to Tresa who made the movie and to William who played the amazing music.