Another lockdown, more tragedy.
Greece is once again locked down. This time for three weeks, they say. Here a short description of the situation in the Moria 2.0 by one of the inhabitans:
“The camp is once again in lockdown, this time way more strict, only people with with specific reasons can go out, everyone has to wear a mask even inside of the camp, otherwise they will be fined €150. However some cops who are coming from outside and can transfer the virus are still not wearing a mask, they give food only two times per day and that food has a very bad quality. And with the lockdown people can’t buy food or anything to make the food at least taste better. There is no hygiene and people are running out of hygiene stuff and they can’t buy it because of the lockdown. Also winter is coming its getting cold and people have no money to buy clothes and even if they had they couldn’t buy it because of Lockdown. People feel imprisoned.”
This is the state of Lesvos at the moment. Locked down and with a curfew in effect. Police hardly checks people, unless you are a migrant. Also as described above, it’s getting harder and harder to leave the camp, and we have no idea if this will go back to “normal” in three weeks. There are three separate checkpoints before the main gate, and some people cannot even leave their tent without showing papers. Guards at the first checkpoint will say “tommorow,tommorow” unless you are able to show any kind of paper. This kafkaeque display of true bureaucratic disdain forces people to stay inside cold tents without heating. A lot of women suffer from dehydration because they dont drink enough water. This because they are afraid to go to the toilet alone in the night.
This in spite of the enormous amount of attention focused on this Island and the situation of migrants in general after the fire that struck two months ago. And also dispite the massive amount of donations that came from around the world for the camp, there are STILL no proper hygiene facilities or showers, despite the camp now being in use for almost two months. After two months, massive donations to organisations claiming to improve the camp and widespread knowledge of the situation of the people, it is still worse then Moria, and it doesn’t show any signs of improvement.
Meanwhile the pushbacks continue, and hardly any new migrands arrive on the Islands. In addition to this, new deals are being struck with different countries to ensure more deportations can take place. Also, Mitsotrakis reafirmed his belief in the notorious eu-turkey deal. This deal could be seen as representative of how the eu and greece think about migrants, and how they, the ones with the power to decide people’s futures, define “safety”. Their public affirmation with a deal made with a authoritairian oppressive state is symbolic. It represents the lengths to which our goverments are willing to go to keep out migrants, with zero regards for their lives or safety or the beliefs of liberty and freedom they claim to adhere to. The lives of people on the move being made more precarious every day as europe leans more and more towards the right, facing ever increasing economic damage because of the pandamic.
More Eu-turkey deals, pushbacks, closed camps, quota’s, xenophobic bureaucrats, politicians, police and double or triple standards define the still inhuman and outright racist treatment of migrants in 2020. After years of hollow words, empty promises and outright lies by politicians we have seen the situation decline time after time. Everytime we look back, the situation is worse then before and next year will be no different then any other. Unless we activly work and organise to abolish ALL camps, “detention facilities”, prisons and combat racism, colonialism, sexism and classism not only here but worldwide, it will only get worse.
The line must be drawn here.
Get Angry. Organise.