Letter from a Refugee

Germany: Refugees are camping in the center of Berlin since the beginning of August demanding the most obvious rights. I attach firstly a letter from an Afghan refugee and then the declaration of the striking asylum seekers which is concentrated on the German rule system but it can also be an inspiration for the refugee and migrants struggle in Cyprus

Letter from a Refugee
August 8, 2012 by refugeestrikeberlin

In my country exists the Talibani system, this system is against peace and tranquility. They just make war and their demand is to get to power. So what should people like me do, who just want peace, freedom and equality?
They do brutal acts to get to their inhuman demands, they establish inhuman laws, for instance just look at the situation of women in afghanistan. Women don´t have the right to study, they don´t have the right to work outside of their home. This are just some examples of the discrimination against women in the Talibani system. Men can´t choose their way of life, for example they can´t shave. There is a uniform for everything. The Talibani system is against watching television, using internet, and any kind of media, if the media has the possibility of decreasing their propaganda.

They want people in Afghanistan to know the talibani system as the only system in the world.
However, my problems are not limited to the talibani system. There is also the problem of the attack of forces in the name of peace but for their own means without any permission to enter the country, which I call invasion. I left the country because of the Taliban and because of the war situation and poverty, but my problems didn´t leave me. I didn´t feel safe over there, when I wanted to travel to other cities because of the racism. However here in germany I´m not allowed to travel, if I want to travel I have to ask for the permission three days before departure, and I can´t be sure if I get the permission or not. I was able to study only in a school where the classmates had the same ethnicity. I was only able to play soccer with people from the same ethnicity. Because of racism in Germany I also don´t have the right to study. Those are only a part of my problems. Germany gave me six months residency in order to prove that I´m a foreigner. Every time I look at this temporary residency, I feel that I´m a foreigner.

It´s true the state Berlin lets asylum seekers rent flats, but how many of us are able to rent flats with this six months residency, when sometimes there are just two months left. The landlords and me both are not sure if this kind of residencies extend or not. I´m not sure that when my residency is over I will be able to stay, or they will deport me. I don´t know why I´m different than other people in this country.

http://asylstrikeberlin.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/letter-from-a-refugee/#more-240

First declaration of striking asylum seekers in Berlin


We are addressing you from our tent in Berlin, we have set this tent to declare our unity with the asylum seeker’s struggles in Würzburg, Aub, Bamberg, Regensburg and Düsseldorf. Today we are protesting in the streets to gain our rights and to defend the right of an honorable life. We are the voice of those eliminated and neglected people who now want to remind their existence to all people. Our tents are the strongholds of resistance and struggle. It is only in the streets where one can reach out for one’s rights, therefore we shall leave our rooms in the camps and unite in the streets.
We, the asylum seekers of Berlin, demand the following:
1- Receiving residents permit in Germany

One who is not entitled to residents permit in Germany lives an unclear life in the asylum camp and faces many limitations and inhuman conditions. All of her/his life is postponed to an ambiguous future. We, the striking asylum seekers of the Berlin tent demand an urgent procedure of our cases. We also demand to be entitled to the residents permit in Germany.
2- German citizenship for children born in the camps

The children who are born during their parents asylum seeking procedure, face an ambiguous situation from the very beginning. Although they are considered to be born in Germany, but even for receiving an asylum passport they need a separate procedure than their parents. During this time, which is one of the most critical periods of one’s life, they have no access to sufficient facilities. We demand German passports to be issued for children who are born in the camps during their parents’ asylum seeking process.
We share the rest of our demands with our friends in Aub tent as follows:
3- Abolition of deportation laws

We believe that the right to choose where one lives is of the most basic human rights, and that the sole determining factor of this choice is the individual’s will. The deportation of asylum seekers to their original countries is a violation of this universal right, especially when it occurs due to the economical and political arrangements between the governments of the original and destination countries. The striking asylum seekers demand the German government to stop the current common yet inhumane deportation of asylum seekers.
4- Abolition of the 40-kilometer limit of travelling

meanwhile Germany is a part of the shengen agreement that abolishes boarders between European countries asylum seekers are not allowed to move beyond a 40 kilometer limit. we consider this sistematical isolation of the asylum seeker an unacceptable and inhuman treatment.
5- Abolition of laws forcing asylum seekers to live in asylum camps

Asylum camps isolate the asylum seekers from the public and sometimes even the urban spheres. The guarded camps and the lack of facilities has turned them in to a place not for living but merely surviving. We demand the abolition of asylum camps where no asylum seeker has any access to a privet space.
6- The process of asylum seeking,

we demand the procedure to be as fast as possible, we believe that the current waiting time is an indicator of white and psychological torture. we demand a time limit regarding the procedure and result of the asylum case.
7- Food packages

we believe any human being is entitled to choose the quantity and the quality of one’s daily meals. Limiting them to a certain food diet is an obvious violation of basic rights of people. We certainly demand the limited food packages to be replaced with the right to choose the diet by the asylum seeker, her-himslef.
8- Work permit

many of the mass medias have created the illusion that Asylum seekers are merely consumers. We believe that it is the current limiting regulations which lead to such situations, therefore we demand unconditional work permit for asylum seekers since we believe any person is able to work to make living and it is also one ‘s right to do so.
9- German language

as a result of systematic isolation of asylum seekers, they are denied the right to learn German language. We believe that voluntary access to learning German, is ones obvious rights, we demand equal rights to learn German in credible institutions to be legally issued.
10- Right to choose the location of settlement

in Germany it is not possible for an asylum seeker to choose one’s location of residence even if one’s close family members are living in a certain place, the asylum seeker can not defiantly stay in the same place. We demand the right to choose the location of residence for all asylum seekers in Germany.

Hereby we, the berlin tent strikers, invite all asylum seekers of camps in Berlin, Brandenburg and elsewhere to join this collective struggle, to affect their lives and future.

http://asylstrikeberlin.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/first-declaration-of-striking-asylum-seekers-in-berlin/