<m2m-eng> Welcoming the Iraqi invasion

[Jo van der Spek M2M]

On the occasion of the action by refugees-on-the-street who started a camp 
outside the Collective Center at Ter Apel in the north of the Netgherlands 
on the 8th of May, Jo van der Spek of M2M wrote the following column.




Welcoming the Iraqi Invasion Act
Finally it is not the USA that invades The Hague, in order to prevent
the application of international justice to American citizens-
soldiers. No, it's Iraqi citizen-migrants occupying common ground in the
north of the Netherlands in an effort to force a radical change in
the application of human justice to migrants that are so far denied
acces and basic rights.
This act of occupation by a fast growing number of mainly Iraqi 
refugees-on-the-
street is well timed and also well suited to create an uplifting
experience amidst the general lethargy that still covers Holland like
a blanket of mental smog.

Like somany times before in history an external agent, through an
unexpected and autonomous action, is now intervening in the Dutch
political landscape, at a moment that everyday political life is in a
highly unstable state: no government, a parliament trying to gain legitimacy 
and a queen dying to hand-over sovereignty to her son. The direct cause for 
this current limbo lies in
the response to the economic recession and the European conditions
forcing even a rich country like Holland to take extreme measures of
austerity. However, the cornerstone of change, the hinge on which the minds
and hearts of a significant section of youth and mindful adults may
move, is the approach towards migrants and world affairs in general. Poverty 
is moving in and migrants are dying on the shores of Europe. Soon we will be 
drifting together if we don't take drastic action.

Finally we see the face of globalization reflected in the mirror that
Brussels and Ter Apel are holding up for us to see. We see
Geert Wilders as just another make-over of Batman, unmasking himself
as just another copy cat of Pim Fortuyn, only adding to the
pitiful frustration of the merciless masses voting for him, proving
once again time for messiah is over. One man will not make the
difference. Ask Obama.

Finally the Joker hits back. After two exercises last winter led by Somali
brothers and sisters camping in the cold outside the deportation
complex of Ter Apel, now the weather is fine and time is ripe for the
real thing. These poor asylum seekers, strangled by foreign police
and immigration service IND, mentally broken by the thousands in
administrative detention, suffocated by laws and lawyers, made
dependant on charity and church, are finally showing who they really
are: human! They can really move! They are not victims but actors!
They can be tourists like you and me!

So let us not help the occupiers in Ter Apel.
Let us not support them, don't give them tents, blankets or telephone
credit. Do not bring your redundant laptops, i-pads or even worn-out
army boots and leather jackets to their field of honour.
No, embrace their exemplary autonomous action, join Ali Aziz and Hadi Abu 
Sanad
like in the 16th century we embraced the House of Orange, invading
the Dutch swamps at nearby Heiligerlee.

Temperature is rising, parliamentary politics is exhausted, corporate
business is selling out to China's communists and Mexican coke dealers.

We got to save ourselves.

We are  here, we the people, we make the difference, we have no borders to
cross, we have no cross other than our own indulgence in apathy.
Let's throw it off and start the summer.

Leave your squat and camp out.
Send your children abroad after the exams and restore disorder at home.

Forget your mortgage, bury your debts and love your neighbour.
Let migrants invade this place and help us chase away the ghosts of
Rawagade, Srebrenica, the Schiphol Fire and most of all the mist of
mental misery hanging over us.







Jo van der Spek



Director of M2M Foundation. Migrant to Migrant.
http://m2m.streamtime.org

Like a Somali op http://facebook.com/JoM2M

no borders between us
t: +31.651069318

e: m2m at streamtime.org

Free Ahmed Issa
Justice for all survivors of the Schiphol Fire

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