<m2m-nl> [M2M Radio] Kijk met ons mee!

jo van der spek jo at xs4all.nl
Sun Nov 16 13:54:23 CET 2008


[met excuus voor dubbels, we zijn een beetje achter met de administratie]

In het Nederlands is deze informatie te lezen op
http://www.vertrokkegezichten.net

More audio at
http://m2m.streamtime.org

*LOOK WITH US!*

* *

*What happened since the commemoration?*

Miloud Fritass is in detention. We have succeeded to postpone his 
extradition to Morocco by mobilizing as survivors and supporting artists 
and activists. Lawyers did their bit, a member of Parliament has had the 
guts to ask critical questions. And the judge forbade extradition on 
medical grounds. Our brother is under heavy stress, on top of the 
post-traumatic stress disorder that dominates his mind ever since the fire.

On Wednesday morning the Rotterdam Court will meet in public session to 
decide whether or not he has the right to recover his mental health in 
Holland before being deported.

A strong delegation will be on the public bench to meet and greet him. 
And give him a piece of our Monument.

That is on Wednesday the 19th of November at 9 a.m. Wilhelminaplein 100, 
3072 AK Rotterdam.

The monument that we have mounted on Sunday the 26th of October has been 
placed illegally according to the Mayor of the Haarlemmermeer. And he 
has ordered us to remove it by tomorrow, Monday 17th. When we comply, he 
offered to find a new location on his territory. If we don’t he said 
that the he will do it himself and send us the bill.

At the moment we are negotiating in order to keep communicating with all 
people concerned and to maintain the spirit and soul of our struggle, to 
make a life again as survivors of the Schiphol Fire and for recognition 
and justice of migrants rights in general.

We propose to temporarily deconstruct the monument:

- the eleven wooden pillars stay where they are

- the painting on canvas has been taken off the fence and stored inside 
the prison complex, according to some of the guards

- the aluminium tree can travel too, but we must decide where to

- the three living trees (Tilia Cordata), the indigenous ritual 
community tree, will be offered to the community of Haarlemmermeer

This proposal will be presented on Monday morning to the Mayor after 
consulting with as many people as we can. A team consisting of close 
advisors picked by Jo will finalize the letter this Sunday evening. They 
are Emilie, Jeanne, Sakho, Saleh, Jos and Chris Keulemans. So please 
contact us as soon as possible to give us your opinion!

On Monday we hope to reach an agreement with the Mayor on a good way to 
deal with the situation, based on the shared sense of the need to create 
a permanent monument and a joint commemoration next year. We have 
reached a mutual understanding of each others position in a meeting with 
the mayor last Friday. However, there was no direct representation of 
the survivors in this meeting. That is why we are consulting survivors 
and artists and activists by phone and E-mail and will discuss the 
outcome in the assemblee of the survivors on Tuesday evening in 
Rotterdam. That is on the evening before the court session on Fritass.

We hope to be able convince the Mayor and his advisors that a process of 
democratic decision making that has evolved in the last three years, 
requires peace of mind and a minimum of time to reach a satisfactory 
outcome.

In the live program of M2M Radio last Friday we talked a lot about 
Fritass and about the news brought by NOVA on TV: new technical research 
on the footage of the security cameras strongly indicates that the fire 
did NOT start in the cell of Ahmed Isa, who has been convicted to three 
years in prison. The fire started in the technical installation outside 
the cells, which is exactly what many survivors have testified on many 
occasions for the last three years. This new piece of truth is a relief 
and a liberation for the survivors and may well lead to a reopening of 
the investigation by the Security Board and by the Prosecutors of the 
Ministry of Justice as well. The lawyer Nico Steijnen who is pressing 
criminal charges of cruel and inhuman treatment against the then 
responsible ministers Donner and Verdonk, has demanded the immediate 
dismissal of all charges against Ahmed Isa. And to stop torturing 
Fritass and all other survivors by withholding evidence, justice and 
proper medical care.

The European Court of Justice is now considering admitting the request 
to deal with this case after receiving the documents last month.

We regret the turmoil all this causes for the survivors.

We are confident that we can deal with this, like we have so far tried 
to deal with everything since the fire.

If living is moving, than a living monument can be moving too.

We are here

To make a life again

Together as one

We are everywhere.

ri

-- 
Jo van der Spek, 
radio journalist & media maker
current project: M2M Radio, migrant to migrant
http://m2m.streamtime.org







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