From jo at xs4all.nl  Tue Mar  3 13:35:53 2009
From: jo at xs4all.nl (jo van der spek)
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 13:35:53 +0100 (CET)
Subject: <m2m-eng> Support for Hungerstrike at Schiphol detention center +
	Lampedusa
Message-ID: <56271.24.132.74.67.1236083753.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl>

M2M is in direct contact with six of the 25 migrants that went on
hungerstrike two weeks ago (wednesday 18-2).
They call on us to help them. The way we walk with them is a massive visit
and inspection of the whole complex on Friday 6 and Saturday 7th of March.

Join us, please.

- Distribute, translate this information.
- Come to Schipholplaza or direct to Schiphiol Oost on Friday 6 and
Saturday 7 from 12 o'clock till 4 p.m.
- Send messages of solidarity to
m2m at streamtime.org
- Donate money for tel.credit to Postbank 3452284 (J vd Spek, ref:
Hungerstrike)

Your prison is illegal
We are here with you
No borders, no nations
Stop Deportations

more info in Dutch at

http://www.vertrokkengezichten.net

audio proof here:

http://m2m.streamtime.org/uploads/2009/Maart/Tel_Schiphol1.mp3

Jo
M2M
0624148872

Update from Lampedusa (Italy).

There is a lack of precise news, but up to 70 people may have been
injuried in the riots and fire of the centre - 20 policemen and 50
immigrants. According to one resident, only 10 migrants, more seriusly
injuried, have been seen in the poliambulatory, and no policemen. The
rest of the  immigrants have been kept in the centre or transferred to
other centres without anyone being able to see them or ascertain their
condition.
The protes of the Tunisians transferred to other centres and threatened
with deportation has continued
in Milano, Rome and Torino, where they continuing the
hunger strike and have done other acts of revolt like overturning the beds
and the rubbish bins.  Other detainees join the protes and local activists
have organised initiatives in support outiside the detention centres.
About 500 immigrants are believed to be still in the
damaged centre, that before the fire had an operating capacity of 460,
to be extended in emergency to 800.
Around 1000 police and carabinieri are present on the
 island.
Continues
the protest of the residents in Lampedusa and tensions run high,
although the resident are still keeping to peaceful and lawful means of
protest.
written by Chiara 20/02/09


                  Lampedusa: humanitarian emergency.
translated from http://calabria.indymedia.org/
For some
time  the idea has been put forward that is necessary to militarize the
detention centres for immigrants (CPT). At present the situation in the
CPT of Lampedusa has beceme unbearable. Since well known episodes that
have been the island's citiziens enter a general strike, there have
been numerous escapes of migrants frome these places of detention, not
to mention suicide attempts. All epsiodes that add to the clashes with
police that have also involved  island's natives, mistaken  for
immigrants by police and so even 'deserving', according with the hard
line adopted by the government against the latests, to be hit with
truncheons.
At the same time deportations towards Tunisia have
begun, and the lives of about a hundred women were put at risk when a
fire broke out in the ex- NATO base Loran, where they had been
transferred due to the overcrowding and appalling conditions in the
centre.
In the meantime the judiciary in Agrigento has
began an inquest about alleged irregolarities  in the reception centres
in Lampedusa. However judiciary action does not compare with mounting
popular indignation against these inhumane centres of detention and
appeals, petitions, mobilisations, solidarity grow.

18. 02. 09
The
situation gets totally out of hand with a revolt of the migrants
starting the 17th February. The centre of Lampedusa, not in line with
the fire regulations, goes easily in flames. The mayor of Lampedusa
denounce the dangerous situation and asks for the resignation of the
minister Maroni. Look at the video: http://www.c6.tv/archivio?id=3017


18. 02. 09
The
situation gets totally out of hand with an uprising of the migrants
starting early in the morning the 17 February. The centre of Lampedusa,
not in line with
the fire regulations, goes easily up in flames and the central building
is destroyed. The police prevents the immigrants from leaving the
burning centre. Many suffer from smoke inhalation.
The mayor of Lampedusa
denounce the dangerous situation and asks for the resignation of the
minister Maroni.
Look at the video.

Agerncy news:
19
FEB - Moved during the night 180 immigrants that were in the Lampedusa
centre. They were transported by two flight to Gorizia and Cagliari.


19 feb.  - Other 130  immigrants 'guests' in the reception centre of
Lampedusa were transferred to other structrues.
20 Tuinsians were transferred to the Cie (centre of identification and
expulsion) of Torino.


19
FEB - More than twenty the immigrants who have been investigated by
Agrigento police. The police are looking at the camera footage from the
videocameras installed in the centre to identify those who took part in
yesterday's uprising to proceed  to set fire to the central building of
the centre.


Communiqe from the police union and comments from its general secretary:

Roma,
18 Feb. - The facts of Lampedusa 'cannot be defined as incidents'
because the revolt that erupded in the Cie (centre of identification
and expulsion) ' is the logic consequence of a series of concurring
causes' and than 'who has mistaken should take all responsibilities and
act accordingly'. This is what has declared the police trade union
(Siulp) underlining that, once again, 'to pay a very high price' has
been the police force. The police, goes on the Siulp communique, ' have
been uised for some time as the waste bin for some social porblematics
such as immigration, which cannot continue to be managed just such as a
public order porblem.' Furthermore, the choice of Lampedusa as the
place for a reception centre 'has been a wrong choice from the
beginning', without considering that the centre 'ha been tranformed in
a ghetto, with twice as many guests as the maximum capacity, and the
immigrants have touched with their own hand the limit of their
desperation.'.
'This
means that the immigrant have not being given a reception, but rather
stacked like merchanidse in spaces that are insufficient and
unsuitable: today this mixture has exploded'. In regard to the police
force stanced in Lampedusa, they are policemen, carabinierei adn custom
officers that 'for mothw have been obliged to do double and treble work
shifts in one day only, without payment for the overtime and all the
discomfort that follows'.

18
FEB - The damage, the riots and the injuried in the Cie of Lampedusa
have been a foretold disaster'. This mantains Claudio Giardullo,
general secretary of the police trade union Silp- Cgl. ' It was
inevitable - remarks Giardullo - that this would happen, because to
keep 900 irregular foreigners in a centre that cannot contain more than
the half, and with an average of less than 10 expulsions a day, is some
sort of hell round, frome which nobody is spared, not the immigrants,
who are living in inhumane conditions, nor the 400 police agents who
are operating in working and environmental conditions that are
unacceptable, nor the islland's inhabitnts who see their daily lives
totally upturned. ' Now, however - continues the Siulp secretary- let
reason prevail and the irregular immigrants be distributed amongst
other centres in the country, only in this way it will be possible to
restore a condition of respect for the rights of the migrants,
tranquility for the Lampedusa residents and recover 400 police agents
taken away from the control of the territory'.



"Fast deterioration of the situation of 'boat people' in
Lampedusa must be halted," according to Parliamentary Assembly
Committee Chair



Strasbourg, 20.02.2009 - "The fast deterioration of the situation
of 'boat people' in Lampedusa must be halted immediately",
said Mrs Corien Jonker, Chair of the Committee on Migration, Refugees
and Population of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE),
talking on the margins of a seminar on migration organised by the
French Red Cross in collaboration with the Council of Europe.


"We are deeply concerned by the  overcrowding and
worsening conditions in the identification and expulsion centre
dealing with irregular migrants and asylum seekers in
Lampedusa. This has lead to violent confrontations between the
detainees and the law enforcement bodies and has now
resulted in over 60 wounded persons
following Wednesday's fire in the centre. I urge the
Italian authorities to return to the practice
of forwarding these 'boat people' to other parts of
Italy for processing in order to diminish the
overcrowding  in Lampedusa. It cannot be expected that the
small island can cope with more than 30,000 people arriving
annually on its shores."


Mrs Jonker urged Italy to tackle the problems of Lampedusa and
she also called on Europe to remind Italy to abide by
its agreed European commitments in treating migrants in a humanitarian
fashion with proper systems of reception, resettlement and - where
appropriate - return.

Foretold disaster: a previous appeal to the institutions from varuios NGOs
and associations.

http://www.meltingpot.org/articolo13895.html







From jo at xs4all.nl  Fri Mar  6 08:24:14 2009
From: jo at xs4all.nl (Jo van der Spek M2M)
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 08:24:14 +0100
Subject: <m2m-eng> CALL to ACTION! Your Prison is Illegal
Message-ID: <BAFD591FFDD74F2FBA9047F5396B24FB@jom2m>

dear all,

today is the first of three days of support to the uprising in Block L at 
Schiphol Oost.
See LAST POSTS at m2m.streamtime.org

We start at 10 in the Hacklab Ruysdaelstraat 79.
STREAM starts from 12 till late

12.00  start of public event Schiphol Oost (Noise!)
           meeting POINT Schiphol Plaza (flyers!)

Picketing actions at Recruiting Agencies of prison personnel all over 
Holland.

15.00 Court Haarlem will hear arguments against the prison regiem.

all afternoon live reports and tactical communication all afternoon

You may find PDF of our FLYER soon at
m2m.steamtime.org
www.veretrokkengezichten.net

do download, photocopy, distribute
support this  MOBilization by all Media!

SILENCE, You KILL me 




From jo at xs4all.nl  Tue Mar 17 11:08:43 2009
From: jo at xs4all.nl (Jo van der Spek M2M)
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:08:43 +0100
Subject: <m2m-eng> Detained migrants fight brutality in the Netherlands.
	Call for support.
Message-ID: <8204577D1F18415F98851B8BCB5375D0@jom2m>

Migrants in detention complex Schiphol Airport fight brutality, call
for help

M2M Radio, Migrant to Migrant, calls on activists and artists for
international collaboration in solidarity

Amsterdam, NL. March 2009  --- http://m2m.streamtime.org ----

On the 18th of February the inmates of Block L demanded clear
information on their fate. "How long can they keep us here? Is asking
for asylum a crime in this country? Why are we here?" In Block L
migrants are detained who are supposed to be deported back home.  They
did not fulfill the tough requirements to be accepted as a refugee.
But it can take a long time, even more than a year, for the Ministry
of Justice to find out how to deport a single person, especially when
s/he is from a country like Sudan, Somalia or Palestine, where the
civil registers are not quite up to date. According to Dutch law the
simple fact of not having the proper documents is not a violation. The
reason for detaining thousands of migrants is administrative: to
facilitate a smooth exit when opportunity knocks.

Hunger strike

When satisfying answers to their questions were not available from the
staff and the director, some 40 of the migrants, decided to insist by
sitting down on the ground of the cage for fresh air and refuse to
return to their cells. This action was then broken by forcing them one-
by-one back to his or her cell, handcuffed and when "opportune" in
isolation cells. Fourty riot police in full gear entered the stage and
used "proportional violence", in the terms used by the managing
director of Penitentiary Institutions in a report of Dutch NOVA TV.
Twenty inmates were forced to watch how Surab Keladze (from Georgia)
was beaten up and how Ibrahim Hassan (Sudan) was hit in his genitals.
That same day 36 of the inmates of Block L went on hunger strike and
are now organizing their resistance, their fight for freedom. And they
call on us to fight with them.

In Dutch detention centers the conditions are worse than in regular
prisons. There are women among the men, which is against the law.
People have to sleep in paper sheets. There are less facilities for
recreation, medical care and communication. This adds to the isolated
locations and the lack of contact with family in many cases. This drives 
many of
the detained sans-papiers crazy and mad. Resistance is met by
violence: isolation cells, hand cuffs and beatings are regular
practices. It is not the first time that a group of inmates starts a
protest, but it  is a new that inmates manage to communicate directly
with activists and advocacy groups in the country of Holland. M2M
Radio, Migrant to Migrant, receives daily reports from several
outspoken detainees in Block L over the phone. This is made possible
by people who donate eleven Euro for phone credit. You can listen to
their recorded phone calls at the M2M website:
http://m2m.streamtime.org/index.php/2009/now-every-day-block-l-calling-for-freedom/

The number eleven is a direct symbolic reference to the eleven
migrants who died in the fire in Block K in October 2005. This fire
has been a turning point in the growing social movement rallying
against these detention centers and for a humane treatment of
migrants. The survivors of the "Schiphol Fire" are united in their
quest for truth and justice and M2M is their platform.

The cause of justice for all survivors boils down to the case of the
only man that has been accused so far: his name is Ahmed Isa. He was
condemned to three years in jail in 2007 and will stand to appeal in
spring 2009. Parallel to the proceedings against Ahmed Isa, criminal
charges have been brought up by an ad hoc committee of human rights
groups and other advocates of the survivors and relatives of the
deceased against the two directly responsible ministers accusing them
of creating the conditions that made the fire possible and for inhuman
treatment of the survivors of the fire. The European Court of Human
Rights has endorsed the accusations and this means that for the first
time the authorities are brought to account. They have to reply to all
points of the accusations. A proper administration of justice is of
the highest importance for the well being of the survivors and indeed
for their lives.

The Dutch detention complex

More than three years after the Schiphol Fire no substantial change
has been made in the migration politics: migrants are chased, locked
up by the thousands and either deported or rotting a way like dead
dogs in detention. The lesson learnt by the state is to build new and
permanent facilities for detaing migrant, including special child
friendly facilities for minors and mothers. At Rotterdam Airport and
Schiphol these new prisons will replace the redundant temporary and
substandard  hangars and containers. Worse even, the Dutch deputy
minister is succesfully promoting this Dutch approach as a model for
the European Union: Italy, Spain and the UK have adopted the same
regiem and the EU has opted for a maximum period of one-and-a-half
year of administratieve detention. So far Holland had no legal time
limit.

For an analysis of the political causes of the Schiphol Fire see:

http://m2m.streamtime.org/index.php/2009/now-what-caused-the-schiphol-fire/

Many people find it hard to believe that the Netherlands, a country
that poses as a champion of human rights and international justice, is
guilty of this systematic violation of human and civil rights. Not
only undocumented migrants, also legal immigrants and complete
communities and neighbourhoods are disturbed and disrupted by this
state policy. It is a policy that goes hand in hand with the wave of
xenophobia and anti-islamic nationalist parties. That is why M2M does
not hesitate to call this region a frontline in the global struggle
for the acceptance of migration as a fundamental freedom of man.
Outlawing human beings is not only brutally humiliating, it undermines
the core values and the basic rights that any civilized society is
held to respect.

No borders between us! Cross the line. Break the silence!

Every Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. People come to perform together in
acts of witnessing, protest and solidarity at the fence of the
detention complex at Schiphol Oost.

Address: Ten Pol, 1438 AJ Oude Meer (bus 187 from Schiphol Plaza)

The M2M Foundation promotes free communication of migrants.
Look with us, not at us.

http://m2m.streamtime.org
e: m2m at streamtime.org
t: +31624248872

Donations to Postbank 3452284, Jo van der Spek, Amsterdam. Ref: M2M,
Hungerstrike
International Bank Account Number (IBAN):
NL52 INGB 0003452284
BIC (= SWIFT) code INGBNL2A.




From jo at xs4all.nl  Fri Mar 27 09:17:00 2009
From: jo at xs4all.nl (Jo van der Spek M2M)
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:17:00 +0100
Subject: <m2m-eng> Schiphol Fire on trial. The next campaign
Message-ID: <80961C3A5E8B4DFD8BD419FFE282DBAD@jom2m>

You can help this campaign.
Contact us at m2mstreamtime.org
Call us at +31624158872.
Donate at ING 3452284, Jo van der Spek, Amsterdam. ref. Free Ahmed Isa.

Silence, you kill me.

In Holland innocent migrants are detained and tortured by the thousands. 
Eleven migrants died in the Schiphol Fire. And the prosecutor persists in 
accusing the first victim. Politicians remain silent about this sysematic 
violation of rights. Their silence is killing. We can break this silence, 
together.

M2M and All Included invite you to join our next campaign with the Schiphol 
People. On Tuesday 21st of April the High Court of Amsterdam will start the 
trial in appeal against Ahmed Isa.We are preparing a series of actions and 
activities to make clear that not Ahmed Isa should stand in front of the 
judges, but the government of the Netherlands.

Because it is the Dutch government that built the prison at Schiphol Oost, 
they recruited and trained the personnel, they were in charge of safety and 
care for people without the possibility to protect themselves against their 
detention, against the fire and against the security forces that preferred 
to let people die inside their cells, rather than allowing them to save 
themselves or be saved by their fellow prisoners. Not Ahmed Isa.

We say: even if Ahmed Isa started the fire by throwing away his shaggie, 
rolled with Blue Rizla paper, it was still the system that did everything to 
cause the disaster. And every roll-your-owner knows that a shaggie rolled 
with Blue Rizla is very difficult to keep alight.Besides the technical 
evidence that indicates that the fire did not start in Ahmed Isa's cell, a 
historiical analysis of the way foreigners are facilitated to be deported at 
Schiphol Oost detention complex (and elsewhere in the Netherlands) clearly 
proves the contempt for the human rights of innocent people put in a prison, 
just to deport them more easily. It starts with denying their right, it ends 
with taking their life.

The survivors of the Schiphol fire and their friends, together known as the 
Schiphol People, know all about the way the government takes its 
responsibility. They persecute Ahmed Isa, who was the first to burn himself. 
They took the survivors to a prison boat. They threatened to deport them for 
a year after the fire. They refused proper therapy for their trauma's. They 
refuse to pay proper compensation. And they can't say sorry, we made a 
mistake.They can't even say: what can we do to help you make a life again? 
They are blind, deaf and mute.

We will be there, in court, in Amsterdam, with Ahmed Isa.

To see, to speak, to listen

Because we are here.

You can help this campaign.
Contact us at m2mstreamtime.org
Call us at +31624158872.
Donate at ING 3452284, Jo van der Spek, Amsterdam. ref. Free Ahmed Isa.





From jo at xs4all.nl  Sat Mar 28 15:36:13 2009
From: jo at xs4all.nl (Jo van der Spek M2M)
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:36:13 +0100
Subject: <m2m-eng> Launch of new Campaign: Free Ahmed Isa
Message-ID: <0AE645E515E94BA0A7C6B92173BB45D3@jom2m>

The Schiphol Fire on trail. The next campaign

In Holland innocent migrants are detained and tortured by the thousands. 
Eleven migrants died in the Schiphol Fire.
And the prosecutor persists in accusing the first victim. Politicians remain 
silent about this sysematic violation of rights. Their silence is killing. 
We can break this silence, together.

Free Ahmed Isa
we are here

M2M and All Included invite you to join our next campaign with the Schiphol
People.
On Tuesday 21st of April the High Court of Amsterdam will start the trial in
appeal against Ahmed Isa.
We are preparing a series of actions and activities to make clear that not
Ahmed Isa should stand in front of the judges, but the government of the
Netherlands.
Because it is the Dutch government that built the prison at Schiphol Oost,
they recruited and trained the personnel, they were in charge of safety and
care for  people without the possibility to protect themselves against thair
detention, against the fire and against the security forces that preferred
to let people die inside their cells, rather than allowing them to save
themselves or be saved by their fellow prisoners. Not Ahmed Isa.

We say: even if Ahmed Isa started the fire by throwing away his shaggie,
rolled with Blue Rizla paper, it was still the system that did everything
to cause the disaster. And every roll-your-owner knows that a shaggie rolled
with Blue Rizla is very difficult to keep alight.
Besides the technical evidence that indicates that the fire did not start in
Ahmed Isa's cell, a historiical analysis of the way foreigners are
facilitated to be deported at Schiphol Oost detention complex (and elsewhere
in the Netherlands) clearly proves the contempt for the human rights
of innocent people put in a prison, just to deport them more easily. It
starts with denying their right, it ends with taking their life.

The survivors of the Schiphol fire and their friends, together known as the
Schiphol People, know all about the way the government takes its
responsibility. They persecute Ahmed Isa, who was the first to burn himself.
They took the survivors to a prison boat. They threatened to deport them for
a year after the fire. They refused proper therapy for their trauma's. They
refuse to pay proper compensation. And they can't say sorry, we made a 
mistake.
They can't even say: what can we do to help you make a life again? They are
blind, deaf and mute.

We will be there, in court, in Amsterdam, with Ahmed Isa.

to see, to speak, to listen

Because we are here.

You can help this campaign.
Contact us at m2m.at.streamtime.org
Call us at +31624158872.
Donate at ING 3452284, Jo van der Spek, Amsterdam. ref. Free Ahmed Isa.