19.Jun.06 - "In
the name of fighting clandestine immigration, governments are adopting
repressive policies and are expanding the frontiers of wealthy nations through
centers of detention, ejections, expulsions and selection of the labour
force." (from the migration-related Appeal of Bamako/Mali at the Polycentric
World Social Forum in January 2006)
The
European migration regime makes migrants 'illegal'. One of the main measures of
the European Union authorities against the movements and struggles of migration
is currently the establishment of camps and other instruments of migration
control outside Europe, in African and east European countries (their
'externalisation').
When
thousands of migrants and refugees collectively stormed the border fences of
the Spanish enclaves in Ceuta and Melilla in October last year, the crucial
demands for freedom of movement and for equal rights were clearly brought to
public attention, at least for the moment. The inhuman, barbaric reactions, the
fatal shootings and mass deportations to the desert, mirrored the escalating level
of conflict and the crisis of the European migration regime.
But
there is an ongoing process undermining this migration regime, not only from
'outside' the borders, but also from the inside. All over Europe, almost every
day, there are social and political struggles, protests and campaigns against
camps and deportations, for asylum rights for women and men, for legalisation,
for European citizenship rights based on residence rather than nationality and
against the exploitation of migrant labour. These struggles go far beyond any
narrow understanding of European identity.
Our
new joint call for a Day of Action follows the mobilisations on 31 January 2004
and on 2 April 2005, when we held the first and second days of action on
migration in more than 50 cities across Europe. At the European Social Forum in
Athens in May 2006, the issue of migration for the first time had its own
thematic 'axis'. A growing network of migration-related initiatives decided in
the final assembly to take another step and coordinate actions around 7
October.
Taking
into account specific regional and national conditions and the circumstances of
various struggles, our Day of Action aims for resistance at European and even
transcontinental levels. Our mobilisation will make the first moves towards
Europe-wide central activities in order to develop the idea of a common
demonstration in 2007, either in Brussels or at another place of public
interest. Our aim is to address Europe as a whole and not only national
governments.
In
addition the chosen date in October is a reminder of the events in Ceuta and
Melilla in 2005. We will make a particular effort to build cooperation with
initiatives in Africa. A simultaneous day of actions in European and African
cities in October would help to promote an axis on migration in the next World
Social Forum, which will take place in Nairobi (Kenya) in January 2007. This
corresponds with the Bamako Call which we have already quoted from: 'In the
period from the Bamako Forum to the one in Nairobi, we propose a year long
international mobilisation in defense of the right of all people to circulate
freely around the world and to determine their own destiny... Finally we call
for an international day of mobilisation that could take place in the sites/symbols
of the frontiers (airports, detention centers, embassies, etc.)'.
Above
all, we are determined to stress the global dimension of migrant struggles
today. Thus, we intend to connect our Day of Action with the initiatives and
ongoing mass mobilisations of the American migrants movement in the next
future.
The
3rd Day of Action will be directed against the denial of rights, against the
criminalisation of migrants and against all immigration controls, articulating
clear demands within the framework of freedom of movement and the right to
stay:
l For a European unconditional
legalisation and equal rights for all migrants
l For the closure of all detention
centers in Europe and everywhere
l For an end to all deportations
and of the externalisation process
l For the uncoupling of the
residence permit from the labour contract and against 'precarity'.