Tag Archives: Migration

About apologies…

The development policy scene in Germany has increasingly been dealing with racism in the last ten years. In these processes, collaboration between white organizations and People of Color and immigrant-diasporic organizations often plays an important role. In this, often only selective cooperation, there have been major and minor reproductions of racism again and again in recent years. Most incidents and conflicts do not reach the public and unfortunately often fade away unresolved in the everyday life of the (mostly white-owned) organizations.

One case that made bigger waves was the termination of the project “move global/glocal” by the One World Network (EWNW) in Hamburg in 2010/2011 with the winding up of the team (2010) and the subsequent termination of the project manager (2011). The AG Sporen Lobal (Note June 2016: The blog of the AG Sporen Lobal is now offline. The documentation continues on the site of MEPa North) created the greatest possible transparency about the further handling of the conflict within the EWNW via her blog, showed that the case had not been forgotten and exerted pressure on the association not to let more grass grow over the matter. See also our article from 2013.

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My Right Is Your Right! Demo 21.03.2015

“A different asylum policy in Germany and the EU is possible if we demand it together and take the changes into our own hands.” From the manifesto of the My Right Is Your Right network, which is organizing a large-scale demonstration on the Global Day Against Racism (March 21, 2015). The event starts at 1 p.m. at Spreewaldplatz. Info material as well as more information is available here.

Mall of Shame – Migrant workers fight against exploitation

The construction of the “Mall of Berlin” is said to have cost about one billion euros and now, in the pre-Christmas period, it is becoming a symbol of the exploitation of migrant workers from other EU countries that has become commonplace. A group of Romanian workers has been fighting for weeks for the payment of their already low wages. More info here.

“The (German) One-World Work from a Single Source?”

The Berlin-based association for migrant-diasporic organizations in One World, moveglobal e.V., has published a policy article on the relationship between development NGOs and migrant organizations in its latest publication. In the detailed article, Lucía Muriel discusses, for example, the functionalization of migrants and current challenges in cooperation. In doing so, she finds courageous words and, for example, in the chapter “Attempting a Paradigm Shift,” makes clear demands on the development policy scene:

“We will not continue to tolerate the conditions of a colonial reality that is over 500 years old. This applies to all current discourses and practices, to theories, to debates and to the practice of work. We will no longer allow governmental and non-governmental representatives, full-time and voluntary actors, established or newly emerging sponsors to dictate our perspective on the field of migration and development. In concrete terms, this means that none of the various forms of sole power to shape, define and decide are permissible any longer. Rather, all actors, including those who have been successfully excluded so far, must set out and engage in new forms of cooperation, distribution of resources, and power to shape.” (S.17)

The article is rounded off by an epilogue “How I stand on the bridge-builders’ discourse” and a glossary, and is supplemented in the appendix by a contribution from Andreas Rosen of the Stiftung Nord-Süd Brücken.

The publication can be ordered from moveglobal e.V. for 9 euros.

Asylum: Game vs. reality

In Berlin-Hellersdorf, the citizens’ initiative Marzahn-Hellersdorf defends itself with T-shirt imprints such as “No to the home” and the dates of the pogrom in Rostock-Lichtenhagen against a planned home for asylum seekers in their district. In Berlin-Reinickendorf, tenants have hired a lawyer to enforce that children from the neighboring home are no longer allowed to play on the playground in front of their house. In Aarau, Switzerland, the city council prohibits asylum seekers from visiting the local swimming pool, sports facilities, library and churches.

At the same time as these racist actions, ZDF is launching the show “Auf der Flucht – Das Experiment” (On the Run – The Experiment), in which German celebrities are to set off “to the countries of origin of asylum seekers in Germany” and thus “experience first-hand [erfahren] what it means to be on the run”. Instead of letting refugees themselves have their say, German state television prefers to produce a program full of racist assessments and descriptions. Nadia Shehadeh has written an open letter to the ZDF television council. It can also be signed here .

Incidentally, RTL and Pro7 are currently broadcasting similarly problematic series: Wild Girls – Mit Highheels durch Afrika and Reality Queens of Safari. The latter has now been discontinued due to low ratings and extensive criticism from NGOs and many others. Not unreasonably, a commenter on africaisacountry wonders “What’s wrong with the Germans?”