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Subject: difficult journeys
From: grenze <grenze@ibu.de>
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 13:20:35 METDST

* * * * *

one of the central issues of [cross the border]is how to combat the
new regime of frontiers, especially after the implementation of the
Schengen treaty. this text refers to the actual agitation against
people helping other people to cross the border. in the us they´re
called coyotes.

Coyotes are dubious and shady characters, they are greedy for
money, and despise the people, who are in need of their help, they
are organized criminals. Organized criminals are always foreigners -
so coyotes are foreigners. this it was people say. They are
carriers and their business is transporting - import/export. From
inside out and from outside in. Crossing the border to enter germany
and to leave germany. A perfectly normal proceeding. A wide range of
goods from cartons of yoghurt to toxic waste to hundreds of
thousands of tourists cross borders every day.

When we speak about people smuggling, we won't say that all coyotes
are mean, and we won't say that all coyotes are nice guys. but we want
to point out, that they do an important job a work that requires a
great amount of responsibility. Difficult journeys need to be planned
and prepared carefully, and today that's more necessary than ever.

Entering germany hasn't become easier in the recent years. since
the government put an end to the enlistment of foreign labourers in
1974, almost all laws and basic rights guaranteeing the right to
immigrate have been limited or abolished. All those who don't come
from a land belonging to the EU at the moment are especially affected
by that development. Entering germany legally is almost impossible
for them. That's why coyotes have work and that's why people are
incited against them.

All political parties state unanimously: coyotes enrich themselves by
exploiting the poorest of the poor. After the hunting down of persons
seeking asylum great parts of the media have now found a new
scapegoat. and suddenly there is room to feel compassion for the
refugees - the victims of the coyotes but no compassion for the
victims of a cruel, inhuman frontier system of federal frontier
guard, the police and civil armed groups.

This compassion is nothing but hypocrisy. Its only goal is:
After abolishing all possibilities of legal immigration, also illegal
immigration is made as difficult as expensive and dangerous as
possible. The frontiers of the european fortress are controlled more
and more strictly. The border areas are heavily re-armed as far as
staff and technical equipment are concerned. In addition to that: the
more guardsmen have to be bribed, the more borders have to be
crossed, in short: the more difficult the flight is and the longer it lasts, the higher are the expenses and costs and thus also the prices. These are the rules of the liberal market economy.

We know that some coyotes do their work badly and put the persons, who
relied on them, into danger. We also know, that a lot of people cant
pay the price for their escape at all or only with great difficulties.
But these are not the only reasons, why we consider the establishment
of independent networks, which help refugees to enter a country
essential. There have always been people who helped other persons to
escape - and we prefer this expression to the abusive term people
smuggling.

And it happens daily. Aiding an escape for political or humanitarian reasons becomes more and more important. The right to migration is a basic right, that must be granted to everybody. Without regard to the political situation or the mood of the people, persons aiding an escape try to enforce that right not only in theory. nowadays it is especially important to proclaim and practice that in public.

The demand for open borders is not an unrealistic demand, it is not
an idle wish and it is no utopian idea. The frontiers are permeable,
that's a matter of fact. In spite of all efforts against it, there is
migration and it will also continue in the future. The states can only
react on these facts as well as on the resulting social conflicts.
Germany, the EU and the neighbouring countries all practise the same
migration policy: to drive more and more migrants into illegality.
- by imposing a visa duty on two thirds of the world's countries (schengen agreement)
- by rewriting the immigration laws
- one serious change is for example: if the reason for staying in a
foreign country changes, the migrant has to leave the country and
re-apply for asylum from abroad.
- by a de facto abolition of the basic right to asylum.


The consequence of these measures is, that more and more migrants are considered illegal before the law.
- a person seeking asylum is illegal, if her/ his application is refused
- wives /husband are illegal, if their own residence permit has not
been granted to them until the point of time of their divorce.
- students, who have finished their studies are illegal, and labourers
and employees,whose labour contract is over.
- Tourists, whose visas have expired are illegal from one moment to another people are branded as illegal, although only the purpose of their stay changes.

we do not only reject the tightening up of laws, but we also reject
distinguishing between legal and illegal persons in general.
No one is illegal.

To be illegal means to be without any protection and to have no
rights.those people can't call the police in the case of an emergency
(eg. a rascist attack, rape or robbery) for fear of being discovered.

Illegal persons can only see a doctor in secret , if they are ill and
only if they pay in cash. And even that is dangerous. In the past it
occured again and again, that the staff of a hospital denounced
illegal persons.

In berlin illegal patients were deported at the expense of the
charitee. But it is also important to point out the sometimes shocking
labour conditions under which those who are illegally employed have to
work, and to show how enormously difficult resistence against these
conditions is.

For those illegal persons all human rights are totally annulated.
The discrimination between legal and illegal persons, between people
with and without a residence permit, and those with and without
identity papers, is only possible with the help of an enormous amount
of policemen, who control and raid highways and rest stops within 30
kilometers of the border, railway stations and inner city areas. It is
only possible, if new technologies of supervision are used, for
example by finger print data bases, which work throughout Europe; by
electronic border terminals, which can provide personal datas from
diverse sectors within seconds.For example, from the central
immigration office, from Europol or from the "Zentralen
Verkehrsinformationssystem". One of these new technologies of
supervision is the "Mobile Police Office System" or devices which
detect breathing, which have been only recently used - with the help
of a little probe under the cover of a truck, the frontier police can
easily track down refugees.

Categorising people as legal or illegal is only possible, if the
consequences of a discovery are drastic for the illegal - they are
refused and deported immediatelyand aren't allowed to reenter the
country ever again. Resistence against these measures is impossible -
a person, who has been denied entry once has to stay out forever.

Powers, which used to be held by the legislative are now transfered to
the executive - in our case to the immigration office. So the
increasing illegalisation of migrants also has obvious effects on the
social and political condition of that society.

Therefore to support illegal persons is political work. To provide
asylum in churches, projects of refuge and all other kinds of
cooperation with illegalized people and with organisations of the
migrants themselves are more important than ever.

People, who have no rights used to be called outlaws. Nowadays to
have no identity papers means to have no rights.

But we say: no one is illegal; because every person has a right to
have rights. Everybody, wherever s/he is from, without regarding the
fact of whether s/he has a residence permit or a job, s/he has a right
to dignity, liberty and equality. Everyone here tonight will agree
that, the freedom of movement, the right to an income and the right to
live are selfevident rights. And it goes without saying, that such
rights are only for those of use, who can fight for them.

Thats why we demand the establishment or the expandsion of networks
with the following goals:

1. competent preparation and aid to enable a humane entry into a
country and further aid for the continuation of the flight.

2. agencies, that offer political and juridicial advice and warn of
traps in the proceedings of a trial and look for adequate niches

3. the possiblity of a self determined residence without regard to
the actual political or legal situation.

To realise that goal, we need to organize networks of medical care
and accomodation. networks, which provide papers and jobs, as well
as other material securities.

Not totally without regard of the fact, that some of those goals are
already enforced at least more or less successfully, we consider it
a central politcal challenge to support migrants in their fight for
equality on all social and political levels.