25 years of spontaneous solidarity is not enough against organised barbarism!

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25 Years of Solidarity | Friday September 1st to Sunday September 3rd 2023 in Wuppertal

For 25 years we have been defending ourselves against the attacks on our lives. For 25 years we have organised solidarity from below, beyond any state structures, the bourgeois parties of the Federal Republic or well-meaning helpers. We have lost numerous sisters and brothers. They were murdered in police cells, in their homes or on the streets by the police, they were humiliated or drowned at the external borders of Europe. We have lost our families and friends in the countries we have had to leave. More wars have been forced on us through lies and manipulation. Family members have left us because the prevailing order of the world gives them no chance to live. Yet we are still here, even though the harsh cold wind in Central Europe has since tried to discipline us and teach us what is right or wrong.

We look back with self-confidence and want to share and celebrate our experiences with you. We also do not want to hide our scars that adorn our souls and our bodies. These have also shaped us. We want to mark the way to our 25th anniversary with some local meetings. At these meetings, we not only want to discuss and deliberate, but also eat together and think about how we can expand our solidarity in the future and lay the foundations for the next 25 years.

We are organising the following events in the run-up to the 25th anniversary activities at our premises in Wuppertal:

• Friday | 17 March 2023 | 8 pm: We have no choice, but a voice!
  
• Friday | 31 March 2023 | 8 pm: We are here because you are destroying our countries!
  
• Friday | 21 April 2023 | 8 p.m.: Asylum is a human right, not a privilege
  
• Friday | 12 May 2023 | 8 pm: BREAK Isolation | Fighting against Camps & Degradation
  
• Friday | 16 June 2023 | 8 pm: Fight against Deportations & Collaboration with Dictatorships
  
• Friday | 11 August 2023 | 8 pm: Civilisation or Barbarism | Why do we organise?

Short descriptions can be found below. We are of course available for questions.

In solidarity we stay connected
Your local group of CARAVAN from Wuppertal

CARAVAN for the rights of refugees and migrants
Marienstraße 52 | 42105 Wuppertal | email: wuppkarawane@yahoo.de
www.thecaravan.org | https://www.facebook.com/karawanewuppertal

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We have no choice, but a voice!
Film: "The Boat is Full Against Racism!"
Friday |17 March 2023 | 8 pm
Marienstraße 52 | Wuppertal

In August 1998 refugees, migrants and others started a CARAVAN through 44 cities in Germany. They could no longer stand the abuse and insults. They had had enough of deportations and internment and did not want to continue to be defined. They wanted to talk not only about the problems here, but also about the suffering their brothers and sisters left behind had to endure in their countries of origin. They said, "Our presence here is the result of Germany "looking after our interests" abroad!" and in 1998 they addressed the imperialist character of the resurgent Germany. A year later, in 1999, Germany went to war in Europe for the first time since 1945.
We show you the film about this tour with the voices of the protagonists and want to discuss what has changed since then.

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We are here, because you destroy our countries!
Input and discussion
Friday |31 March 2023 | 8 pm
Marienstraße 52 | Wuppertal

In summer 1998 we stated: "We are here because you are here!" and made reference to the long history of exploitation and interventions on our continents. In 1999, we protested against the G7 in Cologne with a hunger strike and had to realise that the above slogan was not precise enough. The G7 countries and NATO were not only supporting dictatorships and countries for their own interests, they were actively destroying our continents and our common world. The coming wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Georgia, Libya, Syria were not yet reality at that time. The Bundeswehr was not yet active on various fronts in the Balkans, Africa or Asia. The EU had not yet pushed ahead with its programmes for the poverty of millions more African and Asian people, but also European people. We want to give a short overview of the last 25 years and discuss where we are today.

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Asylum is a human right, not a privilege!
Input and discussion
Friday | 21 April 2023 | 8 pm
Marienstraße 52 | Wuppertal

The Federal Republic of Germany had already de facto abolished the asylum law in 1993. Since 1998, further drastic changes to refugee laws had been introduced at the German and European level. The division of refugees into different groups, welcome and unwelcome, had been perfected. We want to give a brief overview of the campaigns of the federal governments and our activities since 1998 and examine together how far we have come as a community of refugees and migrants. Are we going or looking forward strengthened and in unity?

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Asylum is a human right, not a privilege!
Input and discussion
Friday | 21 April 2023 | 8 pm
Marienstraße 52 | Wuppertal

The Federal Republic of Germany had already de facto abolished the asylum law in 1993. Since 1998, further drastic changes to refugee laws had been introduced at the German and European level. The division of refugees into different groups, welcome and unwelcome, had been perfected. We want to give a brief overview of the campaigns of the federal governments and our activities since 1998 and examine together how far we have come as a community of refugees and migrants. Are we going or looking forward strengthened and in unity?

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BREAK ISOLATION | Fighting against camps & humiliation
Input and discussion
Friday | 12 May 2023 | 8 pm
Marienstraße 52 | Wuppertal

In Germany, different types of camps exist to keep people under control and break their will. The camp system is a complex system of racist segregation and social exclusion. Its aim is to force refugees to leave the country. It exists to make us realise that we are not welcome. The camp system is an old system that was practised in the colonies for extermination and discipline.
Since the first tour, the struggle for our rights has been closely linked to the struggle against isolation, humiliation and attrition in the camps.
On this evening we want to report on what changes we have seen since 1998 and what struggles have been waged against the exclusion in the camps. We want to discuss with you where we are today.

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Struggle against deportations & collaboration with dictatorships
Input and discussion
Friday | 16 June 2023 | 8 pm
Marienstraße 52 | Wuppertal

The birth of CARAVAN for the rights of refugees and migrants is rooted in the solidarity struggle of refugees especially against deportations. Deportations mark the perversity of the prevailing world order in a special way. The majority of people are denied the right to live on this earth. But when they consider their natural right to life and come to Europe for survival, they are confronted with a heartless bureaucracy and a deportation apparatus. This selects according to usefulness, fitness and usability. The rest are released for deportation. Numerous struggles have been waged against individual deportations, against this heartless Europe, the biggest cause of misery on this earth and its collaboration with dictatorships. We report on these and want to discuss with you what could be done better in the future.

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Civilisation or Barbarism | Why do we organise?
Input and discussion
Friday | 11 August 2023 | 8 pm
Marienstraße 52 | Wuppertal

In the 25 years since the first CARAVAN tour in 1998, we have had to experience drastic changes not only in the policies on foreigners and refugees in the FRG, but also new wars and terror led by the most aggressive states in the world gathered in the NATO alliance. The wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria are only some of their most barbaric examples. Since our first tour, tens of thousands have lost their lives in the Mediterranean. Thousands have taken their own lives in the camps or have been brutally and barbarically murdered or burnt to death in a police cell like Oury Jalloh.
The fight against this barbarity has not left us unscathed. It has also changed us. What choice do we have and how do we strengthen the struggle of the oppressed, of the refugees, without supporting barbarism or becoming barbaric ourselves?