The State takes revenge on those who challenge its hospitality
Τhe anti-immigration policy of the Dendias zero-tolerance doctrine, encapsulated in the phrase: “We will make their lives unlivable” seems to be continued in the cynical realism of the next minister Mouzalas: “There can be no immigration without repression”. From Moria in Lesvos to Petrou Ralli, the State takes revenge on whoever does not respect the “culture of hospitality” of the State insitutions and their collaborators, NGOs.
What follows is only a random sampling of recent events that show up the conflict between immigrants and State mechanisms of migration management, namely the police and the army:
35 migrants are accused of participating at the riot in Moria on July 19, 2017 and are being held in Korydallos, Avlona and Chios prisons only because they dared to question their life in the disgusting conditions of the camps, only because they refused to accept their everyday humiliation.
In the penitentiary of Petrou Ralli hundreds of migrants have been enjoying Greek hospitality for a long time now. After the Ellinikon camp was closed, the migrants who had been detained there, were moved to Petrou Ralli. Occasionally, the news of deaths and riots of detained migrants bring to light systematic beatings by the guards to deter other migrants from reacting, unacceptable living conditions, violent deportations. Whoever tries to resist the detention regime ends up a ghost insolitary confinement.
At the beginning of November, migrants gathered in Sapfo square on Lesvos requesting the end of their geographical restriction of movement. They were attacked by the police, but also by “indignados citizens” [=closet fascists]. The migrants themselves are determined to continue their struggle.
The longer the migrants remain trapped on Greek soil in inhuman conditions, the more their desperation turns to rage. In such cases, discipline cannot be guaranteed and repression does not feel omnipotent anymore. In this constant condition of exception, the collective organizing of migrants’ needs and negations is the only path towards reclaiming their sense of being human.