Who we are / what we want

 Ubuntu-wahhada

 

who we are / what we want

 

We come from many different countries. We all took part in the migrants’ occupied housing project “Orfanotrofio” in Toumba, Thessaloniki, after December 2015, which was evacuated and demolished in July 2016. The Orfanotrofeio squat was where we met, got to know each other, where we stood up for our rights and lived together. For many of us it was the first experience of common living and struggle. It was hard, but this experience became the foundation that we would later build on.

 Our principles as a group rely on our basic agreement that we oppose every form of racism and fascism, whether they come from the State, or from para-State structures, be they official or unofficial. We oppose the policies of States as well as the tactics of NGOs that wave the flag of “charity” and “volunteer work” in order to gain more profit. We might not all be in the same social position, yet we are all subject to the same systemic social and economic injustice and repression. We will fight for papers for all, so migrants won’t have to live under the constant threat of deportation, we will fight for free access to healthcare, for work and decent working conditions. We will fight for our dignity.

Ubuntu-Wahhada (both loosely meaning “all together”) was created to meet the basic needs for survival of people who, after the evacuation of Orfanotrofio, were forced, or chose to, stay in Greece. At the moment, Ubuntu-Wahada mainly functions as a housing project and we are slowly building the conditions and relationships for a self-organized collective way of life, trying to leave behind the leftovers of wild competition and mutual exploitation that exist in society at large.

 We want to stand by every woman and every man who is persecuted by the State: Every time social rights are being lost, they are being lost to all of us.

   We wish to create a space where we can meet our needs collectively and organize activities in solidarity with the struggles of other migrants. We wish to create a common life in a self-organized way. We want to fight all battles together, because we realize that collective struggles are more effective and have real impact for all.

We want to continue what we started, and finish it.

We chose the blog as a means for disseminating and exchanging information, for communicating with other migrants as well as with people who want to share information on the issue of migration and migrants’ struggles. By presenting and discussing:

the filthy, dangerous and dire conditions of life in the camps, in detention centers and prisons/ deportations from the EU that are being made easier and easier / “borders within borders” (like the Greek islands regime) / as well as migrants’ struggles and initiatives not by reproducing what is being reported in the dominant media, but through the first hand experience of ourselves and other migrants, our aim is to help, encourage, enable and create action.