Platanos refugee self-organised solidarity, Lesvos. Like most scholars who research the current refugee crisis and borders
in Europe, we were surprised by the initial agreements between EU and Turkey with
respect to refugee flows. For many reasons.
First, this agreement rather than addressing the international humanitarian
crisis, only outsources it to a region outside Europe’s core. European leaders
have made a political decision to show Europe’s inhumane face and ignore what
will happen to these refugees, as long as they stay away from Europe.
Second, the EU decided to draw up an agreement with Turkey just as
Turkey declared a new war in the Middle East against the Kurds. It is only a matter
of time before the Kurds of Turkey are added to the rest of the refugee flows.
However, what is most striking is the EU’s agreement to ‘invest’ more
money on border security, on top of the millions that NATO and Frontex
operations cost daily. In fact most of the international funds for the refugee
crisis end up going on border security, which is directly linked with the
refugee crisis, as it pushes refugees into the hands of the traffickers. Border security
is what kills refugees. What the EU is funding is the literal execution of
refugees. A few days before the agreement, Turkish border guards shot dead nine
Syrian refugees while they were trying to cross the border. This massacre was a
message to the EU that Turkey is determined to do anything
it can to stop the refugee flows if Erdogan gets what he wants. One advantage,
these refugees will not die on EU borders as now happens, which will save
European leaders a heap of grief.
On the other hand the much smaller funds targeting refugee welfare and
aid, channel money to some of the usual suspects of the humanitarian industry,
who in fact contribute very little. Most of migrant welfare – and by far
the most effective part – in Greece and all along the Balkan corridor, is carried
out by self-organised and often
spontaneous social agents, like small local
NGOs, local and international individuals who come together on the spot
and organise themselves. Even small (and poor) municipalities (e.g. the towns
of Kozani or Drama) have organised much more effective reception and integration
policies for refugees than the experts of the industry who have been operating
in the country for months now.
Hardly any of the millions of euros given by UNHRC and EU for the
refugees is visible on the island of Lesvos. At the arrival points, for
example, until two months ago there were two camps operating. The first by a
grassroots anarchist organization called ‘Platanos’ and the other by a small
Swedish NGO-in-the-making called ´Lighthouse’. These groups provide rescue
teams, receiving teams, medical aid groups, cooking groups, logistics and
distribution of clothing, hospitality, interpreters and transportation. These
services were not provided by the specialised and salaried staff of the large
organizations. But they are delivered successfully by people who have no motivation other than to help the less privileged or who believe that
the right to mobility should belong to all. Without these activists rescuing
sinking dingy-boats and treating hypothermia at the arrival point, the
casualties would have been higher. Nevertheless, although for now there is
little sign of exhaustion, there is no guarantee that volunteers will have the
stamina or resources to continue. Some of these grassroots activists have been there
for many months, sleeping in tents and working day and night.
In many cases on Lesvos, refugees have asked the anarchists of Platanos
whether they are the UN, simply because the UN is not visible. By the time they
reach Idomeni on the sealed-off Macedonian-Greek border where the No Borders-style
ADM kitchen currently serves 8000
meals a day, most refugees have learned this lesson. As a refugee in Idomeni
summed it up perfectly with reference to a large NGO ‘operating’ in the area:
“First they turn on the camera and then they help, to get the money. When the
camera runs out of its battery, they go back to the office”.
As the EU-Turkey summit got under way, a self-organised call for goods
that will be delivered to refugees who are sleeping and walking all across the
country or who find themselves stuck on the Greek-Macedonian border, brought around
30,000 people together on Athens’ Syntagma Square, with contributions in tons
of the products requested by the organisers, including thousands of tents,
sleeping bags, food etc. Meanwhile over 100 self-organised points collecting goods for the
refugees are operating all around Greece.
Although the negotiations amongst the leaders of Europe are reducing
this humanitarian issue to a matter of money and security, people still die on
the waters of the Aegean. The aim of the EU is to keep refugees out of Europe.
But this will not happen, regardless of how much money is ‘invested’ in it.
The question is whether the people of Europe will react at last to what
is happening, or just keep watching the roll call of dead and starving children
on our precious borders. Shortchanging our humanitarianism and our solidarity
can only be bad news for all of us, refugees or not.