No Lager - Break Isolation 2022: Our Voice Show - Conference against Camps in Göttingen

Our Voice Show - Conference against Camps in Göttingen

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Antirassistische Konferenz
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Quelle: 
Aktion Bleiberecht

More than 300 people from over 60 cities and more than 50 self-organized and anti-racist groups and initiatives met from June 10-12, 2022 in Göttingen for the NO LAGER – BREAK ISOLATION! Conference to exchange experiences, challenges, strategies and actions against Lager and against the racist deportation practice in Germany. Our Voice was part of the conference. 10 of the members made the trip from Freiburg, Merdingen, Münstertal and Rheinfelden to attend this event whose central message was: We are ready to fight against the Lagersystem and for housing for all. Against any deportation and for the right to come, to go and to stay. In this program today, we will have a look back at the conference, talk about the activities in which we participated, the guests and our view on the whole event. Whole show -> 57:46

At the conference in Göttingen, Wahid from Radio Connection in Berlin and Rufine from Our Voice facilitated a workshop on the topic „Radio making for refugees“. One part of the workshop was dedicated to voice and breathing exercise with Ahmet from Newcomer News in Tübingen as the trainer. At the end of the workshop, participants could use their voices for singing or chanting. Here is what we produced from these sounds. 3:18

The goal of the conference was to come together again after almost 2 ½ years of Corona pandemic, to connect anti-racist struggles, to network and to seek an expression for common actions and strategies. For this purpose, there were workshops and working groups for the abolition of all Lager, anti-deportation struggles and the networking of self-organization of refugees and migrants. During the conference, Ho Chien participated more in events focussing on the abolition of all Lager. This is Ho Chiens report.7:45

It is possible to be active even though one’s residence permit is unsafe. It is even important to fight for our rights maybe not for direct solution but for those who will come after us. But how can we achieve it? Which strategies do we need to organize ourselves and empower others to do the same? Why do we need self-organization? These questions were reflected during the conference and especially during the panel entitled “Yes, we can!” or “Yes, Migrants can” - challenges and perspectives of self-organization. The panel was moderated by Rufine Songué and Ahmet Celik from NewComer News in Tübingen. As panelist, we had Sarah Wangari from Women In Exile & Friends, Emmanuel from Our Voice and Aktion Bleiberecht, Omar Barrie from the Sierra Leone protest camp in Munich and Jenifer from the international women space. Here are some impressions of the panel by Rahim in french.4:10

Duldung. Many refugees have it. Many talk about it. But what does it exactly mean and which kind of Duldungs exist? Nadine took part to the workshop on this topic and could gather some informations. She reports in french.

The discussion and exchanges did not only take place during the panels and workshops but also outside during breaks in informal talks. Abel tells us how he learnt more on how to overcome deportation outside than in the workshop and how empowering this talk was. In french.1:57

No Lager is not only a critique of a form of accommodation, but also stands symbolically for the protest against Lager structures – against politics that are characterized by isolation and deterrence. It was also space for sharing personal feelings and stories. Like at the open space on saturday evening where many participants took the space to share their experience.1:56

Our network, the netzwerk.medienvielfalt was well represented during the conference. Around 20 people from Our Voice in freiburg, NewComer news in tübingen, common voices in halle, migrant mom’s mic in nrw, we are here we speak up in kassel, diversity media in nürnberg, refugee voices mannheim, were present. We took this event as an opportunity to show our exhibition for the first time. Saher, one of the main curators of the exhibition shared how it felt for him to finally show this exhibition.1:04

The conference took place the Haus der Kulturen and the cultural center musa in Göttingen. No one was left behind, the collective interprise made sure that everybody who needed it could get interpretation in German, english, french, farsi, kurdisch, arabic. People resisting from different parts of Germany came to the conference. We met Mustafa hussein, activist von Brandenburg who was totally satisfied. Interview in German.3:45

The aim of this conference was to fight racism, deportation and the whole repressive asylum system in Germany. It will not be the last action. Some people will meet again at the transborder camp from 12th to 17th july in Nantes. Eric Noel Mbiakeu from we’ll come united tells a bit more about it.3:09

Other participants gave their feedback.11:28