Jena: Festiwal politycznego i kulturowego oporu/ Karawana Na Rzecz Praw Uchodźców i Imigrantów

Let us overcome the fear and gain freedom!

From June 4th to 6th in Jena (Germany), the Caravan for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants organizes a festival of political and cultural resistance against colonial injustice and in memory of the mortal victims of the construct known as “Fortress Europe”. Through art and dance, critical analysis and \discussion, we want to redefine the struggle against colonial injustice and one of its most cruel and deadly modern manifestations: deportation.

Main events are the grand opening of a memorial for the victims of
fortress Europe and masquerade: With West-African masks, those who died at the European borders, will move into the city of Jena.

With blistering violence, the European Union attempts to hold off the
aftermaths of its centuries- old colonialism. Whenever refugees still
manage to arrive, they are being isolated, harassed or locked up in Lagers or deportation-prisons.

With no fear of controls and “Residenzpflicht”, we will undermine this
inhuman practice.

The Festival wants to unite all activists, resume the dynamic of our
resistance and exponentiate the diversity and force of our campaigns.Thee Caravan for the Rights of Refugees andMigrants defies the omnipresent racism of the authorities and police, the institutionalized discrimination of asylum seekers and the criminalization of freedom of movement.
We are fighting for justice for the barbarian death of Oury Jalloh, who
was burnt alive in a police cell in Dessau, we are struggling for the
closing of the isolation-camps in Katzhütte (Thür.) or Möhlau
(Sachs.-Anh.).Since the year 2000,we are resisting against the
"Residenzpflicht" with civil disobedience, right now we are supporting the food-package boycot in the lagers of Bavaria.

Since the advent of colonialism, the European identity has been
constructed on the wicked presumption of superiority over all other
cultures and peoples. Thus, the peoples of what are today known as Africa, Asia and Latin America were violently attacked and relegated to the category of inferior and salvages. In their narrative we are not taught to be fearful of injustice and war, of the creation of Untermenschen, but rather all that which represents a so-called threat to, for example, European identity. In spite of the hundreds of millions of victims of slavery, colonialism, imperialism and home-bred National Socialism, Europeans and their descendants throughout the world continue even today to believe in the superiority of their thoughts, ways of being and actions. Rather than deal with the causes of problems such as migration, environmental destruction and war, these powers constructs a narrative woven with fear of the migrants themselves.

The Caravan Festival is about our physical presence and dignity here, our experience and those of the dead, our struggle and resistance, our
solidarity and humanity, our demonstration, our togetherness and our
strength in the midst of barbarism.

African Masquerades are revered divine cultural arts and performances
during special traditional festivals in many parts of Africa. They are
celebrated as form of communal self-reflection, protection and solidarity during disasters or mass misfortune.They represent deity and dead persons who cannot be physically seen but imbued with the ability to communicate with members of their community on issues of important bearings.The Masquerade will tell the stories of those burnt alive in police custody, those killed by the police in European countries, those whose lives are meant to be wasted in the asylum camps all over Europe, those forced to be drowned by the security forces of European countries and lots more.

The festival is organised on voluntary basis, nobody will benefit from it economically.The basis of persisting colonial inequality are economic interests. The inhuman treatment of refugees, their detention in lagers and deportation are being justified with their low economical value. We do not want to reproduce this approach!

Support the CARAVAN festival and donate delight, joy, strength and hope to the activists, to the refugees from the lagers, to the supporters and to the general public with your creativity and power. Come with testimonials, analysis, struggle and utopia! We would be delighted to see and hear you among us in Jena.

No one is alone! Our Freedom of Movement is not negotiable! Let us
overcome fear and gain freedom!

pdf English mobilization flyer (short)
http://thecaravan.org/files/caravan/Flyer_EN.pdf
*Poster (6,2 MB):
http://thecaravan.org/files/caravan/Plakat_fertig.pdf

*Background Informationen on the Caravan Festival 2010:
Unite against colonial injustice - in memory of the dead victims of
Fortress Europe, 4. - 6. June in Jena
[PDF] KARAWANE-Festival in Jena - Multilingua Calls
German, english, arabic, french, türkçe, castellano, farsi, Italian
http://thecaravan.org/node/2263

info: tel. 0176.38 33 43 94 |
Email: Info@karawane-festival.org
registration and sleeping: sleeping@karawane-festival.org |
We need donations: Förderverein The VOICE e. V. | Konto 14 00 61, SK
Göttingen, BLZ 260 500 01. Tax-deductable receipts can be issued.