ACTIVISM -3

If you have some time to spare at the moment, it’s best to start organizing now

- Smaranda Krings - Improper Walls advisor, PR Officer at Refugees Welcome International - Refugees Welcome

“What must it feel like to have the words “stay at home” constantly ringing in your head when you have no home? Or when your home isn’t safe for you anymore? Where do you go to find safety? My current thoughts and actions are focused on refugees that do not have a safe place to spend their quarantine and are forced to live in mass accommodation facilities at the borders of the EU. With “Refugees Welcome International” we support the campaign #leavenoonebehind. It focuses on the horrible living conditions of refugees in the camps in Greece and aims at putting enough pressure on EU governments to enable the evacuation of people stranded at the EU borders. Clearly any kind of political organizing these days has to take place online, a fact that is making many activists become very creative. There has been a rise in online demonstrations, a vast number of petitions to sign and other means of interaction. For example, the social and political watchgroup coview (https://coview.info/) has started to organize regular meetings aiming at documenting and reacting to the growing number of restrictions of basic rights implemented as a means of ensuring health and safety for everyone. In order to strengthen collective self-responsibility, they are developing new forms of solidarity and activism that are inclusive for all members of society. In the months to come, much political work will be needed to ensure that fundamental rights such as freedom of movement will be restored again after the end of the pandemic. If you have some time to spare at the moment, it’s best to start organizing now.”