BERLIN CALLING LAMPEDUSA - Refugee Protest and other Strategies of Resistance

Lampedusa is a synonym. A synonym for Europe’s borders, for the immigration rules and regulations of the European Union, for European policy on asylum, for thecolonial heritage which established a global, geopolitical and social divide that becomes obvious at this place. The immediate consequences of this historical  development are the boats from the African continent that arrive almost everyday.

Lampedusa is also a synonym for the borders which continue within the European Union. Each country has its own national policy on asylum, whose laws and restrictions restrain the rights of refugees. Germany, for example, doesn’t allow people applying for asylum to choose their housing situation, to pick up a job, or tobe a part of politics. 

And Lampedusa has also become a synonym for resistance, a synonym that the European distribution of global economical conditions is no longer accepted. Increased inspections by the European Union haven’t stopped the “autonomy of migration” over the last couple of years. 
In Lampedusa, border-crossing mobility becomes political practice. 

Lampedusa isn’t only a synonym but also a concrete place where the life-threatening consequences of European policy on asylum become very obvious. But the peoplein Lampedusa do not accept this treacherous situation. Both the civil population and the refugees resent these dehumanizing conditions which are tolerated all over Europe. During the three days of the event refugees, activists, and artists from Italy and Germany will get a chance to talk. Together, they will try to illuminate the extensive dimensions of European policy on asylum. One of the central aspects of the event will be discussion of the kind of conditions that are to be expected within and at the borders of the European Union. 

Presentation: Maxi Obexer
Concept: Yasmina Bellounar, Maxi Obexer, Bahareh Sharifi


Thursday 23 January 20:30
Staged Reading

Das Geisterschiff (The Ghost Ship) tells a story that took place in December 1996. Then, 283 refugees drowned off the southern coast of Italy, and their death was silenced for years. The legend of a “ghost ship”, whose existence and sinking was only unearthed by an Italian journalist six years later, haunted the area. Maxi Obexer presents scenes from her play in a staged reading with actors from the Maxim Gorki Theatre, focusing less on the reconstruction of theincident than on how it was handled. Afterwards, we will screen the documentary Mare Chiuso (original version with German subtitles) which shows migration from the African continent from the perspective of Eritrean and Somali refugees. Director Stefano Liberti will be present. 

Open discussion with the audience in English. 

Friday 24 – Saturday 25 January 20:30 
Symposium

The two-day symposium with activists, journalists, and refugees from Italy and Germany will discuss the self-organization of refugees and other strategies of resistance. 

Speakers 

Friday 24 January 

Lampedusa - Resistance at Europe’s Borders      

Lampedusa - Resistance at Europe’s Borders Harald Glöde (borderline europe – Berlin) 
Giacomo Sferlazzo - Askavusa (Musician and activist – Lampedusa)
Zakaria Mohamed Ali (Photojournalist and activist – Rome)
Abdelbasset Jenzeri (Fisherman and activist – Tunisia) 

Panel will be held in German, Italian and Arabic, with German translation.

Musical contribution by Giacomo Sferlazzo


Saturday 25 January

Refugee-Self-Organization and Protest in Germany

Women in Exile & Friends (Brandenburg)
Prof. Dr. Nivedita Prasad(Professor at the Alice Salomon University, Berlin)
Napuli Paul Langa (Refugee activist from the protest camp on Oranienplatz – Kreuzberg, Berlin)
Thomas Kilpper (Artist – Berlin)

Panel will be held in English.


The Berlin Calling-Series is organized in cooperation with the Bildungswerk of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.