300 undocumented migrants have entered the 40th day of a hunger strike in Athens and Thessaloniki. As a consequence, the critical threshold beyond which health damage is non-reversible has already been crossed, while the threat of casualties becomes more imminent. Ninety-eight of the hunger-strikers are currently hospitalized. The Greek government, formed by the Socialist Party (PASOK), persists on rejecting their legitimate demand for legalization, driving them to subsequent death.
In the meantime, eight members of the “initiative for solidarity to the 300 hunger strikers”, the President of the University of Athens – where the immigrants were initially housed, before transferred elsewhere due to the menace of a violent evacuation by the police – as well as the hunger-strikers themselves, are accused by the authorities for human trafficking. At the hospital, policemen interrogate the doctors and nurses in order to learn the names of the immigrants. Furthermore, the participants of the press conference organized by the “initiative for solidarity to the 300 hunger-strikers”, that took place on the 1st of March, were brutally assaulted by the police.
In a country devastated by the economic crisis, where unemployed and precarious or not workers are being humiliated due to the lack of means for survival, the struggle of the 300 undocumented migrant workers transforms despair into battle. By putting their own lives in danger, they manifest that being “illegal” one has nothing to lose.
While the solidarity movement is continuously extended in Greece and abroad, the Greek government keeps on demonstrating its cynicism and brutality. The minister of foreign affairs disclaimed any responsibility at all and stated that only those standing in solidarity should be held accountable for putting these people’s lives in danger. Under these circumstances, racist and xenophobic speeches and assaults turn witch hunt into a national sport. Unfortunately this is not restricted only to Greece.
These 300 workers- hunger-strikers “sans papiers” have been living and working in Greece for many years. During all these years they have been an important source of wealth for their employers, but they have also been an important source of human and cultural wealth for their friends and colleagues. This hunger strike by no means constitutes a mere Greek affair, it is rather associated with the common European policy imposed by the Dublin Regulation.
We demand:
- The immediate legalization of the 300 undocumented workers- hunger-strikers
- The legalization of all undocumented workers
- The abrogation of the Dublin II Regulation which sets their lives in danger and turns countries into “non-selected migrant” storehouses, where any kind of violence and violation becomes commonplace
We make a call for action in solidarity to the 300 undocumented workers- hunger-strikers
MONDAY, MARCH 7: COORDINATED SOLIDARITY ACTIONS TO THE 300 IMMIGRANTS HUNGER STRIKERS IN GREECE
No life is illegal, no life is to be spared
Initiative de soutien aux 300 grévistes sans papiers de Grèce Initiative des étudiants et travailleurs grecs à Paris.
