Proposal for actions and campaigns against Obligatory Residency
State Abuses of Freedom and Democracy in Germany

PEOPLE UNDER DISTRICT ARREST
Challenges facing the campaign and struggle of The VOICE Refugee Forum against the Obligatory Residency

1) State Abuses of Freedom and Democracy in Germany

German state abuses and violations of Human Rights as well as exclusion and persecution of refugees are innumerable. They are closely related to the protest of refugees against restrictions placed on their free movement in Germany.
Germany is one of the richest countries of the world that control and exploit the current total world resources. These countries are not only involved in the exploitation of the natural and human resources but they also directly or indirectly influence the economical and political decision making in the exploited home countries of the refugees. It is needless to say that this breeds war, hate, human rights abuses, displacement of persons, flight, refugees, collapse of the economy, etc.
The long disturbing German tradition of exclusion of identified classes or groups of persons, restriction of movement of these groups, execution and exploitation and the instrumentalisation of “democratic” reforms to even enhance further repression of refugees and migrants are part of the agenda to be discussed with activists, campaigners and supporters.

2) Challenges facing the abolition of the Residency Obligation and the social exclusion of refugees

The campaign of The VOICE Refugee Forum against the Apartheid-like Residency Obligation which restricts refugees to their designated districts has been constant and consistent. It includes much more than just denouncing the psychological abuses and the loss of rights associated with this law, which has its legal precedence in a police decree issued in 1938 during the Nazi regime. The activists of The VOICE Refugee Forum have initiated and are executing the campaign against the Residency Obligation through civil disobedience by refusing to pay the fines for violations of the Residency Obligation. These activists have either been imprisoned or threatened with imprisonment in the name of this discriminatory and racist legislation against the freedom of movement of refugees.
The abolition of the Residency Obligation has become the main focus of The VOICE Refugee activists in the last years, as they have politically challenged this form of racist social exclusion in Germany. Germany is the only country in Europe that practices the Residency Obligation, which was re-introduced in 1982 as part of a socio-political reform of exclusion and repression of refugees. It is also note-worthy that Germany carries out more deportations of foreigners than any other country in Europe.

3) The Struggle of The VOICE Refugee Forum against the Residency Obligation
We demand the immediate and total abolition of the Residency Obligation and any restrictions of innate rights for refugees in Germany. In the last ten years, we have been advancing the cause and political struggles of refugees in Germany. We have had successful protests and public interventions in the campaign against the Apartheid-like restriction of refugees and migrants. This includes also campaigns against deportation, discrimination and criminalisation of refugees, migrants and foreigners as a whole. We have meanwhile been part of the Caravan for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants since its inception in 1998.

The International Refugee Congress in the year 2000 in Jena (Thueringen) was a turning point in our history. Refugees and migrants met with other activists from Germany, Europe and the rest of the world. The campaign and struggles against Residency Obligation were launched by refugees in the aftermath of this congress. Mass protests and actions against deportations, deportation prisons, police brutality, racist police controls, isolation camps, restrictions of any kind, criminalisation, facism etc. have developed since then. There have also been countless demonstrations, campaigns and a number of court trials on those, who have refused to pay the stipulated fines for violating the Residency Obligation in protest.

The cases of Cornelius and Sunny have been through the various levels of the judicial process up to the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe which refused to entertain the cases. Both cases are now at the European Court for Human Rights in Strassburg. Most recently, we had a huge success with the case of Ahmed in the court in Erfurt. Similarly, the case of Janak was also won and he has since then even been recognized as a political asylum seeker.

In the light of the above highlighted efforts on our part, we would like to invite other activists, groups or organizations that are active in the political struggles in Germany. We call upon activists from basic groups and organizations that have supported and contributed politically to the campaign, including the media network, to enter into the discussion, to broaden and to enhance the campaign.

Amongst other issues, we would like to discuss the following:
1. The refugee struggle and the autonomy of protest
2. The new immigration law and its regulation of deportation and widening state control
3. “Fortress Europe” as a part of the global Apartheid of neo-colonial repression against migrants and migration here and in their home countries.
4. Recent examples of the ongoing expansion of lager (camps) for the concentration of refugees in detention and the militarization of migration control
Our continuation of the struggles of refugees in Germany has been inspired mainly by the solidarity and self determination of the old and new members of old The VOICE Africa Forum and now The VOICE Refugee Forum, and of course by others who support the political community of refugees and migrant activists in Germany.

4) Our intentions

Put shortly, we would first of all like to achieve the following within the activist network and also beyond: presentations of refugee and non refugee activists on the struggle of The VOICE against the Residency Obligation, developing an understanding of the refugees' resistance against Residency Obligation and information about the campaign network.

While addressing the mobilization and our struggle for freedom of movement we would also like to evaluate the Residency Obligation campaign and the networking structures among refugees for political information and other discussions on public space and support.

The following points seem to be of importance in order to re-invigorate the campaign and push for the abolition of the Residency Obligation:
· Review of campaign documentation on Residency Obligation
· Reports and media coverage on: the refugee struggle, litigation at the European Human Rights Court against the Residency Obligation; court hearings and imprisonment of refugee activists; the new Immigration Law with its regulations for deportation and Residency Obligation
· German lobbism to implement the Residency Obligation as a corner stone of EU Asylum Policies
· Case study: The disobedience of Ahmed Sameer and other comparable cases
· Concrete political demands backed with information on refugees that have been physically abused, arrested, tried, fined and punished for violating the Residency Obligation
· How German segregated legislation violates the fundamental right of free movement
· Criminalisation of movement: the contradiction between migration and political strategies for socio-political, economic and physical restriction of migrants
· The connection between German political corruption, confinement of refugees and discriminatory laws on the one hand and neo-colonial global exploitation on the other hand
· Strategies for civil disobedience, court trials, public protests and direct actions against racist police controls and regular meetings of refugees to exchange information
· The interrelation between the struggle against Residency Obligation and other forms of resistance against any kind of repression and social exclusion.
We will reflect upon the strategies, developments and the protests against the Residency Obligation in the last years. We urgently need a thorough evaluation to inject new ideas, perspectives and power into our campaign and resistance. Freedom of movement is the main weapon of our survival, for self organization and settlement. If we cannot move freely, we cannot defend ourselves, we cannot shape our lives and take part in social engagement. The restriction of movement is the source of further restriction. To put it short: We cease to exist as a social and political human being if we cannot move freely! Freedom of movement is therefore the divine resource of our birth and existence – it should not be a subject of negotiation!

It is often easy to forget:

It’s not about lobbyism and there is no compromise!
We uphold the solidarity for the right to freedom of movement for refugees and migrants. We are one world and one people!

We will call on various assemblies, organisations, groups and individuals to support the initiatives of The VOICE Refugee Forum against the Residency Obligation for refugees in Germany. For interested organisations, groups and individuals in our initiatives please contact us under: thevoiceforum@emdash.org, http://www.thevoiceforum.org

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Campaigning for the abolition of the – Residenzpflicht/Landkreis –Obligatory Residency Law for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Germany

Discussions: Is Democracy Valid for All?

Events in Thüringen from the 10th to 28th of May in 2005:
Workshops, Diskussions and Film-Screening of FORST Film (A/D 2005)
10.05 in Jena, 12.05 in Arnstadt, 18.05 in Eisenberg, 21.05 in Erfurt and 27./28.05 in Weimar.

FORST is a film about Exclusion, without rights and isolation of refugees and their escape from the total control and speechlessness. “ In Forst the banished proclaim their own truth and tell the story of their empowerment. . ….Forst documents a struggle at a hardened front, the struggle for reality. “(see below)

Discussion between the representatives of The VOICE Refugee Forum in Germany, and the producers of Film producers from Austria.

Discussions: Is Democracy Valid for All?

Reports on the Abuses and Violations of Human Rights and the threats of persecutions and exclusion of refugees in Germany:

- Refugee struggle at the European Constitutional Human Rights Court in Strassbourg against Residenzpflicht - Obligatory Residency Law.
- Court hearings and Imprisonment of refugee activists that violate and protest against Residenzpflicht -Residential District Restrictions.
- Successful court trials of Ahmed Sameers from Palästina, Cornelius Yufanyi from Cameroon, Sunny Omweyeke from Nigeria and and protest of other refugees like Janak Pathek from Nepal against the Obligatory Residency Law.
- The German lobby to harmonize Residenzpflicht – the Obligatory Residence Law - with the EU Asylum policies
- New immigration law: The new regulation for deportation, deportation as Residenzpflicht and the threats of control.
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FORST, A/D 2005, s/w, 1:1.66, stereo, 50 min, Sprache: englisch

Forst is a portrayal. The documentary tells about a forest in the middle of Europe far from the urban world and from civilisation which is home to a peculiar community of the banished – it is a world for the stranded. A diffuse system that still has total control makes sure that this world doesn´t show itself, that it doesn´t pop up in our reality and become a disturbance. In Forst the banished proclaim their own truth and tell the story of their empowerment. They slowly recall their identity as political refugees and start to make plans for their escape...

The film shot on 16mm-B/W was made in cooperation with the refugees, who mostly play themselves. By way of fragmented interviews they tell the story of their powerlessness and their emancipation.

„…Forst is disturbing and leaves open hundreds of questions: it is ambiguous-dubious, mythic-monolithic, obscure and anti-enlightening… Forst doesn´t seem to want to negotiate or discuss: it is neither self-reflexive nor self-critical. The spectator won´t find indications of authenticity, but is left with an unpleasant feeling of helplessness and the urge to contradict… There is something in the film that provokes doubt – about the monumental truth the film suggests on the one hand, and about the truth the specator claims for himself or herself on the other hand. In the worst case Forst compels the spectator into an indignant position of defense, in the best case it initiates productive self-doubt… Forst is an un-documentary – and thereby an utopia: Forst documents a struggle at a hardened front, the struggle for reality. The view of the arrators stands facing the one of the spectator provokingly, bravingly and verbearingly…” Amon Brandt. Homepage von FORST: http://www.forstfilm.com