Mulawan eetcafé, infoavond over migratie Mexico/VS, presentatie boot-project middellandse zee

Een informatieavond over over de situatie in het grensgebied van Mexico en de VS. Daarna zal er een korte presentatie zijn van een boot-project op de Middellandse Zee ter ondersteuning van migranten.

Eten: 19:00
Start info: 20:30
Reserveren: Mulawan@grotebroek.nl of op vrijdag telefonisch: 024-3605208

De grensgebieden van het ‘rijke westen’ eisen op het moment duizenden mensenlevens per jaar. Deze avond aandacht voor 2 projecten die proberen rechtstreeks in te grijpen in de situatie die Europa en de VS in haar grensgebieden creëren: No more Deaths is actief in de woestijn die de grens tussen Mexico en de VS vormt en Sea-watch is een nieuw initiatief dat deze lente met een boot naar de Middelandse zee zal varen.

At the contemporary moment, border regimes between ‘the west’ and ‘the south’ are continuously making victims. The seas bordering Europe and Australia take lives everyday. Literally thousands of people have died the past years in their attempt to reach Europe. While Australia and Europe use the natural barriers of the sea, the US uses its desert on the Mexican-US border to make it difficult, dangerous and deadly for people to cross.

No More Deaths

Walls by now hermetically close the more accessible and inhabited parts of the Mexico-US borderland, leaving a dangerous hike through the most desolate parts of the desert the only option for migrants to enter the US. This route is made extra dangerous and complicated by the militarisation of the area by border patrol: thousands of agents patrol the desert, supported by checkpoints, drones, horses, censors and helicopters. On top of this the situation is exploited by the violent Mexican cartels who are unavoidable for migrants.

This evening will give some insight in the situation in this border area and the work the group No more Deaths is doing. This group intervenes in the situation by giving direct aid, they leave water and food at the trails, give medical care and do search and rescues. Also their presence has a monitoring function in this otherwise so inaccessible and invisible area.

Sea-watch

Over the past decade thousands of people have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea in their attempt to reach Europe. This ongoing disaster has only been growing over the last few years. Millions of people have been forced to leave their homes fleeing war, dictatorship, unrest, exploitation and extreme poverty in Africa and the Middle East. Meanwhile, instead of giving shelter, Europe keeps fortifying itself; further militarizing it’s borders and making it nearly impossible, and deadly, for people –from the ‘non-western’ world- to access Europe.

We cannot and will not sit idly by while this tragedy continues. No one should lose their lives while they are running for safety. Therefore a boat will depart for the Mediterranean Sea this April. We will go out there and be a non-hostile presence, we will give direct aid to people in distress while also bringing increased visibility to the situation and the stories of those crossing.

This evening we will give a short presentation of our plans.

Zie voor info over Mulawan en evt. extra info over de avond www.grotebroek.nl