Mahdia Hossaini

Mother: Calm down, my child. Whisper your childish poems more quietly. This is the house of the dead where we sleep.

Child: Mother, they are awake! The day has just begun! But did you not tell me when my father died, that he is always with us? Is he watching us now? Did he emigrate with us? Mother, maybe some of the dead in this cemetery are my father’s neighbors in heaven.

Mother: Yes, my child, you are right, keep playing and singing!

Child: Mother, can you give me my father’s photo? I want to show my father to them. Maybe they know him!

The mother whispers to herself; “Oh, my God! How can I tell him that the only picture of his father was left back in the flames of Moria and has turned/burned to ashes”.

Child: Mother, you couldn’t find my father’s photo! No problem, we will look for the photos together tomorrow. Mother, why has no one come to see them during these two days? Don’t they have children? Oh mother, I promise you here and now, that if you die, I will come to see you every day. Mother, I like this cemetery more than Moria, everything here is white. I like white! I do not want to go back to the burned camp. I do not like the black of burnt tents and ashes.

Mother: My child, we are only their guests for a few days.

Child: Mother, why do you say we are guests? Unless we were already invited by them in their house. Otherwise we are their uninvited guests. But I feel they are happy that we are here. It is as if no one has mentioned them for a long time. Maybe their children do not have time to visit them, or maybe they don’t like that we are here….

This is a short story born in my mind since I saw the photo of the asylum seekers in the cemetery. This photo shows the living sleeping in the city of the dead. They have sought refuge in the dead. What did you do to them?! And what did you do with their wounded souls?!

After the fire in Moria and the declaration of a state of emergency on the island of Lesvos, we are witnessing heartbreaking scenes that can be seen through the camera’s lens of reporters. Smoky and blackened faces of children who are looking for their lost dreams under the ashes of their tents, but with a smile on their face as if they are saying this to themselves, it shall pass.

But what really stunned me was a lady’s comment about this photo that said, “These people are used to this kind of life, don’t upset yourself.” I want to say that no one gets used to suffering and hardships. I believe that woman buried her humanity in the cemetery herself. Don’t be like that woman, we will all live in the cemetery one day, but we should try to behave in a way we want the future generations to remember us.

فراموش شدگان پناه برده به شهر مردگان–۱۲/۰۹/۲۰۲۰

مهدیه حسینی

مادر: آرام تر کودکم !آرام بازی کن ! شعرهای کودکانه ات را آرام‌تر زمزمه کن ! اینجا خانه مردگانی ست که خفته اند

کودک: نه مادر،آنها بیدارند . تازه روز شروع شده .مگر خودت زمانی که پدرم مرد به من نگفتی که او همیشه همراه ماست .آیا او هم همراه با ما مهاجرت کرد؟الان پدرم در حال تماشای ماست ؟مادر شاید بعضی از مردگان این گورستان همسایه پدرم در بهشت باشند

مادر:. آری کودکم تو راست میگویی .به بازی و آواز خواندنت ادامه بده

کودک: مادر! عکس پدرم را می دهی ، می‌خواهم به آنها نشان دهم شاید پدرم را بشناسند

مادر با خودش زمزمه می‌کند

مادر : آه خدای من! چگونه به او بگویم تنها عکسی که از پدرت به یادگار مانده بود در شعله های آتش موریا به خاکستر تبدیل شد

کودک : مادر عکس پدرم را پیدا نکردی ، عیب ندارد ! فردا با هم به دنبال آن می گردیم .مادر ،چرا درطی این دو روز کسی به دیدن آنها (مردگان) نیامده ؟ آنها فرزند ندارند ؟ مادر من همین الان و در همین قبرستان قول می دهم ،اگر تو مردی زود به زود به دیدنت بیایم .مادر من این گورستان را بیشتر از کمپ موریا دوست دارم .اینجا همه چیز به رنگ سفید است و من رنگ سفید را دوست دارم. من نمی خواهم دوباره به کمپ سوخته برگردم . مادر، من سیاهی خاکسترها و خیمه های سوخته را دوست ندارم

مادر :کودکم ما فقط چند روزی مهمان آنها هستیم

کودک: مادر چرا می گویی ما مهمان آنها هستیم ؟ مگر آنها ما را به خانه شان دعوت کرده اند ؟ یا نه ،ما مهمان های ناخوانده ای هستیم که به خانه آنها آمده ایم. اما من احساس می کنم آنها خوشحالند از اینکه ما اینجا هستیم .ویی خیلی وقت است کسی از آنها یاد نکرده است .شاید فرزندانشان آنقدر درگیر مشکلات زندگی هستند که زمانی برای آمدن به اینجا ندارند . یا نه، شاید دوست ندارند ما را اینجا ببینند

این داستان کوتاهی ست که زاییده ذهن من بود از زمانی که عکس مهاجرین در قبرستان را دیدم .این عکس زندگانی را نشان می دهد که در شهر مردگان خفته اند .آنها به دنبال یافتن آرامش به مردگان پناه برده اند .شما چه کردید با آنها ؟! و چه می کنید با روح و روان زخم خورده آنها ؟

بعد از آتش سوزی در موریا و اعلام حالت اضطراری در جزیره لسووس ما شاهد صحنه های دلخراشی هستیم که از طریق لنز دوربین خبرنگاران ،آنها را به تماشا نشسته ایم .چهره هایی پوشیده از دود ،کودکانی که به دنبال رویاهای گمشده خود در زیر خاکستر خیمه هایشان هستند ،اما با لبخندی بر لب که گویی با خود می گویند :این نیز بگذرد . اما چیزی که بسیار مرا تحت تاثیر قرار داد کامنت یک خانم درباره این عکس بود . کامنت آن خانم این بود “این مردم به این گونه زندگی عادت دارند ،شما خودتان را ناراحت نکنید “می خواهم بگویم هیچ کس به بودن و غرق شدن در سختی ها و مشکلات عادت نمی کند . من باور دارم آن زن انسانیت را در قبرستان درون خودش دفن کرده است . بیایید مثل آن زن نباشیم .عاقبت همه ما مرگ است ،پس چه بهتر که یاد و خاطره خوب از خود در ذهن‌ها به یادگار بگذاریم تا آیندگان به خوبی از ما یاد کنند

The post The “Forgotten” found refuge in the City of the Dead – 12/09/2020 appeared first on Self Advocacy Greece.

George Stefanopoulos Coordinator of the GFRs Self-Advocacy Team

A statement regarding the homeless people at a difficult momentum

Once again, we find ourselves in the sad position to witness people living on the streets, with no hope and without the necessary means to continue with their lives normally. No jobs, no cash, no safe and permanent shelter. The evacuation of the squat on Themistokleous Street in the center of Athens and the subsequent abandonment of its people on the street confirms once again the lack of a solid accommodation policy as well as a unified strategic framework for integration.

The Greek Forum of Refugees along with the refugee and migrant communities receive calls from homeless people on a daily basis, recording their perpetual problems. In addition, we receive regular reports of evictions of refugees and migrants in both formal and informal accommodation shelters, a fact that is bound to skyrocket the number of homeless people. Unfortunately, this whole process is carried out without a structured integration plan to support it, by providing access to the labor market and facilitate all the necessary steps in an essential process.

It is clear that the squats are neither the space for integration nor can they provide an environment in which a person deserves to live. This is not a choice of the people themselves, but more of a necessity, especially when a plethora of serious problems in the urban fabric exist. We must finally tackle the accommodation issue at its root, as it is an issue that concerns all of us, especially in a period of a health crisis.

Through our campaign for the support of the most vulnerable elements of the population, the last couple of months, we have once again been confronted with the harsh reality: homeless people or people living in overcrowded small apartments and poor living conditions. This reality is not in line with a European welfare state, while at the same time it is an insult on human rights law.

Immediate solutions and a wider cooperation under the lead of the Greek State are required. So that we’ll never have to witness mothers with children in their arms or desperate and impoverished people struggling to survive out on the streets again. So that no child stays out of school, having its right on education denied.

We must all agree on this.

The Greek Forum of Refugees wishes to contribute, in essence, to the solution of the aforementioned issues and calls on both the institutions of the State and the civil society organizations to sit at the same table and agree unanimously on an action plan.

The post Leave no one on the street appeared first on Self Advocacy Greece.

George Stefanopoulos Coordinator of GFRs Self-Advocacy Team

The Self – Advocacy Team of the Greek Forum of Refugees have on several occasions

remarked on the flaws of the EU – Turkey deal and have foreseen most of the outcomes.

This agreement is another addition on a list of failed policies that are endangering people and violate basic human rights.

It was the 18th of March 2016 when the deal between the EU member states and Turkey was announced. A deal that guaranteed to put a halt to the ever – rising refugee flows through Greece and essentially towards the rest of Europe. Today we are witnessing the final outcomes of this agreement after four years since its implementation.

The EU – Turkey deal managed to trap refugees and migrants on both sides of the border, transforming desperate people into a political tool to be wielded as seen fit by the political powers involved, inevitably leading to the situation we are experiencing today on Europe’s border with Turkey. It follows the logic behind the Dublin regulation of creating buffer states for the sake of the rest of the member states only on a smaller scale; by creating buffer zones within a country in order to keep people at the borders.

In the case of Greece, the deal affected the asylum procedure as well as the proper reception and treatment of the newcomers on every level. It triggered the implementation of the geographical restriction policy, essentially transforming the Greek islands into prisons. People stranded in the islands do not have access to the mainland officially; where a plethora of services exist that they could benefit from and, above all, would otherwise solve the overcrowding issue.

Refugees and migrants have to deal with an understaffed asylum service department, which cannot handle the asylum application numbers forcing people to stay in the camps for prolonged periods of time. This also leads to the overcrowding of the camps and ignite severe reactions from both the refugee population as well as the local one. As for the services provided, they were barely enough to cover the local population’s needs to begin with, let alone the needs of the newcomers, especially on those kind of numbers.

It is evident that we are faced with failed policies; policies that have nothing to do with the “European way of life” and Europe’s commitment of protecting human rights.

We call on all relevant authorities to revise all such procedures and laws and provide an asylum system that falls in line with the European ideals of respecting human dignity and human rights.

It should be the asylum seekers’ right to apply for asylum in a country of their choosing. It is common sense that all the EU member states should share this responsibility equally, rather than creating buffer states; a tactic that brings darker periods of time in mind.

These regulations are playing with human lives.
It is time that the EU takes the responsibility that lies with it and act in accordance with the ideals that it defends and promotes.

The post EU – Turkey Deal: The anniversary of a failed policy appeared first on Self Advocacy Greece.