AYS Daily Digest 10/07/2019: The Times Are A-Changin’: City Plaza Evacuates
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Bosnia, Digest, Solidarity, Refugees, Greece

After 39 months, City Plaza in Athens evacuated quietly, and quickly. In a long reflection on the role, origin and impact of the community at City Plaza, important topics were explored.

“Today, July 10, 2019, the keys to the occupied City Plaza Hotel were handed over to the former hotel workers who own mobile equipment. All the refugees who lived at City Plaza have been transferred to secure accommodation on the urban fabric.

On 22 April 2016, the Solidarity Initiative on Economic and Political Refugees captured the empty building of the City Plaza Hotel with a double objective: to create a safe and decent accommodation for refugees in the center of the city, and to fight against racism, and exclusion. For freedom of movement and the right to stay….

The decision to take possession took place at a very specific political juncture. On 18 March 2016, one month before the seizure, the Euro-Turkish Agreement on the limitation of refugee travel to Europe was signed. It was the agreement that sealed the end of the “summer of immigration” of the period that began in July 2015, when under the pressure of about one million people “opened” the borders of Europe. It was the deal that turned the Aegean islands into idyllic prisons for immigrants and turned the continental Greece into a place of encroachment for over 60,000 people. The SYRIZA-ANEL government, following its submission to the neoliberal management of the economic crisis, undertook the implementation of a policy of controlling, deterring and discouraging immigration. With Frontex and NATO patrolling the Aegean Sea, with detention centers like Moria on the islands, camps in miserable conditions are the only refugee policy in the hinterland, criminalizing solidarity and the struggle of refugees. At that time the problem of housing was imperative….

City Plaza has in fact proved that refugees and locals can live together when solidarity, struggle and community dominate instead of isolation, punishment and hatred. So in the opposite of the camp outside the urban centers and under miserable conditions, the CP in a neighborhood difficult for the movement, sometimes the neo-Nazi bastion, managed to establish exemplary relations with a large part of the neighborhood’s people and give the former dark the corner of Acharnon and Kathivanos, the security features that are really needed by the bottom: the safety of dignified survival, the community, the solidarity and the liveliness of people fighting for life unselfishly….”

Although the reflection is much longer, the conclusion to leave City Plaza came after a long and ongoing discussion on the ability of the cooperative to continue, taking into account the gradually decreasing resources and the transient nature of the occupiers — City Plaza was a transit point, which provided unique challenges to the coordination of the community. This discussion and debate on how to move forward, whether to “normalize” or discontinue is one that many people involved in support and solidarity efforts have encountered, and have resolved in a variety of ways.

It should also be noted that the change in political policy will continue to have an impact on how solidarity with people on the move will be expressed.

The incoming conservative government is expected to have an even more strict attitude on border security and although they argue that they will attempt for “more swift processing of applications” often “speed” and “denial” go hand-in-hand.

If there is something to take away from the evacuation of City Plaza, it must stem from their own statement — City Plaza is Everywhere. Although perhaps we might be unable to cultivate and sustain a community so large, we can learn from the example of shared solidarity, responsibility, and respect. To value humans over numbers. Make the spirit of the community go Viral.

The impact of City Plaza on the lives of everyone who spent time there is undeniable. We strongly encourage everyone to go and read their full statement (In Greek) here. As part of the evacuation, all previous residents have been relocated to other safe housing. ❤

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN + BALKANS

In Turkey, there are increasing reports on the ongoing hostility against Syrian refugees. Under Erdogan’s leadership, over three million Syrian refugees are in Turkey. Many of them are relegated to making a living in the black market, and the hardships faced by the Turkish economy have also resulted in Turkish citizens viewing Syrian refugees as a threat to their wellbeing. Even the recently-elected opposition mayor of Istanbul, who is considered “inclusive” argues that it is time for Syrians to return to their “free land”.

In a recent well-publicized attack, two Syrian men saw their clothing shop in Istanbul destroyed by masked men. Many more are receiving death threats. The conflict in Syria is still not halting and even after that were to occur, the political situation makes it unsafe for those displaced to return. Read more here.

Additionally the reception centres in Cyprus are overwhelmed. The current capacity is at 350 but there are plans to increase the size of possible accommodation to 1000. However this is most likely too little too late, with the inadequate system resulting in the trafficking and exploitation of people having to sleep rough. There is also a concern over the recent jump in support for Elam, an offshoot of the far right Golden Dawn, which is up to over 8% of the vote from last European elections. For more, go here.