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PUBLIC DECLARATION
!The European Union waves a xenophobic and racist
flag!
The EU Council has
decided to adopt the Directive on returns, which establishes a
maximum period of up to 18 months of detention for immigrants
"without papers". Furthermore, an administrative authority, without
a judge’s ruling, can decide if immigrants without papers, including
those who are unaccompanied minors, are sent to detention centers
for foreigners (CIES) before deporting them.
GIVEN THIS, WE STATE
THE FOLLOWING:
1. Since 2005, in
preparation for this anticipated crisis, the EU states have been
preparing an expedited procedure (Directive on returns) to get rid
of the immigrants that they do not need; however, in order to
maintain the “competitiveness of the European economy”, they do keep
some immigrants and pay them low wages to keep costs low. People’s
right to free movement (migration), so strongly espoused on many
occasions by the EU and its member states, is thus reduced to a mere
administrative discretion which concedes to the variable needs of
profit and accumulation of European capitalism.
2. The triangular
power of Sarkozy, Merkel and Berlusconi has orientated European
immigration policy in a direction that is clearly regressive and
exacerbates its obsession with security during this period of
crisis. It uses immigrants as a pretext for weakening liberties
which are the rights of citizens. We, the immigrants, are the
scapegoats for the fatal economic and social policies affecting the
whole population.
3.
The racist and xenophobic madness unleashed in Italy with the
complicity, if not with the induction, of the State reminds us of a
time in European history which we thought of as long gone-- the era
of pogroms, arbitrary arrests and concentration camps.
4. The 280
detention centers that exist on European soil can be expanded and
extended beyond borders as is, in fact, already, the case with the
help of governments who have been bought to act as guards of the
gates of the "European Fortress".
5. The approved
period of detainment, together with the administrative detention
without judicial review, represents the most serious attack on the
rule of law in Europe since the days when a decree made by Hitler
authorized the arrests, deportation and murder of millions of people
under the Nazi-fascist regime.
6. A fallacious
argument is made by the Spanish government when it says that the
maximum period of detainment (60 days) is merely a standard maximum,
and therefore, does not have to be implemented. Can anyone doubt
that this or any other government, when they find appropriate, will
not use this European law to maximize measures of expulsion and
internment? This has indeed been promoted in the previous
legislature, among others such as CiU (Convergence and Union, a
political party in Catalan)*, which is apparently the current
legislature’s favorite partner. Does this not mean that the
statements made by Consuelo Rumí, Secretary of State for immigration
and emigration, consider the directive as balanced and provided of
guarantees?
Faced
with this assault on human dignity, political freedoms and
fundamental rights of all migrants, the undersigned organizations
DECLARE:
1.
Our
most vigorous rejection of the outrageous and regressive European
Union Directive and the Fascist laws of Berlusconi’s government.
2.
Our solidarity with those immigrants and refugees residing in Italy
who call us to join forces in fighting for the rights of immigrants
and against the “Directive of Shame”.
3.
A call
to immigrant and refugee organizations and social movements to a
claim national journey against this directive, the closure of
detention facilities and the guarantee of full rights for all
persons residing in Spain and the European Union.
4.
A call
to democratic organization and the progressive Spanish population to
speak and mobilize against this directive, and work for the
adherence to this Declaration.
5.
We urge
the governments, political parties, labor unions and social
movements of the countries from which immigrants are from and the
European Union to declare themselves against this policy that
violates fundamental rights, waves a xenophobic and racist flag and
criminalizes the human right of free movement of persons as
enshrined in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
Signatories:
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ACSUR Las Segovias – MADRID |
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ACUDE |
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AMEC |
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Asociación Christ International Ministres |
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Asociación de Chilenos en España |
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Asociación de Chilenos en Valencia |
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Asociación de Mujeres Guineanas |
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Asociación ENTREIGUALES |
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Asociación Entreiguales - Valencia |
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Asociación Espacio de la Solidaridad |
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Asociación Gabriela Mistral |
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Asociación La Esperanza |
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Asociación Madres por la Tolerancia |
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Asociación MOLATO |
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Asociación Nuevos Colectivos de Barcelona |
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ASODEFU |
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Centro de Defensa y Estudio de los Derechos Humanos CEDEHU |
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Centro Uruguayo de Madrid |
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CINPROINDH |
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Colectivo de Colombianos Refugiados en España COLREFE |
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Comité Madrileño por los Derechos Humanos en Colombia |
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Confederación General del Trabajo CGT |
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Coordinadora de Ecuatorianos en España - CONADEE |
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Coordinadora de Inmigrantes de Málaga CIM |
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Derechos para Todos y Todas |
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Ecologistas en Acción |
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Espacio Alternativo |
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Federación Estatal de Asociaciones de Inmigrantes y
Refugiados FERINE |
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Foro
Alternativo Valencia |
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Globalízate |
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Integra-2 Mundo Valencia |
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Oficina de Derechos Sociales ODS-CARABANCHEL-MADRID |
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Sindicato de Trabajadores de Andalucía SAT |
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Sindicato Obrero del Campo SOC |
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