AUT: MIGRANTS: Observers expelled from via Corelli

["Giuliano" <acunzoli@xxxxxx>]

Hallo,

Yesterday we were expelled from the Milan prison camp for migrants in via
Corelli. In about 3 months of continuous monitoring, it's the first time
that happens something like that.

OUR PHILOSOPHY

Since this mail is going to many recipients, allow me a brief introduction:
the zapatist association "Ya Basta!", together with other grassroots
"realities" (the migrant groups of the Leoncavallo, plus other groups and
social centers active in Milan), conquered last september the right to
enter in via Corelli thanks to direct actions and wide demonstrations which
brought thousands of people in front of the gates of this lager.

Our request was pretty simple: it's a lager, let's close it. It's a lager
not only because of the horrible look of those metal containers and tall
bars -- it would be a lager even if it would be the Sheraton, for the very
simple reason that people is locked there inside because they belong to a
SOCIAL CATEGORY, not because they broke somehow the law. In fact, at least
in Italy, the criminal offence of "illegal immigration" does not exist, and
the migrants are locked in the prison camps by the same authority that
gives you a parking ticket -- the Prefect -- and not by the Judicial power.
So, it's the same as the Nazi's (the problem is that you are a Jew, not a
criminal. Same for the migrants).

So, we decided as Ya Basta to exploit all possibilities to close up the
lager by joining with other associations and attacking on two fronts: the
political front (demos, pressure on authorities, etc) and the "front line"
-- i.e. a continuous monitoring of the situation to find evidences of
judicial and police abuses, etc. But to work with others is always
difficult. One by one, the others left: by now, us and the Leoncavallo
people are the only ones that, every Wednesday 2.30 PM, show up before the
Corelli gates to entreview the migrants in the freezing cold till 4.30 PM.

But yesterday, a little surprise: we were completely unknown to the police,
as if it was the first time we ever showed up. How comes?

THE FACTS

Monday, Nov. 29, an Algerian migrant imprisoned in via Corelli -- Youssef
Magry -- came somehow to know that he would have been send back... to
Marocco. They do it, sometimes, you know? We don't have clear evidences --
apart this one -- but many migrants told us that if the police can't find a
plane ticket for your country, they send you somewhere else. But this guy
was a though one -- he didn't want to go to Marocco, no matter what. So he
seriously cut himself with a razor blade all over his body, then swallowed
the razor blade. Obviously, Youssef lost "his" plane and was instead taken
to the hospital. When he was taken back in via Corelli, knowing that the
police would not give up so easily, he took the first occasion -- a heavy
fight between Kosovars and Macedonians prisoners in the lager -- to climb
the roof and threaten to throw himself down. He asked to speak with the
Algerian consulate and with the TVs. The Algerian consulate was contacted,
but they did not give a damn. The TVs, and the journalists, were all there,
but they were not allowed to enter the lager. The only witnesses came from
a member of the Regional Council -- mr. Monguzzi, a Green and a camerade --
which was allowed to enter and speak with Youssef.

At the end Youssef was convinced to came down -- and Tuesday he was
released, not deported but with the obligation of leaving Italy within two
weeks -- struggle pays, as you can see.

But all this must have shocked the sensible nerves of the police and its
political bosses, because when we showed up yesterday, they said initially
that we were completely unknown and had no authorization to enter, then --
after 20 minutes of heavy "bargaining" -- they let us in and even gave us a
container for our entreviews... but then they found out that in our group
(we were in 4) there was an hatred journalist (sorry, but we are THE
OPPOSITION, we told them). That -- plus the fact that they kept on saying
that we had no authorization to enter the lager -- implied an immediate
expulsion for the all of us, also because -- thanks to the first two
entreviews we managed to have -- we (and the journalist) came to know in
all details what I wrote above.

This expulsion has many meanings: first, the migrants that could petition
against their illegal detention could not do it (since we are the only ones
filing these petitions and bringing them to the judge), therefore
the only basic right allowed to the migrants has been violated. Second, all
non-conforming press (and even the conforming one) is excluded from the
lager -- a clear violation of the right to information by the citizens.
Third: via Corelli is a chaos, not only for what's happening inside, but
also because there are no clear directives even to the police, nobody likes
to assume responsabilities for it, and therefore it's quite likely that the
police holds a completely schizofrenic behaviour with the migrants, a
behaviour they don't like to show. There's more... but I'll leave it for
the next time.

It's obvious that if they think to keep us out by babbling excuses -- or
even worse, with violence --  they make a big mistake. As long as the
lagers exist -- in Europe, in Milan, all over -- they will never get rid of
us. But the lagers are only an expression of the wild exploitation of cheap
labour force promoted by neoliberism (sort of "dumps" for out-of-date human
merchandise), so the real struggle is against the "New World Order"
promoted by transnational bodies, multinational corporations and so called
"left" governments and "right" governments alike. And this struggle we'll
never quit.

Hasta la victoria

Giuliano

Note: The monthly report on the Otranto Channel is almost ready -- I just
need to find the time to assemble everything (maybe next week).



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