CommemorAction

Global Day of CommemorAction

COMMEMORACTION FEB 6th, 2026

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  • COMMEMORACTIONS FOR FEBRUARY 6TH IN 2026


    The following cities will hold CommemorActions in memory of February 6th, 2014:

    AUSTRIA
    Vienna / 6.2. / 17h @ Platz der Menschenrechte

    BELGIUM
    Brussels / 6.2. / 16h @ Place de la Bourse

    CAMEROON
    Edea / 6.2. / 10h
    Douala

    CÔTE D’IVOIR
    Grand Bassam / 6.2. / 16h @ Plage de Grand Bassam

    ENGLAND
    London

    FRANCE
    Bayonne / 6.2. / 18h @ City hall
    Blain
    Brest / 8.2. / 11h @ en haut de la rue de Siam au dessus du marché St Louis
    Briançon / 5.2. / projection, 19h @ Cinema le Cosmo
    / 6.2. / sensibilisation participative, 17h @ Centre ville
    / 7.2. / ballade immersive, 13:30 @ parking Chalette à Montgenèvre
    / 7.2. / manifestation, 17h @ Espace partenaire de Montgenèvre
    / 8.2. / ballade immersive, 11:00 @ parking Chalette à Montgenèvre
    Caen / 8.2. / 11h @ au bout du bassin Saint-Pierre
    Calais / 6.2. / 17:30 @ Maison d’Entraide et des Ressources
    Douarnenez / 7.2. / 15-19h exposition & témoignages @Port du Rosmeur
    Grenoble / 7.2. / 15h @ Place Félix Poulat
    Marseilles / 6.2. / 18h @ Vieux port
    Morlaix / 7.2. / 15h gathering @ in front of city hall
    Nantes / 6.2. / 17:30h @ podcasts et films @ Gasprom, 24 Rue Fouré
    7.2. / 10:30h exposition et paroles @ devant Passerelle Schoelcher
    Paris / 6.2. / 18h @ Place de la République
    Perpignan / 6.2.
    Portbou / 7.2.
    Redon / 3.2. / cinema Le Mainviel
    Rennes
    Saint Etienne / 6.2.
    Saint Palais / 6.2. / 18h @ City hall

    GERMANY
    Berlin / 6.2. / 15:30-18:00h @ European House Unter den Linden 78
    Cologne / 6.2. / 16:30h @ Aachener Weiher
    Frankfurt / 6.2. / 19h @ Medico Haus
    Freiburg / 6.2. / 18h @ Platz der alten Synagoge
    Hamburg / 6.2. / 16h @ Madonna der Seefahrt
    Leipzig / 6.2. / 17h @ Pögehaus

    GREECE
    Athens

    GUINEE
    Conakry
    Mamou / 9.2. – 10.2.
    Taouyah / 6.2. / 9h-19h @ Jeter de Taouyah

    ITALY
    Cagliari / 7.2. / 16h @ Piazza vittime del Moby Prince
    19h @ Biblioteca Autogestita Zarmu
    Messina / 7.2. / 17:30 @ Fronte Chiesa Madonna della Scala
    Milan / 12.2. / 18:30 @ Piazza Gaza ex La Scala
    Palermo / 5.2. / 18:30 @ Piazza Bellini
    Parma / 6.2. / 17h @ Via Università 12, Aula Bandiera
    19h @ Portici del grano, Piazza Garibaldi
    Roma / 7.2. / 17:30h @ Welcome Center, P.le della Stazione Tiburtina

    LEBANON
    Tripoli / 6.2. / 17h @ Ajid Theater, Syria Street, Tebbeneh, Tripoli

    MALI
    Bamako / 6.2.

    MALTA
    Valetta / 5.2. / 19h @ 212 Old Bakery Street, Valetta

    MAURETANIA
    Nouadhibou / 6.2. / 10:30h @ Centre de Savoir pour Tous
    Nouakchott / 7.2. / @ Salle de conférence de la communauté urbaine

    MOROCCO
    Agadir / 6.2. / 10-17h
    Laayoune & Dakhla / 6.2. / 15h @ A la Salle de Sakia Elhamra
    Martil & Tetouan / 6.2. / 18h @ Place Félix Poulat
    / 8.2. / 15h @ Place Félix Poulat
    Nador & Berkane / 6.2. / 14h
    Oujda / 7.2. / 14h
    Tanger / 6.2. / 14h @ Église Espagnole de Tanger

    NETHERLANDS
    Nijmegen / 6.2.

    NIGER
    Niamey / 6.2.

    SENEGAL
    Cité Apix / 7.2. / 16h @ Foyer Socio-Collectif
    Mbao / 9.2. / 17h @ Plage de Grand Mbao
    Mbour / 6.2. / 16h
    Pikine / 8.2. / 16h
    Yénne

    SPAIN
    Asturias / 6.2. / 19h @ Plaza Parchís
    Ceuta / 7.2. / 11:45h @ Instituto Abyla
    Mallorca / 6.2. / 18h @ Plaça de l’Ajuntament, La Pobla
    / 7.2. / 18h @ Plaça de la rosa dels vents, Es Molinar, Palma

    SWITZERLAND
    Bern

    TOGO
    Sokodé / 6.2. / 8h @ Clac de Sokodé

    TUNISIA
    Tunis / 5.2. / 10:30 @ Le Siége de FTDES

    CommemorAction

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  • CALL FOR COMMEMORACTIONS FEBRUARY 6TH, 2026

    دعوة لإحياء الذكرى في 6 فبراير 2026
    APPEL À COMMÉMORACTIONS LE 6 FÉVRIER 2026
    CONVOCATORIA A CONMEMORACCIONES 6 DE FEBRERO DE 2026

    As every year, we invite every city, every community, every person to organize or participate in a CommemorAction on February 6th, 2026 to commemorate those who died or disappeared at the borders.

    Read the call in English, Arabic, French or Spanish below:

    CommemorAction

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  • 3 years of demanding Justice for the Melilla Massacre.

    June 24, 2025 marks 3 years since the Melilla Massacre, a border control maneuver by the Spanish and Moroccan state in which at least 27 people died and more than 70 disappeared, according to AMDH.

    Illustration: @laraggge

    There were at least 470 illegal returns, according to the Spanish Ombudsman. The majority were refugees from Sudan, many of them minors, who were heavily violated, illegally expelled, and prevented from exercising their right to seek asylum.

    The Melilla Massacre, like that of Tarajal and others that preceded it, demonstrates the racial and colonial character of the migration policies designed by the EU and implemented by member states, as well as by third countries to which migration control is outsourced.

    With the aim of hindering and preventing international mobility from countries with a history of colonial domination. Despite the gravity of the facts, the Government has systematically failed in its duty to investigate and promote accountability.

    On the one hand, it prevented the creation of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry. On the other hand, the Public Prosecutor’s Office closed the proceedings in 2022 without initiating a judicial investigation.

    3 years later we continue to demand justice, truth, reparations and guarantees of non-repetition. We continue to remember, to remember all those who died and are still missing as a consequence of racist and colonial state violence. We remember their names, we honor their lives.

    ESPANOL:

    24J 2025 – 3 años exigiendo #JusticiaMasacreMelilla

    El 24 de junio de 2025 se cumplen tres años de la Masacre de Melilla, una maniobra de control fronterizo del Estado español y marroquí en la que al menos 27 personas murieron y más de 70 desaparecieron, según la AMDH. Además, se produjeron al menos 470 devoluciones ilegales, según el Defensor del Pueblo.

    La mayoría eran personas refugiadas procedentes de Sudán, muchas de ellas menores de edad, que fueron fuertemente violentadas, expulsadas ilegalmente, y a quienes se les impidió ejercer su derecho a solicitar asilo.

    La Masacre de Melilla, como la de Tarajal y otras que la antecedieron, demuestra el carácter racial y colonial de las políticas migratorias diseñadas por la Unión Europea y ejecutadas por los estados miembros, así como por terceros países a los que se externaliza el control migratorio con el objetivo de dificultar e impedir la movilidad internacional desde países con una historia de dominación colonial.

    A pesar de la gravedad de los hechos, el Gobierno ha incumplido sistemáticamente su deber de investigar y promover la rendición de cuentas. Por un lado, se impidió la creación de una Comisión de Investigación Parlamentaria. Por otro lado, la Fiscalía archivó en 2022 las diligencias sin impulsar una investigación judicial.

    Tres años más tarde seguimos exigiendo justicia, verdad, reparación y garantías de no-repetición. Seguimos recordando, haciendo memoria de todas aquellas personas que murieron y siguen desaparecidas como consecuencia de la violencia racista y colonial de los estados. Recordamos sus nombres, honramos sus vidas. #JusticiaMasacreMelilla #Noolvidamos

    CommemorAction

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  • 2 years after pylos

    2 years since the Pylos state crime: we make our tears a sea of anger.

    14:17 CEST on June 13, 2023: Alarm Phone received the first call from the Adriana, an overcrowded boat in distress carrying about 750 people that departed from Libya towards Europe. In the hours that followed, our volunteers alerted competent authorities and attempted several times to reach the people in distress, some times successfully and others not. It became evident that the boat was unstable and that the people needed rescue urgently.

    For us, it was also evident that the past actions of the Hellenic Coast Guard, which we witnessed multiple times in that region, could have lethal consequences for such an overloaded boat. To our great horror, the crime we feared could happen, took place in the early morning hours of June 14, 2023. The boat capsized. Only 104 of the estimated 750 people on board survived. More than 600 people were killed that night.

    In a blatant attempt to absolve themselves of any responsibility, the Hellenic Coast Guard – with the support of the Greek government – staged false accusations against 9 Egyptian survivors for ‘smuggling’ and causing the shipwreck. But similar to other recent state crimes in Greece, it was due to the tireless work of the survivors, the families of the disappeared, lawyers, journalists and civil society that the false narrative crumbled.

    In December 2024, investigative journalists revealed that Egyptian authorities had informed their Greek counterparts that the nine survivors of the Pylos shipwreck were not members of the smuggling network. Yet, the nine Egyptian men stayed behind bars for a year.

    In February 2025, the Greek account of the deadly shipwreck was challenged by leaked phone recordings, in which an “unnamed man speaking from inside a Greek rescue coordination centre is heard instructing the captain of the migrant boat to tell an approaching ship that those onboard do not want to reach Greece”.

    In May 2025, the lawyers representing the survivors and victims of the shipwreck were informed of the criminal prosecution and referral to main investigation on felony charges against 17 members of the Hellenic Coast Guard, including senior officers of its leadership.

    On the 28th of February 2025, two years since another state crime that claimed 57 lives when two trains crashed in Tempi, Greece, the families of the Pylos victims sent a message of solidarity to the families of the Tempi victims:

    A SALUTATION TO THE RELATIVES OF THE VICTIMS OF TEMPI FOR THE RALLIES ON 28 FEBRUARY

    Dear relatives of the 57 people, students and workers who were taken from you when the trains collided in Greece on 28 February, WE ARE WITH YOU!

    We share the pain in our souls and hearts because our loved ones on the boat Adriana in Pylos were also lost. Our tears have not stopped for two years now. We feel you as our own people.

    We are mothers, brothers and sisters, children of the 750 migrants who put their dreams of a better life on a ship that sank in the Mediterranean. The mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters of the victims from Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Palestine join you in mourning on 28 February.

    We also join our voices with you for justice, to punish the murderers. For us to finally get an answer: Where are our people, who are those lying to us?

    Don’t all people’s lives count? Don’t the lives of migrants count? Our condolences to all of you. And to the family of Mia Mohammad Idris, the migrant worker from Bangladesh who died in the Tempi train. All over the planet they are spreading fear, hatred. Our governments want us to work as slaves in Europe and America but they persecute us at the borders, lock us up in camps and the far right that is rising is murdering people in the streets.

    That’s why we will also stand against injustice, wars, racism worldwide and on March 22 we will mobilize everywhere. Thank you for your support. We share the same pain.

    Let’s make our tears a sea of anger at the injustice that is killing our children.

    Strength and vindication for your struggle.

    Two years later, we are still full of grief and let our tears join the sea of anger at the injustice that continues to kill people. Alarm Phone stands together with a growing number of people who call for justice and are mobilising throughout Greece and beyond to commemorate those who forcibly disappeared on board the Adriana.

    We do not forget! We do not forgive!

    United in solidarity – Freedom of movement and equal rights for all!

    First published by Alarm Phone:
    https://alarmphone.org/en/2025/06/14/2-years-since-the-pylos-state-crime/

    CommemorAction

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  • COMMEMORACTIONS FEBRUARY 6th, 2025

    11 years of remembrance and calls for justice

    The following cities will hold CommemorActions in memory of February 6th, 2014:

    Innsbruck / Austra / Feb 1st, 14h @ Landhausplatz
    Vienna / Austria

    Brussels / Belgium / Feb 6th, 16h @ Place de la Monnaie

    Douala / Cameroun / Feb 9th, 14:30h

    Brest / France, Feb 2nd @ haut de la rue Siam
    Briançon / France, Feb 6th – 8th
    Caen / France / Feb 9th, 15h @ Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer
    Calais / France / Feb 7th, 17:30h @ Park Richelieu
    Douarnenez / France / Feb 1st, 12:30h sur le rosmeur
    Grenoble / France / Feb 6th, 18:30h @ Place Félix Poulat
    Le Havre / France / Feb 8th, 15h @ Hôtel de Ville
    Marseille / France / Feb 6th, 18h @ Vieux-Port
    Morlaix /France / Feb 8th, 12h @ Place du Dossen
    Nantes / France
    Paris / France
    Perpignan / France
    Redon / France / Feb 8th, 10h @ devant les Halles de Redon
    Rennes / France / Feb 8th, 11h @ Place Saint-Anne
    Saint Etienne / France / Feb 6th, 18h @ Place du peuple
    Strasbourg / France / Feb 8th, 15h @ Place des Bateliers – Place Corbeau
    Toulouse / France / Feb 6th
    Valence / France

    Berlin / Germany / Feb 6th
    Frankfurt / Germany / Feb 8th, 15:30h @ Hauptwache
    Göttingen / Germany / Feb 6th, 16:30h @ Gänseliesl
    Hamburg / Germany / Feb 6th, 16h @ Hansaplatz
    Hanau / Germany / Feb 6th, 19h @ Metzgerstraße 8
    Magdeburg / Germany

    Athens / Greece
    Mytilini (Lesvos) / Greece

    Mamou / Guinea

    Messina / Italy
    Milan / Italy / Feb 6th, 18:30h @ Piazza della Scala
    Oulx / Italy / Feb 8th, 15h
    Parma / Italy / Feb 6th, 12h @ ArtLab & 18:30h @ Ester’s Corner
    Rome / Italy / Feb 6th, 18h @ Welcome Center, Piazzale della Stazione Tiburtina
    Ventimiglia / Italy / Feb 6th, 17h @ Ponte San Ludovico

    Tripoli / Lebanon

    Bamako / Mali / Feb 6th

    Nouadhibou / Mauretania / Feb 6th, 11h @ Centre du Savoir
    Nouakchott / Mauretania / Feb 8th, 9:30h @ Conseil Régional de Nouakchott

    Agadir / Morocco / Feb 6th, 14h @ plage
    Berkane / Morocco / Feb 6th
    Dakhla / Morocco
    Laayoune / Morocco / Feb 6th, 12h @ Centre d’ accueil de l’Association Sakia
    Nador / Morocco
    Oujda / Morocco / Feb 9th, 15h @ Espace de formation et d’animation du
    tissu associatif Oujda
    Tanger / Morocco

    Amsterdam / Netherlands
    Nijmegen / Netherlands / Feb 6th, 16:30 @ central station

    Agadez / Niger
    Niamey / Niger

    Dakar / Senegal / Feb 8th, 16h @ terrain de basket Cayar
    Mbao / Senegal

    Catalunia / Spain
    Xixon (asturias / Spain / Feb 6th, 16:30h @ Place La Llume

    Bern / Switzerland / Feb 6th, 19h @ Schütz

    Sokodé / Togo / Feb 6th, 20h @ CLAC

    Bizerte / Tunisia / Feb 5th, 16h @ Menzel Bourguiba
    Tunis / Tunisia / Feb 6th, 10h @ Complexe des jeunes Maghrébin de Radès

    CommemorAction

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  • Commemoractions on February 6th 2025

    11 years later – not forgotten, not forgiven

    World day of action against the border death regime and to demand truth,justice, and reparatios for migration victims and their families.

    On February 6,2024, a major transnational mobilization marked the 10th anniversary of Commemor-Action. On February 6, 2025, we aim to further amplify this mobilization in support of the families of those who have died or disappeared during migration.

    On February 6, 2014, more than 200 people departed from the Moroccan coast and attempted to swim to the Tarajal beach in the Spanish colonial enclave of Ceuta. To prevent them from reaching “Spanish soil,” the Guardia Civil used riot control equipment, while Moroccan soldiers stood by, allowing people to drown in front of them. Fifteen bodies were recovered on the Spanish side, dozens more went missing, and the survivors were pushed back, some of whom perished on the Moroccan side.

    For more than thirty years, the direct or indirect violence of border regimes has continued to cause death and disappearances along migratory routes. Shipwrecks occur in succession, often marked by the lack of assistance and, at times, the active involvement of coast guards and Frontex. The number of people disappearing without a trace, either at sea or in the desert, keeps increasing. Meanwhile, efforts by authorities to search for and identify bodies are often hasty and fail to involve the families affected by these losses.

    For more than thirty years, families and loved ones, associations, and all those fighting for equal mobility rights have continuously demanded truth and justice for these victims. They have highlighted the responsibilities of racist migration policies, worked to expose these responsibilities, and supported families and loved ones in their painful search for the missing and identification of victims.

    We call on all social and political organizations, secular and religious groups, victim families’ collectives, and citizens worldwide to organize protest and awareness-raising actions on February 6, 2025.

    We invite you to use the logo above, alongside your own logos, as a symbol of the connection between all the different initiatives. Please share information about your initiatives with us (preferably before February 6) to help make the collective mobilization visible through the Commemor-Action website.

    To endorse this call, you can write to:

    Email: globalcommemoraction@gmail.com

    Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/330380128977418/

    Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076223537693

    Past Commemor-Action Page: https://missingattheborders.org/news

    CommemorAction

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  • Le massacre de Pylos, un an après

    Il y a exactement un an, le 13 juin 2023 à 16h53, l’Alarmphone á alerté les garde-côtes grecs d’un bateau en détresse, près de la côte de Pylos en Grèce. Il y avait plus de 700 personnes à bord du bateau surchargé appelé “Adriana”. Elles auraient pu être sauvées. Elles pourraient encore être en vie aujourd’hui. Mais la plupart d’entre elles n’ont pas été sauvées. La plupart d’entre elles ne sont plus en vie.

    On a terminé le courriel aux autorités par ces mots : « They are urgently asking for help » “Ils et elles demandent de l’aide de toute urgence”. Cet appel est resté sans réponse. L’Adriana a coulé et la plupart de ses passager.es se sont noyé.es sous les yeux des garde-côtes grecs, environ 10 heures après notre alerte. On estime à plus de 600 le nombre de personnes décédées. Ce naufrage n’est pas un accident. Il s’agissait d’un massacre, d’un crime d’État.

    Aujourd’hui, un an plus tard, nous commémorons toutes celles et ceux qui ont perdu la vie et nous nous battons pour ceux et celles qui sont encore en vie. Nous pleurons les morts et continuons à lutter pour la liberté de circulation pour toutes et tous ! Nous condamnons la criminalisation de neuf survivants qui ont été emprisonnés par les autorités grecques et libérés il y a seulement quelques semaines. Et nous soutenons les demandes des proches pour une assistance appropriée dans la recherche des corps de leurs proches. C’est essentiel pour qu’ils et elles puissent trouver un peu de paix après avoir vécu cette horreur.

    Avec plusieurs centaines de personnes qui ont disparu lors du naufrage de l’Adriana il y en a des milliers d’autres qui sont à leur recherche dans de nombreux pays, en quête de réponses et de justice. Mais le régime frontalier européen qui les a tuées ne donne aucune réponse. Nous sommes resté.es en contact avec certain.es proches de personnes disparues le 14 juin 2023. Nous essayons de les soutenir dans leurs recherches et dans la gestion de leur perte. Nous essayons également d’attirer l’attention sur les meurtres de masse commis par l’Union européenne à ses frontières extérieures. Certain.es proches nous ont dit que jusqu’à aujourd’hui, leur plus grand besoin est d’être soutenu.es dans la recherche des corps – un besoin qui a été ignoré par les autorités grecques. Derrière chaque personne qui perd la vie en migrant, il y a une histoire. Il y a des frères, un.e voisin.e, des sœurs, un.e camarade, un.e collègue, des parents et des ami.es qui les recherchent, qui pleurent leur mort et tentent de perpétuer le souvenir de leurs êtres aimé.es.

    Ces innombrables décès pourraient être évités. Malheureusement, ils sont la conséquence logique du régime frontalier brutal mis en place par la Grèce et l’UE au cours des dernières années. Les refoulements, les attaques brutales en mer et la criminalisation croissante des passeurs de frontières obligent les gens à embarquer en grand nombre sur des bateaux qui ne sont pas en état de naviguer. Ils et elles essaient souvent de rester caché.es, car pour les personnes en transit, rencontrer les gardes-côtes, la police ou les gardes-frontières grecques est souvent synonyme de violence et de souffrance. En tant qu’Alarm Phone, nous avons documenté d’innombrables cas de refoulements en Méditerranée orientale, exécutés ou coordonnés par les gardes-frontières grecs ou d’autres gardes frontières. Les personnes en déplacement savent qu’elles doivent voyager le plus loin possible pour augmenter leurs chances d’éviter les refoulements ou les refoulements par procuration.page1image20704432

    Alors que la Grèce continue de rejeter la faute sur les survivants et intensifie la criminalisation de projets tels que l’Aegean Boat Report, la violence aux frontières grecques se poursuit également. La semaine dernière, Alarm Phone a été en contact avec plusieurs groupes différents dans la région d’Evros qui ont signalé des attaques brutales. Les refoulements en mer Égée se poursuivent également de manière systématique – ils sont devenus moins visibles après le massacre de Pylos, mais ils n’ont jamais cessé.

    Alors que les survivants et les survivantes et leurs proches luttent pour la justice et contre la criminalisation, les véritables crimes continuent de se produire : La guerre contre la migration et les personnes en mouvement. En tant qu’Alarm Phone, nous continuons à lutter contre la mort en mer, contre la violence aux frontières et contre un régime mondial d’apartheid migratoire. Nous nous battons pour un monde sans frontières et la liberté de circulation pour toutes et tous !

    Nous ne sommes pas seul.es. Des survivants et des survivantes, des proches, des avocat.es et des militant.es ont uni leurs forces pour lutter collectivement pour la justice. Dans la reconstitution du naufrage de l’Adriana, les survivants témoignent de ce qui s’est réellement passé : ils et elles expliquent en détail la fabrication d’une catastrophe par les autorités grecques, qui se sont ensuite efforcées de faire disparaître les preuves. Cette reconstitution sert de contre-récit puissant au récit des garde-côtes grecs, encore trop souvent cru par les médias et le public. Par ailleurs, quarante survivants ont déposé une plainte pénale contre toutes les parties responsables devant le tribunal naval du Pirée. Ils et elles sont soutenu.es par une puissante alliance de groupes de défense des droits humains et d’avocat.es, qui cherchent à obtenir des comptes pour les actions et les inactions meurtrières des autorités grecques. En outre, une forte campagne juridique et de solidarité a été menée pour soutenir et accompagner les neuf survivants, qui ont été cyniquement accusés d’être des passeurs et d’avoir provoqué la catastrophe. Les charges retenues contre les neuf Égyptiens ont été abandonnées en mai.

    Nous ne pardonnerons jamais, nous n’oublierons jamais : Nous construisons une mémoire collective à partir de notre douleur dans notre lutte pour une société fondée sur la solidarité et la liberté pour chacun et chacune de prendre ses propres décisions concernant sa vie.

    Uni.es dans la solidarité – Liberté de mouvement et droits égaux pour tous !

    CommemorAction

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  • COMMEMORACTION JUNE 14th, 2024

    The following places will hold a commemorAction to remember June 14th, 2023:

    https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=18pTvSmGYYmls6cnD-H3BPSxuhwSVrpA&ll=42.04015459768534%2C47.30637458162747&z=3

    A meeting of 350 families of victims of the shipwreck takes place in the city of Lalamousa in Pakistan on 14 June.

    Calais / France / 18h @ La Verte

    Marseille / France / 19h @ Place Caffo

    Paris / France / 17h @ Trocadéro

    Berlin / Germany / 11h @ Bundestag

    Athens / Greece / 19h @ Προπύλαια

    Zurich / Switzerland / 21h @ Wiese, Kasernenareal

    London / UK / 18h @ Greek Embassy

    CommemorAction

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  • The Pylos Massacre, one year on

    Exactly one year ago, at 16:53h on 13 June 2023, the Alarmphone alerted the Hellenic Coast Guard to a boat in distress, near the coast of Pylos in Greece. There were over 700 people on board the heavily overcrowded boat called ‘Adriana’. They could have all been rescued. They could still be alive today. But most of them were not rescued. Most of them are no longer alive.

    The email to the authorities ended with the words “They are urgently asking for help”. This call remained unanswered. The Adriana sank and most of its passengers drowned in front of the eyes of the Hellenic Coast Guard, roughly 10 hours after we had sent out the alert. Over 600 people are estimated to have died. This shipwreck was not an accident. It was a massacre, it was a state crime.

    Today, one year later, we commemorate all those who lost their lives and we fight for the ones still alive. We mourn the dead and continue to struggle for freedom of movement for all! We condemn the criminalization of nine survivors who were imprisoned by the Greek authorities and released only a few weeks ago. And we support the demands of relatives for appropriate assistance in the search of the bodies of their loved ones. This is essential for them to find some peace after experiencing this horror.

    With several hundreds of people who disappeared when the Adriana sank, there are thousands in many different countries who are searching for them, seeking answers and justice. But the European border regime that killed them is not giving any answers. We have stayed in contact with some of the relatives of people who were disappeared on 14 June 2023. We are trying to support them in their search and in dealing with their loss. We also try to draw attention to the ongoing mass murders committed by the European Union at the external borders. Some of the relatives told us that until today, their biggest need is support in the search for the bodies – a need which has been ignored by the Greek authorities. Behind every person who loses their life while migrating, there is a story. There are brothers, a neighbour, sisters, a comrade, a colleague, parents and friends, looking for them, mourning their deaths, trying to keep their loved ones alive in memory.

    These countless deaths are preventable. But unfortunately, they are a logical consequence of the brutal border regime established by Greece and the EU in the past years. Pushbacks, brutal attacks at sea and increasing criminalization against border crossers force people to board unseaworthy boats in high numbers. They often try to remain hidden as for people on the move, encountering the Hellenic Coast Guard, the Hellenic Police or the Hellenic Border Guards often means violence and suffering. Innumerable cases of pushbacks in the Eastern Mediterranean, executed or coordinated by the Greek or other border guards, have been documented. People on the move know that they need to travel as far as they can to increase their chances to avoid pushbacks or pushbacks by proxy.

    While Greece continues to direct blame at survivors and intensifies the criminalisation of projects like the Aegean Boat Report, also the violence at Greek borders continues. Just last week, Alarm Phone was in contact with several different groups in the Evros region who reported brutal attacks. Also pushbacks in the Aegean Sea continue to happen systematically – they became less visible after the Pylos massacre, but they never stopped.

    While survivors and relatives fight for justice and against criminalization, the real crimes continue to happen: The war against migration and people on the move. As Alarm Phone, we continue to fight against death at sea, against border violence and against a global regime of migration apartheid. We are fighting for a world without borders and freedom of movement for all!

    We are not alone. Survivors, relatives, lawyers and activists joined forces to collectively fight for justice. In the reconstruction of the Adriana shipwreck, survivors testify what really happened: they explain in detail the production of a disaster by the Greek authorities, who were subsequently trying hard to disappear evidence. This reconstruction serves as a powerful counter-narrative to the account of the Hellenic Coast Guard, which is still too often believed in the media and public. Also, forty survivors have filed a criminal complaint against all responsible parties before the Naval Court in Piraeus. They are supported by a powerful alliance of human rights groups and lawyers, who seek accountability for the deadly actions and inactions of the Greek authorities. Moreover, there was a strong legal and solidarity campaign in support of and together with the nine survivors, who were cynically accused as smugglers and of having caused the disaster. The charges against the nine Egyptians were dropped in May.

    We’ll never forgive, we’ll never forget: We build a collective memory from our pain in our struggle for a society based on solidarity and the freedom for all to make their own decisions about their lives.

    United in Solidarity – Freedom of movement and equal rights for all!

    CommemorAction

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  • Collective Remembrance, collective grief, collective outrage



    One week ago, 10 years after the Tarajal massacre more than a thousand people gathered in over 50 different locations to commemorate those who were killed by the EUropean border regime on February 6th, 2014. We gathered to share the sadness about the pointless and seemingly endless dying that happens at the borders every single day and unite in our anger at the violence that is continuing undisturbed.

    Will this ever end? Or will we have a thousand more February 6th’s, but still zero answers? Every year we add more dates like this one to our calendar of commemoration. And indeed, we could have commemorActions every single day, for as long as borders exist. Looking at the reality, one can easily lose hope. So many people disappeared, so many families left in shambles. These people can never be replaced.

    Regardless, we continue to fight for the end of all this pointless suffering, for justice, for lifting each other up instead of cementing the artificial walls between us.
    We don’t fight, because we think we will win against this machinery. 
    We fight because it’s the only thing that makes sense.

    For freedom of movement.
    Because none of us are free, until all of us are free.

    More photos & videos:
    https://commemoraction.net/photos-and-videos/2024-feb6/

    CommemorAction

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