By Joshua Miguel Makalintal (FYEG, Junge Grüne) Austrian law dictates that the country’s federal asylum agency has six months to finalize an asylum application. But in the alpine province of Tyrol, the operation remains idle and refugees are desperately waiting for any result that will determine their future. This has made them create the “Freedomseekers”…
Tag: Migration
Video statement: A radical change for EU migration policies
Ska Keller, FYEG candidate for the Green Primary, outlines an ambitious vision for migratory reforms in Europe. The issue of Europe’s borders is disheartening and needs urgent reform. We don’t want borders, we want people crossing the Mediterranean to be saved and treated humanely. We don’t want detention camps in Europe or in surrounding states,…
Portraits of Migrants : Hanny, a car addict from Persia
Hanny is 28, from Tehran, in Persia/Iran. For a couple of months now, we are in the same class of our Integrationkurs, both struggling with German language. In Germany for just a year, she manages her way around pretty well in this tricky language. All which follows was expressed in German (aouch!). Hanny loves cars….
From singing in Mexico to organic farming in Germany, the three lives of Jose
Jose, 57. Professional singer in his twenties, architect for 25 years, Jose is starting with his German wife a new life as an organic farmer. From economic crisis to drug war, his life seems to be a negative of Mexico’s recent history. Jose is a hardworking and focused student. Always very calm, one can still…
Organised resistance in Germany’s capital
A look back on more than one year of refugee-strike in Berlin by Grüne Jugend In the beginning of October a protestmarch of refugees, who started in Würzburg (Souther Germany), reached Berlin. Already at the city boundaries, the activists were loudly welcomed by other refugees and supporters. The German capital was the goal of the…
Legalise migration !
Have you ever been on holiday? To Thailand maybe? Or to Dubrovnik? Travel is a wonderful privilege we should all cherish. Yet travel for most of today’s travelers is not a story of picturesque holidays, but rather picturesque stories of forced migration. As we have brought down borders to any and all goodies and services,…
Illegal Immigrants, their stories behind their smiles..
Illegal Immigration in the Mediterranean region has become a top priority issue on the political agenda of the neighborhood countries. The measures and restrictions for visas and immigration taken by countries in the Mediterranean have increased the demand for smuggling from African coasts towards Europe. Hundreds of immigrants manage to reach the shores but there…
A Tale of Identity
When, in the year 762, Caliph Al-Mansur was traveling through the vast expanses of the Orient in search of rest and calm, his eyes fell suddenly on a landscape that lay idyllically on the banks of two rivers. Without hesitation, he ordered his soldiers to dig a large ditch around this piece of land, to…
Eurosur – Not a good move on rescue at sea
This week, the European Parliament will vote on Eurosur, the European Border Surveillance System. The Commission claims that this will improve the saving of lives at sea – a very relevant point, especially after the catastrophe at Lampedusa. However, the Commission is only window-dressing. The aim of Eurosur is to fight “illegal migration”. All the…
Lampedusa : what do do ?
After hundreds of migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean, not far from Lampedusa, the question remains whose fault it was and what should be done to prevent further catastrophes. For that, we need to both look at the situation in the Mediterranean and at the reasons that brought migrants to make the dangerous journey. Let’s…