https://medium.com

Lajos Illyefalvi (1881–1944), the great data chronicler of Budapest
▻https://medium.com/nightingale/the-hungarian-statistician-behind-three-volumes-of-visualization-masterpiece

https://miro.medium.com/max/1200/1*aRFbhhU8J9eY6X0gmJpK9w.jpeg

Quelle culture féministe voulons-nous ? Pour un nouveau Code féministe
▻https://expansive.info/Quelle-culture-feministe-voulons-nous-Pour-un-nouveau-Code-feministe-224

– Mon féminisme me fait du mal. #Analyses

/ Une, #Féminismes_-_Genres_-_Sexualités

Storia semiseria della cartografia esattissima delle epidemie, Anno Domini 1690-2020

Le epidemie hanno segnato anche la storia della cartografia, e viceversa: le carte ci raccontano come sono state pensate e quindi affrontate le epidemie. Ci dicono cosa cambia e cosa, ahimè, non cambierà mai. Il primo esempio si deve a Filippo de Arrieta (1): peste, Bari, fine del ‘600.

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/1.png

La carta mostra “li luoghi sospetti” - dove l’epidemia è ancora in corso (intorno Monopoli) o dove è passata (intorno a Bari) - isolati da un “cordone sanitario” di 350 caserme militari e per mare da “Filuche di guardia”. Un altro cordone protegge le province contigue.

Oggi siamo molto più gentili: basta qualche milione di posti di blocco. L’area del contagio è il mondo intero. I confini, di conseguenza, sono ovunque. A breve li installeremo nei nostri smartphone e saremo finalmente liberi (perché tracciati in tempo reale su una mappa). All’epoca i focolai erano quasi sempre nei porti. Si pensava allora che i veicoli fossero più che i marinai proprio le navi. La soluzione è vecchia di 700 anni: la quarantena (2).

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/2.png

Che può apparire crudele e sproporzionata. Ma d’altronde si trattava di salvare vite umane. E incidentalmente l’economia: confinamenti e quarantene intralciavano i commerci sul lungo raggio, ma comunicavano ai propri intorni territoriali che si trattava di porti sicuri dai quali attingere le merci. Dai lazzaretti, oltre che dalle flotte e dagli eserciti, dipendono l’espansione dei commerci e - oggi come allora - le sorti di quella che chiamiamo globalizzazione. E inoltre, pensate un po’, si diffondono dicerie. Le epidemie hanno origine in luoghi lontani dove, evidentemente, succedono cose immonde (hic sunt dragones) (3).

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/3.png

Un tale Luca Zaia, governatore dell’autonoma repubblica veneta, sostiene addirittura nell’anno domini 2020 che le epidemie nascono in Cina perché lì mangiano topi vivi, salvo poi scusarsi per l’affermazione. D’altronde all’epoca la gente era suggestionabile e ignorante di geografia (che era stata praticamente eliminata dalle scuole di ogni ordine e grado). Circolavano per questo parecchie fake news. Ma finalmente arriva la scienza moderna e si iniziano a mappare le epidemie per comprenderne le cause. Si sosteneva che il veicolo di trasmissione fosse l’aria, ovvero i famigerati ‘miasmi’, che esalavano da luoghi stantii e maleodoranti. Per dimostrarlo si disegnavano carte (che possono quindi essere considerate i primi tentativi di cartografare la puzza).

La prima è quella di Valentine Seaman (1795), porto di New York, febbre gialla (4): i numeri sono i contagiati, le S i luoghi dai quali esalano i ‘miasmi’ (“putrid effluvia”), le x i luoghi di assembramento.

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/4.png

La prossimità tra gli uni e gli altri implica correlazione e quindi causalità. La soluzione è la ‘sanificazione’. Che ha effettivamente risolto molti problemi sociosanitari, che però spesso non avevano natura epidemica ma erano appunto sociosanitari, ovvero colpivano i poveri. Le epidemie hanno invece un inconveniente: si trasmettono anche ai ricchi, che quindi tendono a prendere più a cuore la questione. Edwin Chadwick era particolarmente preoccupato. Nel 1842 disegna una carta che è considerata il primo esempio di cartografia delle disuguaglianze (5).

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/5.png

Leeds, 1830, epidemia di colera: nelle aree scure abitano i ricchi. In quelle chiare i poveri. I pallini rossi sono decessi per colera. Quelli blu per malattie respiratorie. Le strade sono classificate in “buone” e “cattive”. La posizione e la frequenza dei pallini parlano chiaro: la malattia è un problema di classe. La povertà quindi conduce alla malattia? Bisogna sconfiggerla! Chadwick in realtà pensava che fosse l’opposto: la malattia conduce alla povertà. Ed entrambe sono dovute alle cattive abitudini. La colpa allora è di chi si ammala. Il veicolo erano comunque considerati i miasmi. La sanificazione ha cambiato per sempre le città e quindi il mondo.

Mentre il Barone Hausmann demoliva le parti più vecchie, tortuose e putride di Parigi per fare un po’ d’aria, il suo capo ingegnere Eugéne Belgrand dotava la città di un adeguato sistema circolatorio sotterraneo: le fogne. Direbbe Franco Farinelli che la cartografia di Belgrand (6) non è una rappresentazione più o meno fedele o utile del suo progetto, ma che è stata piuttosto la rete fognaria e perfino, di conseguenza, Parigi a prendere forma dalla logica cartografica che albergava nella mente cartesiana di Belgrand (e di Haussmann).

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/6.png

Sia come sia, ha funzionato. Parigi viene demolita, ricostruita e resa più sicura: sui grandi boulevard voluti da Haussmann possono finalmente passare gli eserciti. I tentativi di imitazione furono innumerevoli. A Napoli lo chiamarono “Risanamento”. Il risanamento (o sanificazione) ha cambiato il mondo proprio perché si basava su una teoria in buona parte sbagliata. Si sottovalutava la dimensione interpersonale del contagio per cercare specifici focolai che potessero essere quindi isolati, evitando misure draconiane che danneggiavano l’economia.

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/7.png

In fondo, mostrava Thomas Shapter nella sua mappa (7), si tratta di “poche isolate macchie [“spots”] nei quali si verifica un tasso di mortalità rimarchevole e anomalo”. Oggi li chiamiamo hotspot o cluster e li individuiamo in pochi istanti con calcolatori iper-potenti che attingono in real time a repository dinamiche di dati machine readable. Ma sempre di puntini e macchie su una carta si tratta. Allora per mapparli ci volevano mesi o anni ma, guarda un po’, i dati a quanto pare erano più affidabili. Per Richard Grainger il veicolo erano gli acquitrini o, dove non c’erano, la “cattiva ventilazione” (oggi diremmo “polveri sottili”) o “gli affollamenti” (“assembramenti”), come tentò di mostrare con una carta che, diciamo la verità, è una vera schifezza (8).

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/8.png

Cambiando scala, sulla già immensa superficie di Londra, non si potevano semplicemente disegnare pallini, lettere e numeri. La soluzione è ancora oggi la stessa: mappe di densità. Solo che oggi le autorità non pubblicano dati individuali. Dobbiamo quindi accontentarci di suddivisioni amministrative e mappe ‘arlecchino’ che oltre ad essere orribili sono notoriamente fuorvianti perché affette dal “problema dell’unità d’area modificabile”: se si cambia la scala (es. dalle province ai comuni) o la forma geometrica dei confini, la correlazione tra due fenomeni può addirittura cambiare di segno. Poi arriva il nostro eroe: John Snow. Non è discendente diretto del noto personaggio della nota serie tv, ma tra i cartografi gode di analoga fama. È considerato il padre di hotspot, cluster e tutta quella roba lì. Ma come! Direte voi. L’avevano fatto altri prima di lui. Lui però l’ha fatto meglio (9).

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/9.png

Innanzitutto la sua teoria era esatta. La concentrazione anomala (hotspot) di casi (nella mappa: le lineette in pila) in una particolare area della città di Londra (Broad street) non era dovuta ai miasmi (Broad street d’altronde si traduce “via larga”). I casi ‘clusterizzavano’ intorno a uno specifico pozzo (nella mappa i pozzi sono pallini con l’etichetta “pump”). L’origine del colera è quindi l’acqua. E poi il metodo di Snow era particolarmente pulito, cartesiano e quindi inevitabilmente cartografico.

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/10.png

E siccome i suoi colleghi epidemiologi non si convincevano, Snow disegnò una linea di equidistanza tra il pozzo di Broad street e gli altri per mostrare che le morti si concentravano prevalentemente all’interno di quella linea (10): per questa semplice idea i cartografi lo acclamano. Ed era talmente convinto dell’efficacia dimostrativa della sua mappa che non si prese neanche il disturbo di contare questi morti, testare altrove la correlazione ed escludere eventuali concause. Si recò però personalmente in tutti i luoghi vicino a Broad street dove, stranamente, i morti erano pochi, per dimostrare che qui l’acqua veniva attinta da altri pozzi. I migliori cartografi d’altronde sanno bene che “la geografia si fa con i piedi”, prima che sulle mappe. Queste ultime, si sa, mentono. Henry Acland allora ci si mise di buzzo buono: nella sua mappa (11) localizzò tutte le morti di colera a Oxford durante le epidemie del 1854 (quadrati e lineette nere), del 1849 (lineette blu) e del 1832 (puntini blu), i luoghi dei ‘miasmi’ (puntini marroni), quelli sanificati (cerchi marroni), i corsi d’acqua inquinati (linee tratteggiate), le zone acquitrinose (in verde), le linee altimetriche (nere) e vi allegò un rapporto di 170 pagine con una ricchezza impressionante di dati.

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/11.png

Fu acclamato con entusiasmo. Forse perché sosteneva tesi in linea con quelle all’epoca tanto in voga? Fatto sta che le sue conclusioni erano sbagliate. E quindi oggi chi era Acland lo abbiamo dimenticato mentre Snow compare in tutti i libri di epidemiologia e di cartografia. D’altronde il rigore scientifico è nulla a confronto delle buone idee. E in questo caso è quanto mai vero che “basta che funzioni”. Snow è considerato il primo ad avere sperimentato un metodo che è ancora alla base delle applicazioni geospaziali più diverse, dall’industria petrolifera al geomarketing. Ma non riuscì mai a convincere i suoi colleghi. Per una prova ‘scientifica’ si dovettero attendere 30 anni e un numero enorme di altri morti, inclusa quella prematura di Snow per l’eccessiva auto-sperimentazione di anestetici. Allora come oggi i medici spesso ci rimettono la pelle.

In Italia nel frattempo si mappava la malaria, il cui veicolo di diffusione è territoriale e non interpersonale. Il problema riguardava per questo vastissimi territori che coprivano praticamente l’intera penisola. A fare l’Italia non bastavano quindi gli eserciti. Bisognava anche costruire le ferrovie. I lavori però progredivano lentamente e il motivo principale era proprio la malaria. Per non parlare dei danni all’agricoltura. Per mostrarlo il senatore Luigi Torelli disegnò una delle prime carte dell’Italia unita (12).

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/13.png

L’Italia l’hanno poi fatta anche le bonifiche, ma prima ancora quella mappa nella quale ci si scopriva vittime di un unico terribile morbo senza confini. In verità la malaria è stata sostanzialmente una “questione meridionale”, come pure si può dedurre sulla carta osservando le zone più scure. L’intenzione di Torelli era in ogni caso scioccare l’opinione pubblica e spronare all’azione. Compito che le carte geografiche svolgono da sempre egregiamente. E infatti funzionò. La lotta alla malaria modificò le abitudini, l’architettura, il territorio. Decine di migliaia furono salvati, per poi essere mandati con altri centinaia di migliaia a morire in guerra. Salvare vite umane è d’altronde un imperativo morale, ma alcune cause di morte fanno eccezione. Con altrettanta incuria ci si dedicò alle principali concause della malaria: la deforestazione selvaggia e la miseria. La lotta durò quindi un intero secolo, anche perché il vaccino funzionò solo in parte. Speriamo che contro questo coronavirus ci vada meglio. Perché abbiamo già iniziato a contare i morti dovuti alle misure di contenimento del contagio. E a discutere soluzioni alla recessione devastante che ci attende sulla base di teorie economiche altrettanto parziali che, guarda caso, nascono nella stessa epoca, e su una mappa (13).

http://blog-micromega.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/files/2020/05/12.png

E anche se abbiamo imparato a distinguere una correlazione da un nesso di causalità, facciamo ancora confusione tra ciò che è efficace e ciò che è giusto. Ma questa è un’altra storia. Nonostante, quindi, siano trascorsi secoli di progresso scientifico e civile continuiamo ad adottare metodi di contenimento delle epidemie simili - isolamento, quarantena, sanificazione, militarizzazione del territorio. Sappiamo tutto su virus, contagi, abitudini e movimenti delle persone ma applichiamo una strategia che è stata inventata a Venezia nel ‘300. Continuiamo a disegnare carte nel tentativo (spesso altrettanto vano) di individuare origini, canali di diffusione, soluzioni, scorciatoie. Continuiamo ad adottare soluzioni parziali, sperimentali, sproporzionate, pensando che esse si basino su incontrovertibili verità scientifiche. Il tutto condito da tonnellate di fake news, feroci caccie all’untore e elefantiaci dispositivi di sicurezza che se non fossero pericolosi sarebbero ridicoli, mentre la morte nera dilaga e ci inchioda, oggi come sempre, alla nostra prigione cartografica fatta di reti di contagio, confini di contenimento e territori minuscoli nei quali, terrificati, ci isoliamo. Perché “vedi, figlio mio”, come dice Gurnemanz a Parsifal nell’omonimo dramma anti-positivista di Wagner, “il tempo qui diventa spazio”. Niente di nuovo. Niente di strano. L’errore è aver pensato che, nel frattempo, il mondo fosse cambiato. Solo che nello spazio reti, confini, territori non esistono. Sono solo modi a volte goffi, a volte efficaci, con i quali tentiamo di dare un senso al mondo, che poi vengono facilmente confusi con la realtà che rappresentano (d’altronde sia la mappa di Snow che quella di Aucland erano ‘vere’). E che poi – anche per questo - hanno effetti molto concreti sul modo con il quale gestiamo e modifichiamo il territorio, l’architettura, le abitudini. Piaccia o non piaccia, speriamo almeno che funzioni.

FONTI

Al-Marashi I. (2020) Black plague, Spanish flu, smallpox: All hold lessons for coronavirus. Bullettin of the Atomic Scientists, March 13, 2020. Bagnato A., Terra infecta: Mapping malaria in Italy [▻https://research-development.hetnieuweinstituut.nl/en/research-projects/mapping-malaria-italy]

Bynum W. (2008) The history of medicine: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. Farinelli F. (2003) Geografia: un’introduzione ai modelli del mondo. Einaudi.

Gandy M. (1999) The Paris sewers and the rationalization of urban space. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 24: 23-44. Koch T. & Denike K. (2009) Crediting his critics’ concerns: Remaking John Snow’s map of Broad Street cholera, 1854. Social Science & Medicine 69: 1246-1251.

Koch T. (2005) Mapping the miasma: Air, health, and place in early medical mapping. Cartographic Perspectives 52: 4-27.

Koch T. (2011) Disease maps: epidemics on the ground. University of Chicago Press.

Mason B. (2019) The Topography of Disease: A 19th-century doctor famously mapped cholera’s toll to try and understand its origin and spread.

Scientific American, January 29, 2019.

Snowden F.M. (2002) Naples in the Time of Cholera, 1884-1911. Cambridge University Press. Snowden F.M. (2019) Mr. Clean: Edwin Chadwick and the movement to blame the poor for being sick. Lapham’s Quarterly, October 23, 2019.

MAPPE

MAPPE

(1) Filippo de Arrieta, “Raguaglio historico del contaggio occorso nella provincia di Bari negli anni 1690, 1691 e 1692”
▻https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Raguaglio_historico_del_contaggio..._Wellcome_L0043986.jpg

(2) I luoghi della quarantena a Venezia nel 1572: Lazzaretto vecchio e Lazzaretto nuovo
▻https://www.piratesurgeon.com/pages/surgeon_pages/quarantine10.html

(3) Monro Scott Orr (1874-1955), “Storia e diffusione della morte nera nel mondo”
▻https://wellcomecollection.org/works/v37g7nq9

(4) Valentine Seaman (1770-1817), “Indagine sulle cause e la prevalenza della febbre gialla a New York”, 1797
▻https://lib-dbserver.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/thematic-maps/quantitative/medicine/medicine.html

(5) Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890), “Rapporto sulle condizioni sanitarie della popolazione lavorativa della Gran Bretagna”: “Mappa sanitaria di Leeds”, 1842
▻https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/coll-9-health1/health-02/1842-sanitary-report-leeds

(6) Eugène Belgrand (1810-1878), “I lavori sotterranei di Parigi, Vol. V”: “Fogne costruite tra il 1856 e il 1878”
▻https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.0020-2754.1999.00023.x

(7) Thomas Shapter (1809-1902), “Mappa di Exeter che mostra le località dove si sono verificate le morti causata dal pestilenziale colera negli anni 1832, 1833 e 1834”, 1849

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Thomas-Shapter-HistoryOfCholeraInExeter1832-map.jpg

(8) Richard Grainger, “Mappa del colera nella metropoli, 1849”, 1850
▻https://wellcomecollection.org/works/hjutkspw

(9) John Snow (1813-1858), “Rapporto sull’epidemia di colera nel quartiere St. Jaimes, Westminster, durante l’autunno del 1854”, 1855
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Snow-cholera-map-1.jpg%3Fuselang%3Dit

(10) John Snow, riproduzione della linea di equidistanza tra il pozzo di Broad Street e quelli contigui, 1855
▻https://medium.com/through-the-optic-glass/la-mappa-che-cambi%C3%B2-le-citt%C3%A0-8027752b2c12

(11) Henry Acland (1815-1900), “Memorie sul colera a Oxford nel 1854”, “Mappa di Oxford”, 1855
▻https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/maps/2015/10

(12) Luigi Torelli (1810-1887) “Carta della malaria dell’Italia”, 1882
▻https://zanzare.ipla.org/index.php/2-non-categorizzato/152-note-storiche-sulla-lotta-alla-malaria-in-italia

(13) Johann Einrich von Thunen (1783-1850), “Lo stato isolato in relazione all’agricoltura e all’economia”, 1826. Secondo alcuni è la prima applicazione di un modello economico marginalista.
▻https://archive.org/stream/derisoliertestaa00thuoft?ref=ol#page/n4/mode/2up

▻http://temi.repubblica.it/micromega-online/storia-semiseria-della-cartografia-esattissima-delle-epidemie-anno-d
#cartographie #cartographie_historique #histoire #épidémie

Auteur : #Filippo_Celata, qui a publié ce billet sur @visionscarto :
Cartographie d’un désastre : la santé publique en Italie face au coronavirus
►https://visionscarto.net/hopital-et-coronavirus-en-italie

AYS Daily Digest 05/05/20

Releasing first hand testimony and photographic evidence indicating the existence of violent collective expulsions

Border Violence Monitoring Network, Wave-Thessaloniki and Mobile Info Team have published a press release: Collective Expulsion from Greek Centres on Tuesday:
“In response to the recent spike in pushbacks from Greece to Turkey, (we) are releasing first hand testimony and photographic evidence indicating the existence of violent collective expulsions. In the space of six weeks, the teams received reports of 194 people removed and pushed back into Turkey from the refugee camp in Diavata and the Drama Paranesti Pre-removal Detention Centre.”
“In the case of Diavata, respondents report being removed from this accomodation centre by police with the information that they would be issued a document to temporarily regularise their stay (informally known as a “Khartia”). Instead they shared experiences of being beaten, robbed and detained before being driven to the border area where military personnel used boats to return them to Turkey across the Evros river. Meanwhile, another large group was taken from detention in Drama Paranesti and expelled with the same means. Though the pushbacks seem to be a regular occurence from Greece to Turkey, rarely have groups been removed from inner city camps halfway across the territory or at such a scale from inland detention spaces. Within the existing closure of the Greek asylum office and restriction measures due to COVID-19, the repression of asylum seekers and wider transit community looks to have reached a zenith in these cases.”
The collected evidence comes from cases on 31st March 2020, 16th April 2020, 17th April 2020, 23rd April 2020, and two separate cases on 28th April 2020. Many of the cases involved people being pushed into vans from Diavata camp and driven to the Turkish border to be expelled.

There are still more reports of recent mysterious pushbacks not yet accounted for. On April 30th, dozens of people saw a small inflatable boat of about 10 to 15 people reach the shore of Chios, when the Greek Navy appeared on site to tow them “away.” Chios MP Andreas Michailidis spoke about the incident:
“If the suspicions expressed in the reports are confirmed, the Greek government is seriously exposed and fully responsible for the consequences of its practices.”
Josoor Blog just published an editorial on “Pushed around Europe: The story of a young man who was pushed back more than 15 times.” It’s not an easy read, but if you need to see the bravery in the human spirit right about now, take a look. This young man’s story also evidences the absolutely inhumanity of pushbacks occurring in Europe. They were intolerable and breaking international law before COVID-19, and they continue up until now…

*

Residents in northern Greece protest arrival of 300 vulnerable asylum seekers to hotel, transfer oversaw by IOM

After Tuesday’s Press conference with the General Police Director of the North Aegean, journalist Franziska Grillmeier laid out some excellent points behind the disturbing fact that most of the fines for COVID-19 restrictions were given to refugees:

“Background: During this time, over 3 big fires broke out in Moria + Vathy, causing hundreds of people to flee for a safe place. Many inhabitants of #Moria were also fined in front of Supermarket, where ppl got basics like flour, oil + diapers that weren’t provided in Camp.
Additionally: many inhabitants couldn’t charge phone with credit — since they were not allowed to travel to Mytilini anymore to charge. Hence, SMS to communte could rarely be sent. ALSO, people report to be left without information on COVIDー19 regulations for most time.
While not to forget that up to 19,000 men, children + women are currently trapped in a space made for 2,840 alone in Moria. Women with disabilities, women giving birth, newborn children, elderly men with movement difficulties in olive grove fields + with no future outlook.”

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-05-05-20-photographic-evidence-first-hand-testimony-greece-

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Camp #Diavata #Paranesti #Expulsions #Expulsionscollectives #turquie #incendie #moria #vathi #transfert #hôtel

AYS Digest 04/05/2020

BOSNIA-AND-HERZEGOVINA

Man Living in Ušivak Camp Killed, Family Accuses Security Guard
Ahmed Mahmoud Omar was a 53-year-old Kurdish man living in the Sarajevo-based camp along with his wife and four children. He was hospitalized in late March because of injuries, the family claim, a guard inflicted on him. Over the weekend, the family found out that he had passed away.

In an interview for N1, Mohammed, one of Omar’s children, explained how his father was brutally beaten by a guard during a fight in the camp. The family had to fight to have him admitted to the hospital and received no information about his situation, let alone permission to visit, until the news of his death. This is far from the first time the private security firms hired by IOM to manage the Bosnian camps have been accused of violence.

Peter van der Auweraert, the Western Balkans Coordinator for the IOM, published a statement on his personal Facebook and Twitter accounts, where he says the man was injured “during a fight between two national groups,” and then goes on to praise IOM’s staff response to the situation. He did not mention the role of the security guard until people in the comments asked him to address the allegations, and then he said that he cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation.

The official UNHCR Bosnia and IOM Bosnia Facebook pages did not share any words of sympathy or information about the incident. Even if they cannot publish details because of the investigation, they should at least inform the public about what is happening inside the camps that they are managing.

*

GREECE

Tensions Rise Across Greece as Government Doesn’t Deliver on its Promises

The situation is becoming more and more tense on the Greek island camps, as well as on the mainland and in Athens.
On the Aegean Islands, the Minister of Immigration’s ending of the plan to transfer 2300 vulnerable people from the overcrowded camps to the mainland has angered many residents. Workers at Samos camp said this was a big factor behind the anger that led to last week’s fires. This just added to existing frustrations about camp lockdowns, hours-long food lines, and dangerous, unsanitary conditions.
Also on the Greek islands, more and more reports are coming in of illegal pushbacks where people actually land on Greek soil, then are put on inflatable rafts by the Greek coast guard and put out to sea and all official records of the landing are released. Another incident like this happened in Chios a few days ago. The landing was witnessed by multiple people but the arrivals were never recorded and an article about the arrival on a local site was allegedly deleted.
In an interview, Minister Mitarakis did not mention these illegal pushbacks, but talked about his government’s “decongestion” efforts on the islands and expanding who can be returned to Turkey.
Even employees of the Greek asylum service are unsatisfied — their union is continuing to strike after 16 workers, including several senior members, did not have their contracts renewed.
For the few “lucky” people transferred to the mainland, worries continue. In the northern Greek village of Mouries, people were supposed to be housed in a local hotel but villagers protested their arrival and blocked them from entering the hotel.

Those Greeks that want to help vulnerable people, including people on the move, are often stopped from doing so by the authorities, as seen by this video from Exarcheia where police show up in armor and helmets to — a food collection.

People on the move are stuck in crowded camps without enough food, suffer violent pushbacks, and even their allies are harassed by the Greek state. This cannot continue!

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-digest-04-05-2020-man-in-bosnian-camp-killed-family-accuses-security-gua

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Mort #Ušivak #violence #Ilesgrecques #Camp #tensions #transfert

AYS Weekend Digest 2–3/5/2020

392 people on their way from Moria to the mainland
On Sunday, while migration and asylum minister Mitarakis visited Moria camp on the island of Lesvos, 392 people were bussed from Moria to the port of Mytilini.

As confirmed by several sources, they had all a ticket to Athens but it is still not clear where they will be taken on the mainland. They reached Pireaus port in Attica, on two different ferries this morning.

While the evacuation of the Greek eastern islands has to carry on, transfers to mainland camps are not the solution, especially if these are closed structures, where ‘residents’ find themselves even more cut off from the rest of society.

*

Tension rises again on Lesvos due to minister Mitarakis visit
Refocus Media Lab reports of new moments of tension and violence against NGO workers on Sunday. Locals protested and held road blocks against the visit of minister Mitarakis in Moria.

*

Lockdown is lifted, but not for all
From today, Monday 4th of May, lockdown measures are gradually lifted throughout Greece. This means that as of today, it is not necessary to text or write a note to go outside.
This measure is applied to everyone in Greece, refugees and citizens, with the exception of the residents of the RICs on the islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos and the structures under lockdown on the mainland due to outbreaks of coronavirus (Ritsona camp, Malakasa camp, Kranidi accommodation).
Still, some measures are in place for the next weeks. Mobile Info Team has published an overview about the lifting of the measures and what will reopen when: ▻https://www.mobileinfoteam.org/lifting-restriction
Also, from today, masks are compulsory in public indoor spaces, read more in English and French below, or follow the links for Arabic, Farsi and Urdu versions.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-weekend-digest-2-3-5-2020-392-people-evacuated-from-moria-but-where-to-a
#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Camp #Lesbos #Moria #Transfert #Athènes #Tension #Déconfinement #Chios #Samos #Leros #Kos #Ritsona #Malakasa #Kranidi

AYS Daily Digest 01/05/2020

GREECE
On 2 March 2020, the Greek government adopted an emergency legislative decree stripping persons arriving undocumented in the country of the right to seek asylum during that month. Recently, the NGO Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) has produced a report on the situation for refugees in Greece and what they experienced in March 2020. As a result of the Decree, individuals who entered Greece with the aim of seeking international protection in March 2020 were automatically and indiscriminately detained for the purpose of return and were denied access to the asylum procedure and a series of rights provided by national, European and international legislation. According to UNHCR statistics, 2,927 persons entered Greece via land and sea in the course of that month. These persons were automatically and arbitrarily placed in detention under abhorrent conditions and continue to remain in closed facilities without effective judicial protection, despite ultimately being allowed to express the intention to lodge an asylum application with the Asylum Service. In Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) Legal Report examines the administrative treatment and policy of detention applied to persons falling within the scope of the Decree, the conditions in which they have been detained and the response adopted thus far from the different fora approached by individuals in search of judicial redress at domestic and European level. Read More Here.
On Friday, at least 50 asylum seekers were moved by the police from Diavata refugee camp in Thessaloniki on April 27. Their tents were destroyed. Some of them had already been in Greece for 10 months. All the asylum seekers are afraid of secret pushbacks to Turkey.

A total of 60 new containers have been sent to Greece from Austria. They are bound mainly to the eastern Aegean Islands, especially Samos, were fires destroyed tents and containers earlier in the week. The containers are meant for housing and sanitary purposes. Another 120 are supposed to arrive within the next week.
According to Refugee Support Aegean new sanitary containers arrived in Malakasa camp, but according to the residents they are still locked and cannot be used yet.

A video has been published by Mare Liberum in which two women speak about their experiences and the dangers they are exposed to every day in Moria camp.

CROATIA

Croatian Police once again attacked people on the move on Friday in the BiH border town Velika Kladusa. This is the testimony of one of those attacked:
“The police intercepted our group. After being seized from our phones and personal belongings, a member of the group, who was taller than the others, was ordered to sit down. They thought he was the leader of the group. One officer called another, who soon brought the police. The police dog was given the command to attack the sitting man. A friend was roaring with pain and fear. We stood motionless. One cop was recording the video and laughing loudly like the others. After that we had to take all our clothes off. We went barefoot without our clothes back to Bosnia and there was a car in Bosnia that read SOS Bihac and they gave us clothes.
I will always ask myself, why are they doing this to us? “

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-01-05-2020-maltas-government-has-been-involved-in-the-push-

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Croatie #Diavata #Thessalonique #Détention #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Frontière #Velikakladusa #Violence

AYS Daily Digest 30/04/20

FINLAND

Finland has agreed to accept one hundred unaccompanied refugee children from camps in Greece and another 30 adult asylum seekersunder the framework of family reunification. A Wednesday telephone conversation between Deputy Minister of Migration Giorgos Koumoutsakos and Finnish Interior Minister Olly-Poika Parviainen sealed the deal.
Finland is the latest of a number of EU countries who have offered their assistance to Greece. Germany and Luxembourg accepted 47 and 12 unaccompanied children last week, respectively.
Whilst this move by Finland is clearly welcome, it fails to systemically address the suffering of the tens of thousands of people being forced to live in squalor and inhumane conditions in the overcrowded refugee camps of Greece.

GREECE

Aegean Boat Report has broken the news that a boat carrying approximately 30 people landed on north-west Samos on Thursday morning. The NGO reports that the boat’s occupants managed to walk to a nearby village and asked the residents to call the police to let them know they had arrived. A number of village residents witnessed the arriving asylum seekers, but after the port police arrived and transported the people out of the area, there has been no further knowledge of their whereabouts.
When port police in Karlovasi were confronted with questions about these new arrivals, they stated that there had been no arrivals on Samos in the area of Drakaioi.
Aegean Boat Report on Facebook Watch
Tuesday morning a boat landed on Samos north west, the boat was carrying approximately 30 people. They managed to walk…

An open letter to the European Commission has been published by a collection of NGOs, asking the commission to “urgently assist Greece in evacuating the 38,700 people living in the camps of the Aegean Islands.”
The letter:
“Severe overcrowding and a lack of adequate accommodation and services have led to incidents of violence before. This is the second time in less than a year that a large area of the camp has burned down. On 14 October 2019, the tents and belongings of more than 700 people were lost. We voiced our outrage, and yet, little has been done to decongest the camp. This week, these same factors, combined with tension due to restrictive measures against COVID-19, resulted in the fires….
“These fires are not unique to Samos. Regrettably, there have been similar incidents since September 2019 on both Chios and Lesvos, in which three people have lost their lives…These incidents and fatalities are the direct consequence of deficient European solidarity. The EU must move beyond the “hotspot approach” and revise the EU-Turkey Statement, which has proven itself to be not only inefficient but also inhumane.”

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

The European Commission announced today that it is making €4.5 million accessible to Bosnia and Herzegovina to help provide immediate humanitarian assistance to vulnerable refugees and migrants. This money shall be used to access comprehensive health and protection assistance. This will bring the amount of humanitarian assistance provided by to Bosnia and Herzegovina to €10.3 million since 2018.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: “We have a special responsibility to assist in this pandemic our partners in the Western Balkans, as their future clearly lies in European Union. The EU is mobilising a substantial financial package, confirming the strong solidarity. Together we will overcome this crisis and recover. And beyond that, we will continue to support the region, including with the reforms needed on their EU path, as the recovery will only work effectively if the countries keep delivering on their commitments.”
Janez Lenarčič, Commissioner for Crisis Management, said: “The EU continues to support the most vulnerable refugees and migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We announce today €4.5 million to help meet the humanitarian needs that are especially high now due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. We will not leave our neighbours in the Western Balkans alone.”
This massive support package provided by the EU was announced just as the security minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced their plans to forcibly deport migrants out of the country in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak. The initiative follows a decision on April 16 by the Council of Ministers of BiH on the Restriction of Movement and Stay of Foreigners.

NETHERLANDS
The European Council on Refugee and Exiles shared an interview with Femke de Vries, a policy officer for Asylum Dutch Council for Refugees, who is currently campaigning to ensure that the Dutch government joins the efforts of 11 other European countries in relocating unaccompanied children from the Greek island camps. Currently, Femke de Vries’s campaign has resulted in a published manifesto in a prominent newspaper with more than 100 sound signatories; among these are prominent former politicians — including from the political parties CDA (Christian democrats) and VVD (liberals), which voted against the relocation.
To read the interview and hear more about their work, please follow the link below.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-30-04-20-maltese-government-official-admits-to-coordinating

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Finlande #transfert #mineursnonaccompagnés #Camp #Samos #Arrivées #Ilesgrecques #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Pays-Bas

AYS Daily Digest 29/04/2020

Moria Residents Protest Conditions in Camp
Early Wednesday morning, a group of Moria residents protested in front of the gates of the camp. The protest is part of a series of weekly demonstrations against the conditions in the camps, which have always been unsanitary but now become even more potentially deadly in the face of the global coronavirus pandemic. The organizers and participants are international — last week the demonstration was made up mostly of Afghan residents, while this week it was mostly residents from Africa who turned out.

People are protesting against unsanitary conditions in the camp and overcrowding that could easily be solved if the rest of the European Union did its duty and accepted asylum seekers.

The Greek government is claiming that 400 asylum seekers will be relocated from Moria to the mainland next Sunday, at a ceremony that will even be attended by Notis Mitarakis, the Minister for Asylum and Immigration. Residents and media are not trusting this announcement, because last weekend a different planned transport for 1500 people was cancelled. Even if several hundred “lucky” people are allowed to leave Moria, the camp will still be thousands over capacity and the conditions for those who remain will still be terrible.
Instead of improving conditions in the camps or addressing the concerns of residents when they rightfully pointed out how deadly an outbreak would be, Mitarakis said on Wednesday that there are no cases so far in island hotspots and implied that the government’s response should be praised because … they carry out daily checks. Never mind that most residents of island camps don’t have access to running water, basic hygienic supplies, or enough space to social distance properly! 130 people who were detained on beach camps in the North of Lesvos and were finally transferred to Moria recently don’t even have any kind of shelter within the camp. In an interview with Mission Lifeline, a mother stuck in Moria talks about the dangerous, unhygienic conditions her and her children are forced to live in.
There are many examples of International organizations and NGOs are trying to help, such as by donating medical equipment to the hospital on Lesvos, but it is not enough.

Even if the Greek government is ignoring the protests of people in Moria, we must not! Something must be done to fix the situation in island camps.

Government Uses COVID-19 As an Excuse to Deport, Another Crack Down on People on the Move
Following yesterday’s report by AYS of a potential illegal pushback from Diavata camp, Greek news broke the story that another group of 30 people “disappeared” from Samos. Witnesses from the village of Drakakia saw a group of people land on the island’s shore. The group later came in the village and as is customary, asked residents to notify the police. A vehicle arrived to pick them up but their arrival was never registered and the police are denying the incident occurred.

Aegean Boat Report published video footage of another incident where a boat was captured by the Turkish Coast Guard. However, the Greek Coast Guard was at the ready to push back the boat if it crossed into Greek waters, showing that despite the pandemic, the government is continuing its illegal border violence campaign. Either people are pushed back in the sea and left to drown or if they are able to reach land, they are pushed back without being registered or allowed to apply for asylum.
In the same statement where he talked about coronavirus, Minister Mitarakis claimed that there have been no arrivals in April. This is clearly untrue — people are still arriving in Greece, the Greek government is just pushing them back, breaking international law by refusing to register them, and lying to the media.
Journalists, NGOs, and people on the move have already exposed the Greek government’s illegal pushbacks, which are often done in unsafe liferafts that have a high risk of capsizing at sea. To deport people during a pandemic, when international travel is mostly banned and most countries have stopped repatriations, is even more dangerous and immoral.
In addition to illegal deportations, the Greek government is using emergency coronavirus response measures as an excuse to target the most vulnerable, including people on the move. Mitarakis said the government might deny asylum to people found violating coronavirus emergency measures. While a Greek citizen flouting government regulations will only have to pay a fine, a non-citizen could lose their entire future and be deported to an unsafe country for the same violation. It’s also much harder for asylum seekers living in crowded camps to follow government regulations about social distancing in the first place. In addition to penalties being harsher for people on the move than for Greeks, police are targeting the most vulnerable with tickets and fines. 81 homeless asylum seekers in Thessaloniki reported being fined for leaving their home — which they don’t even have. The police specifically target the homeless by waiting outside a camp people use to shower and distributing tickets. If the government actually cared about stopping the spread, they would find homes or at least temporary housing for these people. The only outcome of their current actions is abuse of power.

SLOVENIA
Slovenia To Accept Unaccompanied Minors
Slovenia has finally agreed to step up and accept unaccompanied minors from Greece — but they will only accept four children. They also said that the children must be younger than ten — because eleven-year-olds are dangerous and do not deserve a safe home. The children are expected to arrive at the end of May.
While Slovenia is a small country, to accept less than five children and to publicize that fact is absurd. Luxembourg, which has about a quarter of Slovenia’s population, has taken three times as many children (which is still low, considering the thousands that are held in Greek camps).

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/protests-in-moria-camp-again-12638f897e6f

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Moria #Lesbos #Protestation #Manifestation #Transfert #Camp #Diavata #Samos #Drakakia #Slovénie #Mineursnonaccompagnés

AYS Daily Digest 28/04/20

Camp residents from Diavata camp near Thessaloniki sent AYS footage of a police raid

They took over 30 people to an unknown location, after entering the camp in riot gear and forcing people into vans. They targeted the people who were camping in tents and improvised shelters in the grounds of the centre.
There is serious concern that new legislation for the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the recent asylum suspension, has resulted in an increase of people being removed from camps in Greece in April, and more pushbacks being conducted to Turkey. It is expected that this is the probable fate for 30 people from Tuesday morning.
Eye witnesses inside Diavata camp report the use of violence to arrest those 30 people. Many others in the camp fled fearing capture and possible removal. Volunteers spoke to one man who alleges his friend was taken and had still not heard from him.

Update on fires in Samos

On Sunday, fires broke out in Samos’s Vathy camp. Frances, a volunteer for Action for Education, documented what happened:
“Tensions peaked at 6pm, it was then the first fire began to blaze. After dark, a second fire started, it burned 6 containers. The next morning a third fire began. Estimations suggest 500 people lost everything, they now have no place to stay. MSF went outside the camp to set up a medical first response with psychosocial support. NGOs started distributing blankets before being stopped by police.
The next day (Monday), police prevented camp residents from entering town. Authorities continue to have limited communication with NGOs but tent distributions have been able to take place. Displaced people have been left to sleep on the ‘football pitch’ outside the camp. This is really just a gravel square. There are rumours that people escaped to the beaches to sleep. Tensions continue to be high in the camp, there are rumours that the ‘war’ is not over. This ‘war’ refers to community in-fighting as people struggle for supplies. Limited resources result in a power imbalance that fuels tensions.
The atmosphere has calmed now, but many camp residents still live in fear. We have heard reports from NGOs that minors in camp are pleading for shelter as they are worried they will be ‘mixed up in the war’…”
In an update from Samos Volunteers, they say the causes of the fires are still unclear, but tensions between various communities living in the camp have risen due to overcrowding conditions on top of Covid-19 fears. More here.

Mission Lifeline has raised 55,000 euros in donations in order to fly 150 refugees currently in Lesvos to Germany. Lifeline’s spokesperson Axel Steier said:
“With this sum, one could finance two Boeing 747–300 flights and get around 150 people from the Moria refugee camp in Lesbos…The association has a total of 110,000 euros available for the planned construction of a civil airlift between Lesbos and Berlin.”
All they are waiting for is permission from the Interior Minister since negotiations with the Greek service provider have concluded well. More here.

In an update from Legal Centre Lesvos on the gunman’s trial who shot two people living in Moria last week:

“At the gunman’s two pre-trial hearings, yesterday and last Friday, tens of people — including known members of the far-right, one of whom had been convicted in February 2020 for making online threats against a Lesvos Solidarity — Pikpa coordinator — stood outside the court to support him. The police made no effort to disperse the group, despite Covid-19 measures which prohibit leaving one’s house except for state-sanctioned reasons such as for essential shopping, exercise, and doctor visits, and prohibit any public gatherings. When journalists arrived to the scene and were harrassed by the gunman’s supporters, police instructed them — but not those insulting them — to leave for their own safety.
At his pretrial hearing, the gunman, who admitted to having shot at the two migrants, was released from detention on pre-trial bail and was charged with attempted premeditated murder. Migrants who have been charged with lesser and non-violent crimes — such as alleged stealing of sheep — have been ordered by the same court to wait in pre-trial detention, which is sometimes up to a year of imprisonment, demonstrating the discriminatory use of pre-trial detention to punish and further criminalize migrants.
The authorities’ open tolerance of fascist violence in Lesvos and the discriminatory application of the law to target migrants — by the police, the municipal government, and the court — now means that members of the far-right act with impunity, while migrants face punishment for the legitimate exercise of their rights.”

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-28-04-20-police-raid-in-diavata-camp-near-thessaloniki-fear

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Diavata #Thessalonique #Arrestation #Camp #Samos #incendie #Vathi #Lesbos #Allemagne #Transfert #Moria #Incident

AYS Daily Digest 27/4/20

GREECE

A move to Moria

A month after arriving and after having lived on beaches and tents in three places on the north of Lesvos, 127 people have been transferred to the Moria refugee camp. Their asylum process can only now begin formally, but this begs a question — what must someone’s reality be when a move to the infamous Moria is a step forward….?

Not even the minimum
“Government negligence endangers human lives” is in the title of the report by Human Rights Watch regarding the current conditions imposed on everyone by the presence of Covid-19, requiring knowledge of the rights and possibilities of protection of those whose freedom of movement and choice has been even more limited.
“It is clear that Greece does not comply with the minimum measures of prevention and protection against coronavirus in the structures of the islands,” said the organization’s researcher, Belkis Ville.
Despite the constant meetings and announcements by government officials, no measures are being taken to protect vulnerable groups, not in Kranidi with 150 cases of corona disease, nor for transfers from the KYT (Reception and Identification Centers) of the islands of the Eastern Aegean. No substantive protection measures have been implemented until last night, not even for the refugees living at the hotel in Kranidi, and even for those who are in the high risk category, it is reported.

It seems that at the most recent meeting at the Ministry of Health, the existing measures were confirmed, thus no improvement is being made a priority in any of the spheres, including health. The previously announced move, promised to the Commissioner Johansson, of unaccompanied minors from the islands that was to take place right after Easter has not yet begun, and there’s no telling when and if it will happen in full capacity.

After the fires
Europe Must Act has sent out an open letter to the EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson, stating, among other things, that:
These fires were often caused by fights amongst camp residents. The tensions, and the fires caused by them, are the cumulative effects of subhuman conditions on hotspot island camps and the additional stress created by Covid-19 quarantine measures taken by authorities.
One tragedy after another. These events highlight how inherently flawed Europe’s current policy on migration and asylum is. Risking human lives is irresponsible governance at the highest level,
and calling on the Commissioner to work with the Greek authorities and Member States to evacuate asylum seekers and refugees from the islands to Europe, and demanding a statement from the EU Commission on this emergency situation on the Aegean Islands. Find the entire letter here.

No public scrutiny over racism and hate
The 55-year-old man who shot at refugees in Moria was released on parole, the Greek media reported, and according to sources on site, fascist groups at the court of Mytilene attacked journalists, throwing stones at them. The Greek police allegedly aggressively removed the journalists, not even trying to stop the attacks, but preventing any reporting on them.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

A group of activists who started Transbalkanska solidarnost invite people to join their protest against IOM’s “non-action” in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by calling people to actively reach out to them during 48 hours, starting on 27 April.

Conditions in the camps run by IOM in BiH during the COVID-19 pandemic resemble those in concentration camps:
_violence against people in the camps is on the rise,
_food is constantly insufficient and not nutritious enough while even more reduced and worse in quality,
_hygienic conditions are concerning,
_healthcare remains at a bare minimum,
_people are denied the freedom to move and leave the camps for an indefinite period.
Transbalkan Solidarity contends that:
_Soap is not a luxury!
_Trash is not food!
_A camp is not a living space!
_A tent is not a house!

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-27-4-20-another-political-interference-in-the-freedoms-of-a

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Moria #Plage #Lesbos #Kranidi

AYS Weekend Digest 25–26/4/2020

FIRES AT VATHI, SAMOS
Many reports confirm that at least two separate fires broke out within Vathi camp on Samos on Sunday evening and one more this morning (Monday).
As Samos Volunteers report, the first fire, which started around 7pm, “was located in the area directly behind the medical facilities at the lower end of the unofficial jungle, which function as temporary shelters for potential Corona patients. An unknown number of tents were burnt before the local fire brigade managed to control and finally extinguish the fire.”
After that, it seems that there were other repeated fires at 8pm and 10pm. A fire “reached the centre of the official camp. Several containers have caught fire. Besides housing most of the camp’s facilities, including the asylum service, the containers provide shelter for many camp residents, who share a container with as many as sixty people”.
As MSF report, at least 100 people are left without shelter:
Throughout the night, evacuation operations have been going on. It is not yet clear the extent of the damage. Most people left the camp and gathered on a empty plot of land. While solidarians and organisations on the ground tried to assist residents providing shelter, tents, medical assistance, food and water, fights and moments of tensions broke out and riot police entered the camp multiple times. In the night police stopped any kind of assistance or distribution.

Evacuation at Vathi (Samos) — Photo by AYS
A new fire broke out this morning.
Despite the fires, we have confirmed reports that police continue to stop every kind of distribution, and are not letting anybody get into town.
Around 700 people are being held in a bit of empty land in front of the camp, without adequate access to food or water, women and children included.
This fire followed the ones in Moria (Lesvos) and Vial (Chios) in the last weeks. As of April 23, 6869 people were recorded living in Vathi camp, with a capacity of 648 people. The population density is the highest in the centre of the camp, where the fire burned most intense.
These fires are nothing other than the natural consequence of Greek and European policies: keeping people crammed in overcrowded spaces, using the fear of the pandemic to implement widespread detention for all people on the move, stripping them even more of their basic rights, and barring them from participating in society.

LESVOS: Updates from Moria
In Moria, the situation is not getting any better. After the halt to the plan to transfer the most vulnerable residents to empty hotels, no other solution has been proposed to decongest the camp. 18293 is the official population (as of April 23rd). Food lines take hours, at least 1000 people don’t get food because there is not enough. There is also not enough water.
With the limitations of movement outside the camp and the racist policies of supermarkets around Moria which are now prohibiting camp residents from going in, people can only shop in the one supermarket inside the camp, with waiting times of up to three days:
Team Humanity is crowdfunding to distribute 3,500 food packs. They are doing food distribution for those who cannot stay in the food lines. Support hem HERE.
Residents are doing what they can to improve the situation, the Moria Corona Awareness Team are starting to recycle water bottles to reduce the amount of waste in the camp.

MAINLAND: Suicide in police detention
A young man, who was detained in Komotini police station (Northeastern Greece) hanged himself over the weekend. He had been reportedly sentenced to several years in prison for people smuggling. According to the report authored by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on conditions of detention in Greece: “ill-treatment by the police.. against foreign nationals.. remains a frequent practice”. Around 6,000 people on the move, including minors, are under arrest in the country.

From the Mothers of Malakasa
There are reports of frequent water cuts in Malakasa camp (in Attica), which worsen the conditions during quarantine. Refugees report additional sanitary infrastructure for the more than 400 newcomers living in tents was installed but has not yet been connected.
“How should we wash our hands without water,” a mother asks.
Read the call for help from mothers in the quarantined Malakasa refugee camp HERE.

BiH
Local media has published a further update on the Bosnian Government’s aim to deport all people on the move. They wish to compile a list of 9000–10,000 people to be deported and are once again framing this as a security crisis rather than a humanitarian one. They have also made it clear that they are struggling to identify the people currently in Bosnian territory meaning that they can not have gone through a proper asylum process. As we know, everybody has the right to claim asylum regardless of where they come from or the recognition rate of their country.
Meanwhile, as usual it is local people and grass roots groups, not the government, who are actually supporting people on the move.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-weekend-digest-25-26-4-2020-fires-at-vathi-samos-c7535d761c51

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Camp #Samos #Vathi #Incendie #Evacuation #Lesbos #Moria #Transfert #Hôtel #Komotini #Suicide #Malakasa #Expulsion

AYS Daily Digest 24/4/20

GREECE

After residents and local authorities in mainland Greece mobilised against plans to relocate 2,000 vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers, the Greek Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, announced that the plans would be deferred. Additionally, the decision by the Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis to extend the lockdown until May 4th also contributed to the decision to stop the relocation process.
Following pressure from the European Commission, the Greek government planned to relocate vulnerable asylum seekers from the overcrowded migrant reception centres where they are currently being housed and move them to the facilities on the mainland. Vulnerable migrants include unaccompanied minors, people with disabilities, pregnant women and new mothers, the elderly and victims of rape and torture. The decision to attempt to rehouse the asylum seekers was made due to the fears the current conditions within the Aegean camps would provide fertile conditions for the spread of the coronavirus. In the first quarter of 2020, the government had already transferred 10,000 people, but in April had only managed to relocate 627 people, leading NGO and rights groups to reaffirm their warning of the potential health crisis that could develop if camp overcrowding and poor sanitation is not immediately addressed. Recently, in southern Greece, 470 asylum seekers have been placed in quarantine in a hotel due to a third of them testing positive for COVID-19, again highlighting the human cost of the Greek government’s inability to effectively manage the situation.
To date, the IOM said it remains unclear where the migrants will be staying. Mr Mitarakis additionally announced that within 2020 the existing programme of hosting asylum seekers in hotel rooms across Greece will be abolished. One source suggested that the community, local mayor and municipal councils within Messolonghi in Western Greece opposed the plans to rehouse migrants under the demand that the hotels in which they may have been housed stay free for the upcoming tourist season.
An indictment has been submitted in accordance with article 42 of the code of criminal procedure following the shooting of four asylum seekers in Lesvos, previously reported on by Are You Syrious. The Racist Crimes Observatory in a letter to the General Regional Police Directorate of North Aegean affirms that due to the nationality of the victim and the frequency of similar attacks against migrants and refugees, it is unacceptable that this crime is not being investigated in line with Article 82A of the Penal Code, and this is being deemed to have racist characteristics.
Racist Crimes Watch shared the press release from the police:
The perpetrator of yesterday’s incident of injury of foreigners in Lesvos was immediately arrested. A shotgun and ammunition were confiscated.
The Mytilene Security Sub-Directorate, after a systematic and thorough investigation, managed in a short period of time to identify the person who yesterday (22–04–2020) in the afternoon at a rural location in Lesvos, shot with a shotgun and injured two foreigners.
He is a citizen, who was arrested today (23–04–2020) in the afternoon in Mytilene, while at the same time the hunting weapon that used two cartridges was confiscated. A criminal case was filed against the detainee for attempted murder with intent and violation of the law on weapons.
The arrested person will be taken to the competent Prosecutor’s Office, while the investigations and the preliminary investigation will be carried out by the Mytilene Security Sub-Directorate.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-24-4-20-maltas-involvement-in-illegal-pushbacks-b4256850d1e

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Camp #Transfert #Lesbos #Mort #Crime

AYS Daily Digest 23/4/20

GREECE
Lesvos — While some get shot at, others fear going for food
The two people who had been shot while the recent peaceful protest was on, were reportedly shot about seven kilometers away from Moria, with a hunting rifle. They claimed they had been “going for a walk,” unrelated to the events at the camp.
As InfoMigrants stated, “although the motive for this attack has not been clarified, dpa also reported that in March anti-migrant extremists had been known to attack migrants and humanitarian workers on the island.
They also said that theft had increased around the Moria camp in recent years and is often reported. Again though, there is no clear link to what the migrants may, or may not, have been doing when they were shot at.”
Reaching food presents a daily fear and a problem for thousands in Moria. Many people reportedly choose to cook themselves if they can get supplies of food, while others fear to queue for food in the camp due to the risk of Covid-19 infection.
In the Malakasa camp, quarantine continues. At the same time in Corinth and Grevena, camps run by the IOM, apparently there are no doctors available, thus no healthcare provided for the people held inside the camps under the internationally agreed standards, whose minimums define the number of health workers available, and define health care as one of the basics available to the people. As we heard this information from a number of different sources, we hope for some clear scrutiny and reporting on such practices that are present in different places not only in Greece, but along the Balkan route, namely in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Forcing deportations, regardless of what others think
The minister of security of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced at the press conference that the plan to deport migrants currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina is ongoing. He stated that “many of those people are terrorists sleepers and that almost everyone hides their real identity”. Therefore, Bosnia and Herzegovina intends to deport all of them, and he said that, instead of providing funds for keeping the people inside the country, he wishes the EU would help them send those people back. He is aware that “some countries in the EU might not be in favour” of his idea, but that is the official plan. He also stated that the Pakistani ambassador will be named persona non grata because he seems to be against the idea. The Bosnian “diplomacy” is yet to receive any real criticism from the international community, and it will be interesting to see which country or organisation will feel blameless enough to point their finger first… The situation for people on the move across Bosnia and Herzegovina has only been worsening, if that is still possible, and we hope that the support for the opening of the Lipa camp in the middle of nowhere will not be considered the maximum the international community can do and the optimal solution for all those people stuck in the area.

THE NETHERLANDS
Refusing to take in unaccompanied minors
The Netherlands has refused to take in any of the children, despite repeated appeals, and the willingness of 43 separate local authorities to house them.
Over 100 politicians, celebrities and local authorities have urged the Dutch government to take in some of the 2,500 children who are living in squalid refugee camps on Greek islands without parents or guardians, Dutch media report.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-23-4-20-will-austria-be-deporting-to-serbia-95fc284c019f

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Pays-Bas #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Mineursnonaccompagnés #Transfert #Expulsion #Malakasa #Corinth #Grevena #Camp #Lesbos #Moria

AYS Daily Digest 22/04/20

GREECE

*About 300 people took to the streets of Moria on Wednesday to protest for their safety

*Human Rights Watch published a detailed report on how Greece is not ready to handle COVID-19 in refugee camps.
You can read the full report here.
“Ultimately Greece, with the support of EU institutions and countries, should end its inhumane containment policy and facilitate the transfer of asylum seekers from the Aegean islands on a regular basis and provide them with fair and efficient asylum procedures.
‘Covid-19 exposes that the lack of EU solidarity on addressing the congestion in the Greek islands has not only made the situation worse but is now putting thousands of lives at risk,’ Wille said. ‘The Greek government and the EU should show they can win this race against the clock while addressing in a humane way the massive overcrowding that has been a problem for years.’”
HRW also interviewed a pharmacist, who’s lived in Moria the past five months. See a video here of their interview with him while he explains the efforts to protect and educate people in the camp about the virus.

SERBIA

In an update from NoName Kitchen:
“Upon the arrival of the coronavirus, the government limited the movement of migrants and left the detention of those who lived outside the official camps to the police and the military. Since then, no one can leave and there are members of the army guarding the perimeter of each property. Meanwhile, the police are stopping foreigners on the streets of Belgrade on suspicion that they are migrants based on their faces, skin colour, clothing… and asking where they come from and where they are staying.
Good news in this scenario is that there were no registered cases of Covid-19 contagion in any of the camps. Further good news is that at least 35 young people who tried The Game in recent days were able to cross the border and are healthy and safe in different European countries. In contrast, we heard from three people who were unable to do so and suffered pushbacks to Bosnia by the Croatian police.
Seven weeks after the arrival of the virus, the number of infected people is growing by about 400 cases daily average, much higher than registered during March. Serbia has become the country with the most cases on the entire Balkan route, second only to Romania in the region.”

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-22-04-20-300-people-protest-in-moria-for-safety-against-cov

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Serbie #Camp #Lesbos #Moria #Protestation

BERNIE BLACKOUT | The Revolution Will Not Be Televised | Trailer
▻https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/bernie-blackout-the-revolution-will-not-be-televised-trailer

Proud to be a producer on this epic new documentary, “Bernie Blackout” on Vice. Premieres 5/13 at 8pm. Check it out! Matt Orfalea ▶►https://twitter.com/0rf ▶►https://medium.com/@0rf...

StopCovid ou encore ? - Cédric O - Medium
▻https://medium.com/@cedric.o/stopcovid-ou-encore-b5794d99bb12

https://miro.medium.com/max/688/1*EC3zNQbvJ5iVDGuo9bQWEw.jpeg

Un long plaidoyer sur StopCovid par le secrétaire d’Etat chargé du numérique Cédric O

Le Premier Ministre a annoncé mardi dernier que l’application StopCovid, encore en développement, ferait l’objet d’un débat ultérieur. La ligne et la méthode sont claires :

Cette application, comme Edouard Philippe a eu l’occasion de le rappeler et comme le gouvernement le rappelle depuis l’annonce de son lancement, n’est qu’une brique d’une stratégie sanitaire de déconfinement plus globale ; elle est notamment un complément utile du travail des brigades sanitaires, dont la mission vitale d’identification des chaines de transmission se heurte à des limites physiques dans les endroits densément fréquentés comme les transports en commun ;
Elle demande encore un travail technique important ; il semble donc logique que les parlementaires ne débattent de l’opportunité de son déploiement que le jour où l’application sera finalisée ; celle-ci devrait pouvoir entrer en test en conditions réelles la semaine du 11 mai — c’est donc dans la foulée que StopCovid devrait pouvoir être présentée au Parlement ; d’ici là, l’équipe-projet coordonnée par Inria, qui rassemble plus de 100 personnes issues de plusieurs entreprises engagées et d’un large écosystème de contributeurs, va continuer à travailler d’arrache-pied ; qu’ils en soient remerciés.

Ce délai est aussi l’occasion de revenir sur un certain nombre de points qui font débat.

#StopCovid #Cédric_O

Silencing of Whistleblowers in the Workplace is a Threat to Public Health
▻https://medium.com/@athenaforall/silencing-workers-5097cdea72b3

Given the immediate public health risks, we are calling for an urgent expansion and improved enforcement of legal protections for workers who speak out and take collective action against dangerous workplace conditions that risk exacerbating the spread of COVID-19 in communities. Workers themselves are in the best position to raise health and safety concerns, and if these concerns are ignored, or worse, if workers are retaliated against, it not only impacts those workers and their families, (...)

#Amazon #COVID-19 #GigEconomy #santé #travail

##santé

https://miro.medium.com/max/581/1*cs7bVL3ees6a76Prt9MqXg.jpeg

Mortalité : les graphiques utiles... et les autres - Par Loris Guémart | Arrêt sur images
▻https://www.arretsurimages.net/articles/mortalite-les-graphiques-utiles-et-les-autres

Les représentations visuelles du nombre de décès liés au Covid-19 se sont multipliées dans les médias du monde entier. Mais ils sont loin de tous transmettre une information utile, surtout à mesure que l’épidémie évolue. Comment et pourquoi les infographistes, en particulier anglo-saxons, de loin les plus influents, ont-ils choisi l’échelle logarithmique, laissé de côté le nombre de morts par habitants, ou fini par adopter la statistique des « morts en excès » ?

" "Dans une interview du 14 avril, Burn-Murdoch explique : « Vers le 10 mars, un de nos journalistes voulait savoir où en étaient l’Espagne et le Royaume-Uni par rapport à l’Italie », note Burn-Murdoch. Le journaliste fait alors le choix déterminant d’une progression dite « logarithmique » (et non plus linéaire). Il crée deux courbes, du nombre de cas d’abord, du nombre de morts cumulé ensuite (qu’il transformera en avril en nombre de morts quotidiennes). Actualisées chaque jour sur une page placée en accès libre par ce média 100 % payant en temps normal, elles deviendront les infographies les plus citées au monde.

▻https://medium.com/nightingale/how-john-burn-murdochs-influential-dataviz-helped-the-world-understand-coron
►https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest

« Pour représenter une croissance , une échelle linéaire utilise une grande partie de l’espace disponible pour montrer la verticalité grandissante de la courbe », détaille Burn-Murdoch. Cela aboutit à « écraser » les pays dont l’épidémie est naissante dans un espace restreint, tout en rendant plus difficile les comparaisons, toutes les courbes exponentielles semblant similaires. Très remarqué, son choix a également été loué par le New York Times : « Sur une échelle linéaire, la courbe s’envole. Sur une échelle logarithmique, elle se transforme en une ligne droite, ce qui signifie que les déviations (soit une croissante encore plus forte, ou réduite, ndlr) deviennent beaucoup plus simples à déceler. »

Les courbes de progression logarithmiques permettent de comprendre où en est chaque pays, relativement aux autres. Mais elles constituent des représentations peu efficaces pour apprécier en un clin d’œil le niveau d’accélération ou de décroissance d’un pays donné, malgré les affirmations du journaliste du Financial Times, notait début avril le responsable des données du groupe Veolia. Autre défaut : leur efficacité semble tout aussi limitée pour appréhender la réussite ou l’échec des politiques de santé de chaque État, hors des cas les plus flagrants, tel que le succès de la Corée du Sud. « Nous nous concentrons sur la trajectoire (…) et sur les nombres que vous entendez dans les médias », défendait le Financial Times le 30 mars. « Si nous choisissions d’aller vers un ratio du nombre de morts par habitant, vous perdriez un peu du côté viscéral, immédiat et évident. »

The Economist diffuse en effet des comparaisons entre les données de surmortalité issues de sources fiables, comme la base de données européenne de décès EuroMOMO, et les bilans officiels dans de nombreux pays et régions, dont la France. Il est rapidement imité par le New York Times, le Financial Times et Mediapart, entre autres.

Si les comparaisons internationales du nombre de morts, comme du nombre de morts par habitants, sont particulièrement défavorables au gouvernement français, le différentiel entre la surmortalité totale et les décès officiels du Covid-19 montre plutôt une transparence acceptable et de données relativement fiables… du moins depuis que la France s’est résolue à comptabiliser les morts des Ehpad.

#mortalité #surmortalité #chiffres #statistiques
cc @fil @simplicissimus

AYS Daily Digest 22/04/20 ~300 people protest in Moria for safety against COVID-19

GREECE
There is reporting that Wednesday evening two people were shot after guns were fired at the camp. The two people were taken to the hospital. AYS will continue to follow these unfolding developments…
Wednesday marks the second year anniversary of the Sappho Square Racist Attack in Mytilene, Lesvos. HIASGreece remarks:
“Today marks second years after the Sappho Square Racist Attack in Mytilene, Lesvos. On 22 April 2018, c.150 persons attacked c. 200 protesting refugees with stones, petards and bottles, while at the same time insulting them for their religious and ethnic background. In 11/2018, 26 persons were identified as suspects for the attack & in February 2019 criminal charges were pressed. However, until now none of the 26 had been summoned for the judicial interrogation. HIAS Greece which is representing a number of the victims of the attack, as civil party in the criminal proceedings, condemns the unjustified delays in the criminal investigation of the racist attack and calls on the competent authorities to proceed with the full and timely investigation of the case without any further delay.”
Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) and PRO ASYL released a report on Malakasa camp and the government’s lack of a response to COVID-19:
“Over 1,600 refugees and asylum-seekers are locked-up in Malakasa refugee camp during Covid-19 quarantine with more than half of the residents unregistered [1] and near 250 of them living in common areas and make-shift shelters.
Throughout last year, the refugee camp in Malakasa, has been extensively used by homeless refugees to find emergency shelter — most of them newcomers from the Evros region. As of February 2020, near 250 people resided in common areas and makes-shift shelters in dire conditions and more than half of the camp’s population were not registered as residents by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum. In the midst of this situation, on 5 April 2020, the first Covid-19 case was detected in Malakasa and the camp has been locked down for a 14-day quarantine. Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) and PRO ASYL have documented 27 cases of asylum-seekers who sought shelter in the camp without official referral. The vast majority of the interviewees arrived from the Evros region and some from the islands. They described vividly the harsh living conditions and the challenges they face during the pandemic. The failure of the Greek authorities to refer those arriving in the Evros region to a shelter following their release from detention means that many remain unregistered and in precarious accommodation for some time and face more risks for their mental and physical welfare particularly at the time of the pandemic.”
Human Rights Watch published a detailed report on how Greece is not ready to handle COVID-19 in refugee camps.
You can read the full report here.
“Ultimately Greece, with the support of EU institutions and countries, should end its inhumane containment policy and facilitate the transfer of asylum seekers from the Aegean islands on a regular basis and provide them with fair and efficient asylum procedures.
‘Covid-19 exposes that the lack of EU solidarity on addressing the congestion in the Greek islands has not only made the situation worse but is now putting thousands of lives at risk,’ Wille said. ‘The Greek government and the EU should show they can win this race against the clock while addressing in a humane way the massive overcrowding that has been a problem for years.’”
HRW also interviewed a pharmacist, who’s lived in Moria the past five months. See a video here of their interview with him while he explains the efforts to protect and educate people in the camp about the virus.
This guide on COVID-19 is not perfect, but that’s because the situation many refugees find themselves in doesn’t allow for strict adherence. Yet it’s available in Arabic and French and can provide useful, basic information.
Here is another guide in even more languages.
Three amazingly helpful organizations need your support now to help people in Greece from COVID-19:
“Greek Forum of Refugees is trying to raise some funding and collect some supplies for the most vulnerable people who suffer the most the COVID19 pandemic consequences. We need your support in this effort so we can keep up being useful for the people in need.” Donate here.
“Mobile Info Team is asking you to help out, without having to leave your house! Unable to leave the overcrowded camps, refugees in Greece are vulnerable to the spread of COVID19 and are without the protection of the states and societies they once knew. Our work is more is more critical than ever. We publish regular updates on Greek asylum services and information on detection of and protection from COVID19, as well as the pandemic’s presence in Greece. Now more than ever, information is power and Mobile Info Team is working day and night to equip vulnerable migrant communities with the facts they need to protect themselves.” Donate here.
Join Movement on the Ground’s campaign to help the 2,000 people living in the olive groves outside of Moria! They are trying to raise money to improve their resources. Join here.

SERBIA

In an update from NoName Kitchen:
“Upon the arrival of the coronavirus, the government limited the movement of migrants and left the detention of those who lived outside the official camps to the police and the military. Since then, no one can leave and there are members of the army guarding the perimeter of each property. Meanwhile, the police are stopping foreigners on the streets of Belgrade on suspicion that they are migrants based on their faces, skin colour, clothing… and asking where they come from and where they are staying.
Good news in this scenario is that there were no registered cases of Covid-19 contagion in any of the camps. Further good news is that at least 35 young people who tried The Game in recent days were able to cross the border and are healthy and safe in different European countries. In contrast, we heard from three people who were unable to do so and suffered pushbacks to Bosnia by the Croatian police.
Seven weeks after the arrival of the virus, the number of infected people is growing by about 400 cases daily average, much higher than registered during March. Serbia has become the country with the most cases on the entire Balkan route, second only to Romania in the region.”

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-22-04-20-300-people-protest-in-moria-for-safety-against-cov
#Covid-19 #Migrants #Migrations #Balkans #Serbie #Camp #Grèce