Un mémoriel pour les mort·es aux frontières (région de l’Evros, Grèce) détruit
Thread de Lena K. sur X :
In August 2011, activists of the Welcome to Europe network & solidarians built a memorial for people who died while crossing the #Evros border: a water fountain at the village of Provatonas. The fountain now lies in ruin - visual proof of local hostility to border crossers.
I found out about the fountain online, by chance. Like many aspects of the past of the local border regime and resistance to it, it’s been forgotten. I didn’t have time to investigate when, how and why it was destroyed (next time!) but one source suggests it was by locals:
“Here we had built a fountain, as Greek tradition would have it, for travellers. To drink water, wash and rest before continuing their journey. Today this tap has been destroyed, they don’t even want the refugees to pass through here. On the one hand, I understand them
A lot of people crossed then and never stopped crossing. People are tired. On the other hand, however, with what various people say and do, they have made people lose its humanity. I hope this broken fountain reminds us that we were human."
▻https://www.avgi.gr/politiki/344653_ebros-thraysmata-pliroforisis
The names of people who died crossing the #Evros were inscribed on the fountain. Its destruction erased them, rendering the dead nameless, dehumanising border crossers once again.
▻https://twitter.com/lk2015r/status/1692824778153787769
#monument #mémoriel #mémoire #morts_aux_frontières #mourir_aux_frontières #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Grèce #frontières #destruction #Welcome_to_Europe #Provatonas
