Joint statement for a World without Walls from European Palestine solidarity and migrants rights groups and networks

Joint statement for a World without Walls from European Palestine solidarity and migrants rights groups and networks

“Tearing down Walls, building bridges.” ( Credits: Caravan Opening Borders.)

73 European Palestine solidarity and migrants rights groups and networks from 17 European states have chosen Nakba Day 2019 – the Day Palestinians reaffirm their commitment to the struggle for the return of their refugees – to unite in a joint call for a #WorldwithoutWalls in order to claim the right for all to move, to stay and to return in freedom, justice and equality.

Walls, anti-migration policies and racism are on the rise in Europe and across the globe. We, undersigned movements and organizations, are conscious of the suffering that Walls and their associated policies bring about. This is why we commit to stand together and build together struggles for a #WorldwithoutWalls in order to claim the right for all to move, to stay and to return in freedom, justice and equality.

We have chosen to issue this statement on May 15 – Nakba Day –, which commemorates the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people in 1948 and the ongoing struggle of the six million Palestinian refugees that until today are barred by Israel from exercising their fundamental right to return to their homes. We are mindful of the fact that Israel’s ongoing policies of displacement and its policies of enclosure of the remaining Palestinian population behind walls are in many ways connected with the lives of migrants and with European policies.

30 years after the Berlin Wall fell, Europe has built already over one thousand kilometers of walls at its borders and continues to increase its funding for more and more physical and virtual walls. It reduces migrants from human beings to ‘security risks’, whose human rights are routinely and with impunity violated.

European anti-migration policies, that in many cases resemble Israeli paradigms and are implemented often with Israeli technology, are targeting migrants, finance Israeli apartheid and military occupation against Palestinians and militarize European societies.

In order to break these ties of complicity that further human rights violations, we have resolved to join the call for a #WorldwithoutWalls, launched in 2017 by Palestinian and Mexican movements and endorsed by over 370 movements, networks and organizations aceoss the globe.

We will work together to:

  • Educate ourselves and the world we are living in about the deep interconnections between our struggles and the urgency to overcome the ideology of walls, exclusion and repression and to build alternatives of solidarity and global justice.
  • Oppose European anti-migration policies that harm us all.
  • Stop the corporate profiteering of the ‘wall industry’ and tackle the architecture of impunity that shields corporations enabling, facilitating and profiting from the visible and invisible walls of injustice, including through the strengthening of the Palestinian lead BDS movement.

The Undersigned:

  1. Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l’Homme (France)
  2. Alternative Refugee Centre (Switzerland)
  3. Association France Palestine Solidarité – AFPS (France)
  4. Associatión France-Palestine Solidarité – Lyon (France)
  5. Associatión France-Palestine Solidarité (France)
  6. Association France-Palestine Solidarité 63 (France)
  7. Associatión France-Palestine Solidarité Saint Etienne (France)
  8. Association pour Jérusalem (France)
  9. Assopace Palestina (Italy)
  10. Attac AG Globalisierung und Krieg, Deutschland (Germany)
  11. BDS 34 (France)
  12. BDS Berlin (Germany)
  13. BDS France (France)
  14. BDS Initiative Oldenburg (Germany)
  15. Brighton Migrant Solidarity (UK)
  16. Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos “Segundo Montes Mozo S.J.” (CSMM) (Spanish State)
  17. CNT 57 (France)
  18. Collectif 69 de Soutien au Peuple Palestinien (France)
  19. Collectif 69 Palestine – Union Juive Française pour la Paix (France)
  20. Collectif Migrants (France)
  21. Collectif Palestine 12 – Millau (France)
  22. Collectif solidaire des réfugiés (France)
  23. Comité des migrants- Millau (Aveyron) (France)
  24. Comité Palestine Israël Pays de Châteaubriant (France)
  25. Comité pour une paix juste au Proche-Orient (Luxembourg)
  26. Commission for Filipino Migrant workers (Europe)
  27. ConfederaciónIntersindical Galega (CIG) (Spanish State)
  28. Construire et Alerter par la Non Violence Active CANVA (France)
  29. DocP (Netherlands)
  30. ECCP (European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine)
  31. Escuela Con Alma-Skola Sa Dusom (SpanishState/Serbia)
  32. Espacio Social y Cultural La Karakola (Italy)
  33. Finnish-Arab Friendship Society (Finland)
  34. Forum Contro la Guerra (Italy)
  35. Gibanje za pravice Palestincev (Slovenia)
  36. Groupe d’Amité Islamo-Chrétienne (France)
  37. Gruppo Ibriq (Italy)
  38. ICAHD Finland (Finland)
  39. Interculturalism, Migration and Minorities Research Centre (Belgium)
  40. Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (Ireland)
  41. Jewish Network for Palestine, JNP (UK)
  42. Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East (Germany)
  43. KASAPI – Hellas Union of Philippine Migrants in Greece (Greece)
  44. Kent Refugee Help (UK)
  45. LAB Sindikatua (Basque Country)
  46. Legal Centre Lesvos (Greece)
  47. MAN (Mouvement pour une Alternative Non-violente) Orléans (France)
  48. Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples – MRAP (France)
  49. Mouvement Pour Une Alternative Non Violente (France)
  50. Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB) (Brazil)
  51. Netherlands Palestine Committee (Netherlands)
  52. New Weapons Research Group (Italy, Lebanon, Palestine)
  53. Ongd AFRICANDO (Spanish State)
  54. Palestine 69 (France)
  55. Palestine Solidarity Campaign UK (UK)
  56. Pour rester HUMAINS (France)
  57. Reseau Education Sans Frontiéres – RESF (France)
  58. Reseau Education Sans Frontiéres – RESF 63 (France)
  59. Réseau Foi & Justice Afrique Europe antenne France (France)
  60. Réseau RITIMO (France)
  61. Salaam Ragazzi dell’Olivo Comitato di Trieste (Italy)
  62. Section LDH – Millau (France)
  63. Stop Mare Mortum Sants, Hostafrancs i la Bordeta (Catalunya/Spanish State)
  64. Transnational Institute (International)
  65. Transnational Migrant Platform-Europe (Europe)
  66. Union Juive Française pour la Paix (France)
  67. Union Juive Française pour la Paix Lyon (France)
  68. United Against Racism (Ireland)
  69. Verein zur Förderung der Flüchtlingsarbeit (Germany)
  70. Waling _Waling Org.
  71. WISE (France)
  72. Women in Black – Vienna (Austria)
  73. Women in Black (France)