8th March 2021 Demo – IWS Speech
We are here today to demand justice for Rita. Rita Awour Ojunge disappeared on April 7, 2019 from the Lager in Hohenleipisch, where she was forced to live. It took the police over two months before finding her remains, which laid only 200 metres away from the Lager where she had lived for 7 years. Over a year later, the investigation has still not been concluded — despite constant pressure on the police.
We know Rita’s case is not the only one, she represents one of many others.
The German Asylum System caused the death of Rita Ojunge.
White supremacy and racism caused the death of Rita Ojunge.
Misogyny caused the death of Rita Ojunge.
The mainstream white feminism sees the corona crisis as a regression of women‘s rights as women are returned to their traditional roles of being isolated in their homes – as if they, white middle class women, are the main casualties of the pandemic – as if they are the first to get hurt both economically and physically.
But we know that these living conditions, where even social distancing is impossible, and this type of physical, social, political, economic isolation has existed in the Lagers for a long time with the existence of the Lagers. This is the actual daily situation of women living in the Lagers from the time they enter and apply for protection in Germany and Europe. White middle class feminism has always been racist. It has never acknowledged our struggles because they benefit from it.
And then in the Lagers, social workers are using the colonial tool of divide and conquer to perpetuate the good and bad refugee syndrome. The result is continued racism towards black communities.
All of this shows: No Lager is safe. We need to self-organize.
Especially now, as Germany and the EU, under the veil of the pandemic, continue to practice restrictive border controls, constant racial profiling and rampant deportations which are enhanced by the Dublin regulation. The pushbacks and the collective expulsions continue to take place, denying people the possibility for personal and independent asylum examinations. These are fundamental violations of the right to asylum at the borders.
There is a commission that has been formed to investigate these acts being perpetuated by Frontex. But how can we trust this Commission? As Audrey Lorde says, we quote “the master’s tool will never dismantle the master’s house”.
We call for an independent, transparent and democratic commission which includes the players themselves. And as long as we are living in this country, in Fortress Europe, we demand to be a part of any politics that affect us. We have been silenced for too long and we will no longer remain silent.
We demand justice and conviction of Rita’s murderer!
We demand the abolishment of the Lager and asylum system!
We demand the dismantling of the Fascist and colonial Frontex system!
Break the silence, break the system!
IW*S
International Women* Space is a feminist, anti-racist political group in Berlin with refugee and migrant women* and non-migrant women* as members.