Abolish Frontex and EU border regime!

• 10 years of Frontex - 10 years of persecution, deportation and mass murder
  
• Stop the war on migrants and refugees!
  
• Ferries, not Frontex!
  
• Away with the visa regime!
  
• Stop the new racist asylum law in Austria!
  
• Freedom of movement for all - remove the borders!

On May, 21st, 2015 the crème de la crème of European racism will gather in Warsaw, Poland, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the EU border agency Frontex - one of the most influential meta-organisations of the Fortress Europe. Refugee- and No Border groups are calling for days of protest and resistance in Warsaw from 19th till 22nd of May.

In Vienna, we join this struggle with a rally at UNHCR and with decentralised actions against the EU border regime.


We want to commemorate those who have been killed through the border regime and show our anger against Frontex and against the murderous, repressive and militarised anti-refugee/anti-migrant policies implemented by the EU member states. We want to denounce the responsible persons - people like Frontex boss Klaus Rösler, Austrian interior minister Mikl Leitner and all EU interior ministers - as what they are: guilty of murder and support of murder. Rallying in front of Vienna office of UNHCR (United Nations High Commissionary of Refugees), we want to denounce the UNHCR's collaboration with repressive border- and migration policies and its constant silence towards human rights violations against migrants and refugees.

Many hundreds of refugees and migrants have died only during the last few weeks in the mediterranean sea on their way to Europe. The deaths of all these people are not "tragical accidents", like the hypocrite words of European politicians pretend. Their deaths are cases of mass murder caused by the border regime of the EU states and their allies. The answer of the responsible politicians and institutions: Declaring war on "human smugglers" - the EU just demanded a mandate from the UN security council for a military strike on refugee boats at the Northern African coast. Intensified border control - the budget for "Triton" and "Poseidon" Frontex operations in the Mediterranean sea, falsely declared as "rescue operations" while sea rescue has never been the purpose of Frontex, has been trippled by the interior ministers of the EU. Massive pushback against refugees and migrants - Austrian interior minister Mikl Leitner recently demanded to bring Africans saved from the Mediterranean sea directly into UNHCR "reception" camps in Northern Africa.

All these militarised anti refugee- and migrant policies will never solve people's reasons to flee from countries destroyed by wars and economic exploitation! They will only create even more dangerous conditions along the traveling routes and will kill even more of the people who are on the move. In contrary to all this, there are concrete demands that could quite easily make an end to the deaths of people on their way to Europe: Visa-free entry to EU-territory for ALL. And the immediate opening of open ferryboat connections, oprn for ALL, independent from having passports and visa.

Austria is not only paying its contribution to finance Frontex, but is one of those EU-countries who have since years, together with Germany, been pushing for implementing strict border controls, is directly responsible for the killing of people in the sea and along the land borders. Austria is also one of those who have always been playing the role of a stronghold against any possible step of improving freedom of movement in Europe, like abolition of Dublin-system. The airport of Vienna is a hub for deportation flights - on common passenger flights as well as on charter mass deportation flights organised by Frontex.

Meanwhile, the same Austrian politicians, who pretended to be shocked about the deaths of migrants and refugees, are planing a fundamental restructuring of the Austrian asylum law that will increase poverty and social exclusion, combined with accelerated deportation. One direct consequence of the new asylum law will be a lot of refugees getting kicked out of "Grundversorgung" and forced to live on the streets in a homeless condition. This new asylum law shall be in power starting on 1st of July 2015.


Why the UNHCR and the United Nations?

Politicians use the UNHCR as a legitimation for planning new, more repressive policies on refugees and migrants: Survivors of boat journeys through the Mediterranean sea shall be brought to northern Africa - to reception camps run by the UNHCR. Besides this, the security council of the UN - since long an institution to negotiate imperialist war policies - plays a crucial role also for the war on migrants and refugees: It's the UN security council where the EU applied for a mandate for a military strike against refugee boats on the coasts of Northern Africa.


What do we want?

It's not enough to mourn about the death of those who are killed through the border regime - we have to delegitimate and to dismantle Frontex and all the laws and institutions preventing the Freedom of Movement of people on this planet. As long as the humanity is divided through capitalist exploitation and (neo)colonial domination. As one important step for the nearest future, we want to call for protest, resistance and disobedience against the implementation of the new, more repressive, racist asylum law in Austria.

• Freedom of Movement - refugees are welcome!
  
• No one is illegal or we are all illegal!
  
• Papers for all or papers for no one!
  
• Des papiers pour tous ou des papiers pour personne!

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