Frontex’s air surveillance

Frontex is the most infamous agency in the EU responsible for the externalisation of border controls, as it plays a key role in the criminalization and repression of migration. The EU invests heavily in the agency: in 2020 Frontex’s annual budget was 364 million euros. In 2023, the budget more than doubled: 845 million euros. With this money, Frontex was able to develop a fleet of planes and drones that monitor and control the central Mediterranean from above.  

Last year, Frontex claimed that by the end of the year they would be able to fully monitor the central Mediterranean 24 hours a day using satellite imagery and drone operations, which are already partly operational. According to Frontex, these satellites and drones are used to save lives in the Mediterranean, because they can detect boats in distress and warn the relevant authorities in due time to rescue migrants. However, migrants and activists have noticed that Frontex collaborates with the Libyan coast guard to smuggle migrants heading for Europe back to Libya. Far from helping to save lives in the Mediterranean Sea, Frontex’s surveillance has the primary and sole goal of intercepting people at sea so that they never reach EU shores. When migrants hear a drone buzzing around their ship, they can count on the Libyan coast guard intercepting them and dragging them back within a few hours.

Human rights violations

Frontex knows all too well what fate awaits these people once they return to Libya: systematic and widespread abuse in detention by Libyan authorities and smugglers. At least that’s what Human Rights Watch concludes after extensive research on Frontex’s aerial patrol. No surprise then that Senegalese activists have not welcomed the negotiations between Senegal and the EU on the expansion of Frontex activities in Senegalese waters. They understand that the European border security agency will not save lives and will only increase the number of forced deaths in the Atlantic, and serve the perpetuation of Europe’s racist mobility regime.

Boza Fii monitors the EU

For this reason, the association Boza Fii has decided to organize a yearly 72h event called ‘PUSH BACK FRONTEX’, until Frontex will be abolished. Boza Fii supports voluntary remigrants and deported migrants in their land of origin, where they often lack any official assistance. Boza Fii is very critical of the possibility of Frontex activities in their country. The European commissioner of internal affairs Yiva Johansson has claimed that the deployment of Frontex in Dakar will help to control “human trafficking activities” from the Sahel to the Canary Islands. It is not the first time a European power has taken away the sovereignty of an African country under the guise of combating human rights violations.

A European commission document on Senegal, published on June 7, 2022 and in the hands of Boza Fii, does little to dispel any qualms. It reportedly states that increasing cooperation between Senegal and Frontex should include allowing Frontex officers to carry and use weapons, with full immunity from Senegalese law. “It is clearly the colonial police returning to Africa” Boza Fii concluded during a speech at PUSH BACK FRONTEX, which took place from the 10th to the 12th of August 2023.

Push Back Frontex

On the first day, they opened the event with a press conference with local Senegalese journalists on the deployment of Frontex in their country (Afrique-Frontex-AFIC). Afterwards, they  held a “CommemorAction” for those who died at sea, to remember each and every one of the victims of Europe’s border regime and fight against the borders that killed them, but also to promote the right to identity and dignity for all deaths, and the right of their families to know. The also screened a video on migrants’ rights violation by Frontex. The second day was characterized by workshops and roundtable discussions on deportations and forced returns, visa policies and border externalization (Frontex deployment in West Africa). The last day, Boza Fii organized a 3h march in Dakar to demand freedom of movement for all.

Het Actiefonds is proud to support Boza Fii! The EU does everything it can to render migrant deaths in the Mediterranean and Atlantic invisible, or at the very least not their responsibility. Het Actiefonds has already written extensively on Europe’s anti-migration policy, of which the EU-Turkey deal (2016) and the Tunisia deal (2023) are two of the most famous examples. The work of organizations such as Boza Fii is essential to understand how European border security spills over into new imperial fantasies.

Through debt the Global North enforces its own political agenda in the Global South, i.e. extraction of cheap materials and fossil fuels and keeping refugees at bay. Through the servicing of debt, the Global South lacks the resources for a social and ecologically just transition needed to address among others the climate crisis and for other social policies and climate protection measures. According to Debt Justice, 54 countries are now facing a debt crisis. But instead of agreeing to cancel some of the debt, The World Bank and the IMF use debt as political leverage.

On October 12th, International Day of Indigenous Resistance, Debt for Climate Germany managed to place two concrete blocks in front of the Ministry of Finance in Berlin. The larger of the two weighed over a tonne and symbolized the colonial and climate debt of the Global North towards the South, whereas the smaller and lighter one symbolized the financial debt of the South towards the North. Passers-by and the press were able to follow the gradual removal of the two blocks by the police over the next few hours. The incomparably ‘heavier’ weight of the Global North’s mountain of debt in relation to the Global South’s became concretely visible when the police struggled a lot more to remove the heavier block from the site.

The following day, Debt for Climate held two disruptive actions at the two branches of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Bonn and Berlin. They specifically called out Svenja Schulze, who represents Germany in the World Bank, which was meeting with the IMF in Marrakech at the time of the action. In Berlin, they managed to climb onto the canopy of the ministry building and do a banner drop from there. At the same time, activists on the ground tampered with the ministry’s fence and wrapped it with barbed wire to symbolize “Fortress Europe” and the European Union’s policy of sealing off refugees from the Global South. They demanded debt cancellation and an end to the deadly EU refugee policy. A second banner drop on the ministry in Bonn did not go as planned, but they managed to unroll the banner elsewhere on the premises. The actions were accompanied with press releases and information events detailing how the Global North tramples on the sovereignty of the Global South through debt.

Het Actiefonds is proud to support Debt for Climate Germany.

If the bill is accepted, landlords that rent houses to LGBTQIA+ people will face jail time. This is going to leave many LGBTQIA+ persons homeless, putting them into an even more dangerous situation than before. Also, any NGO’s and organizations that inform about LGBTQIA+ topics or offer care risk big fines for ‘promoting’ homosexuality.

The recent campaign against LGBTQIA+ people has not deterred some of taking action. In a rural area of eastern Uganda, dozens of activists came together to march for equal rights. With their Let me be me campaign, they aim to change the current narrative being spread by the government of Uganda. They want to bring into light the institutionalized and structural violations committed by the government and its actors in repressing the freedoms of assembly, association and expression of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics persons and organizations in Uganda.

That their demonstration proved successful can already be deduced from the fact that media companies and service providers were threatened to withhold from broadcasting or reporting on the action, lest they be accused of ‘spreading’ homosexuality. YouTube videos uploaded to certain blog channels were deleted with directives from the Ugandan Police.

Het Actiefonds is proud to support these activists in their struggle for equal human rights for all gender identities and expressions.

Coordinates

“We kindly request you to stop killing.” That was the name of the creative action that took 48 hours, during which activists continuously sounded one more cry for help after another. Behind the countless coordinates, passenger numbers, timestamps and bureaucratic language is a great sadness and anger, which was all the more palpable as the action came to an end and the messages became increasingly topical. Since 2014, Alarm Phone has received over 5,000 calls from boats in distress, which it then converts into standardized reports to the responsible authorities.

Greece

So did the eventually capsized boat off the coast of Greece, in which hundreds of people – including many children – drowned. Alarm Phone had contacted Greek authorities well in advance, but a rescue effort barely got underway. Several survivors even report that the Greek Coast Guard caused the shipwreck itself, by trying to divert the vessel to other waters with a rope. In many cases, Alarm Phone can reconstruct exactly how the EU’s position in the heavily guarded area led to casualties.

Safe passage

Not providing a safe escape route and even actively pushing back boats is a conscious and political choice, in line with migration management agreements such as the Tunisia deal. Fortunately, the data collected by Alarm Phone is increasingly being picked up by journalists and massive protests occurred in Greece, which we subsequently supported. With a monthly contribution to Het Actiefonds or by making a larger donation to our action groups, you are bringing the end of this racial nightmare a little closer.

Logging

According to EU legislation, 10 percent of Europe’s land must be protected from agriculture and other activities by 2030, but protected natural areas in Poland unfortunately exist only on paper. Logging and even commercial hunting, meanwhile, threaten to wipe these last ancient forests off the map. Only 1 percent of Poland is now a National Park, only half of which is protected area. By comparison, even the Netherlands has about 15 percent of protected natural areas.

Besieged

In the summer of 2022, DRO occupied the Borecka Forest to stop the logging. This was not without danger. They were besieged by 20 masked men, sent at them by the logging company. The activists had secured themselves in the trees with ropes, which the men tried to cut through. DRO was not deterred by this. In response, they barricaded the entrance to a local National Parks headquarters.

In the winter, they first occupied the Romincka Forest near Kaliningrad to block logging machines, and just after that the Bukowa Forest in northwest Poland. In the future, the activists will also hold blockades and occupations in other strategic locations so that the General Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Environment and Climate can no longer ignore them.

The mounting pressure is beginning to bear some fruit. Several political parties have recently promised to protect 20 percent of the most vulnerable areas from logging and commercial hunting. But in a right-wing country like Poland, the election promises of left-wing parties are not nearly enough. DRO’s actions are much needed to protect Europe’s few small remaining old-growth forests from profiteering. Het Actiefonds proudly supports them!

Not 5, not 17, but 37.5 billion. That’s how much subsidy goes to the fossil industry every year, according to the latest calculations. If the state chose to end these subsidies, the Dutch 2030 climate goals would be met overnight! What is holding the government back?

We can wait a long time for an answer, but we have long since run out of time. Extinction Rebellion has decided to nudge politicians in the right direction. As long as the cabinet is blocking necessary reforms, the action group will also block and disrupt the country. Starting with the traffic on the A12, this Saturday. As many as ten thousand people are expected on the highway, so many that it may take all weekend or all week to clear the road again.

Het Actiefonds has been contributing to Extinction Rebellion’s actions for some time now. At the last blockade on May 27, when organizers were preventively taken off their beds, we supported the solidarity demonstration that drew 15 thousand people. The destruction of our environment has already claimed many lives – it has to stop now.

Therefore, now is the time to end these subsidies. Maybe you are planning to join the blockade of the A12 this Saturday, September 9, or the solidarity demonstration in The Hague where speakers like Clarice Gargard and Chautuileo Tranamil will talk about the colonial and capitalist roots of the current climate disruption. Keep it in the ground!

Workers are always the first victims of crises. Indonesia’s workers have seen this time and again, and in 2023, with inflation and the rising cost of living, their working conditions have worsened. There is little access to health care and social security, salaries are already too low to pay rent and take care of children or parents, and women are often fired when pregnant. These working conditions are in sharp contrast with the Indonesian state officials salaries, that allow for a luxurious lifestyle.

Indonesia has a big work intensive industrial sector, manufacturing mostly textile and clothing, footwear, furniture and child toys, all for export to Europe and the US. Due to decreasing demand because of the global economic crisis, the Indonesian government issued a regulation that allows companies in these sectors to cut their workers’ salaries with 25%.

Simultaneously the government passed a bill to increase international investment in the  Indonesian economy, even though the past years have shown that more investment does not in any way mean more jobs or better working conditions.

“Workers Say No to Salary Cut! Cut State Officials Salary!”

To protest these new regulations and call for a redistribution of wealth, Organisasi Kaum Muda Sosialis/ OKMS mobilised throughout the whole country for a mass action on the 1th of May 2023. OKMS is a socialist youth organization that organises activities to spread socialist ideas, strengthen the ideological understandings of socialism of their members, organised young people and values solidarity building for the working class and the oppressed. Once a month, they come together for activities such as discussions about contemporary or theoretical issues, or spreading pamphlets on campuses and factories.

On the 1th of May 2023, they teamed up with unions, students and various adovocacy groups, and organised protests in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Semarang and Makassar, accompanied by discussions and speeches. Together with the Gerakan Buruh Bersama Rakyat (GEBRAK – Labour and Peoples Movement), and other socialist organisations, the OKMS spread a pamphlet stating their demands and calling for continuing protests to take down the political and economic elites.

Other than on-the-ground actions, a national online discussions was held, inviting historians specialized in Indonesia’s history and several activists from various organizations to discuss the state of Indonesian politics and the best way to go forward.

Het Actiefonds is proud to support the 1th of May protests in Indonesia and worldwide, and will continue to support all action for workers rights and against capitalist exploitation !

Read and learn more about the Indonesian Socialist Youth Organisation and the economic situation in Indonesia on the Facebook page of OMKS, their Tiktok, and Instagram. Watch footage of the protest here, here and here.

With the fall of Rutte IV, a new opportunity dawns for the Netherlands to steer a leftward course. But as we know all too well, we cannot depend on The Hague to change things. Political change comes from the bottom up.

That is why de*beweging launches its campaign today, ahead of the next election. This broad coalition of groups fighting for social change wants to put as much pressure as possible on the left-wing parties by already giving a suggestion for their party programs. The coalition is committed to a fair and democratic society, a livable earth, an end to discrimination and to international solidarity. Het Actiefonds is proud to support this coalition and has supported many of these groups and themes in recent years.

On Wednesday, de*beweging will announce more concrete positions, which are the result of months of discussions between the various members of the coalition. Can’t wait? Read the manifesto!

When in early 2023 a Roma girl was run over and killed by a truck belonging to the public utility company of Belgrade in a Roma settlement in the Serbian capital, the mayor Aleksandar Šapić, a member of the main board of the Serbian Progressive Party, made an openly racist and discriminatory statement, rooted in fascist ideology, as reaction to her death. He said that the Roma’s “don’t want to be helped” and it’s their own fault if they live and die in poverty. He went on to say that Roma should be pressured into assimilation and ‘civilization’ because they are “a danger to themselves and their neighbours,” completely ignoring the decades of discriminatory policies and widespread prejudices towards Roma in Serbian society.

Roma are the most marginalized, disenfranchised and poorest national community. Most of the NGO’s addressing the Roma’s position in Serbian society are thought to be part of a mafia organisation that has been looting donations received from abroad, with almost no money going to actual projects.

Roma communities in the whole of Serbia are fearing for evictions and unpunished violence towards them, now that Serbian nationalist discourses are getting widespread support and anti-gypsyism is encouraged and justified by the highest levels of government. Especially in the countryside, Roma communities are afraid of the threat of local Nazi groups.

In combination with the widespread misogyny, the Roma Women of Vojvodina, an organisation for Roma women and LGBTQ+ rights, recognize that Roma children and women are the first to be in danger. This is why they, as women and mothers, organize and raise their voices. With actions on social media and in the streets, they want to raise their voices and oppose the current racist discourses, policies and NGO abuses.

ACTION

On World Roma Day, 8^th of April 2023, the Roma Women of Vojvodina held a protest in to warn all Serbians and the Serbian government that Roma women will not remain silent in the face of violence, and won’t suffer racism and anti-gypsysism. They will fight with all democratic means for their women’s and human rights. The protest took place in two Roma settlements in Zrenjanin, a city in Northern Serbia. About 40 women attended the protest, and during the gathering, a network of intercity local communication among Roma women was established, enabling organised support in the fight against anti-gypsyism. This network will provide support for Roma, and especially Roma women, who are threatened by citizens of by the local or national authorities.

Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this action and will continue to support Roma communities that protect each other and stand up against discrimination and fascism! Follow the Roma Women of Vojvodina on Twitter and Facebook!

According to the Dutch Climate Act, CO2 emissions must be 49 percent lower than in 1999 by 2030. A near impossible feat if we look at the current time frame. In 2021, according to the national statistical office CBS, the Netherlands emitted only 13 percent less CO2 compared to 1999. In 30 years, the Netherlands has only dropped 13 percent of its emissions. In the next seven years, we need to reduce emissions with another 36 percent.

Time to act. But if there is anything we can be sure of, it is that the Dutch government will continue to delay and procrastinate. Currently, Rutte IV hopes to reduce national emissions by building two new nuclear power plants in Borssele. The government is investing as much as 5 billion (!) euros in this, hoping that by 2035 these nuclear power plants will provide 9 to 13 percent of the Netherlands’ energy needs. On the surface these plants may seem like a sustainable measure, but they amount to another 5 billion euros and a 10-year delay.

Stroom naar de Toekomst

Those who live in Zeeland, unfortunately, have little to say about the plans of the government in their province. The Hague will decide next year whether the new power plants will be build; the province of Zeeland has no say in it. The citizens’ initiative Stroom naar de Toekomst refused to sit idly by while politicians decide over the future of their province. In the run-up to the provincial elections in March, Stroom naar de Toekomst distributed tens of thousands of posters and organized four discussion evenings to discuss the future of nuclear energy in the Netherlands.

The initiative was a great success. The collective was featured in national and regional media, and discussion evenings allowed citizens to share their concerns with local politicians. In Zeeland, PVDA/GL, the only party against building more nuclear power plants, became the second largest party with six seats.

But Stroom naar de Toekomst has a long-term perspective. By focusing on movement building, it hopes to make the construction of additional nuclear power plants a political issue leading up to 2024, when the government will definitively decide on construction.

Nuclear Power isn’t sustainable

Het Actiefonds supports Stroom naar de Toekomst. Nuclear power is expensive, time-consuming, dangerous and a repetition of extractivist moves. A true green transition requires renewable resources. On top of this, the government and many citizens vastly underestimate the danger of nuclear power plants. The recent fear of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine shows war can quickly lead to an ecological catastrophe.

But a meltdown is also in a small corner. Former director of the reactor center in Petten Frans Saris writes in the Dutch review of Books how in 2001 a nuclear disaster in North Holland was narrowly avoided as a result of staff clumsiness. “Nuclear power plants are a factor of fifty more unsafe because of human error,” he concludes. The promises of minute risks are a paper reality that do not take into account the the unpredictability of human actions. Building more power plants is therefore a dangerous policy for the long and near-term future of the Netherlands and the planet.