Greetings to our UNITED friends!
The summer has grown hot - with some of the hottest temperatures recorded ever this year - and the time has come for us to log off.
It has been a long year and a half. In light of this, we will take a short break in which to refresh and rejuvenate ourselves, so we can come back with renewed strength, ready more than ever to tackle the difficult topics.
Before we bid you a short goodbye, here is a lookback over our recent work:
Action Week Against Racism
Once again, we want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all those of you who participated in this week’s AWR. We recorded over 81 events alone - and there are many more that may have slipped our radar. This, considering we were all mandated to stay home, is quite a feat, and we want to wish all a big CONGRATULATIONS. You make Europe better.
We compiled this year’s greatest hits into a short report, that puts together the social media highlights, and contains a compilation of each of the 81 events. Go through it for inspiration, for curiosity, for connection, or for any reason at all.
It can be located on our website here.
June 20th - International Refugee Day
Among the chaos caused by COVID-19, and the slow, uneven recovery across the world, one thing has remained constant: the policies of “fortress Europe” that have proved fatal to scores of people.
This year, the team meticulously counted the new number of deaths: 44,764 people have died trying to make their way into Europe. The causes of death are numerous: most drowned in the Mediterranean. Others were shot at borders, killed by traffickers, committed suicide at the detentions centers out of desperation, depression, and anxiety, or were killed after being deported to their countries of origin. Among them: babies, children, teenagers, (pregnant) women, and men, whole families.
We meticulously tracked each death, and added to the ever-growing list. This was featured in public exhibits around Europe:
The Catholic parish of Arbedo displayed the UNITED List of Refugee Deaths in their church, covering the full length of the space between the church benches.
Seebrucke Essen demonstrated against Fortress Europe together with other initiatives. They commemorated the countless people who died while trying to reach Europe. As part of their action, they printed parts of UNITED’s List of Refugee Deaths on large banners.
Seebruecke Hamburg used UNITED’s List of Refugee Deaths to call attention to the racism that is happening in the Meditteranean. Activists painted names from the list on the streets of Hamburg to call attention to the issue.
Sadly, the mere sight of a list alone was enough to incite hatred: Rede galega en apoio ás persoas refuxiadas, who translated the list into Galiciano and prepared an exhibition titled ‘Look with other eyes’, which consisted of 13 cubes of 2 meters high, with all 52 pages from the List of Deaths - was attacked, and torn down on the 24th of June. Unfortunately, we cannot say this was a surprise: it is precisely due to this hate that we continue to do the work that we do.
Did you use the list in your initiative? Please email us at info@unitedagainstracism, and let us know!
In other news...
Lastly, have you been keeping up with the backlash against the anti-LGBT law recently passed by the Hungarian government? We put together a short summary here. Be informed, take all the action you can, and speak out against this blatant attack on the community.
With that, we wish you a good summer - our offices may be closed, but our work never stops. May you have both a restful, antiracist, antifascist, and inclusive summer.
