Underground Railroad of Migration

10 years of Alarmphone!
For ten years, Watch the Med Alarmphone has been fighting against European border policy, together with migrating people and solidarity structures from West Africa to Northern Europe. For the tenth anniversary, we look back with activists from Mauritania, Eritrea, Germany and Switzerland on the transnational infrastructure for freedom of movement. In Switzerland, more than 20 people are organized in different teams to operate the 24/7 emergency number for refugees in distress at sea and to carry out the diverse work of the transcontinental network.

We are at a new all-time high of anti-migration politics. Even left-wing parties are joining in the discourse of isolation, and in many places the far right is experiencing a worrying rise – accompanied by a discourse that incites violence against migration and migrants. All of this has direct consequences: migrants have to take increasingly unsafe routes to Europe to escape violence and control. What were once the condemned demands of the far right are now reality: people are being shot at Europe's external borders, and people are starving and dying of thirst under the noses of those who monitor the borders. It is all well documented – and goes unpunished. We are witnessing a normalization of violence.

Migration and solidarity structures as a historical counter-movement
But this military and violent development has always been opposed by a strong movement. We are convinced that as long as there are reasons to flee, people will set out and find ways to overcome guarded seas and fences. In doing so, thousands defy the border regime. They are supported by a network of civil society initiatives – from Mauritania to Switzerland. The struggles against these policies take different forms, but they are part of a long tradition of fighting escalating and violent migration control and standing up for freedom of movement for all and for global justice.

The transnational network Watch the Med Alarmphone, which has been operating a 24-hour telephone emergency number for refugees in distress at sea for 10 years, also sees itself in this tradition. It aims to provide practical support for refugees at Europe's external borders, but also to do documentation work – so that no one can claim not to have known.

Voices from the movement
This evening we bring together voices from different countries and organizations that stand up for the right to freedom of movement. A right that is becoming increasingly exclusive.

David Yambio, activist of Refugees in Libya, a migrant self-organization that supports migrants stuck in Libya. Refugees in Libya documents the crimes committed against migrants, calls for an end to the European border regime and the introduction of evacuation corridors.

Marion Bayer, an activist with Watch the Med Alarmphone from Hanau, is also active with Welcome2Europe and has been particularly active for many years around the developments in the eastern Mediterranean region between Greece and Turkey.

Moctar Dan Yaye, activist with Alarm Phone Sahara in Niger. The organization raises local and international awareness of the outsourcing of European migration policy to the Sahara, documents the associated human rights violations and works to save lives.

Also on stage: activists from Alarmphone Zurich.

Moderation: Charles Heller, founder of Border Forensics and professor at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Bern. For years, he has been reconstructing crimes at the EU's external borders, thereby creating important evidence for their legal prosecution.


Languages: The contributions are in English, French and German. Translation facilities are available.

About Alarm Phone
More information about the transnational network:
www.alarmphone.org
Information about Alarm Phone Switzerland:
www.alarmphone.ch