Re: <nettime> e-flux: Galleries Against Gaslighting: how can the UK

[jo <jo@xs4all.nl>]

Hi all,

I am excited by this call for solidarity and action from the UK.
It bears strong resemblance with similar cases in recent Dutch history.
The so-called Bijlmerramp of 1992, an El Al plane crashed on two flats 
in Amsterdams migrant ghetto.
Also here many undocumented migrants were among the 50 victims. It lead 
the then mayor of Amsterdam to arrange for an amnesty, calling all 
migrants to present themselves in order to obtain the necessary papers 
to make a life, finally.

The second case I like to bring to your attention is the Schiphol Fire. 
In 2005 a detention center for undocumented migrants, due to be 
deported, caught fire killing 11 inmates, while destroying many lives of 
the survivors. I have the honor of leading a 10-year long campaign to 
support the victims and raise the point of the inhumanity of detaining 
unsuspected humans, based on administrative laws.

http://schipholbrand.net/en/

Also here the authorities tried everything to make the victims disappear 
as fast as possible, whether by deporting or by putting them away in 
remote prisons or reception centers.

I do  believe that artists and cultural institutions can play an 
important role in answering these disasters, annex crimes.
They have always played an important role at the events that we have 
staged, at commemorations, court cases and the like.

Let me know if I can be of any help to support your call and work 
together somehow.
And let me inform you about the next act: on the 28th of October in 
Amsterdam, the 11th yearly commemoration.

best wishes

Jo van der Spek
Migrant 2 Migrant
Amsterdam

> 
> The above information needs to be put out to as many sources as
> possible. But for pressing demands that can be distributed easily and
> succinctly, voices of concerned parties are identifying two key areas:
> 
> Immigration amnesty for everyone affected/nobody to be deported.
> There are reports that residents may have had applications for full
> residency in process and have had their 20 years evidence of British
> residency burned in the fire; this must not be used as an opportunity
> to deport.
> 

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