following a first short interim-report from Tunis, where we started last weekend with a series of meetings and workshops for the common-actiondays (as announced some weeks ago as you can see again in the call attached). today we had a first protest in front of the eu-delegation building in Berges du Lac/Tunis to support the group of refugees from Choucha, who are accepted by UNHCR but without resettlement slots. they started their sit-in in front of the UNHCR building already end of march, and they continue this outdoor-protest since more than 5 (!) month. a delegation talk today with an UNHCR representative brought no news, they simply refer to the end of the resettlement program and that they cannot push eu-countries to provide more places.

it is true insofar, that a lot of eu-countries did not provide any places for Choucha refugees, or UK offered only three and France even only one (!) single place. Against this background we – about 20 people and in a mixture of Choucha refugees and european activists – went to the eu-office today, presenting our critics and demands with banners and speeches, and insisting on a resettlement solution in a delegation-talk inside the building as well.

since last weekend we started in Tunis with meetings and workshops to draft and update our program as the general situation in Tunesia -after the second killing of an oppositional leader (Mohammed Brahimi) in July and a subsequent new wave of protests – is in limbo between the government and the opposition. a strong polarisation and a lot of tensions crisscross the tunesian society (although an escalation as in Egypt seems to be far away). tomorrow it is exactly 40 days ago that Brahimi was assassinated, and according the tradition a second commemoration will take place.

thus the conditions for activities for freedom of movement are much more difficult than exspected in June, when we started to plan and our call for common actions was sent out. but nevertheless the families of disappeared boatpeople, whom we met last days for an exchange, intend to organize a protest on 6th of September, which is the anniversary of an heavy incidence, when a boat with 135 harragas capsized very close to the rocks of Lampione near Lampedusa and finally 79 men, women and children died or disappeared…

we will see tomorrow, if such a protest is tolerated (or attacked) by police, and on saturday we plan for a cultural evening for freedom of movement as an indoor-event in a bigger cafe. with a concert and a theater-play, through an exhibition, photos and in short speeches we plan to represent the different aspects of the struggles against the borderregime. how to contribute to watch the med (the monitoring project with a main focus on human rights violations and death at sea in the central mediterranean) was the leading question in a workshop within activists last tuesday and this project will be briefly presented on saturday as well. in general we hope for an interesting composition of guests for the final cultural event including not only some familiy members of the disappeared and their selforganisation „la terre pour tous“ but also Choucha-refugees and moreover some subsaharian migrants living in Tunis and trying to get a better selforganisation.

so far for now, a final report will follow…