During the caravane, we walked together through the canton of Zurich, from camp to camp, from bunker to bunker in which refugees are detained, discriminated and oppressed by the state due to their status. As solidarity should be more than words, we physically tried to overcome and break through the isolation organized by the rulers. After 3 days of walking, the caravane arrived in Zurich. Due to the need of rooms for discussions outside of bunkers and camps, outside of the isolation, the caravane squattet the Rote Fabrik on the 21th of May.
In the struggle towards freedom we came together to find a formula to create a dialogue with civil society. We started with a march of four days from the refugee camp in Kemptthal towards the city of Zurich, stopping at various refugee camps and talking with those who have been placed there. We observed the miserable reality, non-humanitarian conditions, and persecution of refugees in Switzerland with the tightening of censorship and law. We want to make this painful reality public. By the measures of the Swiss government it is not possible for a refugee to find a place in civil society or a way to decide for oneself the kind of life you want to live. We find ourselves in an already decided situation.
We say given this, the current situation of humanity is not acceptable. We are starting today by creating an atmosphere for a constructive dialogue with all members of the community. There is no need to say that this or that person is a refugee or an immigrant or a rebel. They are all just names that push humans into a repressive situation. We don’t want to live in a community governed by people who do not take into account each person’s dignity, independence and freedom to choose their own destiny.
We have crossed and are still crossing many borders without papers which fragment the world.
And we will cross all the borders that frame and exist in our mind.
We have decided to occupy the Rote Fabrik. The migration regime in Switzerland which crowds people together in Bunkers isolates them from society and each other. This unjust process strips migrants off their rights as human beings, and does not allow space for a dignified life. This is why we are taking this space ourselves.
The Rote Fabrik was first squatted in the 1980’s in the context of the youth movement. It was about creating a space in which people could get together on their own terms and formulate criticism of the conditions in which they live, and create perspectives on how to change these conditions. However, as the Rote Fabrik became institutionalized it lost much of this energy. But even today it provides a space for anti-racist and political culture and discussions. We recognize and support this effort. This month, the main theme of the Rote Fabrik’s events is the refugee movement. But most of these events are about talking about refugees instead of talking with them an giving them a chance to speak. Often these events are dominated by white, male, academics and city experts that speak for those who want to speak for themselves. While Rote Fabrik’s are often worthwhile, they must listen more and talk less.
We see our occupation as a possibility to change this, to create connections and to break the isolation that separates us into categories, such as refugees, foreigners and those who are „from here“.
We want to bring new life to the Rote Fabric and reconnect it to our movement.
We in this struggle are one body. And we have the same demand as everybody else. To live an exciting life, a life that is not fragmented in a box by definitions, but in which encounters, the everyday, and subsistence are linked in a way that makes sense.
And for that we take the space we need to create a platform, a ground where discussions can take place, where we incessantly go on with the creation and cultivation of our body. Where theaters, kitchens and every other activity put us in contact with each other to learn, to care and to create a form of life that empowers us though each other, and grows.
This body will not break into pieces if it is expelled of a home, it will continue to occupy and take back––because in order to live we need a space that is worth living in.