ENGLISH VERSION OF ARTICLE ABOUT CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN CORINTH April 4, 2014 The concentration camps, Corinth and an article that would better not have existed By Panos Damelos Fifty metres from my home is the fence of a concentration camp. As I write this it seems like a lie or rather I wish it were a lie. It shouldnt exist, not the camp nor the condition of the hundreds of people trying to survive in there - apart from anything unexpected - for the past two years, and so neither should this article. But they do exist, its true, insufferably true and if we want to change this situation we must know more about it. So, lets discuss about the detention centre in Corinth. Its the former 6th Infantry Regiment which operated from 1927 as a centre for new recruits with an area of several acres and situated within the city. In 2011 it was already known the camp was intended to close down and a discussion among the locals had begun about developing the place, for instance it had been rumoured that various public services would move there. But in August of 2012, without any official warning, much less any prior consultation and while officers and riflemen were still stationed there, suddenly 400 immigrants were transferred to the camp overnight that had been arrested at that time mainly from Patra and Corinth in the sweep cynically named Xenios Dias. Shortly afterwards and as the last of the officers left, the camp permanently reverted into a concentration camp for people whos only crime was the state didnt issue them papers. At this point its worth a reminder that during 2008-2012, out of the 64,010 applications filed for asylum, only 535 were approved, ie 0,83%, when in Europe the average is over 25%. During the first days the 400 imprisoned immigrants rapidly increased as more arrived in police buses everyday. A few months ago there were 1,200 immigrants locked inside the camp, while today there are about 900. However since new cells (smaller, closer to prison standards) were built, there is a total capacity for over 2,000 people. To describe the living conditions inside the camp as wretched and inhumane is a usual description, but its true. Theyre allowed in the yard only one or two hours a day. Meals - even though having passed inspection - is of the worst quality and usually inedible resulting in many preferring to remain unfed and at times accompanied by stomach pain, diarreah etc. Clothes arent given to the prisoners, so were witness to people wearing short-sleeves and sandals in the month of January, still wearing the clothes with which they were apprehended in during Summer. Shower water is usually cold. Heating doesnt exist (let alone air-conditioning in summertime). Medical care and medicine is an understatement, lets just say its non-existent. If someone says theyre in pain or has a problem, hell be ignored at best, worse case hell get a beating to stop from being bothersome. The objective is for prisoners to be afraid to protest about anything, something thats been achieved. To deal with a health problem and transferred to a hospital, would have to be something obvious, like for instance, bleeding. The only medical assistance offered is plenty of depon - used for any ailment. A typical example and the results of this kind of treatment are the two deaths weve had so far, that of the Afghan Mohammad Hasan in July 2013 from a respiratory infection after 11 months in detainment and the other also an Afghan with cancer Nezam Hakimi last November, after 4 months without provided with the necessary medicine. These living conditions have driven tens of, desperate to be released, immigrants to suicide attempts endangering their lives so someone would get involved with their medical problem. But it seems the aim of the Chief of Police Nikos Papagiannopoulos, who said, we must make their lives unbearable a few months ago, has been greatly achieved. Maximum detention time extended from 12 to 18 months, brought riots and hunger strikes in the Corinth and Amygdaleza camps which was met with repression, beatings and chemicals. Were at a critical point now because the 18-month period expires for most, many are being released, given a paper allowing them a 6-month time span for voluntary departure. However, No. 44/2014 dated February 11th, of the IV Legal Council of State Departments opinion allows for the margin of detention ... to be extended indefinitely, revealing that maximum holding time will soon officially reach 24 months. Whatever the case, the creation of new detention centres in our country (in accordance to articles, the target is for 25 to 30 to open throughout Greece) and the increase of these centres total capacity from 5,000 to 10,000 places in combination with the release of many, is probably an indication of a new large sweep enterprise bearing upon us to fill all these places. Opposing this situation and not sitting quietly, is the support of the Corinthians. There have been protest gatherings requesting the closing of the concentration camps. We have made a number of visits, have tried to highlight the problems, as well as assisting individual cases. We have also gathered food and clothes but when speaking of 1,000 people, the amounts are beyond our capabilities, we feel as if trying to dampen a fire with a water pistol. Even more wretched to depriving freedom weighing heavily on the backs of these people, is a feast of millions of euro in the makings. Only in 2013, our country received over 35,000,000 euro funding for the immigration issue. As New Democracy Immigration Policy Secretary, Fotini Pipili stated, addressing the national problem of immigration has its profits! Hot European cash. This statement is being used to alleviate the reactions of local communities. For instance, the Deskati Grevena local Community voted for the creation of a concentration camp within its borders, with 20 votes for and 1 against, on the grounds that new jobs will be created. In Corinth there are many cases of financial dealings worth mentioning. One in particular are sales to inmates from the mini-market. The business was originally commissioned to a retired policeman who runs the grocery in the area. Next the city kiosk owners demanded participation. Then the trade association realized an opportunity, which managed to pass the job onto a different local mini-market each week. And currently there are vending machines, of which 10% deposited into the police fund! That is, the police receives money directly from the immigrants theyve imprisoned... Of course there are even larger deals through other commissions, as in catering. The disgusting and of doubtful quality meals offered, have been commissioned to two large local businesses and in total, is an agreement of above 1,000,000 euro annually, while just for the commission on sandwhiches and water for the police officers employed at the camp has been directly assigned at a cost of 10,000 euro a month. A particular example of the way in which some benefit from all this is how a few days ago a competition in the amount of 20,000 euro for maintaining and upgrading the plumbing installation, had a duration of 20 hours! It had been published at 2 in the afternoon and offers had to be deposited by 10 the next morning. Also already in the makings had been the appointment of the guarding of the concentration camp to private security businesses taking the place of police. Only in Corinth this project will have an annual cost of 5,276,520 euro. So for some, promoting immigrants as a problem has become a golden business opportunity. Some could talk of huge discrepancies appearing throughout all this. First and foremost in a time of financial crisis, where schools and hospitals are left without funding and are closing, where public assets are being sold, how are then plenty of funds found for running more and more holding centres like these? In addition to immigrants being described a problem, financial activities are being erected around their existence most probably permanently, allowing for as much free movement of goods from country to country as possible while aiming to prosecute the free movement of workers seems quite strange... However, if we look even more carefully, we can understand this situation totally serves the political and economical situation of the country from many aspects. Firstly, its exceptionally useful to contrive a scapegoat supposedly responsible for all the bad luck and also an image of a merciless persecuting government. Secondly, what the immigrants are going through operates as a measure of terror, used as an example that there are worse in comparison to what the Greek unemployed are going through, for instance. Thirdly, as long as we get used to the idea of concentration camps, it becomes easier to apply the same to other groups of the population. Already the former Minister of Justice stated that hes in search of a similar place for debtors. Fourth, the businesses surrounding all this are not at all insignificant as previously described, serving favourable financial and politically interests. Fifth, its quite likely that sooner or later, feigning indignation towards the detention centres huge maintenance costs, questions concerning the labour exploitation of these people will emerge, with the pretext they must contribute towards the costs. But something like that will of course just pave the way to even more privatized financial gains to find cheap labour. So then these holding centres will appear even more like nazi concentration camps... In closing I would like to add that we shouldnt be looking at concentration camps as something separate from the main current political issues or as something exclusively relating to immigrants. Authoritarian and fascist practices are the central and necessary political choices for imposing the memorandums policies so the working population will have to pay for the systemic crisis but not big capital. And so the antifascist movement and the left wing have a responsibility to totally oppose the propaganda with which our tolerance is based on in situations as these. To the so-called common sense that says immigrants constitute a problem or that there are too many and dont fit, our answer is that each working person generates wealth, has every right to live on this earth and cannot be treated as a burden. Immigrants dont fit in Greece? But shipowners and big industrialists literally live lavishly by exploiting the work of others as parasites. Why dont we hear from those who say immigrants dont fit to say instead, that Bobolas, Vardinogiannis, Vgenopoulos, Latsis dont fit? If the current economic political system cant serve the countrys population, the problem is the system and not the residents. Besides, wasnt everyone talking about the low birth rate in Greece twenty years ago? If all the 20 year olds entering Greece, chased away because of war and poverty and looking for a better life, if all of them were Greek, would they fit? So, lets totally discard the fabricated arguments and accounts that support the concentration camps, black market labour and the drownings at the border from frontex and the coast guard. We demand legitimacy and equal democratic rights for all, we demand all concentration camps close down immediately. We do not give in to social cannibalism and distinctions between Greek and foreign workers, legal and illegal. Not only is this a struggle for immigrants, but a struggle for dignity and liberation of us all. Panos Damelos is a member of the Corinth Antirasict-Antifascist Initiative
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 19:22:27 +0000
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