“Alone we are nothing.” (anonymous member of We Are Here). Refugees detained after the eviction of the tent camp, huddled together after being released.Since 2011 irregular migrants, refused asylum seekers, undocumented aliens or whatever they are called, have been seizing centre-stage in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam this movement of refugees-on-the-street has a name: We Are Here (WAH): no longer in hiding, no more relying on lawyers or helpers, no longer alone and exposed to all sorts of mistreatment. Out in the open, together, demonstrating and camping, demanding a solution. Demanding normal life. An impossible demand? A false hope? Or is WAH the solution? Could the show-‘n’-tell method finally succeed in toppling a deadly pyramid of cold responses? Is society moved enough to move their government, to rewind, undo and recreate another world? A world where no man or woman is illegal, where rich and poor can see through hate and fear, where the tourist is an equal to the alien. We Are Here is a radical answer to a brutal denial. It’s NO, NO, NO against GO, GO, GO.
Notes on powerless sovereignty and normal life
Quite often people ask me “what is your solution?” Well, let us first understand what is the problem. The power to define is at the heart of the struggle of people that are usually (made) invisible, unheard, disposable. Imagine you’re a lucky refugee from Eritrea, Sudan or Syria. Lucky because you made it all the way. You are fortunate enough to quickly obtain a refugee status and are allowed to enter the Dutch welfare system through the front gate. Sooner or later you will find out that the tedious and often humiliating life in an AZC (Center for Asylum Seekers, with all the paperwork, the trouble to get your family safely with you, getting all the hidden codes right – that all this was just the beginning of normal life in the Netherlands. Thou shalt participate. Integration in this country is your duty, your fate. And your problem? It is hardly an offer you could refuse. But in exchange you are supposed to sacrifice your identity. As they say in Dutch: “Doe mee of ik schiet.” (Join or Die).
Take a paperless migrant. Access is denied. You live on the street, in the jungle. You are not supposed to be here at all. You are stuck in the black hole of Europe’s migration management, starving in the swamp. Bare life. Negative: leave this country, go back, disappear. You will say: I can’t go back, give me papers, a residence permit, a chance to show that I can work, can contribute, can realize my dreams. You may refer to the well-known American principle of the right to the pursuit of happiness. This is what We Are Here is all about. Not to be an outlaw, a criminal, a beggar, or a slave.
