The mass deaths of refugees and the responsibility of Greek society

MeRA25’s Central Committee has issued a resolution following the aggressive tolerance of mass refugee deaths

This is no longer about unfortunate deaths of refugees under extraordinary circumstances. The hundreds that drowned off the coast of Pylos and the refugees that burned in the forests of Thrace signify something qualitatively different: our society’s complicity in an unfolding European crime. Throughout Europe – and recently in Greece too – we are witnessing a surge in xenophobia, in the form of aggressive tolerance of mass deaths.

At MeRA25, we deem that 13 years of violent “adjustments” have blunted our society’s defences against xenophobia, allowing it to forget the Pylos shipwreck, while now it is the turn of the charred bodies in the forests of Evros to go down the road of collective oblivion, as dictated by the mass media.

We consider it a stain on our society that there has been no substantial, organised social outcry against a government which covers up the Coast Guard’s responsibility for the boat’s capsizing and seconds the characterisation of refugees as “illegal invaders”, thus offering moral cover to state officials and private citizens complicit in the mass deaths of our fellow human beings..

At MeRA25 we demand:

  • the prosecution of those who participated (willingly or unwillingly) in the deaths of refugees
  • a resolution by the Greek Parliament confirming the country’s commitment to International Law on Refugees, which explicitly gives everyone the right to enter the country (even without papers) to request asylum (a right which by itself renders illegal the terms “illegal invaders”, “illegals”, etc)
  • the creation of routes of safe passage for refugees who wish to apply for asylum in accordance with International Law

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