IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Wanneer: 25/01/2016 - 17:16

Alarm Phone’s 1 year brochure is out with the title: Moving On
The different contributions in this brochure reflect on many remarkable experiences made by Alarm Phone members in the project’s first year of existence.
We are a collective of over a 100 people in and from many different countries. By taking shifts we manage to be reachable as an independent and activist Alarm Phone 24/7 since October 11 2014.

Find the pdf brochure via: http://alarmphone.org/en/intros/1-year-documentation
or directly here: http://alarmphone.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2016/01/AP-1year-Doku-...

One article that was written by the Dutch Alarm Phone team is pasted below. But there is much more interesting to find in the brochure.

Contact: wtm.amsterdam(at)riseup.net

'We don’t see the emergency number in itself as the solution'
Alarm Phone in the Dutch Media

Over the past year, the Alarm Phone was referred to, addressed and discussed many times in the media in various countries in Europe and beyond. In the Netherlands, within merely 3 weeks in the second half of July and the beginning of August, our shift team reacted to 14 interview requests. This occurred in a period just before most of the attention shifted to the big migrant movements struggling to reach certain EU member states over land, through the Balkan routes. At the time, European politicians and the media were not yet speaking of a huge ‘refugee crisis’. Our media work included interviews on the radio, on TV and in newspapers, both local as well as national. We had some extensive articles in major and widely circulated newspapers and TV interviews in popular news programs.

It positively surprised us how willingly the media reported on our ideas concerning the freedom of movement and the abolition of borders that stop people from going where they need or want to be. It was as if there was finally space to talk about this as actual possibilities to seriously consider, and journalists were interested to hear more about it. Besides us, there were also a few social scientists that promoted this idea in the media in the same period, which complemented our story in a nice way, and vice-versa.
Another key topic was on how border controls force people to find other routes, which will always be more lengthy, costly and dangerous than the shorter routes that are now blocked. We pointed out that by blocking the safer routes, European policies and practices are directly responsible for human suffering and death.

We came across many journalists who were mainly interested in sensationalist stories, rather than in serious political points of view. How an Alarm Phone shift works but also how we feel during and after shifts was often at the centre of the interviews rather than our political messages and ideas.
Live broadcasting gave us the opportunity to sharply bring across our demands and condemnation of the current situation. The print media, however, always tended to disappoint us as the discourses there were mostly formulated around the ‘heroes working from the kitchen table’ narrative, and offered just a few sentences at the end of the piece that covered our critical political angle. We preferred media coverage that discussed the foundation of this huge violation of human rights. But on the plus side, even if the media focussed merely on describing the work of the Alarm Phone, it did create a sense of action perspective, as it shows people that it’s actually not that difficult to intervene and start doing something against the ugly reality we face now.

A topic that was nearly always discussed in the interviews was our ambiguous relation to coastguards. We need them to answer our calls, take our information, not to hang up on us and answer our questions regarding cases. Obviously they feel watched by us and would prefer not to be called and monitored. The coastguards operate in a political and conflicting context; on the one hand they should rescue lives in distress but on the other hand they control the borders of the EU, seeking to block the entry of certain migrants as much as possible. For the moment we know that the more the practises of border authorities are watched, the greater the chances that necessary rescues are carried out and conform to international law and basic humane standards.

Another issue that was often raised revolved around the idea that our project might stimulate unwanted migration, often voiced in a slightly accusatory tone, suggesting that we might even be supporting the work of human smugglers. These questions actually made the interviews more interesting as we could then explain that migration is nothing new and there is nothing wrong with it. What is wrong is the fact that for some people in this world, migration, whether temporary like holidays or more long term, is as usual as waking up in the morning, while for others it is completely impossible or involve great risks. Even with the Alarm Phone and all the other solidarity initiatives that exist, it is still a nightmare to take a boat to Europe, full of dangers and including all the extreme difficulties that follow after arriving on European soil. Addressing this topic gave us the opportunity to explain that the fact that European politicians focus on smugglers as the criminals is a strategy of deception that we should not fall for. It is the European policies that create this situation in the first place and smugglers wouldn’t exist if there were open passages. Politicians falsely flex their muscles by blaming the smugglers and distract the public by attacking would-be smuggler boats.

The question that would always follow in reaction to our answer was: ‘What if the borders are open, and everybody comes to Europe, how are we supposed to handle that?’ Here we would provide various arguments and explanations: Not everyone will come to Europe; history, research and simple common sense can show us that. Europe has enough space and plenty of wealth to share. And on top of that it would be very cynical to let people die because we are afraid about what would happen if we would not let them die. We will not deny that changing existing systems and facing one's privileges is a challenging process. But we see it as the only option if we want to counter global inequality and stop the current misery that people on the move face.

When asked if the Alarm Phone appears to be effective, it was obvious to say that many people involve us in their difficult journeys. The Alarm Phone has proven to be functional in many cases. However we clearly did not present the emergency number in itself to be the solution. And, besides that, not everyone who needs support will be able to reach us and it will remain impossible to intervene in every situation of distress. We do this work to be out there and show and denounce what is going on.

With our media work we hope to help to change the current discourse in a positive and active direction towards one that focuses on international solidarity and criticizes current migration policies. In this way we hope to encourage more people to start to think about and advocate the freedom of migration.