We are refugees, men and women, from all around Greece. We came here chased by poverty, unemployment, wars and dictatorships. The multinational companies of the Western world and their political servants in our countries did not let us have another choice than risking our lives for dozens of times to come until the front-door of Europe. The Western countries that loot our places, with an infinitely better standard of living there in West, are our only hope to live as human beings. We came (with an ordinary way or not) and we work here in order to survive, us and our children. We live under the indignity and the darkness of lawlessness, in order to benefit the employers and agencies of the state from the wild exploitation of our work. We live by our sweat and dream one day to have equal rights with their Greek colleagues.
During the last time things have become very difficult for us. As far as the wages and pensions are cut-out, as far as the prices rise up, so far the migrant is presented as the blameworthy, as the responsible for the misery and the wild exploitation of Greek workers and small local companies. The propaganda of racist and fascist parties and organizations has already turned into the formal language of the State about immigration. Their phraseology gets already expressed in the exact same way by the Mass Media when they talk about us. Their “proposals” are already enshrined as governmental policies. Wall at Evros River, floating concentration camps and euro-army in the Aegean Sea, pogroms and assault forces in the cities, massive deportations. They are trying to make the Greek workers believe that we are a sudden threat for them, that it is us to blame about the attack of their own governments against them.
The answer against this lies and barbarity must be given now and we will give it, men and women refugees. We confront, with our own lives as a weapon, now to stop the injustice against us. We demand the legalization of all immigrants; we call for equal civil and social rights and obligations as Greek workers and employees. We ask from our fellow Greek workers from each human being that now suffers from the exploitation of his/her own sweat, to stand in our side. To support our struggle, not to let it prevail in their own place lies and injustice, fascism and totalitarianism of political and economic elites. Namely, what has prevailed in our own countries and forced us to migrate to be able to live with dignity, we and our children.
We have no other way to make our voice be heard, to let you learn about our rights. Three hundred (300) of us, we start a Pan-Hellenic Hunger-Strike in Athens and Thessaloniki on the 25th of January. We set our lives in danger, because one way or another we do not experience living conditions with dignity. We prefer to die here, instead of letting our children experience the same with what has happened to us.
- The Assembly of Refugee Hunger Strikers
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