Interview: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Berlin's authorities expect the public to be mere bystanders in the refugee crisis.

"We stand for [support in the civil community] and I think that is why the whole raid happened that night." - Nele, a party organiser at Mensch Meier club. 

It's nearing dusk on an unseasonably warm, late March day. The sun is slowly setting over the Neptune Fountain by the TV Tower in Alexanderplatz. A number of trucks, pumping out all different shades of dance music - jungle, house, techno, punk - are pulling up at a courtyard behind Alexanderplatz. Many of them are already switching off their sound systems after a long haul through the streets of Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Mitte. Several of the trucks, and their fanatically dancing supporters, are already preparing to leave.

One of the mobile sound systems is still going strong, pumping with hard house and trance. The Sea Watch van is being run in cooperation with Mensch Meier, a left-wing club based in East Berlin. Smoke jets at the back sprays a wild, hand waving crowd of dancers with fog, lasers streak coloured lights through the melee. A representative of Mensch Meier takes the mic and announces that there will be a benefit party for search and rescue NGO's like Sea Watch at the club, later that evening. A huge line of riot police stands nearby, listening. They seem tense.

At the same moment, in Storkower Strasse 121 in Prenzlauer Berg, a group of four men dressed "like Nazis" stroll up to the front door of Mensch Meier and demand to be let in to the club. They are, of course, denied entry. Without announcing that they are, in fact, plain-clothes police officers, they attempt to force entry. at first, the club's bouncers prevent them but then numerous officers waiting nearby jump in to act as backup, and they managed to force their way through the door. The volunteers and club staff run from them, screaming, "Nazis! Nazis!" They assume that they are under attack from a right wing gang - a constant threat at left wing venues, in Berlin.

The above scene was described to me by a friend of the Abendleitung (night manager) at Mensch Meier that night, but it closely mirrors the statements made to the press and off-the-record, by others who were present that night, as well as by the club itself, on its home page. However, I was able to gain a more personal view of the scene there when I spoke to Nele of the RSNZRFLXN collective. Nele is a charismatic and determined civil rights activist who co-organised the benefit party that was targeted by the raid. She gave a very emotive description of the aggressive, heavy-handed behaviour she and her colleagues experienced during the raid.

...But First, A Bit Of Background

There is a misconception, especially amongst conservatives who are far from the action, that Europe is currently being inundated with refugees, many of whom are not actually in any need of asylum. The statistics prove them very wrong: according to the Guardian's Daniel Trilling, "an estimated 90% of migrants who enter Europe do so with permission" - meaning, they fulfil the already-strict requirements for asylum.  The number of people in Europe that has been found here without the correct permission - and many of those infractions were mere technicalities, rather than outright deceptions - has fallen for 2.2 million to just over half a million in the past 4 years. The refusal by certain leaders to admit people who are obviously risking their lives to flee their home countries seems to be more about bias and convenience, than reason.

We can trace the source of this bias back to right wing authority figures like Italian Minister for the Interior Matteo Savini, who has characterised Sea Watch 3 as being "a real pirate ship". I am at a loss for why he would think was an appropriate phrase to use for a search and rescue operation, unless he was speaking from the point of view that all the refugees on these ships are would-be criminals - a narrative that one regularly encounters in far right websites and media such as Infowars, but has little support among more objective, scrupulous observers. Additionally, far right views are by no means the norm in Europe.

A report by the Foundation for Progressive European Studies suggests that support for refugees is higher in areas close to the borders where they most often arrive, stating that: "74% of Bavarians state that they are in favour of accepting migrants [...] which is close to the German average score of 79%. In Italy support [is] as high as 78% in the south and the islands, compared to the average of 77%, and even in Spain – 67% of the whole country compared to 65% in the southern regions."

The crackdown on sea rescue operations like Sea Watch does come across as an attempt by a right wing minority to impose its views and risk people's lives, irrespective of what the majority of Europeans want. The recent raid at Mensch Meier is a sign that the same tendency is now rearing its ugly head in Berlin - a city with a long-standing tradition of supporting refugees - as well.

The Interview

I met with Nele at a low-key, Neukoelln bar on a bright spring day. She had just returned from a volunteer teaching gig where she had been assisting refugees since early morning, but she was bursting with energy and optimism. Even so, it was obvious that the memories of the night at Mensch Meier were very troubling to her. 

Q: Could you tell me about the events leading up to the raid?

A: We wanted to put on the demonstration on the day we were planning our party in order to initiate the day and the night of activism. We had the day of Seenotrettung, which is, like, managing sea refuge. And that worked out, which was really great! We had Sea Watch there; we had Seebrucke there, of course; and [they were] also explaining the whole issue of the shutting off politics of Europe -- the way that Europe is trying to close themselves off towards refugees coming into the country, and not saving any lives on the sea.

I mean, there are people dying every day, and the numbers are rising every day due to the fact that all the European countries are restricting and suppressing the people who are helping. And there's no one from the government actually helping, out there. And all the work that is being done by those organisations is being criminalised.  So anyone who's now bringing refugees into the country - saving lives and bringing refugees into the country - are being faced with years in prison and prosecution.

Q: So you were involved in the demo as well?

A: We came to Mensch Meier at noon, and we started the whole decoration. And because I'm always moderating the discussions, I was preparing for that. But of course, we spoke to Reclaim Club Culture… and Sea Watch… so there were members of our… well, not members of our organisation, but the ones we worked together were at the demonstration. We were quite upset we couldn't come but of course we wanted to - we had to of course, work at our party.

Q: Did you have any feeling you might have been surveyed in the run-up to the event? Covert surveillance to see what you guys were up to?

A: First of all, it's really important to say that we have nothing to hide, so there's not really much they could have known.  But, it's quite interesting how the whole thing went down. For a foreign organisation, who are guests to the city of Berlin... that we were actually the goal of the raid [is interesting]. Not only we, but also all the humanitarian work that gave a stage to actually speak out loud at our party, because that's what we provide. 

We wanted to provide a platform for those who aren't heard, for those whose work hasn't been valued enough in the past and find new support within the civil community. That's what we stand for and I think that is why the whole raid happened that night.

Q: Did they say anything that seemed like they were racist or prejudiced in any way, while they were there?

A: Prejudiced, in terms of what the lady I was just speaking about actually said to me. I was telling her about the humanitarian work I'm doing for the organisation. That it's all been freelance - not even freelance, but we all just came together as a group of people who want to collect funds for Sea Watch, and we are helping the organisations out. And she was putting all those notes down and [asking], "What exactly are you doing?"  I'm like, "Yeah I'm decorating and this and that."

And afterwards, [I] asked if the whole thing was going to have consequences for myself and she answered really aggressive and threateningly, with the words of, "Well let's see what the consequences there are going to be for you and your work."

The whole violence in general is biased. Because we all had our hands up, we were all in shock. We hadn't done anything. We hadn't aggressed them. We kept all so calm and got down to the floor, ready... and still, they pushed us down and put us in handcuffs, and were really, really violent towards us. I mean, it's ridiculous. Some of us had to sit there for over an hour in handcuffs... didn't know anything that was going on... lying on the floor. There were girls crying. And you could see some of us were traumatised through the incident. Some were injured, physically. And the whole thing is [still] in our minds today.

You could really see the situation, there was no escalation from us, no aggression from us and still they did nothing to de-escalate the situation and were so violent in every single way.

Q: If you could say something to the police that you thought might make the situation better or improve communications in the future, what would it be?

A: I would love to tell them - to show them - what the treatment of theirs actually did to us. Because it really rips us apart. It distances us from the safety we feel in our own country.  Like, if you don't feel like the police in your home country is protecting you anymore - it's supposed to be there to protect the people, and to do something good. And like, if it wasn't for our political background or the situation itself - if we would meet in the streets - we wouldn't treat each other like that. There wouldn't be the violence; there wouldn't be all the discrimination. So yeah: I'd love to say that. Like, "Let's meet eye to eye let's meet on the same wavelength, and see where we go from here."

Q: You were just saying that the person who was being kind of threatening towards you  - the woman - didn't have anything to identify her [as a cop]?

A: No, not at all. Until the end she was standing there and If I remember right she was wearing a white sweatshirt and jeans, boots, and a brown blazer kind of thing, but cotton material. Do you know? It looked like everyday clothes.

Q: Plainclothes?

A: Plainclothes, exactly.

In addition to the above interview, Nele made the following comments by email:

"We are getting back on stage to reinitiate the presentations and discussions that were taken due to the police. We are carrying on as before! These are the initiatives we invited to our party: Sea-watch, Seebrücke Berlin and activists from Bürger_innen Asyl Berlin, Corasol, KuB (Contact and advise for immigrants), Wir fordern: Familiennachzug für Alle. These initiatives will speak out on Tuesday the 23rd at SO36 as well. Our collective was a guest in the city of Berlin to give mostly unseen humanitarian work, organizations and projects a stage to speak out on and raise money on beneficial purpose for Sea-watch."

Despite all the intimidation tactics, both RSNZRFLXN and Sea Watch seem to be carrying undaunted. If you want to support them with funds or help them out in any other way, though, I am sure they'd appreciate hearing from you! The petition to free Carola Rackete, captain of the Sea Watch 3 - who is currently under arrest for saving the lives of 40 refugees at sea - please visit this link.