In Solidarity and Remembrance: Justice for the Victims of Right Wing Anti-minority Violence, from Hanau to India

We stand in solidarity with victims of the shooting which took place in Hanau on the 19th of February, 2020. Today marks six months since the attack,and grieving families and friends of the victims are still waiting for the German state to take decisive political actions against racism. What happened in Hanau was not an isolated incident. Right-wing terror and structural racism continue to be tolerated and accepted in Germany.

Tobias Rathjen, a 43-year-old white German national, entered two shisha bars in the city in the late evening, gunned down nine civilians and injured five others. The targeted bars had mostly been frequented by people of Turkish descent and those killed were from Kurdish, Sinti, Afghan, Turkish, Bosnian, Bulgarian and Romanian backgrounds. Four of them were German citizens. Ferhat, Fatih, Gökhan, Kaloyan, Mercedes, Vili, Nesar, Hamza, and Sedat: we continue to remember them.

The fact that Rathjen chose to attack bars frequented by People of Color(PoC) and with non-German backgrounds speaks volumes about the motivation behind these attacks. In the aftermath of the attacks, his personal website carrying his life story and ideology was removed. A 24-page statement which had been uploaded on the site not too long ago detailed at length his hatred towards ethnic minorities in Germany and the need to “completely annihilate” people of certain African, Asian, and Middle Eastern origins. This desire is also not an isolated one in the history of racism and its attendant practices of genocide, enslavement, super-exploitation, and segregation.

As People of Color with South Asian backgrounds living in Berlin, we acknowledge that the continuum of right-wing violence extends over our existence here. At the same time, we want to acknowledge the drastic increase in physical and institutional violence against minorities, especially Muslims, Dalits, “backward” classes, cisgender women, transgender women, and transgender men that has been a constitutive factor in the everyday governance and policymaking in India under the current political dispensation. The most flagrant example of this has been India’s settler- colonial project in Kashmir, which has been accelerated following the abrogation of the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution exactly one year ago. Article 370 represented the constitutional compact between the Indian state and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), granting semi-autonomous status to the region until a referendum would be conducted in that region for self-determination as to whether J&K wanted to become an independent nation or integrate with India or Pakistan. This referendum never took place. Instead, an indefinite lockdown was imposed on Kashmiris in august 2019, whereby thousands were arrested, hundreds reported torture, and this process continues as capital interests and fascist demographic policies seek to occupy the land, extract value, and subjugate Kashmir’s Muslim-majority population.

In addition, we have had to witness the endless lynchings and upper caste mob violence against Dalits, proactive efforts to get rid of affirmative action for the so-called “other backward classes(OBCs) in education, passage of the regressive Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) bill and the passage of the CAA-NRC-NPR bills which was followed by brutal state crackdown on dissent and the anti-Muslim pogrom in North East Delhi earlier this year.

As we agitate for the citizenship rights of India’s Muslim population and rights of other minorities in India, we cannot be blind to violent attacks on minorities in other parts of the world, especially in Germany. We show our strongest solidarity with the victims of the Hanau murders and their families as we acknowledge that anti-minority sentiment is the fulcrum of current right-wing ideologies globally. We condemn in the strongest terms the complete impunity and complicity of national governments in normalizing such violence, dismissing and silencing the communities that face it, and covertly and overtly rewarding and supporting the perpetrators by stymying processes of justice and accountability.

We hope to keep up the struggles for accountability and justice for victims of racist and majoritarian violence anywhere it unfolds. We support migrant, (Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) self-organization and self-determination in Germany and beyond. We extend our support to the call for demonstration and for commemoration in Hanau on 22.08.20 by the Institute for Tolerance and Civil Courage – 19 February Hanau e.V. (Institut für Toleranz und Zivilcourage – 19. Februar Hanau e.V.) and the Initiative 19 February Hanau (Initiative 19. Februar Hanau).

Kein Vergessen Hanau!

Our statement: Indian government’s campaign against pro-secularism protesters during Covid-19 lockdown

The government of India, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have used the Covid-19 lockdown to launch a brutal crackdown on dissent and protest. Students and activists who participated in the country-wide protests against the discriminatory, illegal, and inhuman changes to the secular basis for citizenship in India, have been targeted using draconian legal provisions.

Read our statement in full.

 

 

When we say charity begins at home…

… we mean to help your home build another home.

We are looking at helping Delhi where people are still unable to fathom what human storm hit them in February 2020 and why?!. 

This is our small attempt from Europe to help restore our collective faith in human kindness. Help us help them:  a small give has a huge take. 

Who are we helping? Read here.

Everything else you want to know about these efforts.

On February 29, we march to the Indian Embassy!

We are gathering at Potsdamer Platz at 1400 on Saturday, February 29 to march to the Indian Embassy.

On February 24, supporters of India’s unjust Citizenship Amendment Act attacked Muslims in Northeast Delhi, some times in full view of the Delhi Police. The attackers have been photographed using stones and hurling petrol bombs.

We must show up in large numbers to express deep solidarity with the victims and demand that the Indian government wake up and put an end to this unrelenting violence against Muslims, minorities, and protesters in India.

Sign our petition to the EU Parliament today! #EuropeAgainstCAA

Sign now!

Earlier this year, the European Parliament postponed voting on a joint motion for a resolution that among other things:

  • deeply regretted the “the adoption and implementation of the CAA, which is discriminatory in nature and dangerously divisive”;
  • called on the Indian Government to address concerns raised over the NRC;
  • called for a prompt and impartial investigation into the violence and brutality in India after protests broke out against the CAA; and
  • called on the Indian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release protesters and human rights defenders currently held under arrest

Today, you can ask the Members of the European Parliament to vote on and pass this resolution.

Sign the petition now!

To learn more about the CAA, the NPR, the NRC and the protests in India, please click here.

This Republic Day, let’s sing and dance in solidarity!

For weeks now, the people of India have protested against the cruel policies of the Narendra Modi government, including its inhumane and discriminatory citizenship law. There has been an explosion of fraternal love, resistance with art and poetry, and a re-discovery of constitutional values.

Join us on India’s Republic Day to learn, share food and drink, sing and dance in solidarity with the brave protestors.

It’s a soli-party!

Start time: 1900, January 26 (Sunday)
Location: Bekech, Wedding
Programme: Short talks, music and cultural performances

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