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<nettime> Deportation.Class Campaign: Lufthansa under pressure |
May 28th, 2000 webmaster@deportation-alliance.com http://www.deportation-alliance.com After two months of campaigning: LUFTHANSA UNDER PRESSURE The german airline is facing a wave protest organised by high-motivated anti-deportation activists. With a decentralized online and offline campaign the "no one is illegal" network is demanding from Lufthansa finally to give up deportations. Two weeks before the stockholder meeting in Berlin the campaign's succes is in reach. Exactly one year ago, on 28 May 1999, Aamir Ageeb died on board the Lufthansa aircraft LH 558 heading for Cairo. Three Federal Border Guards (BGS) had abused the 30-year-old so brutally that he suffocated. The Border Guards had forced a full-face helmet onto his head, bound his hands and feet and forcefully pushed his head onto his knees during take off. Ageeb was not the first victim of brutal deportation practice in a Lufthansa plane. In August 1994, the Nigerian Kola Bankole was also killed on a Lufthansa scheduled flight. Borders Guards had bound the asylum-seeker who had a heart condition like a parcel, pushed a gag in his mouth and a doctor sedated him. Kola Bankole died before take off on the Rhein-Main airport. But Lufthansa's board of directors will only give up their business with deportations, when the image of the airline company is at stake. This is why "no one is illegal" has started an international campaign. The aim is to bring the airline company to change its policy: No deportations with Lufthansa anymore! This is hardly an inappropriate demand. And this is why we – since two months - turn up at every place where the Lufthansa is present: on the Internet, in front of check-ins, at airports, at Lufthansa branches everywhere, in travel agents. We appeal to all employees of the company to refuse the transportation of deportees and we will educate them as well as the passengers about the possibilities to protest against the deportations. Because it is not only the Federal Border Guards and the airline companies' board of directors who have a responsibility towards deportees. Also pilots, stewardesses, board personnel and police officers are able to refuse to function as willing executors of the State's deportation praxis and thereby can possibly save refugees' lives. Captains in charge of an aircraft are not only responsible for the security, but for the life and freedom from injury on board. It often does not take much to help the refugees to succeed in their desperate protests. Sometimes, loud words or the refusal to sit down during take off are enough to put an end to a deportation. NOW YOUR HELP IS NEEDED! From May 26th till May 28th the german wide network 'no one is illegal' has started a new round of protest actions on airports and infront of travel agencies remembering the death of Aamir Mohamed Ageeb. In more than a dozen german cities various actions took place: in airports, in front of travel agencies, at the Lufthansa flight school. On June 15th our actions at the Lufthansa shareholders' meeting at the ICC Berlin will be an unforgettable experience for the shareholders and the company management. We, together with the "Critical Shareholders" association, intend to interfere gravely with the proceedings of the meeting. [In case you own some Lufthansa stocks, we kindly ask you to get in touch with us <mailto:webmaster@deportation-alliance.com> or the critical shareholders association <http://www.kritischeaktionaere.de>] Then, on July 1st, a jamming and a blockade of the Schoenefeld airport in Berlin is planned <http://blockade.ods.org> After two months of campaign, a first actionday in the beginning of april, a lot of different, very creative and imaginative actions, various fakes and attacks the image of Lufthansa seems to be in danger. The remarkable response of the campaign in the mainstream media has put Lufthansa under immense and visible pressure. According to certain sources even the Ministry of the Interior is worried that Lufthansa might indeed abstain from carrying out deportations. To support and accelerate this process we do need your help! Every action targeted at Lufthansa (http://www.lufthansa.com) and their socalled "deportation.class", at their branches and at the airports outside of Germany will greatly increase the pressure on Lufthansa. It would be great, if you could do some kind of action in front of a Lufthansa branch. BACKGROUND For the german wide network 'no one is illegal' Aamir Ageeb's death was the trigger for a campaign against deportations by Lufthansa. We protest against the deportation of refugees out of Europe and the role of the airlines in this practice. The experiences of groups in other European countries have encouraged our campaign. 'No one is illegal' wants to reach a wider public through its campaign and draw attention to the responsibility of Lufthansa. This is not a classical boycott campaign. Rather, the image of a 'clean airline' ist to be soiled; at the same time we are appealing to passengers and flight personnel to stand up and not accept the deportation practice. Finally we demand that Lufthansa abandons this line of its business. In recent years, many campaigns have shown that internationally operating companies fear for a loss of image. In 1998, the Nigerian Semira Adamu died on an aircraft of Sabena airlines in Brussels airport. She was suffocated with a pillow by the 'accompanying' police in an attempt to deport her. A strong wave of protest resulted in the resignation of the Minister of the Interior and forced Sabena to ask passengers for their agreement to the flight before departure. Sabena pilots moreover declared that they will not accept any deportation prisoners on their flights. The concept of the campaign includes networking with other European groups. International networking opens up new opportunities for joint interventions. Our website and the co-operation with other European groups have left an impression with the press as well as with Lufthansa. Since Lufthansa has been under public critique, spokespersons of the company maintain that the the airline generally rejects deportations against the will of the 'deportees' and since June 1999 does not transport them anymore. In reality that is not true. On May 13th, 2000, there was a violent incident on Lufthansa aircraft LH 4115 from Paris to Berlin. Two French civil police maltreated and beat an African passenger who fought against his deportation. Despite shouting and loud protests from passengers, the crew of the airplane did not react at first. Only when the Leipzig professor Klaus Gerd Giesen threatened the pilot with legal consequences, the deportation was suspended. Since that time Prof. Giesen has been appealing to people in the academia to participate in a fax and e-mail protest campaign. Read more: <http://www.deportation-alliance.com/lh/english.html> Support the campaign against deportations by Lufthansa. Stop the "DEPORTATION-CLASS" - end the business with deportations ! no one is illegal! <http://www.contrast.org/borders> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net