[spectre] Join the Third Commemoration of the 2005 Schiphol Fire

[Geert Lovink]

Announcement: Third Commemoration of the 2005 Schiphol Fire in Amsterdam
Experience Ceremonial Community Art
http://m2m.streamtime.org

Join the Protest at Schiphol and Tune In with M2M Radio, the Migrant- 
to-Migrant Web Radio Station of the survivors of the fire.
The Schiphol Fire that happened in the night of the 26th of October  
2005 will be commemorated again three years later, at the same place  
and at the same time. At the memorial for the eleven dead migrants  
that stands at the fence of the detention centre at Schiphol Airport.  
Survivors and relatives of the dead are working together to create the  
commemoration and to be there. The United Survivors initiated this in  
collaboration with M2M Radio and The Blue House.

On Saturday October 25 2008 the Third Commemoration of the Schiphol  
Fire will start in the Blue House when the survivors and relatives of  
the deceased will be together in private session. The next day, Sunday  
26th, we will move towards the Schiphol Airport detention centre to  
honour the dead. We will show the world that we are here, to Make a  
life again and together as one.
We have engaged eleven international artists to join the process of  
creating a “Gesamtkunstwerk”, a ceremonial community art work at the  
fence of this prison where the temporary monument is located: 11  
wooden pillars with the names of the 9 men and 2 women who died in the  
fire.

Special Live Web Radio Station

You can find us already on Friday evening October 24, 2008 in the Blue  
House from 19-23 hours where we kick off live with a web radio program  
called M2M, Migrant to Migration. (http://m2m.streamtime.org).

Since February 2007 the Blue House/Het Blauwe Huis (IJburg, Amsterdam)  
hosts the M2M web radio station that is dedicated to the human  
practice of migration, not excluding birds, seeds and other works of  
art and nature. Every Friday evening we are broadcasting on the  
Internet. M2M practices the art of subliminal networking, e.g.  
resulting in the fast growing ring of migrating Senegalese artists and  
other humans who are participating in M2M Radio Teranga.

M2M is a meeting point for intimate and public expression and a test  
laboratory for developers of open source software, an ideal  
environment for testing usability, connectivity and compatibility to  
satisfy the needs of artists, activists and other moving minds like  
you and me. M2M also broadcasts live on the web on Saturday, starting  
on 13 hours. On Sunday October 26, 2008 M2M will report (semi)live  
from Schiphol East where the public commemoration will be held,  
starting at 14 till midnight.

Background

In October 2005 eleven people died in the calamitous fire at Schiphol  
Airport  detention centre. Their deaths are the immediate and tragic  
result of exceedingly restrictive Dutch immigration laws. Laws to  
exclude, hunt  down, lock up and deport innocent people.

Some 298 people were being held at the Schiphol detention centre when  
the fire broke out: each and everyone a of them a victim of this   
terrible catastrophe. We call for solidarity with all of the victims.  
We demand that detention of aliens with the sole objective of
expelling them from our country be ended forthwith. Migrants are world  
citizens like you and me!

The survivors fight for their recovery and for their future.

They live dispersed throughout The Netherlands and try to stay afoot  
in the jungle of poverty, paper work and abandonment. Some of them are  
living out on the street, still facing deportation or collapse. Some  
are lost in the dark. All the people and all politicians must be aware  
of the facts:

- the politically responsible persons have not been held accountable  
in front of a judge or in parliament.
- Ahmed Isa is still the only one prosecuted for the fire.
- Politicians turn away from the fire, from the causes and the  
consequences.
- The Dutch government continues to detain people that are “not  
supposed to be here”
- The Dutch authorities turn a deaf ear to critical reports of Amnesty  
International, The Council of Europe and the State Council on the  
Implementation of Criminal Law and Justice.

The surviving victims and the relatives of the dead are still coping  
without adequate care. They are also kept waiting for compensation.
The commemoration demonstrates that the survivors are still here and  
together struggle for their future.

The Commemoration Group is now formed by the United Survivors, M2M  
Radio and The Blue House, in collaboration with PRIME. It calls on all  
people to join the survivors in this commemoration, as a gesture of  
solidarity and respect. And as a protest against the politics on  
migration and the detention of migrants in particular.

Spread the word. . Get connected. . Call us or mail:

m2m at streamtime.org Tel. ++31 6 24148872

News and updates on M2M Radio: http://m2m.streamtime.org
General campaign website: http://www.vertrokkengezichten.net

For more news subscribe to the electronic mailinglist here:

http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/m2m-eng_listcultures.org  
(english)
http://listcultures.org/mailman/admin/m2m-nl_listcultures.org (dutch)

Financial contributors: the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Stichting  
Doen, X-Y Solidarity Fund, Maria Strootfonds.