Ep. 033 — Let the right ones in: the changing asylum system of Fortress Europe , w/ Benedikt [EN]

Leneșx Radio

In today’s episode we sit down and talk with Benedik Kern, about the asylum system in Germany and the EU. Our guest tells us about the work that his organization is doing organizing so-called “church asylums” and “citizen asylums”, wherein churches and individual citizens offer safe places for people avoiding the Dublin system to hide from authorities. The main topic of the discussion is the coming change in the EU asylum system. It entails the outsourcing of the entire asylum procedure outside the EU, to camps in bordering countries that are considered safe. With this, there will be no more asylum procedure within the EU borders per se, fundamentally changing the whole movement landscape. The new law first has to be voted in the EU parliament and then implemented by individual countries in their national legal system, thus taking some years to come into effect. We talk with Benedikt about ways we can fight the consolidation of Fortress Europe, and how this must necessarily entail at least regional cooperation between groups and movements. ===== Re(Sources): Institute for Theology and Politics https://www.itpol.de/ Church Asylum homepage https://www.kirchenasyl.de Citizens' asylum affinity group (in Münster , Germany) https://buergerinnenasylmuenster.blackblogs.org/ Materials on the asylum situation (via PRO ASYL, an organization fighting for the rights of asylum seekers) https://www.proasyl.de/thema/eu-asylpolitik/ https://www.proasyl.de/news/faq-zur-geplanten-reform-des-gemeinsamen-europaeischen-asylsystems-geas/ https://www.proasyl.de/en/news/ceas-breaches-of-core-legal-principles-are-going-to-become-the-new-normal/ Benedikt’s article on church asylum and an interview about its 40th anniversary in August 2023 https://www.buergergesellschaft.de/fileadmin/pdf/gastbeitrag_kern_210520.pdf https://www.katholisch.de/artikel/46751-theologe-kirchenasyl-entscheidend-fuer-relevanz-der-kirchen About the deportation of Moldavian workers from Germany https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/warum-so-viele-moldawier-aus-berlin-abgeschoben-werden-5046916.html Artwork by Saad Shahriar of postcolonial cafe and unrest radio flickr: @unrestradio apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/unrest-radio/id1659525221 Music: Comunitate, by Sofia Zadar spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3F4Ec4iFdVp4Pmzhw2Zrd1 fb: @sofiazadar