Friday, 19:30
Filmscreening: Libya. No Escape From Hell (Sara Creta, 2021) & ABBAS (Mustafa Zeyo, 2022)
Discussion: 19:30 | Soli-Café & Küfa: 20:30
REFUGEES IN LIBYA (RiL) is a self-organized protest movement that emerged in Tripoli, Libya in October 2021 in resistance to the arbitrary mass detention of 5,000 migrants from the Gargaresh district. After many of them escaped, they gathered in front of the UNHCR in Tripoli and protested for more than 100 days. They protested demanding their immediate evacuation to safe countries, an end to unequal treatment by UNHCR, the abolition of the EU-funded so-called Libyan Coast Guard, the release of all migrants, the closure of all detention centers, and justice for all migrants who died violently inside and outside detention centers. On 10 January 2022, their protest camp was violently broken up and more than 600 protesters were re-imprisoned. To date, more than 250 of these resisters are being held in inhumane conditions in the notorious Ain Zara detention center. Some members of the RiL have been able to go into hiding and even reach Europe. They continue to protest in various ways: raising awareness via social media, at various events/actions in Europe, and radical solidarity in the form of life-saving assistance to survivors of the detention centers in Tripoli, who have the least access to any form of support.
Solidarity with Refugees in Libya is a transnational alliance of individuals and organizations working in solidarity and close cooperation with REFUGEES IN LIBYA to amplify their voices and demands in Europe and beyond. Thousands of mostly sub-saharan African migrant women, men, children and babies are suffering unimaginable abuses such as torture, enslavement, rape and death in Libyan detention camps as you are reading this. According to recent reports, around 5.000 migrants are currently trapped in official Libyan detention centers. However, even IOM and UNHCR Libya acknowledge that this number “is just the tip of the iceberg, because many more are suffering in unofficial detention camps” (reference).
We are told that official “detention centres are run by the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, but in reality they are in the hands of militias that control the country and see in migrants a ready source of cash by kidnapping and torturing them” for ransoms that mostly African families in the diaspora and countries of origin have been silently paying for the release of their loved ones for many years (reference).
Sara Creta’s 2021 documentary Libya. No Escape From Hell (English; 60 min.) is an eye opener on the migrants’ reality in Libya but also on the horrific machine that has been set up and the range of those responsible that take advantage of European policies.
The film looks at the entire detention system, how this traffic works, the role of the militias and the way in which their control is exercised. It aims to point out the responsibilities of those involved, first and foremost that of the European Union which provides financing then takes no responsibility. What needs to be changed and what are the solutions?” (reference).
What happens when migrants in Libya succeed in crossing the Mediterranean against all odds?
One of their realities is shown in Mustafa Zeyo’s 2022 documentary ABBAS (English; 20 min.) about Sudanese mirgants in Calais on their way towards a more dignified and hopeful life in freedom and peace. Instead, they are confronted with everyday struggle with police surveillance and acts of violence.” All of them have survived the EU border violence and barbaric arab anti-Black racism in the Libyan hell before they landed in the next hell in Calais. “This is not just a film, it is a journey to explore some of what my people are going through in that place. The feeling of being lost, threatened and rejected. The feeling of surviving the Unknown. The feeling of getting tortured for no reason at all.”, says Zeyo Mann, director and one of the producers (reference).
Moderation
–Lucie, author and freelance journalist, activist with Solidarity with Refugees in Libya.
Speakers
–David Yambio, survivor of the Libyan detention camps, activist and co-founder of the self-organized protest movement REFUGEES IN LIBYA. After having escaped from Libya, he made it to Italy last year and will be joining us in person in Berlin.
–Alain, survivor of the Libyan detention camps and activist of No Border Assembly, fighting against borders and deportations; based in Berlin.
–Mustafa Zeyo, Sudanese rapper, songwriter, music producer and director, along with his cinematographer Julian Damm; both based in Berlin.
Admission is free, but a donation of min. €5 is greatly appreciated.
Donations go directly to the fundraiser of REFUGEES IN LIBYA, who are providing life-saving assistance to victims of torture, rape and any kind of violence with the least access to any aid. They organize medical care, temporary shelter, food and legal assistance.