enough. 2023

In this panel, we’ll discuss the relationship between racism, (racist) state violence, and capitalism. Our focus during this discussion will be based on the following questions: Why do migrants, asylum seekers and marginalized people often end up in jail? Are national borders a necessity for a capitalist system? Does capitalism need cheap migrant labor to function? And how does this come together in the concept of “Racial Capitalism”?

“Racial Capitalism” conceives of the capitalist past and present as a history of exploitation and expropriation. Exploitation, exclusion and expropriation operate along axes of racialization. Capitalism is inherently racist - it builds on the foundation of colonialism and slavery and perpetuates them in neocolonial economic and border regimes. But what does this mean specifically in relation to everyday realities and the forms of oppression and resistance associated with them? Together with different experts, we will explore this question.

Venue: Zentralwäscherei, Neue Hard 12, 8005 Zürich, Google Maps

Language: English and German, Translation available

On 15 April 2023, a war began between the two former allies: the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), otherwise known as the military, and an affiliated militia called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has its roots in the Janjaweed militia that were involved in the Darfur genocide. This conversation will focus on the following questions: In what ways is the current war in Sudan, which is catastrophic from a humanitarian perspective, a product of the counter-revolution? How has it affected the revolutionary project in Sudan? Why are the resistance committees and other revolutionary bodies taking a “no to the war” stance and why are they under increasing attacks for taking this position? What role do European countries and the EU play in the current situation? How can practical global solidarity work to defend the revolution and address the needs of the people in Sudan?

In addition to the conversation, we will show some snippets of videos and share some audio from activists there.

Venue: Autonome Schule Zürich (ASZ), Sihlquai 125, 8005 Zürich, Attic, Google Maps

Language: German, Translation available

“Refugees in Libya” demands the evacuation of refugees to safe countries, the fair treatment of refugees by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and that the EU stops funding the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and migrant detention centres. They want justice for those murdered, tortured and arbitrarily detained. Starting as a self-organized protest with a more than 100-day sit-in in front of the UNHCR office in Libya, “Refugees in Libya” took their protest to Geneva in front of the UNHCR headquarters and to Brussels in front of the EU offices and continue to fight for their rights every day - from Libya, to Brussels, to Zurich.

David Yambio talks about the everyday struggles of “Refugees in Libya” in Libya and Europe, but also about the connections between places of self-organised protests by migrants, such as in Tunisia. What common strategies are there to counteract the brutalisation along migration routes and what forms of practical solidarity and support can we offer from Switzerland?

Venue: Volkshaus, Blauer Saal, Stauffacherstrasse 60,
8004 Zürich, Google Maps

Language: English, Translation available

On 19 February 2020, nine people were murdered in Hanau: Gökhan Gültekin, Sedat Gürbüz, Said Nesar Hashemi, Mercedes Kierpacz, Hamza Kurtović, Vili-Viorel Păun, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Ferhat Unvar and Kaloyan Velkov. More than three years after the racist attack, important questions remain unanswered and political responsibility has not been taken. The murderer was legally in possession of a gun licence and weapons. His conspiracy fantasies, which he told the authorities before committing the crime, were ignored.

Why was the emergency number 110 not available on the night of the crime? Why was the emergency exit at the Arena Bar, one of the crime scenes, locked? SEK police officers who were deployed around the perpetrator’s home were later exposed as right-wing extremists and the unit was disbanded; what role did their background play in the operation?

Relatives and survivors, who have been fighting for more than three years for clarification, come to Zurich to talk about their experiences, disappointments, hopes and demands. They report on remembrance and clarification, which they have promoted themselves with the research agency Forensic Architecture and critical journalists. They report on the challenges and necessity of self-organisation, on the results of the parliamentary investigation committee and on the space of the Initiative 19. Februar Hanau - that is 140sqm against forgetting and of solidarity. Solidarity that came into being four weeks after the racist attacks in Hanau and was and is being developed together. Change is to come from commemoration - in civil society as well as in politics, authorities and the media.
The panel discussion will be moderated by Balz Oertli, Journalist from Zurich.

Venue: Saal Dorothee Sölle, Stauffacherstrasse 8, 8004 Zürich, Google Maps

Language: German, Translation available

The new EU laws criminalize refugees and encourage mass deportations. Special camps for “fast-track asylum procedures” are set up at airports, resulting in people being deported even before they officially set foot on European soil. This is not only systematic neglect, this is a war against refugees - and strengthens racism in the general population. We would like to share our experiences and discuss together what strategies can be used to counter these deportations.

Venue: Park Platz, Wasserwerkstrasse 101, 8037 Zürich, Google Maps

Language: English and French, Translation available

How can we get involved in anti-racism? No matter if you already have a lot of experience with the topic or if you are just starting – this exchange round is open for everyone who is interested in concrete anti-racist work. Invited are all people who can imagine to be involved in long term in different areas such as public relations, awareness, actions, research and fundraising.

The Justice 4 Nzoy campaign and the Alliance Against Racial Profiling will present different cases of racial profiling and police violence to inform how you can concretely support these campaigns.

The goal of this roundtable is to highlight multiple ways to get involved to help fight racism and to actively engage in the two organisations.

Venue: Autonome Schule Zürich (ASZ), Sihlquai 125, 8005 Zürich, Attic, Google Maps

Language: German, Translation available

Through the development and use of geospatial, visual and open-source investigation methods, Border Forensics (BF) documents and contests different forms of border and state violence against illegalized and racialized people. As an investigative agency, BF acts to uncover truth and against the impunity and non-accountability when racist state violence is perpetrated. They carried out different investigations in collaboration with associations and affected communities that notably shed light on the death of Blessing Matthew in the Alps in 2018 and the use of the environment as a weapon to deter people from crossing borders, or to render visible the use of Frontex aerial surveillance in the Mediterranean as a tool to pursue illegal pushbacks.

Through the adoption of a counter-forensic approach that deconstructs the narratives of government agencies and reconstruct the truth about events that are sometimes covered up by the authorities that do not consider themselves accountable, their investigation are used for strategic litigation in national and international courts, but also diffused in artistic forums to mobilise and raise awareness on the contestation of these forms of violence.

In the context of the enough. action days in Zurich, there will be a public event with researchers of Border Forensics to discuss opportunities and limitations of their approach in reference to their experience of the last years, anchored in a recent illustration of deadly state violence in Switzerland: the murder of Nzoy and the ongoing campaign Justice 4 Nzoy.

Venue: Park Platz, Wasserwerkstrasse 101, 8037 Zürich, Google Maps

Language: English, Translation available

In the first part of the workshop, activists will inform about the issue of deportations to Croatia under the Dublin regulations. They present the results of the report of a delegation of SOSF and the Collectif Droit de rester who were in Croatia in June 2023.

In the second part, they tell about the practical work of the #StopDublinCroatia campaign. They explain what worked out so far, what was effective and where improvements are needed. This part gives an insight into the construction and implementation of a political and solidarity campaign.

In the third part, it gets participatory: we discuss together ideas to build an effective network of resistance and solidarity around people threatened with deportation to Croatia.

Venue: Autonome Schule Zürich (ASZ), Sihlquai 125, 8005 Zürich, Attic, Google Maps

Language: English and French, Translation available

As we did four years ago, at the first edition of the Action Days, we say loud and clear: Enough! Enough of violent everyday racism, of racist exploitation and colonial continuities. But how do we put this demand into practice? It can only be done through resistant practices and collective forms of solidarity. Different groups and individuals have different approaches to this in their everyday struggles. In the final panel we want to bring these perspectives together.

• Enough of pure consumption of events - let’s create practical points of involvement!!! How do we get there?
• Overcoming racist structures - how do we go about it? Insights from resistant practices.
• How do we oppose processes of militarisation and disenfranchisement? Where do we find the line between creating alternatives in the untenable present and effective resistance against it?

We will address these and other questions together with activists who reported on their struggles at the enough action days. Among others, activists from the following organisations will be asked: Women in Exile, StopDublinCroatia, Alliance against Racial Profiling, Justice 4 Nzoy and others…

Venue: Park Platz, Wasserwerkstrasse 101, 8037 Zürich, Google Maps

Language: German and English, Translation available

Lindsay Muepu is a 22 year old R&B singer/songwriter from Zurich. She would describe her style or genre as “nostalgia meets modern day”.

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Orakle Ngoy (DR Congo) is a musician who adapts in her work to the different models of “LANGAGE” between performance and speech, slam, rap, plea and poetry. She is one of the few female voices in Congolese hip-hop and questions herself in her work. Her lyrics highlight the realities of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa, and tell it from the perspective of women. She raps about sexism and sexual discrimination and calls for respect for women in general and Congolese women in particular. Her art is her activist tool and her words represent the evil that destroys life.

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The alliance “Wo Unrecht zu Recht wird…” was formed in early 2017 as a reaction to the increasing repression against rejected asylum seekers in the canton of Zurich. The alliance has since organized a series of actions and events to actively counter the silence surrounding these violent politics. Regular visits to the camps are an important part of this. A network of legal supporters has also grown out of the alliance.

Website

map-F is a monitoring and contact point for provisionally admitted

It answers questions about the status F and campaigns for better living conditions for people with temporary admission

Website

The Palestine Committee Zurich is committed to the freedom of Palestine and against settler colonialism. We try to make people aware of the conflict and the racist oppression of the Palestinians. To achieve this goal we organize action days, rallies and demos. We are very happy to be at this year’s enough. with an information booth and to meet all of you.

We, Left PoC and Migrantifa, are self-organised groups that fight racism, patriarchy and colonialism with an intersectional approach through exchange and action.

We are SoliSoli, an association from Zurich. Our main focus is to support people fleeing in the EU buffer zones in the Western Balkans. By organizing solidarity events and fundraising in Switzerland, we financially support two collectives from the Western Balkans, Kompas 071 in Sarajevo and Klikaktiv in Belgrade. They work with people on the run in the cities and at the borders and provide them with legal and psychological support as well as food, clothes, showers and many other things. SoliSoli also works to raise awareness in Switzerland about the European migration regime and its impact on the Western Balkans.

The Rojava Committee was founded in the fall of 2014, when the city of Kobanê was attacked by the so-called Islamic State. The solidarity work on Rojava has gone through many phases in the meantime and is the starting point for much inspiration in the left movement here.

Although our focus is on the Rojava region, we also observe the developments in the other parts of Kurdistan - for example, when various cities declared self-government because Erdogan did not recognize the elections in 2015. Weeks of fighting followed, with the Turkish army razing entire neighborhoods to the ground - some of the curfews still continue today.

From an internationalist understanding, the Rojava Committee tries to support the mobilizations in Zurich of the Kurdish movement. Another concern is the dissemination of background information on the revolutionary project in Rojava, for example through events on various topics such as democratic confederalism, the role of women in the revolution, everyday life in an emancipatory society, the importance of the liberation of Raqqa, the repression in Turkey, etc.

In the Rojava Committee, different groups and individuals from the anarchist, autonomous, feminist and communist spectrum are organized, together with the Kurdish movement in Zurich. We are also in contact with the different committees in Switzerland.

Rojava Committee Zurichrojavaagenda.ch

The association Sans-Papiers Anlaufstelle Zürich was founded in April 2005 on the initiative of trade unions, migrant organizations and individuals. The Sans-Papiers Anlaufstelle Zürich SPAZ advises migrants without regular residence status on social and legal issues. It is committed to ensuring that Sans-Papiers can exercise their basic rights and defend themselves against fraud and exploitation. It sensitizes the state and the public to the issue of Sans-Papiers and their precarious living situation. SPAZ is committed to a fundamental improvement of the situation of Sans-Papiers and their regularization.

Freiplatzaktion Zürich is a state-independent association that works to protect and enforce the rights of asylum seekers and migrants. To this end, Freiplatzaktion offers professional, low-threshold and free legal advice, brings legal grievances to the public’s attention and is involved in local and national political projects. It works to ensure that all people living here, regardless of nationality, origin, gender, religion or skin colour, have unrestricted access to rights and full participation opportunities.

As a non-profit association, Freiplatzaktion Zürich is mainly financed by private donations and is supported by a committed and voluntary board of directors.

Website

INAYA is a locally based structure for refugee women and genderqueer people. It wants to show solidarity directly. One priority is a redistribution of needed money from those who have enough to those who have too little. In this way, basic needs are to be covered securely and in the long term. For refugee women and genderqueer people, existing support structures are non-existent or difficult to access.
That is why INAYA!

Website
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FIZ Fachstelle Frauenhandel und Frauenmigration is the nationally recognized competence center on human trafficking and women’s migration.

• We offer protection, stability and self-determination to migrant women and victims of human trafficking who have been subjected to violence.
• Our victim-centered approach puts the needs of trafficked persons first.
• We work in a network with various governmental and civil society actors.
• Together with legal representatives, psychologists, police and many others, we fight human trafficking, violence and exploitation.

For almost 40 years, FIZ has been working independently, based on human rights and as an advocate for migrants with around 40 women professionals and its board of directors.

The Autonomous School Zurich is a project against racism and injustice. It is a meeting place where you can get to know other people.

The ASZ is a self-organised school, collectively managed. It is independent from the state.

Website