The Oranienplatz Refugee Strike Squat is a refugee-led community struggle of many guises and dimensions mobilising against the conditions of Residenzpflicht currently imposed on refugees seeking asylum within the German state. Starting in 2012, the strike was initiated by refugees housed in the lagers (refugee accommodation) all over Germany who could no longer tolerate the substandard living conditions, the racism, the precarity and the control over their everyday lives imposed from a state whose wealth has– both today and historically–been accumulated off the backs of migrant exploitation and imperalist war.

These refugees marched on a square in the suburb of Kreuzberg, Berlin to take action on these conditions and deliver their demands to the Berlin Burgermeister and the SPD government. They also lived and organised within a secondary base in a squatted school in Ohaulerstrasse, Kreuzberg which became the center of a massive eviction movement by the German state in 2014 but an equally massive resistance of both refugees and their German/international supporters.

A supporter involved in this struggle will explain their story, the strike camp and both it’s occupation and eviction. Afterwards there will be time for discussion about its Australian application, and what it means for the freedom of movement struggle more broadly. Come and hear about this amazing struggle!

Kein mensch ist illegal // No one is illegal!

When: Wednesday 23rd March, 2016
Where: Venue still TBC, West End

All welcome! Free entry!