WAH5: VIJF JAAR WIJ ZIJN HIER
In the garden behind the Worldhouse, where We Are Here began 5 years ago on the 4th of September, we came together as refugees and supporters. Looking back and ahead, listening to
In de tuin achter het Wereldhuis, waar Wij Zijn Hier 5 jaar geleden begon op 4 september. We kwamen die dag samen als vluchtelingen en ondersteuners. We keken terug en vooruit.
Van links naar rechts, achter naar voren:
Cor Offman, ?, Lambert Meertens, Jo van der Spek, ?, Pablo Eppelin, Brit de Jong, ?, Thomas Spijkertboer, Khalid Jone,
Henk Griffioen, Osman Yoonis, ?, Katy, Annet, Sinead Wendt, Ton Meurs, Joan, Maud van der Linden, Savannah Koolen,
Joyce Maas, Ahmed Aden, Adam Yaya, Salim, Abdihakim, Bernard, Mustapha, Co van Melle, Sinan, Ahmed, Rosa, Noufou, Yusuf
Foto’s manette ingenegeren
Speeches by Khalid Jone, Osman Yoonis and Jo van der Spek (M2M) (Part 1):
Speeches by Paul of the Diaconie, Co van Melle, Kofi, Cor and Joan. (Part 2):
Co van Melle
Jo van der Spek M2M
Yusuf
Khalid Jone
Co van Melle en Joan
Paul van Oosten
Katy Arnold
Khalid Jone, Osman Yoonis, Abdihakim, Bernard
Salim
Cor Ofman en Co van Melle
Khalid Jone, Osman Yoonis, Dokter Co, Abdihakim
De pioniers van We Are Here op 25 september 2012 in het Wertheimpark: Getachew, Ahmed Aden (Somalia), Qusay (Sudan),
?, ?, Tulu (Ethiopia), Reeda (Eritrea), Hewan aka Mimi (Ethiopia), Mohamed (Somalia), Freweny (Ethiopia), ?, Omar (Sudan),
Habib (Yemen), Pioneers that are not on this photo: Mahmoud spokesperson (Somalia), Young Ahmed (Somalia),
Bernard (DR Congo), Cali (Ethipia), Shu (China), Sergei (Armenia, deported after the garden), Mouthenna (Mauretania)
We Are Here: Look with Us, Not at Us
Notes on Powerless Sovereignty
By Jo van der Spek M2M
“Alone we are nothing.” (anonymous member of We Are Here)
Since 2011 irregular migrants, refused asylum seekers, undocumented aliens or whatever they are called, have taken the stage in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam this movement of refugees-on-the-street has a name: We Are Here (WAH). No longer they are in hiding, no more relying on lawyers or helpers, no more being alone and exposed to all sorts of mistreatment. Out in the open, together, demonstrating and camping, demanding a solution. Demanding normal life. An impossible demand? False hope? Short cut to suicide? Or is WAH the solution? Could the show-‘n’-tell method finally succeed in toppling a deadly pyramid of cold measures? Is society moved enough to move their government, to rewind, undo and recreate another world? A world where no man or woman is illegal, where rich and poor can see through hate and fear, where the tourist is equal to the alien. We Are Here is a radical answer to a brutal denial. It’s NO, NO, NO against GO, GO, GO.
Continue this long read on Open democracy.
Amsterdam, August 2017
