The Netherlands is known worldwide as a beacon of tolerance and democracy, and a defender of human rights and international law. Unfortunately, these things could not be farther from the truth.
Entire articles could be written on numerous incidents and subjects related to the aforementioned concepts, but today I want to focus particularly on one which perhaps embodies a complete disregard for all these values - the Dutch Government's treatment of refugees and Asylum seekers, in which regard (and many others) the Netherlands can be compared to a fascist state.
According to a regional governmental survey the estimated number of refugees in the Netherlands ranges from 200,000 to 250,000. These are refugees from some of the most devastated regions of the world - many come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, and many other places that the EU, U.S. and NATO has bombed, or propped up fascist governments, for the sake of advancing economic and political interests; some of them come from sub-Saharan Africa where their livelihoods have been plundered by over five-hundred years of colonial oppression followed by neoliberal exploitation; some of them are eastern Europeans or refugees from former Yugoslavia trying to escape the misery, poverty and crime that arose from the capitalist "renaissance" following the fall of the Soviet Union, and consequent engineered ethnic and sectarian wars by none other than the aforementioned NATO. None of these people have committed any crime other than that of crossing an imaginary line to find a better life.
Figure 1.1 - A table showing the origins of refugees in the Netherlands as of 2011
At least nine refugees locked up in the Rotterdam detention centre were beaten by guards between May 16th, 2013, and today. Protesters holding a daily solidarity support demonstration at the prison were shown numerous bruises by the refugees through the windows, some of which also had arm slings.
Figure 1.2 - Refugees (above half) showing solidarity demonstrators (bottom half) bruises they received following a beating.
Someone who visited the centre, whose name will also not be mentioned, confirmed this story. One other of the refugees s/he visited also displayed bruises
On May 18th, 2013, activists noticed an internal assistance team (IBT in Dutch) going inside the detention centre. IBT is an internal riot-control team, especially used for prisons.
On Sunday (May 19th) we received reports from activists at the detention centre that the external medical supervisor for the Refugees' hunger strike was denied access to the refugees to assess their health. Despite the precarious conditions of the refugees due to the strike, and despite the likely beatings they received the day prior, the detention centre seems unwilling to allow independent health professionals to assess and advise on their health.
Yesterday some of the daily activists and myself organized for a larger group to attend the daily demonstration. We had nearly fifty people who, as usual, went around the detention centre with megaphones shouting messages of support to the refugees. We were shown messages, written on pieces of paper and held on the windows, saying "24 years in the Netherlands, I have 4 children, have been in 9 months", or "we [heart] u all".
Figure 1.2 - Demonstrators in support of the refugees at the detention centre.
We provided them with phone numbers of journalists and doctors that may be able to help them. Unfortunately, the centre was actually closed due to a public holiday (Pentecost) and they were making signs that they had no credit on their phones.
After taking three hours to go all around the entire complex, we ended the day by chanting "Shame on you! Shame on you!" to the G4S employees who had just finished their shifts and driving out of the complex, as well as "No Justice, No peace, Fuck the Police!" to the nearby police and marechaussee who tailed us menacingly for the last part of the demonstration. Many of the G4S employees rolled down their windows and waved at us, smiling, mockingly, in a show of complete disregard and moral apathy for the atrocities that they and the company that employs them are responsible for.
It should be pointed out that G4S Just found out that G4S, other than providing "security services" to Israel by managing their illegal checkpoints and torturing Palestinian prisoners in Israeli Jails, is also the "security services" provider for the Refugee Detention Centre in Rotterdam, where refugees are also being beaten, abused and tortured to discourage them from pursuing their hunger strike. G4S is the largest private security company, and the fourth largest private employer, on the planet. It is also now widely documented as being complicit in human rights violations worldwide. Such a company should not be sponsored by any government, company, institution or individual that claims to respect and abide by international and human right law.
Unknown to us, probably at the time we were showing our support outside, the Guinean refugee mister Bah was being severely beaten by a guard of the detention centre, for the second time. Around 17:00 he was transferred to the high security prison in Vught. He has not had any access to medical care yet and his confidential doctor was not allowed to visit him either.
Mister Bah has been on thirst strike for five days now; last Saturday TV show Nieuwsuur broadcast the news of his abuse by the guards. Monday afternoon he told his medical adviser over the phone what happened: “I was served breakfast, but I refused. Then the guard hit me in the face and he insulted me. He freaked out and started to hit and kick me on the head. Other guards had to force him to get off me. I have a severe headache and wounds on my head.”
After taking three hours to go all around the entire complex, we ended the day by chanting "Shame on you! Shame on you!" to the G4S employees who had just finished their shifts and driving out of the complex, as well as "No Justice, No peace, Fuck the Police!" to the nearby police and marechaussee who tailed us menacingly for the last part of the demonstration. Many of the G4S employees rolled down their windows and waved at us, smiling, mockingly, in a show of complete disregard and moral apathy for the atrocities that they and the company that employs them are responsible for.
It should be pointed out that G4S Just found out that G4S, other than providing "security services" to Israel by managing their illegal checkpoints and torturing Palestinian prisoners in Israeli Jails, is also the "security services" provider for the Refugee Detention Centre in Rotterdam, where refugees are also being beaten, abused and tortured to discourage them from pursuing their hunger strike. G4S is the largest private security company, and the fourth largest private employer, on the planet. It is also now widely documented as being complicit in human rights violations worldwide. Such a company should not be sponsored by any government, company, institution or individual that claims to respect and abide by international and human right law.
Unknown to us, probably at the time we were showing our support outside, the Guinean refugee mister Bah was being severely beaten by a guard of the detention centre, for the second time. Around 17:00 he was transferred to the high security prison in Vught. He has not had any access to medical care yet and his confidential doctor was not allowed to visit him either.
Mister Bah has been on thirst strike for five days now; last Saturday TV show Nieuwsuur broadcast the news of his abuse by the guards. Monday afternoon he told his medical adviser over the phone what happened: “I was served breakfast, but I refused. Then the guard hit me in the face and he insulted me. He freaked out and started to hit and kick me on the head. Other guards had to force him to get off me. I have a severe headache and wounds on my head.”
A report from a Dutch website dedicated to unearthing such abuses reads as follows:
"This morning, around 9 am, the doctor has visited mister Bah. “He has been heavily abused”, she says. “He has a big bump on his forehead, and a cut in his right cheek caused by a pen the guard was using. He has bruised on his forehead and his temple.” The ministry of Justice stated that Bah himself was being violent, but according to the doctor he is “barely able to walk”, because of his weakened condition. Since Friday noon he has not eaten or drunk anything. Apart from the visit this morning, he has not had any medical care.
Bah demands to see images of the camera that filmed the abuse in his cell, but the management says the camera was not working when it happened. The doctor was not allowed to take pictures of Bah this morning, when she visited him. She thinks he will be transported to the prison hospital in Scheveningen this afternoon.
Today the doctor will report to the police about abuse and obstruction of medical care." - Deportatie Verzet
The excuse that the camera in Mr. Bah's cell was not functional at the time of the attack seems like an obvious and blatant cover-up for images that would not only have sparked the rage of many Dutch people against their own government, but also against one of the most powerful companies on the planet.
Today, May 21nd, 2013, there is a large demonstration in support of the refugees in Rotterdam (https://www.facebook.com/events/175007195992684/) and tomorrow, May 22rd, 2013 there will be a demonstration to denounce the Dutch asylum policies in The Hague (https://www.facebook.com/events/406023276171629/).
We hope to see you fired up and numerous!
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