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by kondo Wed Oct 21, 2015 8:00 pmDimitrovgrad - razlika u odnosu na stanje iz ovog mejla je da su ovi volonteri dobili dozvolu i u toku dana poceli da radi, ali su bili na ivici izbacivanja iz grada.
1. UPDATE: Dear friends and family, I need help disseminating information.
We have gotten kicked out of the bulgarian serbian border with a combination of shitty mafia politics, in cooperation with police and government. They have been sending us on bureaucratic wild goose chases, and from a lack of foresight on our part, our camp was taken down.
What happens is that many afghans who are crossing the border from bulgaria to serbia, are being robbed, and beaten by the bulgars; many of them who end up with nothing, find their way into serbia, and are forced to pay to get through the country. As has been explained to me by some Afghans who made it through bulgaria, when police capture Afghans, they are taken back and released in Sofia. The question is, why are they released? The speculation is that they are in cooperation with local smugglers, so that every last penny is taken off their hands by putting them in a perpetual cycle.
When they get to serbia, it is a similar but much more "official" way of commiting fraud. These people are in a new environment and are unfamiliar with how things work and who to trust. Continually I have heard stories of taxi drivers who ask for a certain amount of money, and then give improper change as the people seeking refuge are not familiar with currency exchange rates. The prices charged are exorbitant in the first place and drivers get into physical altercations over who will drive them. Having had walked through forests and mountains, many end up sick, wounded and injured; and through a combination of parasitic mafia, policing and government, contextualized by the turbulent political history and a weak economy of the region, they are being preyed upon and their struggle is being exasperated. That is "fine", but any people trying to help are being silenced and repressed by health regulations, permits, red tape, muscle men and threats of arrest. This is a case where the government should step in and work together with local bus companies to have a consistant, efficient and formalized way of transporting citizens. Problem is, and this is speculation, that there seems to be heartless mafia pawns at every level, and one of their goals is to try and keep things muted, which is why i am trying to do the opposite.
We have contemplated continuing our civil disobedience by putting our tents back up, but we have been threatened with arrest (and who knows what). As similar cases are happening throughout Serbia, right now the only solution I can think of is to create some sort of political media uproar. Many times vollunteers are forced into complicity by financing this fraud and extortion, but it does not make sense to continue to siphon donation money into something that can have a political solution.
2.
May I add something? I wrote yesterday a registration paper on behalf of our NGO, putting names of these people as our volunteer team. This paper was sent to volunteers to negotiate their own way in direct contact with whoever authorities in Dimitrovgrad, plus I sent it directly to the cabinet of the Mayor. All of that yesterday around 23h. This morning at 8.30 I had two phone calls, one after each other. First one from a local commissioner for refugees on behalf of the Serbian Commesariat for Refugees, who was furious that we sent the letter as the volunteers are already there illegaly, look "strange" and "untidy", their tent is "dirty" and finally - "some food and tea is prepared in unhygienic conditons, among the dogs, so the refugees can get poisoned and as also red cross is giving the food away, red cross can be accused of poisoning them".... blah blah. Not even five minutes later, I had a similar call from the Mayor of Dimitrovgrad, he was angry that we sent the authorization letter for the "untrusty" people, who set a tent without a permission on an inappropriate place, where the citizens pass by, so they see when refugees are changing or trying clothes so the citizens complained, he even accused the team of giving wrong information for the refugees which are not in accordance with the Serbian policy, such as "directing them to an old Hungarian border crossing". From the dark, hateful tone of these people, it was clear to me that something is going on, that those volunteers are unwanted witnesses of something very shady going on there which reaches far beyond a usual taxi driver scam we all know. My very good friend from this battle for the refugees, Emilija Stefanov who works for Pro Asyl in Germany is from Dimitrovgrad, she desperately tried to establish anything there and she was always facing the same. I seriously think this is the moment for both media and bigger local NGOs such as Refugee Aid Serbia to move in there and to establish a transparency as well as reporting on frauds and corruption of locals. Whatever happens, pls keep the evidence but first and foremost, stay safe.
1. UPDATE: Dear friends and family, I need help disseminating information.
We have gotten kicked out of the bulgarian serbian border with a combination of shitty mafia politics, in cooperation with police and government. They have been sending us on bureaucratic wild goose chases, and from a lack of foresight on our part, our camp was taken down.
What happens is that many afghans who are crossing the border from bulgaria to serbia, are being robbed, and beaten by the bulgars; many of them who end up with nothing, find their way into serbia, and are forced to pay to get through the country. As has been explained to me by some Afghans who made it through bulgaria, when police capture Afghans, they are taken back and released in Sofia. The question is, why are they released? The speculation is that they are in cooperation with local smugglers, so that every last penny is taken off their hands by putting them in a perpetual cycle.
When they get to serbia, it is a similar but much more "official" way of commiting fraud. These people are in a new environment and are unfamiliar with how things work and who to trust. Continually I have heard stories of taxi drivers who ask for a certain amount of money, and then give improper change as the people seeking refuge are not familiar with currency exchange rates. The prices charged are exorbitant in the first place and drivers get into physical altercations over who will drive them. Having had walked through forests and mountains, many end up sick, wounded and injured; and through a combination of parasitic mafia, policing and government, contextualized by the turbulent political history and a weak economy of the region, they are being preyed upon and their struggle is being exasperated. That is "fine", but any people trying to help are being silenced and repressed by health regulations, permits, red tape, muscle men and threats of arrest. This is a case where the government should step in and work together with local bus companies to have a consistant, efficient and formalized way of transporting citizens. Problem is, and this is speculation, that there seems to be heartless mafia pawns at every level, and one of their goals is to try and keep things muted, which is why i am trying to do the opposite.
We have contemplated continuing our civil disobedience by putting our tents back up, but we have been threatened with arrest (and who knows what). As similar cases are happening throughout Serbia, right now the only solution I can think of is to create some sort of political media uproar. Many times vollunteers are forced into complicity by financing this fraud and extortion, but it does not make sense to continue to siphon donation money into something that can have a political solution.
2.
May I add something? I wrote yesterday a registration paper on behalf of our NGO, putting names of these people as our volunteer team. This paper was sent to volunteers to negotiate their own way in direct contact with whoever authorities in Dimitrovgrad, plus I sent it directly to the cabinet of the Mayor. All of that yesterday around 23h. This morning at 8.30 I had two phone calls, one after each other. First one from a local commissioner for refugees on behalf of the Serbian Commesariat for Refugees, who was furious that we sent the letter as the volunteers are already there illegaly, look "strange" and "untidy", their tent is "dirty" and finally - "some food and tea is prepared in unhygienic conditons, among the dogs, so the refugees can get poisoned and as also red cross is giving the food away, red cross can be accused of poisoning them".... blah blah. Not even five minutes later, I had a similar call from the Mayor of Dimitrovgrad, he was angry that we sent the authorization letter for the "untrusty" people, who set a tent without a permission on an inappropriate place, where the citizens pass by, so they see when refugees are changing or trying clothes so the citizens complained, he even accused the team of giving wrong information for the refugees which are not in accordance with the Serbian policy, such as "directing them to an old Hungarian border crossing". From the dark, hateful tone of these people, it was clear to me that something is going on, that those volunteers are unwanted witnesses of something very shady going on there which reaches far beyond a usual taxi driver scam we all know. My very good friend from this battle for the refugees, Emilija Stefanov who works for Pro Asyl in Germany is from Dimitrovgrad, she desperately tried to establish anything there and she was always facing the same. I seriously think this is the moment for both media and bigger local NGOs such as Refugee Aid Serbia to move in there and to establish a transparency as well as reporting on frauds and corruption of locals. Whatever happens, pls keep the evidence but first and foremost, stay safe.
Erős Pista
