Hello all,
The sailing vessel “Lovis” will pass the Belgian coast in June 2020. Her journey along the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts brings the campaign “Coasts in Solidarity” with her.
With this e-mail we would like to invite motivated people, collectives and organizations to come together in Brussels on Friday evening 6 March at 6.30 pm (Barastraat 142, close to the south station), to further shape the 4 days that the Lovis will pass the Belgian coast. Feel free to forward this mail to potential interested parties.
What is the campaign about?
Our motive for taking action is the attack – in all its forms – on the dignity of (trans) migrants. Rather than the quotidian aggression and apathy, we place understanding and solidarity at the center of our relationship with people on the move, regardless of the reasons that led them to leave their home base.
Various themes will be addressed during the campaign, under which “right to freedom of movement”, “security at sea”, “criminalization of migration, rescue at sea and solidarity”, “European border policy”, “refugee policy”, “climate & migration “,” people not papers “,” European arms exports vs. migration policy ”, discrimination against transmigrants, etc.
A central slogan of the campaign, which connects all these themes, is
“Open borders, Open eyes
Solidary coasts on the rise“
Who is driving this campaign?
An open group of activists from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and England work together on a voluntary basis to set up this campaign. You’re hereby invited to participate, if this wasn’t the case already.
The initiative comes from the LOVIS crew, the 30-person crew of the sailing vessel Lovis. You can find detailed background information about their operation here: https://lovis.de/en/
The voyage and the international campaign
The ship will depart from Hamburg (Germany) on the first of June, arriving in Brest (France) mid-July. During 6 weeks the ship will throw out the anchor in differnt ports, where it will dock for 1 or a few days. The actions and activities that are organized at every location take place in cooperation with people, collectives and organizations that are active in and around that location in solidarity work with (trans) migrants.
The campaign is therefore not only a perfect excuse for all those actors who are active in the same region to meet (again). The various movements along that long coastline are also connected under the name “Coasts in Solidarity on the rise”.
And Belgium?
The Lovis can be expected to be in Belgium from 17 to 20 June. The preliminary proposal is to stop in Zeebrugge and Ostend. In Ostend we will moor in the Visserijdok, in front of O.666, a temporary occupation project in the buildings of a former fishermen’s cooperative. Klein Verhaal makes this socio-artistic hotbed available for the campaign (thanks!), which offers us a wonderful base for setting up activities.
Saturday, June 20 is also the international refugee day. The beach and dike in Ostend will attract a crowd of people on that summer weekend for the actions & activities that we want to set up.
Meeting on 6 March in Brussels
Although several people are already involved in Belgium, and there are already a number of proposals on the table about how we want to shape the Belgian chapter of the Lovis-campaing, the concrete planning is still in its infancy. The perfect moment for a broad invitation, and to see who wants to contribute to the Belgian etape of this campaign.
Consider yourself invited on March 6, 6:30 pm in Barabara (Barastraat 142, near Brussels South).
The purpose of the meeting is:
– getting to know the people who are in
– discussing the possibilities that the ship, the place and the moment give us
– round of concrete proposals for activities & actions + drafting the working version of the 4-day planning
– setting up working groups per f.e. location / action / focus, and sharing responsibilities
We provide dinner (vegan, free contribution). Please confirm your participation, so there’ll be enough food for everybody.
Do you want to be involved in the organization, but are you unable to attend this meeting? Let us know. If you send proposals for activities in advance, they will certainly be discussed. We will then keep you informed of the further course of the preparations.
Contact: <mattijs86@gmail.com>
All the best & hope to see us then!
The campaign crew
