1 May - Stop GEAS - 8 March. Care Revolution Rhine/Neckar on the streets

A report from the Rhine-Neckar regional group

1st May

In line with this year's motto "More money, more free time and more security", the 1st of May rallies in Heidelberg and Weinheim also called for a reduction in weekly working hours and other ways of structuring gainful employment, such as life-phase accounts.

Regina Glockmann, Ver.di negotiating committee member, TV UK collective bargaining round at the 4 university hospitals in Baden-Württemberg, emphasised that this time the strikes were not just about MORE MONEY or a fair wage, "but about nothing less than good work from training to retirement. Did you know that working shifts means that on average you live 10 years less? We chant "Work must not make you ill!" at our demonstrations."

Max Hesslein, economic and social pastor at the Church Service in the World of Work and involved in the Care Revolution network, explained at the rally in Weinheim "in these times when labour is scarce and the pressure in society is so high that many doctors are already talking about a pandemic of mental illness", we would do well today not to extend working hours and further increase the pressure to work. "If absences due to mental illness have risen by 48 per cent since 2012 and are still increasing, then a rethink is finally called for and not "business as usual". People want to be self-determined and free and have a secure, healthy basis for life. That strengthens our togetherness."

Against the RIGHT means stopping GEAS - solidarity against right-wing agitation

On 6 April, Seebrücke Heidelberg called for demonstrations against the tightening of the Common European Asylum System and denounced the "Repatriation Improvement Act" and the introduction of the payment card for refugees. We were there.

The tightening of the CEAS means detention centres for refugees that make procedures non-transparent and humanitarian and legal assistance almost impossible. They mean deportations to non-European countries where the refugees have never been. Deportations to countries where wars are raging in parts of the country. Deportations before they have even received a regular asylum procedure. The GEAS tightening is nothing other than the abolition of the individual right to asylum.
The EU Parliament approved the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) reform on 10 April. A historic low point for refugee protection in Europe, according to Pro Asyl.

While people are shocked by the AfD's deportation plans, the German government is going on a deportation offensive. With the so-called Repatriation Improvement Act , it is disenfranchising refugees in order to make the German deportation apparatus even more efficient. It serves right-wing populism but does not solve any problems.

The payment card for refugeesis intended to drastically reduce the amount of cash available and make bank transfers impossible. If possible, people should only be allowed to shop at their place of residence. Without cash, you can't buy things at a flea market, give your children money for their class fund or even buy a coffee at a community festival. You can't sign a mobile phone contract or become a member of a sports club or pay the monthly instalments to your lawyer without a bank transfer. The payment card will make everyday life considerably more difficult for those affected.

"The payment card for refugees is a policy on the backs of refugees that is intended to create deterrence through harshness and thus serves xenophobic views. Treating people in an undignified manner does not solve any problems. So-called political compromises such as the introduction of a "social", "inclusive" and "non-discriminatory" payment card are unreflective and privileged. The payment card is not based on these values. In any form, the advocacy of a payment card remains racist and unworthy of human rights! It leads to further stigmatisation and exclusion of refugees and reinforces the existing social injustices of marginalised groups. The fact that serious debates are being held about this is another impressive sign of the current shift to the right." (Excerpt from a position paper of the Heidelberg alliance "Kein Schritt nach Rechts")

8 March International Women's Day

"IF YOU TAKE ONE, WE WILL ALL RESPOND! - Stop femicide" was the main motto on 8 March this year in Heidelberg.

In addition, attention was drawn to particularly problematic situations for women, such as on the run, in refugee camps and shelters. Here, girls and women are mostly unprotected and exposed to violence of all kinds. They need our solidarity, our resistance and our fight against the inhumane conditions and inhumane asylum and migration policies.

We got into a good dialogue and were able to make good use of the flyer that Care Revolution had developed for the day.