By Aris Telonis for DiEM25.
Winter is coming and the most vulnerable populations will experience it the hardest. Especially refugees, who are essentially trapped in misnamed “hotspot” camps throughout the Greek islands, living under cruel conditions with scant medical and mental help, meagre food and other provisions and inadequate shelter. What is worse, to say the camps are overcrowded is a euphemism. The Moria camp on the island of Lesbos has a capacity to host 2,000 people: currently, around 5,000 people live there. Six people died in Moria last winter because of inhumane living conditions. It is our responsibility not to let this happen again this coming winter.
The EU’s inhuman and shameful deal with Turkey is still on, with money ostensibly on offer to help refugees. However, a large portion of these funds never reach the people in need, as even the UNHCR has noticed. Most of the actual help comes from solidarity movements from Greece and all over Europe.
At DiEM25 we campaign against the EU-Turkey deal and for a humane, fair, responsible and respectful treatment of people in need. We call for solidarity and support for all refugees, for an open Europe without fences. Our motto: #Let_Them_In.
Aris Telonis is a member and volunteer of the DiEM25 movement.
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