What we stand for!

The VOICE Refugee Forum and the KARAWANE network fight for the rights of refugees and migrants. Our networks are organized by and for refugees and migrants. We are independent of government-run and -affiliated institutions and organizations.

The VOICE Refugee Forum was founded in 1994. The KARAWANE network has been brought to life right before the German federal elections in 1998. At that time, we shouted our credo "No Vote but a VOICE!" We came together to address and stand up against the injustice we experienced. Many of us acted in civil disobedience against this manifestation of exclusion by the law.  
We strongly oppose residential obligation ("Residenzpflicht"): We have come together in spite of the boundaries and borders imposed and enforced on us similar to the laws of apartheid. We are not intimidated by it. Since the time of our foundation, we have opposed, above all, the deportation of our brothers and sisters. Deportations have always been used to both divide human beings of different groups of ethnicities, religions, colors of skin, languages and genders and to manifest the rule of the rich and the exploiting class.

The current deportations from Germany are directed at human beings of oppressed countries of the so-called "Third World". The solidarity between refugees and migrants, as well as between Germans and refugees, is thereby undermined.

By this, the world-wide struggles against war and exploitation are meant to be weakened on purpose. In a reaction to this, we have decided to come together in order to overcome these barriers.

The solidarity and unity amongst us are the only means to resist the aggression of the government and its deportation machinery. We, the oppressed and exploited, have decided to unite in solidarity to fight against any rule which is forced upon humankind.

Stop all deportations – this is and remains our foremost and highest goal here in Germany. It is the foundation for all of the following points of our agenda:

  1. Abolition of the "status" of illegality!
  2. Unrestricted right to choose place of residence!
  3. Open access to education and work!
  4. End the criminalization of refugees and migrants, end police controls and police brutality!
  5. Shut-down all encampments, refugee camps, deportation camps and deportation prisons!
  6. Abolition of the restrictive social welfare law for asylum seekers ("Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz"), the voucher system, limited health care and social welfare and all special laws, especially the "anti-terror" and "security" laws!
  7. End sexualized violence and exploitation!
  8. End the destruction of our families!
  9. Resistance against forced integration!
  10. Clarification of colonialist crimes instead of "white" distortion, corruption and misrepresentation of history!
  11. End the economic interventions and aggressions in our countries of origin by the "West"; Fight the looting of our countries and the resulting forced migration! Fight those who make money out of our lives!
  12. End the arms trade and "military aids"!
  13. Down with war and occupation!

In solidarity and unity, we fight for all those goals: We fight for our dignity, for our human rights and all rights that have been taken away from us.

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