Dear friends, supporters, and allies;
The last few weeks have been challenging for many of us. Trump was re-elected, new elections are due in Germany, and in both countries – as in many others – anti-immigration policies and rhetoric are setting the agenda. For years, this development has been driven by the so-called center of society and serves as a motor for authoritarian, racist and anti-democratic structures. Human rights are being made negotiable, millions of people are being disenfranchised, robbed of their political voice and instrumentalized as scapegoats for failed policies.
Instead of talking about social justice, affordable housing, climate change, low wages or dilapidated infrastructure, the public and political debate revolves almost exclusively around migration – often with the aim of exclusion and division.
Now is the time to take decisive action against the shift to the right. We continue to fight for a society based on human rights and genuine participation. We demand a turnaround in the migration debate – away from exclusion and disenfranchisement and towards real equality.
The German Bundestag will be elected on February 23. But once again, over 11 million people are excluded from the right to vote because they do not have German citizenship or are stateless – including 1.5 million who were born here. Their realities and needs hardly play a role in the election campaign, even though they are directly and particularly affected by the increasingly racist political and media debates and the threat of stricter laws.
This is why we are organizing a German-wide film and discussion tour with our short film “The Right to Have Rights” in the run-up to the Bundestag elections. The film highlights the struggles of refugee and non-refugee migrants, BPoC, Roma and Sinti for equality and belonging. It raises critical questions about citizenship, statelessness, toleration and the reality of living in a country that denies full participation to so many. The film was created as part of our campaign “Citizenship Suits US All” (Pass(t) uns allen) and was co-produced by us and RomaniPhen e.V.
The tour kicks off today in Berlin and Cologne. You are cordially invited to attend the screenings, share your stories and discuss together how we can work – in the campaign and beyond – for a society in which the right to rights applies without restriction.
The With Wings and Roots Team
