An in-person community workshop to unpack the use of new technologies to criminalise dissent and police racialised people in Germany, and share strategies against it

Saturday, 25 November, 10:00 – 18:00 im Aquarium, Skalitzer Straße 6, Berlin
U8 Kottbusser Tor

Surveillance on the street is an everyday reality. We see small police drones hovering above protests or large ones in the Mediterranean against migration. Satellite monitoring is enhancing this governmental “situation awareness”. In the cities, facial or pattern recognition cameras are scanning crowds. Now the police are introducing body cameras on a large scale. Biometric databases are upgraded for searchable facial images, a new European network makes these – plus police investigation files – available in all Schengen states. We also hear stories about welfare fraud algorithms flagging parents, or about youth getting in trouble about social media posts. With the introduction of Artificial Intelligence, these applications should be able to process the mountain of Big Data which authorities are building up. In the same time, efforts by police and secret service to undermine secure, encrypted messaging are increasing.

It is hard to understand the extent to which we are under surveillance by new technologies, how this affects our everyday realities and what this means for organising. How do we make sense of all these developments and how can we grapple with their impact? Workshop: Resisting Police Technology weiterlesen →

Film and discussion about detention camps for refugees in Poland

Since the summer of 2021, many people from Middle East and Africa seeking protection have been entering Poland and thus the European Union via Belarus. This new migration route leads through forests and swamps and finally a frontier that is highly equipped and shielded by border troops from Poland. A lot of people die on this way, yet it is still perceived by many as safe to reach Europe. Those caught by Polish border guards, however, face two scenarios: Being illegally pushed back to Belarus or being locked up in Polish refugee prisons.

Monday, September 11, 7:30 p.m.
Green Salon, Volksbühne, Berlin
U2 Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz

The film „We were prisoners of the Polish state“ by Wojciech Szumowski and Rut Kurkiewicz tells the stories of refugees who came to Poland and, instead of receiving protection, were locked up for months or even years under very harsh conditions. They were subjected to violence, hunger, abuse, and racism, and received no medical or psychological help. In prison, they went on hunger strike to fight for basic human rights to respect and safety.

The film was produced for the TV channel TVN24 and caused heated debates in the country when it was aired.

Rut Kurkiewicz, Filmmaker
Maria Ksiazak, XENION – Psychosocial Help for Politically Persecuted e.V.
Seerwan, survived Belarus after many pushbacks and 6 months of severe detention with his wife and children in Poland
Nazar Ibrahim, made it across the Belarusian-Polish border to Berlin

Organised by CILIP – Civil Liberties and Police; XENION – Psychosocial Help for Politically Persecuted e.V.

Image: Police Poland.

Release-Veranstaltung zur CILIP-Ausgabe 131 in Berlin

Zur Abwehr unerwünschter Migration setzen Staaten weltweit fortgeschrittene Technologien ein. Die Aufrüstung der physischen Außengrenzen wird begleitet von der Vorverlagerung der Grenzkontrollen in immer weiter entfernte Länder. Auch diese Externalisierung erfolgt mithilfe neuer Technologien, darunter Drohnen, Satellitenüberwachung, Sensortechnik, Biometrie, Künstliche Intelligenz und Apps, mit denen Grenzkontrollen oder Asylanträge absolviert werden müssen.

Montag, 19. Juni, 19 Uhr
Aquarium, Skalitzer Straße 6, Berlin
U-Bhf Kottbusser Tor

In der Veranstaltung stellen wir ausgewählte Technologien dieses Grenzimperialismus dar und zeigen, wie die USA und die EU darüber Einfluss auf Länder in Lateinamerika, Afrika und dem Nahen Osten ausüben.

Petra Molnar, Athen/ Boston; stellvertretende Direktorin Refugee Law Lab an der Universität York und Fellow am Berkman Klein Center in Harvard.

Die Veranstaltung wird teilweise auf Englisch stattfinden.

Veranstaltet vom Institut für Bürgerrechte & öffentliche Sicherheit e.V./ Zeitschrift Bürgerrechte & Polizei/CILIP

Beitragsbild: Ferngesteuertes Videoüberwachungssystem in Nogales, Arizona (Electronic Frontier Foundation, CC BY 3.0)