The discussions against Safe Countries of Origin concept and the repressive migration policies introduced into German legislation, continued throughout events in seven cities in Northern and Eastern Germany (Hannover, Bremen, Hamburg, Kiel, Erfurt, Potsdam and Berlin) within the speakers tour »Not Safe at All« between 14^th and 23^rd of February. Tamara Baković Jadžić, co-editor of the RLS SEE publication »Not Safe at All – The Safe Countries of Origin legislation and the Consequences for Roma Migrants«, activist of the Roma Forum Serbia and the broad coalition of progressive organizations Left Summit of Serbia, spoke at the events along with the activists from Council for Refugees and representatives from self-organized Roma groups who are directly engaged in struggles against the continuous discrimination, and deportations of Roma people. 

The changes introduced into German legislation on asylum and the declaration of the Balkan states as safe had serious consequences for Roma migrants coming from this region. Not only did these actions of German government make it almost impossible for asylum seekers to obtain the asylum. These measures also threaten Roma who have been living in Germany for years under »Duldung« to be put in deportation camps and deported overnight to their so-called countries of origin – countries many of them have never been to and where they will be left to live in fear and precarity. 

Tamara Baković Jadžić spoke about the reasons why so many Roma are forced to leave their countries, and how paradoxically, the accession process and the changes in social and economic policies imposed parallel in this process is what drives more and more people out of the peripheral European countries.  Poverty, unemployment, deindustrialization, dismantling of social public services and austerity measures are what is most affecting already marginalized groups like Roma communities. She underlined the continuity of persecution, discrimination and social exclusion of Roma in Europe where now the racist label »false asylum seeker« is only adding fuel to the rising far right sentiments in both Western and Eastern Europe. Even more, this label that suggests that someone is groundlessly seeking the asylum contrary to the idea of »real refugees«. This adds to the division of marginalized groups and diminishes the potential of self-organized and solidary struggles. Both activists from the Refugee Council, and active Roma organizations agreed that this is the matter to be discussed in alliances with other refugee groups, civil society groups and various progressive political actors if we want to build solidary alternatives to the current migration regime.

Kenan Emini from Roma-Center Gottingen, and activist of the self-organized Roma group »Alle bleiben!« spoke along with Tamara Baković Jadžić on several occasions about the living conditions of Roma in Germany and the difficulties they face now due to the new, restrictive asylum legislation. They are not allowed to work, and live in constant fear of the possibility of deportation. Emini insisted on the urgency of alliances in stopping the deportations of Roma to the Balkan countries, but also in creating broader solidarities for struggling against far-right political actors like AfD (»Alternative für Deutschland«).

Preparing for the federal elections in Germany in September, the government plans to set up federal deportation centres near airports to facilitate collective deportations, where not only Roma and people from the Balkans will be placed on flights back to their countries of origin, but also all rejected asylum applicants from countries like Afghanistan, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, etc.

This was the second speakers tour with Tamara Baković-Jadžić to present the publication and connect with Roma organizations, allies and the interested public in Germany. The first tour took place in Munich, Nuremberg, Tübingen, Mannheim, Cologne and Bochum in November 2016. The events took place, for example, with the participation of the Bavarian refugee council, the refugee council of Baden-Württemberg, the association of Sinti and Roma in Baden-Württemberg. Hence, the consequences of the current changes of asylum laws for Roma living in Germany were be intensively discussed, as well as measures of action and support, for example in the framework of the campaign »Alle bleiben!«, and in broader struggles for the right to mobility and against a Fortress Europe.