Retrospective: we can neither remain silent nor give up

On October 5, 2020, Dutch citizens will send an empty plane to Lesbos airport. On board there’s room for 189 people from the former Moria camp. The goal is to convince the Dutch government to start relocating a decent number of people from the inhumane conditions that European politics has brought them into. 

Permission to land on Lesbos, which was given beforehand, is withdrawn mid-air, just before landing. The plane is forced to land in Athens and then ordered to leave Greek airspace. Our team from We Gaan Ze Halen (Let’s Bring Them Here), that accompanies the plane, disembarks to avoid having to return to Rotterdam with the plane. 

By bus and boat we travel on to Lesbos. We see the burned camp Moria, talk to aid workers, islanders and refugees. We see the new camp. And while it starts raining on Lesbos and the new camp immediately floods, we turn to Dutch citizens and politicians with the request for evacuation and relocation. The question that is burning in everyone’s heart in the new camp: when can I leave here?

Did the action fail, because we weren’t allowed to airlift refugees into safety? READ MORE >>

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