Winter is unbearable in Moria 2.0 camp. What else can we expect of a structure on the seashore, left open to all the adverse effects of bad weather and where the authorities have taken no steps towards improving infrastructure? Migrants have only summer tents for shelter from snow, heavy storms and rain, flimsy enough for strong winds to quickly fly away or destroy.
As if all this was not enough, Moria 2.0 is built on a former military shooting field. On 27 January 2021, the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum announced soil sample test results from the camp. The report showed high levels of lead in some areas of the camp that could lead to poisoning, posing a danger to the lives of both the migrants living there as well as those working in the camp. So far, the government has not taken any measures to protect them, only vague announcements that cement will be laid down in some places.
At the same time, it was announced that European border agency Frontex granted Greece 55 million euros to buy four high-speed p355 patrol boats, along with weapon systems for boats larger than 30 meters. Once again, it is evident how worthless the lives and the basic living conditions of migrants have become in this brutal capitalist and militarist system, which is very generous with its ceaseless desire to be more and more atrocious. Meanwhile, Beate Gminder, head of the EU Task Force on Migration Management, stated on the same day of the sale that “the situation on the Greek islands and especially in Lesvos has significantly improved.”
The plans for a new detention center with which Greece plans to replace Moria 2.0 next September is already on the local community’s agenda. Residents who neighbour the proposed site for the detention center disagree with its construction. They do not trust the Greek authorities or the European Union’s nice words and big money offers. Nobody asked them how they feel about the construction of a prison next to their villages and fields. They released a statement opposing the detention centre because “we do not want another warehouse of souls” and will not tolerate the “inhuman and criminal policy of the EU.”
It is worth mentioning that the location chosen for the detention centre, proposed by Stratis Kytelis, the Mayor of Mytilini Municipality and with the consent of the local authorities on the Right and the Far Right, is located next to a rubbish dump.
