(from Until Everyone Is Free)
"FORTRESS EUROPE WILL FALL!
What is Fortress Europe?
We use "Fortress Europe" as a metaphor to denounce Europe's attempts to further control, surveil and violently repress people designated as migrants.
From the Dublin Convention (1990) to the Asylum Pact (12.06.2026), this terms allows us to quality the ways through which flows of migration and borders are managed to meet the needs of the European Union and its markets.
Throughout the Fortress' history, it's clear that Europe's priority has always been to maximize profit at the cost of migrants' lives.
From slavery to "guest workers" programs, European countries has always balanced the need for a cheap and expandable workforce with racist ideologies that presents Europe as under siege by migrants.
Today, this balancing act is taking a new form, as companies and states are increasingly building a new economy around surveilling, detaining and deporting migrants.
Whether it is through deals with neighbouring countries to conduct pushbacks and manage offshore detention, Or with technological companies such as Palantir to expand biometric databases.
Four years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first fence of Fortress Europe was built in Sebta (Ceuta) in 1993. Two years later the Schengen Agreement was implemented, allowing the freedom of movement for European citizens within the Union and creating a shared external border.
From the start, Europe's border was presented as in need of defence. This led to the the introduction of stricter visa regulations and asylum procedures, the militarization of borders through increased policing and border controls, and the criminalisation of undocumented migrants residing in Europe.
While the 1990s laid the foundation for Fortress Europe, the construction of the refugee crisis" renewed it. Throughout the 2010s, European politicians made use of an increase in migration to present an image of Europe under siege.
Drawing on racism and Islamophobia, these politicians framed migration as an existential threat to European values, paving the way for increased violence towards migrants. Since then, there has beet at least 70,000 deaths along Europe's borders.
Today, the walls of Fortress Europe's walls are higher than ever. On the 17th of June, 2026 members of the European parliament chanted "send them back" after passing a vote that seeks to make it easier to detain and deport migrants.
To make this a reality, millions of euros are being redirected to border agencies and police, detention and deportation infrastructures, and technologies of mass surveillance.
Join us on 27-29th November for the first a mass action against borders in Belgium - until brick by brick, wall by wall, we make Fortress Europe fall!"
#Europe #EU #EuropeanUnion #refugeesWelcome #refugees #migrantRights #frontex #FortressEurope #Brussels