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Perspectives

Read recent contribution from impacted people and communities, activists, advocates, and others on how they are building power to end racist criminalization and punishment. Many come from intersecting movements, including migrant justice, policing, and more.

Picture of Berlin criminal court.

Documenting racism in court: Interview with Justizwatch

Justizwatch

An interview with Justizwatch on their work documenting racism in court in Berlin.

Racist Policing
image Solidarity is a Weapon, KOP

Solidarity-based interventions in systems of racist violence: policing, punishment, and (mass) criminalization

Kampagne für Opfer rassistischer Polizeigewalt (KOP)

The intensification of state repression, marginalization, and militarization are currently leading to an increase in police violence, a rising number of arrests for poverty-related offenses, and the brutal (criminal) disciplining of “internal enemies”. In this situation, it is urgent to reflect on how we can link the fight against racist police violence and state racism more closely with other struggles to end dehumanization, exploitation, and widespread state violence.

Racist Policing
Coalition protesting outside of Bundestag with signs for abolishing Ersatzfreiheitsstrafe and Justice Collective

Jailing people for unpaid fines is about more than punishing poverty

Carmen Grimm, Bündnis zur Abschaffung der Ersatzfreiheitsstrafe

In Germany, people are incarcerated every day because they cannot pay a fine. Critics of this practice known as “Ersatzfreiheitsstrafe” are in agreement that a person’s economic status should not determine the severity of their sentence. The Coalition for the Abolition of Debtor’s Prisons agrees with this view – and urges critics to take a broader view attentive to the links between poverty and racism.

Criminalizing Poverty
Sign that says "Fleeing war is not terrorism, dehumanising people is!"

Refugees in Germany: The omnipresent border regime

Britta Rabe, Grundrechtekomitee

Even after surviving perilous journeys to reach the EU – which can include pushbacks, beatings, and torture – refugees face an exclusionary system within Fortress Europe that makes their arrival difficult or even impossible. The EU border regime extends all the way into Germany, permeating society invisibly yet tangibly for those who are excluded.

Enforcing Borders
Migration Offense