International Symposium against Isolation
For 12 years now, the International Platform against Isolation is organizing international symposias in different countries of Europe, in order to bring together movements, solidarity campaign groups, NGO’s, intellectuals and people of all nationalities on the base of struggle against Isolation.
This project was brought to life in the long period of resistance against prison isolation, which had been continued by the political prisoners in Turkey over 7 years in total, defending their human rights with long term hunger strikes (death fasts).
Also hear an amazing song produced by Irish protest singer Pol Mac Adaim, dedicated to the resistance in F-type jails in Turkey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2QB-7TF8HU
It was very obvious that isolation was not only a policy used behind the prison walls, but also as a means in the world outside to silence system critical voices.
Our symposias therefore dealed with isolation in a larger context, from the prisons to the struggle of social and political movements, from media censorship to the occupations, blockades and war crimes in many parts of the world.
Our first aim is to create and coordinate the solidarity and unity among the peoples and organizations, to promote the efforts or common actions on international level and to built up thematical groups, as for instance exchange between progressive lawyers, the relatives of prisoners in different countries and also between political prisoners themselves.
We have organized already 11 symposias, being joined by wonderful people from all continents, building a bridge between intellectuals, artists and political activists for a common goal: Struggle for human dignity, freedom and justice.
While our earlier symposias were held in Noordwijk (Holland), Florence (Italy), Paris (France), Vienna (Austria), Brussels (Belgium), London (UK), Athens (Greece), Berlin (Germany) and Amsterdam (Holland), we decided this time to move towards the Arab world, namely to Beirut in Lebanon.
We want to come closer to the heart of the conflict to discuss with peoples of the region about our role to support the people in their tragedies of life, which were brought by the wars of profit.
To realize all this, means a lot of costs. There are many groups and persons involved, mainly from economically weak regions. This means huge travel expenses, infrastructure as meeting place, translation equipment, hosting, food and many others.
We always tried to find a way to manage, but in these times it’s getting harder to find support. The fact, that the location of our symposias is changing every year, makes it even more difficult to get stable funds.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/12th-international-symposium-against-isolation