Support M.s fight against her racist eviction by the German NGO Space-Eye 

Because of being illegally evicted by the racist practice of the German NGO Space-Eye, M. and her daughter urgently need financial assistance to cover their rent, deposit and monthly expenses. M.s current situation, which is described below, results from actions carried out by Space-Eye, which provides housing for migrants on Samos Island and in Athens with a focus on women and families. Space-Eye descibes their aims as following: 

"In Athens, our speciality is that we give refugees nine months to settle in Athens or Greece, to learn the Greek language, get a foothold, find a job, and so not to end up homeless."

The case of M shows the hypocracy of Space-Eye and their real practice , which could not be more drastically opposed to the self-declared goals of the NGO. 

M. and her minor daughter arrived in Samos about a year ago and as with many others, her journey to Greece damaged M. and her family to a huge extent and left them traumatized and in deep grief. Housed by Space-Eye for over a year on the island of Samos, M. and her family were moved to another Space-Eye facility in Athens in May 2023 after having received their passport. Space-Eye supported M. and her daughter with 60 Euros a month which, according to the coordinators, "is enough to cover monthly expenses". They were provided with an apartment with a contract for 3-6 months. The signed contract has been confiscated by Space-Eye, while M. only was handed an unsigned copy.

By 7th of July, M. was informed that she was threatened with an eviction and must leave the apartment which Space-Eye provided her by Monday, 10th of July. The eviction comes as a punishment for, according to the NGO, disobeying one of a dozen general house and "integration" rules, some of which are against medical ethics as for example having to inform the Space-Eye coordinators about every use of mental health care services. 

The eviction is illegal since a contract has been signed between M. and Space-Eye which allows M. to stay in the apartment until the 27th of August 2023. Such a contract cannot simply be broken but can only be terminated with a court decision and a written notice of eviction, which must be signed by the person concerned. None of these laws were followed by Space Eye. M. did not receive an official eviction note, the eviction was announced through an aggressive Whatsapp message, as following:

"First of all, do not raise your voice when we are talking. We offered you and your daughter a safe place to live, cash assistance, free lessons, access to the free shop for food. You had only one obligation. To attend Greek classes. You ignored us (…) End of discussion. On Monday you should depart. In case you won't, police will be called to sort it out. Locks will be changed by Monday".

Space-Eye didn't assist M. with the huge bureaucratic burden of the Greek and European asylum system or the additional care work she stems as a mother and woman, which were the reasons for not being able to attempt weekly greek classes. Instead, they use her intersectional struggle to find discriminating excuses for the acts and failure of their NGO. Although Space-Eye is fully aware of M.s difficult mental situation, they decide to put M. her daughter on the street leaving her without any possibility to react on Space-Eyes demand to leave the apartment in 3 days and threaten her with the police, as well as to create and forward her social profile to other NGOs in order to deny her access to other social services.

In the evening hours of Monday, the 10th of July, one of the Space Eye coordinators entered the apartment and changed the locks of both building and apartment as if it was her everyday routine while M. was still at work. M.s daughter has been inside the apartment at that time, suffering from heavy migraine and being woken up with the request to immediately leave the space. 

This eviction is not an exception. People in housing programmes as ESTIA are forced to leave their homes almost on a daily base. The evictions happen on very short notice, without any respect for the residents' belongings and sometimes they are even accompanied by violent police operations. The difference is that Space Eye is not a Greek state programme, but a private NGO based in Germany, winning humanitarian prices. So, they cannot hide behind governmental decisions, but carry full responsibility for their actions and policies, which speak for themselves.

NGOs, such as Space Eye, hypocritically propagate the welfare of the "vulnerable" in order to establish the profile of the white saviour, while at the same time they are throwing families and individuals back into homelessness and despair in case they don't fulfil the depiction of the "good migrant" which they have to follow to receive services. Further, they propose themselves as agents of women's rights or "vulnerable" persons while it`s not enough for them to ignore intersectional discrimination but they actively perpetuate it.

Reports of other evictions carried out by Space Eye had reached us in the previous days. The living conditions in the facilities and the behaviour of the Space Eye coordinators have been described as manipulative, invasive, paternalizing and brutal.

We call for financial support for M. in her struggle with the consequences of this racist eviction by a German NGO. The circumstances of this illegal eviction forced M. to quickly find a new appartment and left her with major expenses to pay. Still, the exploitation continues in in her new living environment, as she has to pay a high rent and does not have electricty for the last weeks. Therefore, every contribution to the covering of her rent and expenses for food are extremely appreciated.