That’s the question the Greek government has been grappling with for years as it has pushed to build a new facility on the island of Lesvos. Now, a new report from CPT’s Aegean Migrant Solidarity team, How to Build a Detention Centre, attempts to give some answers.There were moments during my years in Lesvos when what I was seeing didn’t seem real. The last time the government tried to force a new refugee camp on the island – whose population didn’t want it – was one such moment.The government had marked out a patch of land where it planned to build a new camp – more controlled this time, and miles away from the island’s capital. Over a few days, on the coastal road leading up to it, Right, Left and non-aligned fought against riot police sent from mainland Greece. Of course, they were there for different reasons: some opposed the building of a prison; others opposed the people it would lock up.I was there with my friends, unable for the most part to discern what motivated the people at our shoulders. As it got darker, someone lit a fire in the middle of the road, and the police fired flashbangs, tear gas, and sound grenades into the crowd. We ran. In the chaos, I lost my friends. Through the red chemical haze, I passed another friend slowly marching and playing her trumpet. A few metres down the road, an Orthodox priest stood atop a pickup truck, directing his flock to skirmish with police in the surrounding bushes. Men wrapped in Greek flags emerged to pick up rocks and makeshift weapons, before vanishing again into the dark. The fleeting, juxtaposed images made the whole thing seem like a carnival, and the red smoke only added to the sense of the unreal.And then it just stopped. The government backed down in the face of such spontaneous and widespread opposition. It later announced plans for a mega-camp – the Vastria Closed Controlled Access Centre – in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest. Though it has faced opposition, through force, protest, and in the courts, the opposition has become muted, morphing into a defeated sense of fighting the inevitable.How to Build a Detention Centre unpacks why this is happening, drawing lessons that could apply far beyond Greece. The government has cynically frustrated legal challenges by tweaking its plans, just enough to dodge the oncoming bullet before reverting back to course. Resistance has been bought off through relationships of economic dependency, or has simply dwindled through fatigue. The sheer scale of the project – representing the island’s second-largest public expenditure in decades – puts “facts on the ground” that are ecologically destructive and not easily undone.Running through How to Build a Detention Centre is the shift this camp represents: a turn from social cohesion toward isolation and containment – a pattern we see across the world. CPT Aegean Migrant Solidarity never loses sight of the central concern: the people who’ll be imprisoned there, and what’s at stake if we let it happen.Ryan JamesCommunications Associate NEWS FROM THE TEAMS AEGEAN MIGRANT SOLIDARITY The cover of a reportHow to Build a Detention CentreOur new report offers an in-depth investigation into the construction and operation of the new Closed Controlled Access Center in Vastria, Lesvos. CPT calls attention to a dangerous transformation of the border, from a point of entry to a zone of exclusion and containment. Facilities like Vastria are not neutral policy tools—they are instruments of exclusion. Read the report TURTLE ISLAND SOLIDARITY People at a demonstrationOver 1000 march to Kill Bill 5On 1 July, at the provincial legislature of Ontario, a celebration of Canada Day was held with carnival rides, food kiosks, and music performances. Many people, however, had no interest in celebrating over 160 years of colonization. On the north side of Queen’s Park, a crowd gathered in protest of Canada’s colonial and violent history and present.Read more CPT INTERNATIONAL Protesters staging a peaceful sit-down roadblockAgain and againThe recent bombing of Iran by the USA brings back memories of the Gulf Wars. Doug Pritchard, CPT’s former co-director, reflects on the parallels between the attacks on Iraq and Iran, asking: where is the respect for the sovereignty of nations, for the Geneva Conventions on war, for the UN and its mandate to maintain international peace?Read Doug’s reflection IRAQI KURDISTAN A graphic showing Turkish military attacks in Iraqi KurdistanTurkish Military attacks continue in JuneIt has been nearly two months since the PKK announced its intention to dissolve its organizational structure and cease all activities carried out under its name. This move came in response to a call for peace issued by imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in late February, followed by the declaration of a unilateral ceasefire on March.Read the full report US/MEXICO BORDERLANDS People holding a banner reading Abolish ICEICE raids and resistanceThis month in many major US cities people have taken to the streets to protest the ICE raids that are apprehending people who may (or may not) be undocumented. Especially in Los Angeles, mostly-peaceful demonstrations have been met not only by the local police, but also by the National Guard and active duty Marines deployed by the US president. Read more PALESTINE A landscape with settlers walking in the distanceSettler attacks in Masafer YattaThe ethnic cleansing in all the villages of Masafer Yatta is still ongoing. The attacks are escalating, targeting people, their harvests, and their land. This violence has become part of daily life. The most recent incident took place in Susya. Settlers attacked the Nawaj’a family, who stormed their farm, destroyed grapevines, and stole their harvest.Watch the video on Instagram NEW REPORT OUT NOW!READ THE REPORT WHAT WE’RE READINGGuardianThe destruction of Palestine is breaking the worldThe rules of the institutions that define our lives bend like reeds when it comes to Israel, argues Moustafa Bayoumi. Trump and leaders like him seek not so much to destroy the law as to colonize it.MERIPWomen and politics in post-Jina IranMillions of Iranian women, especially young women in their teens and twenties are defying the hijab laws in unprecedented numbers despite risks to their freedom or lives TRAININGPeople listening to a training sessionTrain with us. Join Community Peacemaker Teams.Join us on a transformative journey! If you’re passionate about peacemaking, this is your chance to be part of something meaningful.For individuals interested in joining CPT, our dynamic training provides a unique opportunity for personal and collective growth and learning. Using a hybrid model of both online sessions and a two-week in-person component, we design our training content to respond to the changing contexts where CPT works, giving special attention to the needs of our partners and our programs.LEARN MORE AND APPLY BY AUGUST 15! Support nonviolent peacemakingDONATEOur Contact InformationCommunity Peacemaker TeamsPO Box 6508Chicago, IL 60680(+1) 773-376-0550http://www.cpt.org