[spectre] no border camp in strasbourg, july 2002

[geert lovink]

[from: <nettime> ; ab]


Subject: Call to the international noborder-actioncamp in Strasbourg in July
2002

Hello everybody,

below you find the 'call to the international noborder-actioncamp in
Strasbourg in July 2002 that we have agreed on last weekend in Munich. the
call was produced in munich in order to have a common position/basis for our
mobilization to the strasbourg bordercamp. It is on basis of this text that
we will continue to work together towards the camp.

Activists from 15 different countries have decided to hold the
first international noborder-actioncamp in july in the french city of
Strasbourg. The camp, described as a 'a ten-day laboratory of creative
resistance and civil disobedience' is made in order to reinforce demands for
freedom of movement. Strasbourg was chosen as the location of the camp
because it is home to the central database of the Schengen Information
System (SIS), lies at the core of the shift from physical borders to an
omnipresent and perpetual control of both migrants and the general
populations in Europe.
The Strasbourg bordercamp is intended to crown another series of bordercamps
that will take place this year across Europe, in australia and on the
mexican-american border.
Concerning the camp we have made two more decisions in munich: 1. We want
the bordercamp to last 10 days [2 weekends and the week in-between these
(two] and 2. That we are suggest that the bordercamp should take place in
the period of july 19th to july28th 2002. We also agreed that the date
should be fixed during the next preparation-meeting for the bordercamp that
will take place in strasbourg on januari 19th and 20th of next year.

Regarding the preparation meeting a invitation will be posted on this list
in a few days. We will also open a separate mailing list for the preparation
of the strassbourg camp when the invitation to the preparation-meeting will
be posted.

      Call to the international noborder-actioncamp in Strasbourg in July
2002

      Freedom of movement and settlement are basic human needs. Migration is
a fact, its autonomy could and cannot be regulated, as states and
transnational organisations would want. Migration is a consequence of
economic exploitation, political repression and war but also of the
legitimate interest of people to find better or different living-conditions.

      Free movement for everyone must become a reality which we have to
fight for by any means necessary.

      Freedom of movement has been a central demand in the last few years,
when grassroot groups started to organise noborder-camps at different
borders of fortress Europe: against the militarised borders around Europe,
with their weapons, control technologies and the racist support of many
people in the European countries. This is the opposite of our dreams to
create a world without borders.

      We are living in a worldwide capitalist system which divides people.
This system of exploitation and exclusion is supported by both the internal
and external borders of fortress Europe or the so called 'schengencountry'.
It relies upon racist laws and the barbarism of detention and deportation.
Thousands of people have died as a consequence of the border regime.

      We are currently witnessing a strengthening of the repressive
apparatus of the state across the world. Whilst the control of domestic
populations and the movement of people across national borders is nothing
new. It has been going on at an accelerated pace since the attacks against
the WTC and the Pentagon as those in power have taken advantage of the cover
of their 'war against terrorism' to push through new draconian measures of
control. In Europe after the proposal of a European anti-riot policebody, we
now have the project of a European arrest warrant and the adoption of common
'anti-terrorist' legislation. Behind this pretext of 'fighting terrorism'
the states' real aim is to increase the control over the daily lives and
struggles of everybody.

      We seek to act concretely against the instruments of state control in
all their multiplying forms. As part of this struggle the noborder network
is organising a border-camp in the summer of 2002 in Strasbourg, France.

      Strasbourg houses the Schengen Information System (SIS), a central
piece of the control machine. This search and control database with tens of
thousands of terminals across Europe aims first and foremost at migrants.
However it is not only used at border checkpoints, but also serves to extend
the state's control onto every street. The SIS can be instantly consulted to
determine whether a person is wanted for deportation or arrest as well as
providing other information used to monitor an individual's movements and
activities.

      Against this instrument of control and repression we want to be
present in Strasbourg with our protest actions and our criticism of the
European institutions and the interests they represent.

      We aim to work against all forms of exploitation and division, by
working together to create new forms of collaboration and resistance. We aim
to create a platform for exchange of information and experience among groups
and individuals involved in different political struggles with an
emancipatory anti-capitalist perspective. We aim to work together with self
organized groups of migrants. We aim to interconnect people working from
different political practices and coming with different regional experience.

      The noborder-camp will include a variety of direct actions, from
public demonstrations to forms of 'communication guerrilla'. The camp will
give space for a lot of international discussions and workshops and we
intend to create a ten-days-laboratory of creative resistance and civil
disobedience.

      The Strasbourg camp expresses our ability to determine our own places
and moments of presence, of action and communication.

      We invite all interested people to come and participate, to contribute
and support this international event ...

      Agreed on by the European noborder network on 02.dec.2001 in Munich.

url: www.noborder.org

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