Full story: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/07/482249.html

No Borders Camp Brussels

At the beginning of October a group of us in Nottingham went to the Brussels No Borders camp. In many ways it was interesting and inspiring, and at the same time tiring and frustrating. Since returning to Nottingham we’ve tried to piece together our thoughts on the camp, its successes and failures and how it might be relevant to those living in Nottingham who aim to live in a world without borders.

We’ll start of with a collation post from Brussels Indymedia which gives us a rough idea of what autonomous group actions happened over the week.

• A police station was attacked, windows smashed, 2 cops injured and some of their cars destroyed. http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/211
• The façade of the Italian Embassy was covered in shit and graffiti to protest against the deportation of Roma people and the recent agreements with Libya on immigration. http://bxl.indymedia.org/ articles/196
• Buildings of companies involved in the deportation machine were smashed and graffitied across town:
  • CarlsonWagonLit et Randstatd: http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/128
  • Serco: http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/147
  • Sodexho: http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/236
  • Steria: http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/244
  • Dalkia: http://switzerland.indymedia.org/de/2010/10/77904.shtml

• A Frontex meeting was blocked, and the front house was painted: http://www.vimeo.com/15401376
• An action against Frontex took place in Brussels airport, with a banner drop and flyering: http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/227
• STIB, a Brussels transport company which participates in mass arrests of undocumented migrants, were targeted with machines to control and sell the tickets destroyed in three subway stations
  http://cettesemaine.free.fr/spip/article.php3?id_article=3515 and other inspection machines damaged in the trams.
• A police station was attacked, windows smashed, 2 cops injured and some of their cars destroyed: http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/211
• The façade of the Italian Embassy was covered in shit and graffiti to protest against the deportation of Roma people and the recent agreements with Libya on immigration: http://bxl.indymedia.org/ articles/196
• A symbolic action took place against the offices of BP’s lobbying in Brussels: http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/197
• Sodexho, providing food in many prisons and detention centres, received a visit from a group of people who poured 40 litres of oil inside their building: http://bxl.indymedia. org/articles/180
• The façade of the cultural representation of southern Germany was trashed in response to the repression of a demonstration in Stuttgart: http://linksunten.indymedia.org/de/node/26075
• A recruitment session of the Brussels police was disrupted by several activists: http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/239
• The doors of the IOM (International Organisation for Migration) were glued http://bxl.indymedia.org/articles/262

Along with these actions we took lots of positives from the camp. It was a self-organised camp which changed and developed as the week went on. The levels of accessibility to become involved in the organisation varied between working groups, with social networks and lack of time to pass on responsibility and skills sometimes playing a role. However on the whole for those who wished to participate in the functioning of the camp there were possibilities. The camp was based in and around big old and abandoned train station which provided plenty of room both inside and outside, for the workshops, meeting spaces and camping.

From what sometimes feels like an isolated and fractured no borders movement in Nottingham, a sense of the bigger picture of this movement was an inspiration for us. Links were made between campaigns that highlighted the ways in which a No borders position intersects with other political issues.

For the most part the camp itself physically felt to us like a relatively safe space. Although there was massive amount of police repression during the camp it often felt like we were coming into contact with that once outside of the physical camp itself.

In terms of the negatives we’ve discussed during and after the camp, one of the big issues to us was how the camp interacted with the ‘mass mobilizations’. They took place throughout the camp but actually the only no borders organized demo was on the last Saturday. The innumerable arrests, most preemptive, that took place over the course of the week often took place when no borders was participating in events organized by other groups. This threw up loads of issues, not least that there was relatively little participation people like us who had just arrived for the week could undertake to understand the situations we were about to be a party to.

The big trade union demonstration on Wednesday for e.g. was expecting 80,000 participants. The trade unions had organized for no borders to be right at the back of the march. This inevitably left us isolated, and through our half – hearted poorly communicated attempts to address this situation left us vulnerable, assaulted, kettled and arrested. (although before the kettle happened we managed to get some physical solidarity from the other participants in the demo in the face of the police’s stalking.)

Brussels, as has been talked of before, is also quite an isolated space in terms of how accessible it is to a range of no borders activist. For this and other reasons there was unfortunately far less participation from activists without documentation/papers than what might have been possible.

Finally considering the international crowd, English became the dominant but also often only language used in group meetings which meant a lot of people probably didn’t engage with some of the larger daily meetings.

Preventative arrests were one of the biggest issues during the camp with police identifying any groups larger than two or three likely-looking people as a threat. This meant many autonomous groups were swiftly disabled by Belgian arrest powers before anything exciting could happen during mass actions. There were also incidents of police assault, sexual and physical as well as general intimidation tactics throughout the week.

The fact that every event organized by the camp (such as the demos, as well as smaller events like the city bus tour and the samba parade through the local neighborhood) was met by vast members of Police, indicates that they did view our presence as threat. More accurately what we were there to talk about, to oppose and also to create made them fearful. The predictable and excessive level of presence and force they used – particularly with the mass use of preventative arrests alongside the proposal to create a database of “suspected trouble makers” that will be shared across Europe, is another example of the way in capitalism extends its control via the “legitimized” power of states.

As a group we have felt inspired and reassured by the momentum of this autumn’s no borders camp and hope that the more we communicate in Nottingham about how to recreate that momentum the further we will get – there’s loads more information about the camp on the Brussels indymedia site.

From September 27th until October 3rd 2010 a No Border camp will take place in Brussels.

The set-up of the camp will start on Sept 25th. There will be a lot of activities organised during the week and a big demonstration on October 2nd. The idea of the camp is to bring people together who support the demands of No Borders and who want to gather to debate, get informed, protest, view documentaries and party. The No Border movement struggles against the European and Belgian migrant policy, for freedom of movement and settlement and for the abolition of borders.

A multi-lingual website has been set up. This is the English language home page:
http://www.noborderbxl.eu.org/?lang=en

The first ever demonstration against a detention centre in Bulgaria organised by the Bulgarian Anarchist Federation of Anarchists in Bulgaria (FAB-IFA). March 20th, 2010 (no sound):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFEFpmkMqU

Documentary about Frontex (EU border control operation) in 2009:
Frontex: The Movie (featuring noborder camp in lesvos 2009) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOuFo5egBqE

Latest issue, Movement, no. 4 (Feb 2010)
http://noborderswales.org.uk/2010/02/17/movement-4/
Back issues and links to older newsletters:
http://noborders.org.uk/node/11

Other sources of No Borders related activity:

Crossing Borders (No Border transnational newsletter)
http://www.noborder.org/crossing_borders/index.php

Calais No Border Camp news:
http://www.nobordersnottingham.org.uk/all-articles/calais-no-border-camp-news/

Calais 9 zine, by Calais Migrant Solidarity:
http://calais9.wordpress.com/calais9-pdf/

This Tuesday representatives of the European Border Agency FRONTEX,
various UK police forces and the Identity and Passport Service are
gathering in central London for a conference under the title “Policing the
Border”.

The conference, which claims to secure the border against “illegal
immigration” and terrorism, will also be attended by representatives of
many security companies and feature an exhibition about border security
and surveillance.

Together these companies and agencies create a Fortress Europe where every
year thousands of people in the desert, in the Mediterranean Sea and in
the Atlantic Ocean die try to enter. Furthermore their policies and
actions deny basic rights to millions of “undocumented migrants” within
Europe, and help to create
an atmosphere of suspicion where everyone is under surveillance for
unnamed “crimes”.

London No Borders is fundamentally opposed to a world in which people are
denied their freedom of movement because of the colour of their skin,
their bank balance, or their nationality.

More on Frontex: http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com/2010/02/malta-threatens-to-withdraw-from.html

At 10am today, the No Borders network officially reopened the Kronstad Hangar in Calais to the migrant population. This follows the first public opening on Saturday 6th February, and the subsequent violent police eviction the following day .

The major of Calais ordered the eviction of the Hangar on alleged grounds that the hangar was not fit for public use, so the Kronstad Hangar is now open as a private space for members of SoS Soutien o Sans Papiers only. All migrants and activists inside the hangar have official membership.

The hangar is presently open to migrants from 10:00 until 18:00. The hangar is not just a humanitarian space but also a space for politicial discussion and debate, as well as various cultural and entertainment exchanges.

Marie Chautempts says “while the authorities are blocking any shelter proposals, migrants in Calais are facing one of the coldest winters in recent history and a constant ritual of police harrasement. The situation is degrading and goes against any common understanding of decent behaviour towards other human beings. Something has to be done, so we are fighting to
creating to a space for migrants to come and engage in activities at their leisure.”

It is to be noted that at the time of writing the circumstances regarding another police intervention are unknown. However, on the new front door of the hangar Article 1 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (4) has been painted. Any violent police intervention into the hangar is regarded as contrary to human rights law.

Tim Wallace says “another violent eviction will not deter us, we will not stand by and watch human beings being treated as animals. 8 years of violence and migrants are still in Calais because there is no recognition of the reasons behind migration from places such as Afghanistan, Darfur and Iran.”

Notes to editors

(1) The No Borders network is a global movement of individuals and groups fighting for the right to freedom of movement for people, not just for the Lorries that make sections of European society rich. Since the No Border Camp held in Calais in June 2009, No Borders activists have had a constant presence in Calais under the banner of Calais Migrant Solidarity. We have monitored and documented police abuse and violent, collectively resisted evictions, organised humanitarian aid distribution, and made direct
interventions for the rights of migrants.

(2) As a continued act of resistance and solidarity with undocumented migrants in Calais No Borders have rented the Kronstad Hangar for the months of february and march, together with SoS Soutients O Sans Papiers. The Hangar is in between the port and the centre of Calais.

(3) On Saturday evening, about 100 migrants came to the warehouse with the intention of entering. They were met by two separate lines of French police on either side of the hangar. Shouting “freedom! freedom!”, the migrants and No Borders activists pushed through the police lines and successfully
occupied the hangar. Donations of blankets, extra-clothes, basic
mattresses and hot tea were provided for the migrants.

However, after a safe and secure night, 75 CRS police arrived on Sunday afternoon and forcibly evicted the new space by smashing down the front glass doors. 12 activists were arrested, but later released, while one was taken to hospital.

(4) Article 1 reads:”All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Information from activists on the ground in Calais points to the police preparing to destroy some or many of the ‘jungles’ housing around 1,800 migrants in Calais, sometime this week beginning Monday 20th July. These ‘jungles’ are where people who have travelled across Europe wait in makeshift shelters, with little food or medical assistance, for their nightly attempts to get onto lorries making the crossing to the UK. Many of the migrants will be unaware of this threat. Reports from Calais say the French authorities are preparing for the destruction of the make-shift camps next Tuesday, 21st July, with a mass deportation flight to Afghanistan planned on Friday, 24th July.

http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/

Amidst a great deal of negative news reporting, the No Borders Camp in Calais has begun. The camp is producing a daily newspaper Nomade in French and English so you can find out what’s really going on!

Newsletter 3 (English version, 4 page bulletin, PDF format): http://calaisnoborder.eu.org/sites/default/files/noborder_numero3_anglais_internet.pdf

Newsletter 2, 24th June 2009 (English version, 4 page bulletin, PDF format): http://calaisnoborder.eu.org/sites/default/files/noborder_numero2_anglais_internet.pdf

Newsletter 1 (seperate pages):
[page 1] [page 2] [page 3] [page 4]

Freedom of movement ! Close down detention centres !

More info (English and French): http://calaisnoborder.eu.org and http://lille.indymedia.org

We have chosen Calais for two main reasons; it is an important location in
the history, development and practice of European migration controls and
has long been a major bottleneck for those seeking to get to Britain. But
more importantly, it is also a focus of the struggle between those who
would see an end to all migration into the EU, and those trying to break
down the barriers between peoples, the borders that prevent the freedom of
movement for all, not just the privileged few.

Since the mid-nineties tens of thousands have lived in destitution,
sleeping rough in Calais, waiting for their chance to cross the channel to
England. Between 1999 and 2002 the Red Cross ran a centre at neighbouring
Sangatte but this was forced to close after political pressure from France
and Britain. Since then, the massive police presence and repression in
Calais has forced thousands of men woman and children to wander the Calais
region and all along the North coast of France, Belgium and Holland. They
are routinely brutalised by the police; tear-gassed, beaten, arrested and
repeatedly interned at the nearby Coquelles detention centre. The police
regularly burn their shelters and the few meagre possessions that they
contain. The local groups that support the migrants by providing food and
other humanitarian aid are coming under increasing attack from the police
and a number of activists have been arrested in recent months. Meanwhile
British Immigration Minister Phil Woolas has been calling for the
construction of a permanent holding/detention centre for migrants in
Calais docks.

The Bigger Picture

Calais however remains only one small part of the overall picture of
European migration controls, a major internal border within the hi-tech EU
borders regime. Since the beginning of the decade, the EU been attempting
to build ‘Fortress Europe’; externalising EU borders into Africa and Asia
with EU border guards patrolling the Mediterranean, in Libya and off the
West Coast of Africa courtesy of the Frontex borders agency; and via the
European Neighbourhood Policy, where countries from the Ukraine all the
way round the Mediterranean to Morocco are now paid by the EU to do its
migration prevention work for it.

Migrants’ Rights Are Workers’ Rights

Through this system of border controls, authorities create two kinds of
migrants: a small number of ‘skilled’ migrants, who are designated as
‘useful’ to the state; and a massive number of undocumented workers who
have no rights and are therefore exploitable as cheap labour. Thus is our
fight for freedom of movement also a fight for the rights of all workers.

Transnational solidarity works!

Building links and working together allows us to share information between
us on a transnational level. It also allows us to exploit the fault-lines
and cracks in Fortress Europe. Last November, transnational solidarity
helped to prevent the planned deportation of Afghans from Calais to Kabul.

Campaigning Against Borders

This camp will continue the tradition of the No Border camps across the
world since the late 1990s and, like the camp taking place this year in
Lesvos in August, it will be a space to share information, skills,
knowledge and experiences; a place to plan and take action together
against the system of borders which divides us all. For centuries European
imperial powers have exploited the land, resources and people of the
majority world to become wealthy and powerful, leaving war, environmental
destruction and massive inequality in their wake. Those who attempt the
journey to the UK or elsewhere in Europe are challenging this injustice by
their movement. The situation in Calais is a result of the compromise and
conflict of interest between French and UK immigration policy and we call
on groups, networks and individuals here to take action across Europe and
to become part of a global movement of solidarity that defends their right
to choose where they move .

Equal rights for all !!

*No One Is Illegal. Freedom Of Movement And The Right To Stay For All*

http://calaisnoborder.eu.org/

http://london.noborders.org.uk/calais2009