No Borders Gathering 2012 - Stockholm

international | racism & migration related issues | event notice Wednesday April 04, 2012 10:57 by pterodactylonfire - No Borders

Since the 1990s, action camps have been taking place under the name ‘No border’ to put focus on the borders that separate people. Regardless of whether the focus has been borders that the state maintains or those that capitalism establishes, the camps have served as autonomous free zones – built by people to bring together all the various fights against borders and migration policies, to share knowledge and experiences and take direct action against an authoritarian society, of which borders are the most visible manifestation.

No Border is no organization but a concept, an idea. It is about fighting for a world without borders, where everyone has the possibility and no one is restricted from moving freely across the globe without ever being called illegal.

WHY IN STOCKHOLM?

Borders affect us all, yet they affect us differently depending on gender, class and ethnicity. The violence and control of the state does not only occur at external border zones but also at airports, hospitals, ports, subways, schools, work places, streets and squares. It is spreading like a poison gas in the air we breath and becomes a part of our daily life. The constant hunt for non-European migrants legitimizes persecution of everyone who does not seem to fit in. Borders create racism.

Border politics is joint within the EU and Sweden has a active role in this. In the European Union non-European persons who cross borders are being criminalized, put in prison and deported: migration is talked about as a security threat these days. In Sweden it is also bound to be more effective and cheap. It is made more effective through specially trained plain clothes cops working together with the tax office who conducts raids in work places, quicker decisions and executive deportation orders, and co-ordinated mass deportation in joint FRONTEX flights. This year the deportations increased 40 %.

People in the insecure situation which the borders create are exploited by capitalism. It creates workers who are a cheap and an expendable work force for the state and it’s private contractors. Workers who are exploited while at the same time being used for undermining salary levels and the social safety nets. Border politics enable corporations to make big money on serving the state’s deportation machinery with control services, identification and surveillance because of a security need the border politics have invented.

The violence of the borders are always kept silenced. In closed of arrests people are being led with handcuffs, diapers and stuffed with sedatives to a waiting plane from the cargo entry. The detention centers are built in the outskirts of cities, hidden in industrial areas or far away from the public eye. Corporations can without a problem make money with no responsibility in an extremely well paid sector.

But this is something we never have a moral obligation to accept or maintain. Borders are constantly unmade by being crossed without the right papers; the system of citizenship challenged by persons trying to exist in spaces without citizenship; walls overpowered by being climbed over and escaped from. We call upon all people to take their rage against the borders to the streets in Stockholm and break the silence by confronting the border violence. We call upon a week of direct action against the border- and security politics. Come to Stockholm and show your resistance and dissent against racism and your love for a world without borders, control and papers. Come and destroy what’s oppressing us and create something new.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE CAMP AND IT’S ACTIONS?

To highlight and act against the corporations and capital interests that supports the state’s migration policies while also profiting from the deportation machinery
To share our experiences and skills and together build on our knowledge to better be able to conduct solidarity campaigns and fight the nation state and it’s policies on migration.
To advance the argument of freedom of movement and a world without borders into the public debate.

WHEN?

Construction of the camp will start on the second week of June
The camp will start from the 17th of June and will go on until the 24th
On the 17th of June there will be a mass demonstration in central Stockholm for a world without borders
On the 18th there will be a solidarity action with the people detained in the detention center in Märsta
During the week actions are also being planned against detention- and deportations profiteers, repression, companies who exploit migrant workers and the security complex.

PRINCIPLES OF THE CAMP:

The camp philosophy is self-organization, decentralization and autonomy. The camp clearly rejects capitalism, which feed on war and misery, and depends on the nation state and its borders to survive.
All participants of the camp are expected to respect different political options and actions. We have solidarity with all participants and do not distance ourselves for personal or political gain, respecting all tactics.
All participants of the camp are expected to stand in solidarity together against all forms of repression.
Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic or any other types of oppression and domination are not welcome, and will not be tolerated, at the camp.
The camp stands in confrontation with any authoritative structures, and wants through direct action to resist against these structures and provide an alternative.
Repression is something that affects us all. Borders represent a part of a struggle that also includes, but not limits itself to, anti-fascism, class struggle, environmental struggles, animal rights struggles, feminist and queer struggles. We encourage all groups, organizations, collectives and individuals to conduct decentralized actions throughout the week of the camp or in any other way possible take action against migration politics!

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT AND HELP WITH THE CAMP?

A self-organized camp will be nothing but what we make of it. Everyone is able to participate and find their own roles in making a No Border camp happen!

You can take part in the organization of the camp by getting involved in one of the working groups (logistics, mobilization, media, workshop program, the mass-demonstration on the 17th June, translations, medical aid, legal team, website, graphics etc.)
You can help us by suggesting a workshop, movie screening, presentation or something similar. The theme should be relating to migration or border politics.
You can mobilize, block deportations, show up at the camp, join the big demonstration, visit people in detention centers or find other creative solutions for inflicting damage on the deportation machine.
You can organize a support party, a support concert or arrange other activities for supporting and raise funds for the camp.
You can help us finding a location for the camp or other places for activist activities.
You can donate money, skills or material
You can lend us much-needed logistics (larger tents, vans, construction materials, etc.)

www.noborderstockholm.org
info@noborderstockholm.org
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