NO BORDERS WEEKEND: Dublin Grassroots Network May 2nd No Borders trip report

dublin | summit mobilisations | news report

Monday May 03, 2004 01:53

by silverknifeblade - always say fuck you to the state - organisation can happen in a non-hierarchical way but people DO need to ORGANISE if we're serious

plant rhizomes not roots! dont fall for the trap of spectacle protests only! build from the bottom up!

Trip to Mosney Refugee Centre for the No Borders Weekend

Meanwhile while all of you were sitting around buying the Sunday papers and watching the same footage over and over again on Sky News...

Around 40 people got on the train to Mosney refugee centre today at 12pm to take a trip out there with wine and good food. There were loads of Gardai milling around on Customs House Quay but they had no idea where we were going or what people were doing. Thankfully our trip was free of cops & journos (although not _entirely_ sure about that..). There was a good mix of people making the trip, including some English, Scottish, & Italians - thanks for coming along with us, it was a nice way to get out of the city and talk to people properly in a relaxing atmosphere.

After walking from Laytown train station, we set up our little picnic/camp at the fence of Mosney which is now used as a refugee accommodation centre. We cracked out the football (which was soon kicked over the wire fence accidentally!), the frisbee, and the stereo. We met up with people from Albania, Iraq, Nigeria (and another nationality but I cant remember now) and talked to them about why we were there (we welcome people from all over the world, not just the EU).

The refugees living there told us about the shit situation they found themselves in. Most if not all have been there for at least a year. Their applications take forever to be processed and they cannot work in the interim. The Albanians said that all they wanted to do was work (their English was certainly better than my Albanian), get on with their lives & provide for their kids. The people living there get only 19 euro a week living expenses.

The security guards were obviously a bit nervous at our presence, and the Gardai arrived at the gate shortly afterwards. They stopped other Dublin Grassroots people from coming in. After a while at the gate, they then drove up and told people sitting down to leave. We were playing football so I didnt hear the conversation, but reportone of the refugees said that it would be better if we complied with the Garda wishes. We respected his request and packed up our stuff to catch the 4pm train back to Dublin.

It was a good day's trip and important to make face to face contact with the people who are directly affected by the policies of Fortress Europe. All we talked to expressed thanks/solidarity to us for making the trip up to Mosney.

On the other hand (on a personal level) I was annoyed that many people came out on a big spectacle of a march the previous day but not bother their arses with the No Borders trip. IMO both have their merits - its important to show resistance to the State but also to make genuine connections with people outside the activist circle.

Why are we for No Borders? Read the information at this link - http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=64530 - and EDUCATE yourself about the bullshit that the State (wherever you live) tries to feed your head.

Anyway, just to let you know other stuff happened apart from a small bit of shoving and water cannon. But sure I imagine it will fill the newswire for a while yet...

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Comments (8 of 8)

sounds great

by anne bonny

Mon May 03, 2004 02:50

sorry i couldn't go, no money (and no that wasn't due to drinking the night before, genuinely broke)

wish i coulda gone, would have been a lot better than hanging around the city feeling paranoid all day

well done to organisers, good to see an attempt to move beyond the 'sexy', spectacular brand of summit action

Thanx for the report

by Ciaron

Mon May 03, 2004 11:39

silverknife dude, great report.

You really need to lose the more-militant-than-thou introduction tho - unless the objective is elitist isolation. Some folks were in jail, some were sick, some were tired, some of us are getting to old to keep up the pace

Thanx for the report sounds like a great action

good work

by good worker

Mon May 03, 2004 11:40

I wish I coulda gone, but I was workin. It sounds like a really enjoyable afternoon. No Borders organised stuff is really deadly and the more awareness you (and all of us) spread the better. Keep up the Good Work! xx

reasons for not going

by biz

"Meanwhile while all of you were sitting around buying the Sunday papers and watching the same footage over and over again on Sky News..."

Stayed at a friends place on the other side of the city, they didnt have sky news or for that matter a tv. Got back to their place at 12 and hit the sack (sleeping bag) immediately. Couldnt go the following morning because as im currently 100% broke i just had 10 quid to my name, enough to get me home and certainly not enough to go around buying the sunday papers.

so for me, it was a day in the city being followed around by undercover cops and cops in uniform.

Reasons for not going!!!

by bakunin

Mon May 03, 2004 14:14

well like many others i would loved to hav been there but the combination of being broke AND NOT BEING ABLE TO MOVE MY ARMS! and having a smashed thumb stopped me from going.

Well done at weekend

by Daragh

Tue May 04, 2004 09:59

You guys are a joke, you made susch fools of yourselves at the weekend, Brendan O Conner summed it up in his article this wkend. Muppetts the lot of yes.
I noticed many of you complaining about being broke, 3 words get a job.
Pity the cops didnt throw a bit of shampoo in with the watercannons !

yea good one daragh

Tue May 04, 2004 14:40

seeing as how ALL the troll responses to the Mayday stuff say the same thing (get a job, have a wash) i think we can assume that it's one reactionary git behind them all.

Although, "...fools seldom differ"

(BTW, "daragh", I work in a factory. Since you can post comments on indymedia at nine in the morning I'm guessing you toss off in front of a computer all day and call it 'work'. Maybe you're employed by the sun?)

Apologies

by silverknifeblade

Tue May 04, 2004 15:53

Apologies to people, I did write/say comments to people after the lack of support for this action that were unhelpful, understandably people were wrecked after the day before.

Hopefully next trip up there will be bigger. I'd encourage everyone to come along, there's a nice huge big green space in front of Mosney which could hold hundreds of people. Its important to make the physical trip to show solidarity with the immigrants.

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NO BORDERS WEEKEND: Dublin Grassroots Network May 2nd No Borders trip report

Comments (8 of 8)