| For a second time, the "No one is illegal" campaign will move to the EU frontier between Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. For one week in the beginning of August, activists from many different countries will gather at a campsite some hundred meters from borderline. Several connections to simultaneous camps all over europe and in the US are being planned: internet, mobile phones, snail mail and personal exchange. |
The event's slogan is "Hacking the borderline" points up the central role that media task forces and "real-life" militants will play. We invite all mobile radio- and camcorder-activists, tactical webmasters, communication guerilleros, soundsystems, dj's, musicians, artists, and anyone else to the camp and to contribute to it in any way possible.
The camp is being organized by the German "no one is illegal" campaign [kein mensch ist illegal:
Like last year's intervention, this one aims to disturb an atmosphere where comfortable denunciations of refugees and migrants are the norm; where high-tech armed border-police with mystified "state of emergency"-type powers prosper; and where racism is a mainstream trend in German society, encouraging the rise of neofascists who control the public spaces in many towns and cities in Eastern Germany. We will make concrete our opposition of business-as-usual chases of "illegals" along German as well as any or every EU border--chases that have caused the death of many people (about 90 sinece 1993 on Germany's eastern border and more than 1100 on all East-West borders). In particular, this event and the campaign of which it is a part will emphasize that the growing institutional apparatus supporting these things is unacceptable: the "foreigners adminsitration," German legislation against asylum-seekers and migrants, the Schengen system, and any other such effort to keep out migrants and refugees or to freeze out those who are already here. But more than merely oppose these things, this campaign and this event encourage solidarity and widespread civil disobedience against anti-migrant laws and culture.
We want to publicize the very real possibility of a radically different way of treating people who enter Europe for whatever reason--for refuge from war or civil war; from persecution, social, or sexual harassment; or even simply to put their life in a new perspective. In this respect, we fundamentally disagree with liberal pretenders who would distinguish between "political" asylum-seekers, who they welcome, and "economic" refugees, who they reject. We believe that ALL people have the right to live wherever and however they please. Borders impede freedom of movement and unrestricted access to "Fortress Europe," and therefore should disappear.
Last year in Eastern Saxony we succeeded in getting commune officials, the state police, and the federal border police (the Bundesgrenzschutz) to question their policies, and even to change some of their positions. Our manifestations, demonstrations, and a 36-hour rave opened up some checkpoints on the German-Polish border from strict control.
Our efforts included free music and radio performances for those being deported in Goerlitzm a streetball event with a famous Berlin basketball player, the establishment of a camp radio, attacks on Nazi gathering sites, a big "Antiracist regatta" on the river Neisse, and "winning" a bicycle race in Goerlitz to promote a case involving a secret border crossing-- all of this in order to help people to cross and to live in dignity in Germany. Our distribution of a high-circulation camp newspaper sought to clarify our demands to the populations living along the border and to claim responsibility for our actions. On a sadder note, we contributed to a spontaneous demonstration in Freiberg (on the German-Czech border) in which 7 Kosovo-Albanians died and the remaining 21 were severely injured in a crash after being chased by the federal border police.
This years Camp, the "1999 Antiracist Summer Camp" will be in the beginning of August, again at or near the border triangle between Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
We invite all interested groups and people to come, to participate, and to contribute to the camp. In particular, we will focus on discussing ways to flesh out this campaign. We sincerely hope that groups from other European countries--especially Eastern Europe--will offer reports, these about the rise of the border regime, and insights into various aspects of their regions' minorities, refugees, and migrants.
We're looking forward to a wide range of contributions, performances, lectures, pannel discussions, concerts, and parties--and, of course, lots of public or clandestine actions. But none of this a "ticket": everyone is welcome in the camp, active contributor or silent presence alike. These gatherings and exchanges of information will promote an independent network of camps and castles organized around not borders and territories but, rather, ideals--freedom of movement and an access everywhere and always. These goals take many forms: grassroots anti-racist groups, migrant organizations, efforts to support any or every kinds of refugee, media and art activism, or any other intervention *for* human autonomy and *against* the rise of regimes, apparatuses, and cultures that maintain and entrench exclusionary borders.
There will probably be some simultaneous, parallel camps at the at the militarized US-Mexico border, and perhaps in Belgium and Austria as well. We hope to exchange as much as possible between these eforts.
>From february 4th till 7th we will organize a "wintercamp" at the Volksbuehne Theatre in Berlin. The aim is to prepare the next summer camp, to present the last years activities, and to do some spontaneous actions in Berlin inner city. Since we're going to have internet connection at the wintercamp, we invite you to take part in that event, even if you cannot come. People who are interested in remote participation should subscribe to our mailinglist [cross-l] by sending the command
Please forward this message, inform your friends and groups, come to the winter and the summer camps, and/or do anything else that will help this cause. For further information about the exact dates and locations, contact the organizators at
phone: ++49/172/8910825
snail-mail:
|