Message from participants @ Ukraine No Border Camp

from imc-uk, 14.08.2007

Two activists from No Border groups in the UK are currently at the No Border camp in the Ukraine. This is their first report back.

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About 300 people are currently meeting in the foothills fo the Transcarparthian mountains. They are from the Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia, Israel, New Zealand, Poland, Finland, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Greece, UK, United States and probbaly other places we have forgotten.

So far there have been various worhsops and discussions related to migration and Food Not Bombs (who have been providing all the food on the camp) as well as other more diverse topics such as computer security, radical cheerleading, animal rights, and anti-sexism and gender issues. There have also been several public events in the nearby town of Uzhgorod, including two concerts and a public discussion meeting about migration control policies. Hilariously, one of the concerts appeared to be sponsored by an organisation campaigning for sobriety: its slogan: 'Solidarity is our aim, sobriety is our way. Because friendship knows no borders'!

The camp has provided an important, and rare, space for people working on migration issues from both inside and outside the EU to meet and discuss. We have been learning about the effects of EU migration policies, in particular how the EU is forcing non-EU countries to comply with its own harsh border regime. The Ukraine is particularly interesting in this context: since so many migrants die trying to cross the Mediterranean, the Ukraine has become a bottle-neck for migrants seeking an alternative route to the EU. Consequently, the EU is ploughing money, resources and technologies into the country, pressuring the state to enforce ever stricter border controls and punishments, so that migrants find it even more difficult even to enter the EU, let alone stay there. Three new immigration prisons have been funded by the EU in the region of the No Border camp. The EU is making the Ukraine, along with other countries with borders with the EU, into a buffer-zone, and forcing them to do their dirty work. This is in violation, not just of the higher principles of freedom of movement which we aspire to, but of the EU's own commitments to the Geneva Convention which grant people the right to apply for asylum in EU member states. This camp, we hope, will be a space where we can join our forces from both sides of Fortress Europe against this brutal system.

In terms of camp organisation, there have apparently been a lot of local difficulties getting land so close to the border. Compromises have therefore been made when dealing with the authorities. These have led to further compromises which have cuased controversy inside the camp. For instance, Amnesty International in the Ukraine requested the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior to protect the camp, citing the recent fascist attack on the camp in Siberia. This was done without consultation with the camp organising group. The local police now have posts around the camp to 'protect' it.

that's all for now.

two of no borders

See: http://www.noborders.org.uk

[original article]

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