Films without borders, crossing Arizona.

During the film season we screened Crossing Arizona, as the second night of the films without borders season. The discussion which followed the film brought up many issues and points which people might like to explore further.
Here is a list of things which came up in discussion and links to further information:
–The journey people take before they reach the US (with many border points before the US and Mexico border). Here is a report by Amnesty International on abuse of migrants travelling through Mexico. There is also a book called Enriques Journey which follows the journey of someone travelling from Honduras to the US , which talks about communities providing food to help people ridinf the trains north.
-What happens to people once they have crossed the border? Here is a CNN report on a former border point worker English version
Spanish version
–The current situation in Arizona:
Here is a link to the NoMoreDeaths group who are constantly working here and updating their site with news and reports.

–Wider issues/struggles glimpsed in the film. Here is a link to the filmaker’s site which has more info than the film could cover including recommended reading, news stories, cross-border alliances.

–Parallel situations throughout Europe : “According to the following press review at least 14,921 people have died since 1988 along the european borders.” Fortress Europe‘s website.

A site dedicated to the situation in Greece.  This site is frequently updated too.

Someone mentioned this is a good film to watch about the Spanish border with Africa called 14 kilometers.

And more close to the UK, is Calais.

 

info night info!

The Free Movement For All fundraiser & infonight on Friday 10th September at the Star and Shadow Cinema was an ace night, there was a friendly atmosphere, the bands were all on great form and delectable food and cakes were provided.

The night was partly in aid of the No Border Camp in Brussels, and funds were also being raised for The English Language Conversation Group, an informal group held at the Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle, where volunteers to help people learn and practice their language skills are always welcome.

The night began with a screening of ‘Outside of EUrope’, a documentary by Wide Open Exposure. The film documents the harsh realities of the European border regime, and the impact of the exclusionary policies of the EU.

This was a great introduction to the issues which will be the focus of the upcoming Brussels No Border Camp, 25 September – 3 October. Preparations are now well underway for the Camp, with the latest programme and location information online here.

After the film, Milky Wimpshake played a brilliant set, with some good onstage banter from Pete Dale, tight garage punk-pop songs and amusingly undiluted lyrics.

ONSIND (One Night Stand in North Dakota), singing, guitar playing, spot-on lyric-writing, great guys from Durham had the audience demanding more of their lo-fi, anti-folk punk-pop gems. Their anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, queer, anti-sexist etc melodic songs performed with humour and enthusiasm were shout-a–long political feelgood nuggets.

The Verbal Terrorists and DJ Jupiter provided top quality hip hop bursting with onstage energy, slick beats, amazing rhymes and songs ranging from criticising the financial system (in the most lyrically catchy way imaginable!) to praising people for taking a stand.  After a few more well known ones like ‘The Dance of the Money Men’ and ‘Risin Up’ they treated the audience to a new tune they’ve been working on which was every bit as satisfying as you would expect from them and the dancing didn’t stop. Thanks to the  quality line-up and committed acts the night managed to mix serious issues and proper fun.

With thanks to all who supported the night.

Free Movement For All – Fundraiser and Info Night 10 Sept

10 SEPTEMBER

7.30pm film screening – Outside of EUrope 28 mins

A revealing exposé of the human consequences of UK and European border controls, with inspiring footage from campaigns for freedom of movement.

plus
ONSIND – melodic folk-punk

Milky Wimpshake – witty, satirical folk-punk

Verbal Terrorists – political hip-hop

& DJs

With jumble sale & info-stalls (No Border Camp Brussels, Calais Migrant Solidarity, English Language Conversation Group)

4 pounds suggested donation

Raising funds for local and transnational migrant solidarity groups

The Star And Shadow Cinema (opposite the Tanners pub), Stepney Bank, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 2NP

10 SEPTEMBER 7.30pm

>>>>>

>>>>> Freedom of Movement OR NO ONE IS ILLEGAL night

>>>>>

>>>>> ONSIND – melodic folk-punk

>>>>>

>>>>> Verbal Terrorists – political hip-hop

>>>>>

>>>>> Danny – DJ

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> 7.30pm film screening – Outside of EUrope 28 mins

>>>>>

>>>>> A revealing exposé of the human consequences of UK and European

>>>>> border

>>>>> controls, with inspiring footage from campaigns for freedom of

>>>>> movement.

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> Plus jumble sale & info-stalls (No Border Camp Brussels, Calais

>>>>> Migrant

>>>>> Solidarity, English Language Conversation Group)

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> 4 pounds suggested donation

>>>>>

>>>>> Raising funds for local and transnational action groups

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> The Star And Shadow Cinema (opposite the Tanners pub), Stepney Bank,

>>>>> Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 2NP

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> ———————————————————————

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> http://www.starandshadow.org.uk/on/event/307

>>>>>

>>>>> http://www.noborderbxl.eu.org/?lang=en

Call for a European Week of Action Against the Deportation Machine

1st – 6th June 2010

Deportation has become an integral part of the European immigration regime. Hundreds of refugees and migrants are forcibly deported everyday for doing what humans have done for thousands of years: moving in search of a better life, escaping poverty, abuse, discrimination, persecution, war and so on. The right of everyone to travel and live where they want is denied for those with the ‘wrong’ skin colour, passport or bank account. They are treated like ‘criminals’ and incarcerated in special prisons disguised under various euphemisms (removal centres, guest houses and so on). Racist and sexual abuse and physical violence at the hands of immigration officers and private security guards are institutionalised by legitimising the use of force in deportation operations. Even the more vulnerable among migrants facing detention and deportation, such as children and torture survivors, are treated with humiliation instead of being offered help and support.

Behind deportations lies a mixture of racism, nationalism and imperialism in a global capitalist context: whilst capital and the nationals of the EU and other ‘first world’ countries are free to travel wherever they want, those on the wrong side of artificially erected borders, whose countries are often torn apart by these very privileged Europeans and their capitalist and imperial conquests, are illegalised, criminalised and prevented from exercising their fundamental rights. They simply cease to be people; they become ‘illegal immigrants’, ‘over-stayers’ and ‘failed asylum seekers’ who can be dispensed with when their exploited labour is no longer needed or when they stand up for their rights. As a consequence, common struggles and communities are divided and a culture of suspicion and surveillance prevails.

When it comes to deportation orders, the causes of migration are also conveniently forgotten about. Western-manufactured weapons and armed conflicts, wars of aggression in pursuit of oil and other natural resources, repressive regimes backed by our democracy-loving governments, climate change and land grabs… they can all be traced back here, to our capitalist economies, consumerist lifestyles and imperial interests. Anti-deportation is not a ‘single issue campaign’ and people choose or are forced to migrate for a variety or reasons.

To operate a deportation flight, European governments contract a range of private and semi-private bodies to do the dirty work for them. Airlines are a key link in the deportation machine. Not only are they one of the major contributors to the progressive killing of the planet, many airline companies are also happy, in their pursuit of profit, to fly people to their possible death, both individually and en masse. Other profiteers include companies providing transport and escort services during forcible deportations and multinational security companies, such as Serco and G4S, that manage immigration prisons and carry out deportations on behalf of immigration authorities.

Then there are those shadowy, unaccountable, inter-governmental agencies, such as the EU external border agency (Frontex) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), whose role has become more and more prominent in recent years as European governments seek to carry out deportations through joint coordinated ‘operations’. This not only saves them money but also, by putting deportations in the hands of a regional or international body, pushes accountability to another level away from national governments and immigration authorities. Indeed, Frontex has recently assumed extra powers to charter mass deportation flights on behalf of European governments, buy equipment and explore satellite technology to monitor the ‘EU borders’. After all, a racist, imperial super-state like Fortress Europe needs a mercenary army like Frontex to protect its artificial borders.

Deportees, including families and children, are often handcuffed and accompanied by security guards as if they were ‘dangerous criminals’ (the label ‘criminal’, as used by those in power, is problematic anyway). There have been numerous reports of physical assaults and racial and sexual abuse suffered by deportees at the hands of immigration officers and private ‘escorts’ during individual and mass deportations. Proposals to have ‘human rights monitors’ on deportation flights, as recently recommended by a senior EU commissioner, may prevent some of these practices but will also legitimise the brutality of deportation itself.

We realise that resistance against deportation is continuous and not confined to days or weeks of action: people trying to cross the border in the most dangerous conditions everyday; hunger strikes and riots in immigration prisons; deportees and sympathetic passengers refusing to sit down quietly on board inconspicuous planes; communities coming together to defend their members; regular protests and actions against various parts of the deportation machine… Yet, more needs to be done as thousands of people continue to be forcibly deported everyday.

We are calling upon all concerned individuals and groups throughout Europe to join us in a decentralised, coordinated week of action against the deportation machine in the first week of June 2010. We are calling upon migrants and refugees and their supporters inside and outside Europe to organise their own actions and protests during this week in a united cry:
STOP DEPORTATIONS!
NO TO FORTRESS EUROPE!
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT FOR ALL!

Solidarity with Yarl’s Wood women

On Saturday 6 March, a huge banner was dropped from the rooftops of the busy Eldon Square shopping centre, in the centre of Newcastle. A group of Newcastle residents, part of the No Borders network, went to great heights to show their solidarity with the women detainees at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detention Centre, who have been on hunger strike since 5th February 2010. The hunger strike, which initially involved some 84 women, was sparked by detainees demanding the end of the humiliating and unjust detention of migrants who seek refuge in Britain. Since their strike began, the women have endured further violence and mistreatment.

The Newcastle protestors were demanding the immediate release of the Yarl’s Wood women and an end to the unjust, arbitrary detention regime. They began their protest on the roof of Eldon Square, creating a spectacular sight for passing shoppers, while leaflets were handed out in the square below. Members of the public were shocked to hear about the treatment of the women, which has had surprisingly little press coverage. However, the protestors were moved on by heavy-handed security. They continued their protest within the shopping centre, but until being forcibly moved by four security guards.

Similar protests have taken place around the country since the hunger strikes began, as people speak out against the abominable practices of Immigration officials, and private companies such as Serco which are making profits out of the misery of migrants. Every year, thousands of innocent people, including torture and rape survivors, people with serious illnesses and over 2,000 children, are detained arbitrarily and indefinitely in detention centers across the UK, for the sole reason that they do not have the correct papers. Without access to legal representation or automatic right to bail, migrants are criminalized, further traumatized and imprisoned though they have committed no crime and have been sentenced without trial.

Migration is not a crime!

The demands of the hungerstrikers are online at http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/02/446439.html?c=on
More background on Yarl’s Wood at
http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com/2010/03/more-yarls-wood-news.html
http://visionon.tv/nooneisillegal

Burn the Border! Freedom for the Vincennes 10!

January 25th, 26th and 27th 2010: trial of the revolt that set the detention centre of Vincennes on fire. Action Week, January 16th to 24th 2010.

The revolt, which led to the fire that destroyed the largest prison for foreigners in France, is a concrete and historical response to the existence of detention centres and to the whole of the policy of control of the migratory flows.

On January 25th, 26th and 27th, ten persons will be tried for this revolt by the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris (a court which tries misdemeanours).

Our solidarity has to be at the height of the stake: the acquittal of the accused and beyond that, freedom of movement and installation.

The largest detention centre in France burnt on June 22nd 2008. From June 2008 to June 2009, some ten former detainees have been arrested and imprisoned – most of them for nearly one year – in preventive jail. They are charged with “damage”, “voluntary destruction of the buildings of the Vincennes administrative detention centre”, and/or “aggression in band against a police officer, without causing an incapacity of work for more than eight days”.

Movements of protest of the locked up sans-papiers have taken place ceaselessly during the six months before the fire. Hunger strikes, beginnings of fires, refusing to be counted, and individual or collective oppositions followed each other during this period. Outside, demonstrations and actions exposed the very existence of these centres and support the revolts.

On June 21st 2008, Salem Souli died in his room after he had asked in vain for medical care. The next day the detainees organized a march in his memory, which was violently repressed. A collective revolt followed and the detention centre was reduced to ashes.

A trial for the example
To prevent this type of revolt from spreading, the State must strike hard, it has to find culprits. Ten persons were arrested to serve as examples. We do not care whether they are “culprit” or “innocent”. By the punishment of these persons, the State wishes to make disappear revolts, denials of submission, and acts of resistance from the part of those who are, or will be in the future, between the walls of these centres. The Vincennes revolt is not isolated. Wherever are detention centres, revolts will spring up, fires will start, flights, hunger strikes, mutinies, and destructions will take place. It has been so in France (centres were burnt in Nantes, Bordeaux, and Toulouse), and in many European countries (Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain) or in countries to which border control is outsourced such as Turkey and Libya.

The fire at the Vincennes detention centre is not only a symbol: as an immediate consequence of the disappearance of its capacity for 280 people, rounding up and deportations greatly decreased in the Paris region during the following period. Concretely, arrests were avoided by the thousands. This act of the detainees has put out of order for a while the deportation machine.

ACQUIT ALL THE ACCUSED
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND INSTALLATION
CLOSE THE DETENTION CENTRES
NO PAPERS AT ALL
ACTION WEEK JANUARY 16TH TO 24TH 2010

info from http://www.wombles.org.uk

Calais Info Night in Newcastle

On the 3rd of December, from 6-8pm, we will be hosting an info night based on the situation for migrants in Calais. It will take place in Lecture Theatre 1 of the Armstrong Building, which is one of the main buildings on the Newcastle University campus.

Further info;
‘A night about the desperate situation for stranded migrants in Calais hosted by No Borders North East – There will be an informative talk about the past and present situation there, and actions that are being taken to help improve the situation for the future. Over the summer No Borders activists from Newcastle travelled to Calais to show solidarity with the migrants and their experiences will be shared on the night. There will also be film showings and lots of opportunity for discussion.’

All welcome!

Calais: Actions you can do from home

1. There is now a ‘Calais Migrant Solidarity’ Unity Trust bank account, sort code: 086001 account number: 20233983.

2.Sim Cards

Hello everyone,

Something you can do to help the migrants in Calais, that does not take any effort or money, is to order your 4 free 02 sim cards. Get them sent to your house, then message me to tell me you have some, and then i will send you the adress to forward them on to into either UK or Calais, depending on where you live.

http://freesim.o2.co.uk/textandweb/clean

No Borders Network Scotland – Next Meeting

1pm, Sunday 14 June, Phoenix Centre, 201 St. James Rd, Glasgow, G4 0NT

People from No Borders North East recently travelled to a dayschool on borders, migration and freedom of movement, supported by the Unity Centre, No Borders Network, and the Anarchist Federation, which saw over 50 people attending workshops including asylum and destitution, the UK border regime, immigration profiteers and much more. Several working groups formed around particular issues, including setting up a voucher exchange scheme, working against deportations, solidarity with migrant workers, and action on Angel housing, who profit from housing people seeking asylum in substandard accommodation. It was also an opportunity for people from across Scotland to get together and discuss developing a No Borders Network in Scotland, and there was enthusiasm for meeting again to develop this network further.

The next meeting of the network, 1pm, Sunday 14 June, at the Phoenix Centre, 201 St. James Rd, Glasgow, G4 0NT, will look at logistics like communication and structure, and will be an opportunity to join in with and hear news from working groups. Also on the agenda will be discussion of the forthcoming No Border Camp in Calais 23-29 June. Come along to find out more about what will be happening at the camp, the reasons why a camp is being organised, and how to get involved! More info on the camp at http://calaisnoborder.eu.org/

There is also an email list for the Scotland network. You can subscribe to this list to receive updates on No Borders news, actions, meetings, campaigns etc. scotlandnoborders@lists.riseup.net

Background:
Recent wildcat strikes earlier this year by construction workers against the divide-and-rule tactics of unscrupulous European firms, and the rolling out of ID cards to foreign nationals in the UK are reminders that we are increasingly living in a heavily controlled ‘Fortress Europe’. At the same time, you don’t need a crystal ball to see that the economic recession will be used by the far right to scapegoat immigrant workers and other migrants.

In Scotland, in recent years, there have been major successes in defeating efforts by the Home Office to escalate their barbaric dawn raids on asylum seekers. As a direct result of this success, over eight hundred families in Glasgow have been granted Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK. Crucially, direct action and community resistance played a central role in this campaign.

At the same time, the Unity Centre has continued to play a unique and crucial role in supporting asylum seekers at risk of being deported without warning. Since it opened three years ago, over 1,800 families have registered with the Centre and on average thirty asylum seekers come into the centre everyday.

The Unity Centre initiative grew directly out of No Borders activity around the 2005 G8 summit and the formation of a Glasgow-based No Borders group. The Unity Centre collective is supportive of the development of the UK-wide No Borders Network and hosted an early gathering in Glasgow, sent supporters to the Gatwick camp as well as distributing practical information and regularly sending a delegate to UK No Borders Gatherings. More recently, people in Edinburgh have also become active agitating against border controls and against companies profiting from the border regime.

No Borders is a network of people committed to practical solidarity, mutual aid and direct action in resistance to migration controls and the persecution of refugees and other migrants. No Borders calls for the freedom of movement for all, an end to borders and to all migration controls. We call for a radical movement against the systems of control, dividing us into citizens and non-citizens, into the documented and the undocumented.

http://www.noborders.org.uk

Borders, Migration and Freedom of Movement Dayschool

The Forest Café
3 Bristo Place
Edinburgh EH1 1EY
Saturday 9 May 10.30am til 6pm
plus evening social
and music from Newcastle band No Fit State!

People from No Borders North East will be supporting this opportunity for people to get together to share info and ideas on the border regime and the growing movement for freedom of movement for all! Workshops, updates and films on current struggles against borders, and discussion on setting up a Scottish No Borders network. Plus No Borders UK Info Tour 2009 – an exhibition of striking photographs from Calais by French photographer Julie Rebouillat, along with info on the European border regime and the forthcoming Calais No Border Camp, 23-29 June 09.
Supported by: Unity Centre Glasgow, Anarchist Federation, No Borders
www.noborders.org.uk
unitycentreglasgow.org/
flag.blackened.net/af/alba/

Workshop programme online at www.indymediascotland.org/node/15325

*CALAIS NO BORDER CAMP 23-29 JUNE*

No Borders Northeast is currently co-preparing an activist camp in Northern France
in the upcoming June 2009. Calais might seem far away from the Northeast, but…

The Calais border is an important focal point for the struggle between
those who would see an end to all migration into the EU (by enforcing ever crueler
borders control regimes) 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.

The Calais No Border camp is an exciting joint venture between French
activists and migrant support groups and the UK No Borders Network. It
aims to highlight the realities of the situation in Calais and Northern
France; to build links with the migrant communities; to help build links
between migrants support groups and lastly, but not least, to challenge
the authorities on the ground, to protest against increased repression
of migrants and local activists alike.

This camp is not just about Calais: we are calling for the freedom of
movement for all, an end to borders and to all migration controls. We
call for a radical movement against the systems of control which divide us
into citizens and non-citizens, into the documented and the undocumented.

But why a protest camp in Calais?
While Europe is tightening its border controls to the outside of
Europe, and especially to Northern Africa, one of its internal borders
is often overseen. Many migrants who come to Europe aim to reach the
United Kingdom, but after the closing down of the centre in
Sangatte/Calais, people are forced to sleep rough in the woods around
the harbour, getting pushed around and often finally sent back to Paris
where they are forced to sleep rough in their hundreds.

Furthermore the UK Border serves as a mechanism of internal control and filtering in Europe. By pushing the UK border onto French territory, the British government has made it impossible for many people to claim asylum in the UK and forced those that do try into the hands of people smugglers. This situation can only be changed when we start a public discourse about the UK Border regime and the humanitarian situation of the people who try to reach the UK from France.

The Border regime can be only understood in its political and economic context, i.e. the exploitation of cheap work from migrants. Therefore we think that the struggle for equal rights for migrant workers and the struggle against the European detention and asylum system are closely connected. We also believe that we need to intensify the transnational cooperation between initiatives made by people on both sides of the border who find the current situation unbearable.

no one is illegal. freedom of movement for all!
act against british and european borders and inhuman border controls.
Come to the Calais protest camp 23-29 June.
There will also be a transnational demonstration on Saturday 27th of June in Calais.

Photo report : : Pennine house protest : : 21st of March

More than 70 people including No Borders activists from Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle took a successful action against the Immigration prison at the Manchester airport.

Protest demanding the closure of Pennine house, an asylum prison located at Manchester airport started with a rally in Albert square, Manchester.

The protest continued to the airport. Half of the No Borders activists cycled to the airport and the others travelled by train.

A huge police presence accompanied the Critical mass all the way to the airport. GMP mobilised a helicopter and motorbikes.

When the both groups arrived to the Pennine house, the police officers and FIT team constructed a protest pen inside the detention prison car park. The protesters refused to enter the protest pen.

After the vibrant protest and speeches taken in front of the detention centre the group decided to move to the airport departure zone.

The way back to the train station was dramatic as additional TAU, Police dogs nd horses were called in but not deployed. During this period, Terminal 2 was closed.

For more information see the BBC report here