Noborder >Demo at Euro Court of Human Rights REPORT
IMC travelling circus | 22.07.2002 16:39
Up to one thousand people including some without official papers, took to the streets today in >Strasbourg to marh to the European Court of Human Rights.
People left the noborder camp site at around 11.30am and marched directly to the court - the demonstration had not requested permission for the event.
With only one or two police escourting the colourful carnival tyle procession with samba band from different countries and many banners snaked through the streets past a french foreign legion barracks and to the court, where many speeches were made. A delegaton requested to be allowed to go inside the gates and building but were denied since the building had been closed. Some grafiti was sprayed on the gates and fake barbed wire hung along the top.
Only a few police were stationed behind the gates, but they needn't hve worried since people were intent on being peaceful. Banners were hung on the railings as people sat in the street outside. A Lufthansa shuttle bus was turned back from the road (the airline has often been used to deport people).
After over an hour the police began to move up several fire hoses inside the perimiter fence in readiness to repel and 'invaders', but these were not required.
From there the crowd marched pat the European Council headquarters, turning the last minute to climb up the steps to the entrance to he building. Banners were run up the empty flagpoles in front of the building as people danced next to the line of police and army lining the doors. A few items of grafiti were also sprayed on the building, as others chilled out on the grass - the atmosphere was brilliant, calm but assertive as well as jubilant.
From there the march continued into the tourist heartland of the city - many banks had slogans sprayed across them. Entering the main square some shoppers and tourists clapped others looked uncomfortable as people spead out acoss the square hanging banners everywhere, while a few scaled flagpoles to remove the european union flags. And again speeches were made, but this time with the public also being the audience.
We left the march as it began to move off back to the camp, so don't know how that went, although we heard there had so far been 3 arrests.
more later
With only one or two police escourting the colourful carnival tyle procession with samba band from different countries and many banners snaked through the streets past a french foreign legion barracks and to the court, where many speeches were made. A delegaton requested to be allowed to go inside the gates and building but were denied since the building had been closed. Some grafiti was sprayed on the gates and fake barbed wire hung along the top.
Only a few police were stationed behind the gates, but they needn't hve worried since people were intent on being peaceful. Banners were hung on the railings as people sat in the street outside. A Lufthansa shuttle bus was turned back from the road (the airline has often been used to deport people).
After over an hour the police began to move up several fire hoses inside the perimiter fence in readiness to repel and 'invaders', but these were not required.
From there the crowd marched pat the European Council headquarters, turning the last minute to climb up the steps to the entrance to he building. Banners were run up the empty flagpoles in front of the building as people danced next to the line of police and army lining the doors. A few items of grafiti were also sprayed on the building, as others chilled out on the grass - the atmosphere was brilliant, calm but assertive as well as jubilant.
From there the march continued into the tourist heartland of the city - many banks had slogans sprayed across them. Entering the main square some shoppers and tourists clapped others looked uncomfortable as people spead out acoss the square hanging banners everywhere, while a few scaled flagpoles to remove the european union flags. And again speeches were made, but this time with the public also being the audience.
We left the march as it began to move off back to the camp, so don't know how that went, although we heard there had so far been 3 arrests.
more later
IMC travelling circus
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European Court -Council Pics
22.07.2002 17:05
European Court -Council Pics
Also there was a delegation of very serious reaserchers trying to ask the court some revealing and interesting questions about the rights of migrants and the rights to freedom of movement. They were refused entry.
Later at the EU council, speaches were made in front of the gun toteing guards of the council doors, whilst people danced below - more pics to follow .............
imcista
no borders, anti-capitalism and networked com
01.08.2002 09:45
Parc du Rhin, Strasbourg - France
no borders, anti-capitalism and networked communication... getting down to it in Strasbourg Yesterday saw the first large action from the bordercamp and comprised of a rally to the European Court of Human Rights, spray painting army barracks en route, some flag pole dismantling - resulting in arrests - and some running around in the town centre. In response to the arrest, activists back at the camp chose to block the Pont du Rhin - the bridge linking France and Germany in an effort to influence the police to release the arrestees. Indy centre seems to be just getting set up, and dsec program about to get running.....
On Sunday, the third night of the noborder camp in Strasbourg, France the dsec - database systems to enforce control - program was launched. Ambitiously setting out to explore the links/parallels between restrictions of freedom of communication and freedom of movement the program desires to be d.i.y in approach and to evolve driven by participants. Unfortunately, as is often the case with large events and camps, things were running behind schedule and the launch did not start until after midnight!
Different campaigns, net activists, programmers, and projects were introduced including the impressive, and paranoia inducing, maps of survelliance and prison industrial complex prepared by a French group being presented in more details all afternoon in the Syndicat Potential in central Strasbourg.
One common theme at Strasbourg, coming from a range of positions, is the desire to create links between different campaigns and for broader critiques to emerge. The womens area are arguing that a broader critique of patriachy and sexism in the camp is missing, some people have desribed the camp as a european anarchist ghetto, others note the lack of representation of people of colour. Still other critiques emerge that discussions of borderless
worlds are not adequately addressing discussions of other struggles. To counter this it is exciting to note the presence of many people involved in the Peoples Global Action network, and other divers campaigns and struggles.
A small discussion this afternoon between someone involved in media projects and someone involved in facilitating dsec raised the question of opening up more "blurry spaces" where people can take on multiple roles and identities.
This was initially framed as a discussion of the potential distinction between net/media based activists and direct/activists and the "blurry space" between these two roles.
It is clear that there are obviously people who are more comfortable moving between these spaces, at one moment protesting, another working on the dispatch desk, next doing street theatre, next speaking at a workshop,the
next presenting a radio show. And perhaps not all people a) have the desire to move between these spaces or b) have the confidence or skills to do so. There is a fantastic "open access" space brought to us by ASCII, an Amsterdam based space/collective, but just having an open access space, on
its own is not enough. Which is why the existance of dsec and the kind of projects that it is facilitating is very exciting.
Strasbourg presents an exciting opportunity, both for a range of actions to be taken, but also for skill sharing, info exhange, network building and dialogue.
It seems to this observer that the space is open, things are ripe for all sorts of exciting and dynamic events and interventions to occur. It could of course, go the other way, where a bunch of people from all over get together
in a sunny park in France, eat great food for a week, meet up with friends from Genoa and Prague, other bordercamps, buy loads of beer in Germany and not much more. Cynical? You've got to be, but I think Strasbourg is looking hopeful and likely to produce much more than just a white middle class catch up party!!
At the time of writing a crew have set off for a theatrical and cheeky "surprise tour" of strasbourg with plans of visting some of the lovliest in surviellance technology that strasbourg has on offer... check the news wire for more......
ps sorry if this report is a bit all over the shop, but this strasburger is cottonwool headed and a bit sick!
strasburger