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No Borders Gathering

No Borders Manchester | 25.02.2008 10:58 | Migration

On Saturday 16th February sixty No Borders activists came together in Manchester to discuss the future of the network. The gathering was called by Manchester No Borders, and groups from Brighton, Bristol, Newcastle, Oxford, Liverpool, London, Cardiff, Birmingham and many more came for a weekend of discussions, planning and hanging out with other No Borders activists.

On Saturday 16th February sixty No Borders activists came together in Manchester to discuss the future of the network. The gathering was called by Manchester No Borders, and groups from Brighton, Bristol, Newcastle, Oxford, Liverpool, London, Cardiff, Birmingham and many more came for a weekend of discussions, planning and hanging out with other No Borders activists.
Saturday began with a discussion about the identity of No Borders. What is No Borders, can we agree on a cohesive identity for the network? The discussion drew out some ideological conflicts within the network, but one thing that everyone agreed on was the importance of an ‘anticapitalist' emphasis within No Borders. But what does this mean? How does capitalism relate to borders? This debate kept going for most of the first morning and in various conversations throughout the weekend, there was definitely a sense that this needed to be pursued and that it was at the top of the agenda (literally-pushing the pre-planned agenda into oblivion!) for many activists in the No Borders network.
After a morning of theoretical discussions we began to discuss tactics. In small groups people discussed the potential conflict between small-scale more achievable actions against migration management and solidarity campaigns on the one hand, and the networks broader goals on the other. Is there a conflict? What should we focus our energies on as a network? This discussion fed in nicely to the next point on the agenda- who/what should be our target? A few key targets were pulled out of this discussion: snatch squads/dawn raids/forced removals, detentions centres, housing, airlines involved in deportations, G4S, reporting centres.
Manchester, as a new group, had called this gathering to see if there was a network out there, the energy and excitement we were met with suggested, yes, there definitely is.
On Sunday it emerged that there was alot of energy to decide on a national, network wide, campaign. Groups presented the pros and cons of their respective campaigns, the urgency, locality, accessibility and feasibility (in terms of action opportunities) were discussed and the final decision, with only one stand aside, was that two working groups would begin planning two national campaigns, one targeting snatch squads/forced removals and the other targeting airlines involved in deportations. The snatch squad campaign will target local security forces involved in the arrest of asylum seekers/refugees/migrants from their homes in the early hours of the morning. The campaign targeting airlines, following on from the success of XL airline, which recently halted their involvement in deportations after a similar campaign, will target high profile airlines such a Virgin.
There was a lot of energy for groups to act together under the No Borders banner and feedback from local groups suggested that the knowledge and expertise available to the network will contribute to a lively and informed campaign.
The next gathering is planned for September 2008 in Newcastle. www.noborders.org.uk.

No Borders Manchester
- e-mail: manchesternoborders@riseup.net
- Homepage: http://www.noborders.org.uk

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

Good to hear

25.02.2008 16:12

I thought this article was going to be about the number of different groups all wanting to rename themselves and lead in opposite directions; I'm very glad to hear things have stuck together. Not that we didn't all recognise that anti-capitalism was a natural (I would hope) viewpoint when supporting no borders, but to highlight the issue will be very beneficial for the campaigns/movement I'm sure. There are now more and more (too many) anti-c's just running around bricking telephone boxes....they need to be directed; No Borders will no doubt shape these "too-be" activists. I'm sure you will have great success in the upcoming campaigns, the two in particular chosen, as once those are done and dusted numbers will swell. Small victories lead to big battles!

"Consort, Hillgrove, Shamrock, Regal, Newchurch.....that's why we're onto HLS."

To the future!

No Borders - No Nations - No One Is Illegal...

Unity


Human rights, any-one?

27.02.2008 15:09

Actually, I'm not interested in debates on anti-capitalism or ideology. I'm interested in anti-deportation campaigns, and campaigns to support asylum seekers, purely because I support human rights. I'm interested in taking an ethical stand against state oppression, but that doesn't mean I want to put my energies into trying to overthrow capitalism in general. Not until I see an economic theory and a plan that's bound to work better (nobody quote marxism at me! He got most of his predictions wrong.)
I'm glad the No Borders conference finally agreed on specific targets. When I was there on Saturday afternoon, it didn't look certain that it would, because the discussion was getting bogged down and people were getting tired.
Since I'm not interested in ideology, I'll do whatever works, whether reformist or radical. I would take part in actions against snatch squads and airlines, (after full consideration of the level of risk of arrest, and likely type of charge. The risk has to be taken, but judiciously.) But I will also be lobbying the government for better treatment for asylum seekers at the same time. Both types of action can work.

Spartaca


@ spartaca

27.02.2008 16:27

You might not be interested in theory, or "ideology" as you call it, but this should be an important part of NoBorders' work.

Acting out of "ethical" considerations will not get to the root of the problem. You need to analyse why it is that some migrants are treated like shit by the state and by society in general.

That is why we need a social critique, not just acting in defence of human rights.

And you will soon find that libertarian capitalists would love to have 'no borders', to maximise the exploitation of migrants.

mx


in reply

28.02.2008 15:33

"Not until I see an economic theory and a plan that's bound to work better"

But doesn't it feel like we are in a crisis right now? perhaps not to the middle/upper classes of a few western countries, but try telling the rest of the world that we are waiting until we have found a perfect economic model.

I think it is ok and important to be opposed to something terrible eg capitalism, without having an answer to everything that you think should replace it. if we keep rejecting blatently injust things such as capitalism, there is a chance that we we end up with something good- with that chance in mind, consider the situation:

you are in a burning building and people are encouraging you to jump from a low window- would you say "no i can't jump until I know exactly what kind of house I might go to next"?

just something to think about.

ps im quite sure that most noborders activists are open to all different approaches for action, but they don't all have to be done in the name of noborders. and it works the other way, charity workers may take direct action in their own time, not in the name of the charity... so its not always good to mix it up.

cat