Will Brum / Bristol No Borders be calling a block for this march last minute?

It would go down well I imagine as No Borders Manchester have called one on the same day for the march against the labour party conference. A march up north and one down south would be great to built up the local networks, as lets face it, not many activists from the south / midlands will travel for a march...but they would make it to Brum I imagine.

If all chapters are going to Manc then fair play, keep up the dedication!

that the BNP are planning to march in Stoke that day.

Does ARC do anything about anti-racism?

I understand it focuses on asylum seekers, but why doesn't it engage with the struggle against the far-right?

Now if Banner Theatre did a play on it, things might be different....

Do you actually think bitchy, backstabbing comments like that are of any remote use in the struggle against the far right? Or anything else? Grow up.

That's why I was asking if there was going to be a block called, otherwise there obviously wouldn't be a block to call if Bum NB were actually calling the march itself! I'm not that stupid!

"As such, there hasn't been any collaboration between the two groups this year."

I don't see the collaboration between STWC and No Borders either...?!

The reason Manchester NB are calling the block on Saturday is partly because STWC represent exactly what No Borders doesn't, so activists are marching for their own reasons...

Just like I would of thought Brum NB would be doing, if there is an anti-racist march, surely represent as much as possible, regardless of whether you support the organisation.

In some cases, you block BECAUSE you disagree with the organisation calling the main march. I know lots of activists will be going to the STWC march because they dislike SWTC for example.

Just thought I'd point out the obvious.

Birmingham: City of Migrants
On Saturday 20 September 08 the Birmingham Anti-Racist Campaign organised a very successful event in Victoria Square celebrating the long history of migration that has made Birmingham the great city that it is today.

The event was built around the Zimbabwean band Ngoma who played brilliant African reggae roots music celebrating the revolutionary traditions of Africa and the experiences of those forced to flee their homes and come to cities like Birmingham. Ngoma’s powerful music was interspersed with short speeches from refugees, asylum seekers, anti-racist campaigners and other citizens of Birmingham. These speeches and Ngomoa’s music sent out a clear and powerful message to all passerbys that Birmingham is proud of its multi-cultural past, present and future. Speakers were strongly critical of new Labour’s racist immigration policies and called for the rights of people to move freely around the globe, unrestricted by national border controls. It was pointed out many times that big business has the freedom to move where it wants and that freedom never gets questioned despite the often devastating impact big business has all over the world, especially in third world countries.

The public reception to the event was great; lots of people stopped, listened, signed our petition and discussed with ARC members the issues raised by speakers and by Ngoma’s message. We challenged the racist myths many people hold, myths pumped up by the media and government and did so in ways that encouraged participation and debate by all present. This was greatly helped by the weather; it was a brilliant warm almost summers day and at times hundreds of people were sitting in Victoria Squatre soaking up the vibes, enjoying the music and dicussing the issues raised by the speakers and ARC supporters. The event was a great antidote to the corporate musical mish mash blasted out by Virgin records and co a little bit further down Babylon Row. We will be back!
We were aware that at last year’s rally, members of Birmingham No Borders disagreed with our decision to have a banner stating “Amnesty Now”. But we were not aware, until reading an addition posted on our article promoting this year’s event, that NoBorders had decided not to work with us again because of this.  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2008/09/408784.html?c=on#c203883
At last years event we had many other banners “No one is Illegal”, “Asylum is not a Crime” and “Freedom of Movement for All” and throughout the rally the message was firmly that of freedom of movement for all. ARC does not campaign around amnesty. It was felt that the “Amnesty Now” banner alongside a “No One is Illegal” banner was a way to challenge the idea of selected amnesty and to get the no one is illegal message across to members of the public. We agree with the Birmingham NoBorders statement on amnesty.  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2007/06/374302.html?c=on
We also agree with the politics of the wider NoBorders network.
We are confused by Birmingham NoBorders decision to no longer work with us or at least engage in our events of solidarity with migrants as our politics are not in conflict. We feel that likeminded groups should do all we can to seek out alliances with each other. If Birmingham NoBorders really does feel our politics are so much in conflict that they can not collaborate with us, we would welcome further discussion.

There is no 'decision' to not work with the Birmingham Anti-Racist Campaign as such. Rather, we felt that we do not agree with ARC on certain issues, such as an Asylum Amnesty, so we won't get involved in these specific things.

We have a lot of respect for ARC and what they do, and we have personal friendships with some of them. However, there are personal and political conflicts between us and some new members who joined ARC recently; And, from experience we are unable to work with these individuals.

As to our banners, we suspected they were being used as a 'Trojan horse', so were careful who to give them to if we couldn't participate - although for this specific event, it was just a matter of bad timing (the banners were supposed to go to the Freedom of Movement protest in Manchester and there was an anti-fasicst demo in Stoke).

Another difficulty in the relationship between ARC and No Borders is ARC are mostly into social and public events, lobbying and the like, while No Borders is more into direct and confrontational action. But this does not mean they cannot work together. Indeed, they have in the past, such as the joint pickets in Solihull a couple of years ago although differences have occasionally arisen while drafting leaflets, organising events or trying to push things further.