No Borders Nottingham
No Borders is an activist network that supports Freedom of Movement and the Right to Remain for all. The network links No Borders groups across the UK and there are transnational ties to groups on the continent of Europe and across its borders. The No Borders group in Nottingham includes many local activists who are involved with supporting and working alongside asylum seekers who live in the area, detainees wherever they are, migrants in the squats and on the streets in Calais and supporting solidarity between domestic and migrant workers.
[Click ‘Read more’ for the rest of the text. For details of Mayday 2010 read our older blog article below.]
What does No Borders believe?
No Borders is completely opposed to the concept of nation states and the control of borders for the purposes of the control of the movement of people, whether on land, at sea, or within territories. Nation states and borders are artificial creations that do not benefit the majority of people on Earth. They continue to foster mistrust, racism, conflict and poverty. They arose from elites taking what they wanted; though colonisation and the making of empires, from lines drawn on maps after wars, and from forced movements of people into countries based on their ethnic background or religion. And all over the world, by highlighting these divisions for political ends, the painting of migrants as security threats creates fear. Such a view creates a smokescreen, hiding the need for a scapegoat, presenting myth as fact.
We know that people are on the move around the world for many reasons …
- In response to the global capitalist relations that bring poverty, starvation and war;
- In response to political and religious persecution;
- In response to bigotry against women and homosexuality;
- In response to the adverse affects of climate change;
- In response to the world getting smaller;
- In response to our human needs.
The attempts by nation states to control the movement of people leads only to criminalisation, apartheid and death. People are divided into those with and without documents, workers are divided into those with and without rights, and countries are divided into a strict hierarchy of wealth. Thousands face fear or death as they try to cross borders, as the conditions of detention become unbearable or as the threat of return to unbearable conditions hangs over them. Selective inclusion and ‘illegality’ are methods to divide and control us all. Imprisoning people because they decide to move from one part of the world to another is barbaric. We say that No One Is Illegal!
(Note: click ‘Read More’ for the rest of the text. See older blog for details about Mayday 2010 in Nottingham).
What do we do?
No Borders brings together people who want to stand in solidarity with migrants who participate in a variety of ways and on a number of related projects. In Nottingham individuals work with local organisations and groups on various projects and on independent projects and direct actions. We try to bring a radical anti-state perspective into these projects. One example of this was Full Circle where we worked with the local campaign against Heckler & Koch to link the arms trade to asylum. We hold local meetings. We have also participated in actions outside Nottingham, such as demonstrating at immigration detention centres and also outside the UK, such as in Calais.
More generally we aim to increase awareness and to challenge media and government lies about immigration and so-called security. We want an end to the forced destitution of asylum seekers who are not allowed to work. We support them in their right and opportunity to work. In the meantime we support asylum seekers in detention centres. All detention centres must close and we applaud their brave uprisings against terrible conditions, deaths in detention and abuse during removal attempts. We oppose the UK Border Agency and the private companies who benefit from the imprisonment of people coming here for help by building and running prisons on behalf of the Home Office. We oppose the deportation of asylum seekers and the airlines that are complicit in their removal.
We want more and more people in Nottingham to show solidarity with asylum seekers and migrant workers so that we can see that the artificial division of nationality just helps the rulers to rule, the powerful to remain powerful and the rich to stay rich.
Please get involved!
Visit our website: www.nobordersnottingham.org.uk Email us at info [at] nobordersnottingham.org.uk