Noborder camp-preliminary agenda

NOBORDER CAMP IN TIMISOARA - ROMANIA
9-15 JUNE 2003

Abolishing the borders through grassroots action is not just a slogan for graffiti. This is an invitation to come and join us for a step in this direction:
Desfiintarea granitelor prin initiative de jos in sus, populare, nu e doar un slogan. Va invitam sa veniti cu noi pentru un pas in aceasta directie:

- workshops (some are still not confirmed)
human beings as goods, about human traffic
exploitation of workers from third world
Rosia Montana gold minning disaster
Roma minority in Romania
gay/lesbian
free radio + indymedia romania
fascism, yesterday and today in Romania

-ateliere (unele nu sunt confirmate, inca)
fiintele umane ca si bunuri comerciale, trafic uman
exploatarea muncitorilor din lumea a treia
dezastrul minei de aur de la Rosia Montana
minoritatea Rroma din Romania
gay/lesbian/probleme de gen
radio fara frecventa + indymedia romania
fascismul de ieri si azi in Romania

- concerts/concerte:
8 june/iunie SEVERED HEAD OF THE STATE (usa) + GURANII (romania)
11 june/iunie MOLOTOV COCKTAIL (usa) +
BARACKCA (hungary)

- exhibitions/expozitii
romanian artists
serbian tatoo and anticapitalist exhibition

- films/filme
IOM and migration control
protests, actions, camps
other stuff

- actions
ecological cleaning in the forest
street theatre
leafleting
NOBORDER EUROPE CARNIVAL (bring your: fire breathers, jugglers, diablo handlers, samba drummers, puppets, transparents, masks...)
etc.

-actiuni:
curatarea padurii din apropierea campului
teatru de strada
impartire de materiale/fluturasi/postere
Carnavalul Noborder Europe

- diy & @ distributions
music
books/zines/leaflets
patches/t-shirts
etc.

-vom face si distribui
muzica
carti/magazine/fluturasi
embleme/tricouri
etc.

please remember that :
- your active participation is needed (especially eastern european initiatives, east-west differences are still too big to just ignore them)
- new ideeas for workshops are always welcome
- this is not a final agenda, that will be up to the people coming to decide
- some of the workshops are still not confirmed, so don't blame us if people don't show up
- you should try to let us know of your coming here and if possible of your initiatives, for a better coordination
- a place for finding out more is: www.noborder.org

Va rugam tineti cont ca:
-e nevoie de participarea voastra activa (in special initiative est-europeene, diferentele est-vest sunt inca prea mari ca sa le putem ignora)
-primim cu bratele deschise si alte idei pentru ateliere (contactati-ne la adresele de mai jos)
-agenda de fata nu e batuta in cuie--se va schimba in functie de ce vor participantii/tele
-unele dintre ateliere nu au fost confirmate, asa ca nu dati vina pe noi daca unii dintre cei ce organizeaza atelierele nu se prezinta
-daca veniti, ar fi bine sa ne anuntati, mai ales daca aveti ceva planuri pentru activitati in camp--asta pentru o mai buna coordonare
-mai multe informatii puteti gasi la www.noborder.org.

Please distribute to all interested:
Va rugam sa distribuiti tuturor celor interesati:
Contact info (replace _at_ with @):
Contacte (inlocuiti _at_ cu @):
aactivistcollective_at_yahoo.com (romana/english)
wielkowitsch_at_hotmail.com (english/deutsch)

NoBorder Camp in Timisoara, 9-15 iunie 2003

Acesta este un anunt preliminar--reveniti in cateva zile (sau o saptamana) pentru mai multe detalii. Textul este deocamdata in engleza--o sa adaugam o traducere in limba romana.

Starting with the mid 80's, Europe started to show its border regime and legislation. In 1990 the Schengen covention was adopted and common standards on migration policy were established for all member states. All the countries in the European Union, except UK and Ireland, signed this agreement. Starting with that moment, asylum seekers from outside EU could ask for asylum only in the country they succeded to reach. This thing made it impossible for immigrants to choose freely the residency country in conformity with, for example, the language they knew to speak or the place where their familly or friends were. As years passed by, further hurdles in the way of free movement of people were added. Soon, people coming from or transiting through countries in Eastern Europe were refused entry/asylum to Western Europe on the grounds of the "safe country of origin" and "safe third country" agreements among the countries of the EU.

In 9-15 june, Timisoara, a city placed in the west of Romania, near the borders with Hungary and Yugoslavia, will be the scene of the first Noborder camp from Romania. This camp will mean 7 days of actions, discussions and workshops around the central problem - freedom of movement and establishment for everybody. The camp aims to unite activists, imigrants and artists from all aver Romania and Europe, to create an environment for communication, exchange of informations and debates about migration and border regime.

Preliminary Agenda

NoBorder timisoara will be a practical demonstration of collective and participants' abillities of organisation and administration of their own actions during the camp, on non-hierarhical basis and self-management. This attempt asks for everybody's active participation, the camp being planned as a diy project.

This agenda is only a general one, containing only major topics and aspects; we will later post a more detailed schedule. The actions, projects and discussions which apear in the preliminary agenda can be modified following the discussions and conclusions during the camp.

Main discussion points:

Freedom of movement - fundamental human right; UN high commandament for refugees

Schengen Information System - "electronic borders", social control

SIS is the central piece in the the border regime in Schengen region. Projected for centralisation of the dates concerning immigrants and refugees control, SIS is used also now for search and find the people considered "dangerous". All 13 member states of the Schengen agreement are participants in the SIS under legal but also logistic aspects. Altough UK and Ireland are not a part of the Schengen space and so they are not part of the same visa regime, an official raport shows that the two countries have a role in EU's efforts of stopping ilegal migration and organised crime.

SIS data base contains records made in each EU member state, agencies from EU countries being interconnected through thousands of terminals, this thing allows them to find persons wanted for deportation or arrest, or suspected for being a danger for national security and for public order.

These data base contained at the end of year 2001, 10541271 records, including also between 1.3 and 6 millions of names. Siemens and Nixdorf and Bullroup have projected and offer for SIS infrastucture and also the soft interface, and the same group is the one who's providing the SIS management.

In the present SIS 2 is being projected, which wil allow identification with the DNA and biometric recordings (recognision by the iris). The data held by SIS are available for Europol and Eurojust. The number of the new entries in SIS increased seriously after September 11 2001.

Migration, globalisation, work

detention centers for imigrants, imigrants rights, international legislation regarding imigration, romanian legislation regarding migration, detention centers for immigrants in romania

Refugees and imigrants are some of the most vulnerable members of society. The number of asylum seekers in the detention centers has grown very much over the past years. People who are not suspected for commiting any crimes are locked without trials, many times for many months, in detention centers which are actually prisons from all points of view. The incarceration is subjective, arbitrary, ilegal, useless and unjust. People who have done nothing wrong are locked away for indefinite periods of time waiting for bureaucratic proceedures that they hope would solve their problems and demands. Asylum seekers are put in domestic prisons, facing inhuman treatment, racism and segregation.

Fascism, racism, nationalism

Immigrants tend to replace the lower strata of the "native" population in Western Europe, and to take the lowest paying jobs, the worst living condition, and to take the heat from most fascist and extreme right groups. Since 1990, immigrants of color (from Africa, North Africa, Middle East, Asia, Roma immigrants from Eastern Europe) have been the preferred target for racism-based violence.

Also, racism and xenophobia has become institutionalized: most immigration/border policies have worrying racist and nationalizing undertones. Those picked for deportation and harsh treatment are more often of color. The tightening of the German border, for example, with the change in the asylum law in 1993, was a response not necessarily to the thousands of immigrants, but to the thousands of Roma immigrants from Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia. The official governmental discourse of closing/protecting the borders and defending the "native" population (as it happened in France, UK, Ireland), only added to the hatred and racism that the newly arrived were experiencing.

The effects of the immigration policies extend well beyond the borders that they are intended to defend. The EU has conditioned the acceptance of certain Eastern European countries (and Romania among them) on solving the "Gypsy problem" and stopping the immigration of Roma toward Western Europe. Extreme right groups in Romania have blamed--and still blame in their programme--Romania's poor international image on Romanians being "mistaken for" an "uncivilized, dirty, and lazy nation," that of the Roma (the New Right is calling for drastic measures involving the army and the police).

Capitalism, corporate politics, UE enlargement, the WEF, FMI, G8

The leaders of the (capitalist) world are preaching about a so-called "war without ending," who's destination is to protect western values and civilisation, to justify their military actions and the support they offer to opressive regimes.

In the name of protecting "our way of life", through military campaigns, they are actually trying to get unrestricted acces for western corporation to all resurces they need. Through international financial and trade institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, WTO, the West takes advantage of the economic domination and power to impose the rest of the world politics which will favorize their interests, leaving behind nations sinking in debts and poverty. As a consequence, people from this kind of places , brought to poverty by western exploitation, are being forced to leave, to imigrate looking for a better life, risking persecution and death.

Pollution, animal rights

Lead by their needs and desires to achieve always more and bigger profits, capitalism extends globally, resulting in a process of degradation of the environement. Abusive exploitations of the natural resources, together with pollution and carbon emissions have determined rapid changes in the global climate, more and more people being forced to leave their homelands because of floods, deforestations, and other forms of environement destruction. We're witnessess of the mass extinction of many animal and plant species - of the ecosystem and the traditional human society which is based on these things.

Va rugam sa distribuiti informatia celor care credeti ca ar fi interesati/ar dori sa contribuie.
Contact (inlocuiti _la_ cu @):
aactivistcollective_la_yahoo.com (romana/english)
wielkowitsch_la_hotmail.com (english/deutsch)

Please distribute to all those interested.
Contanct info (replace _at_ with @):
aactivistcollective_at_yahoo.com (romana/english)
wielkowitsch_at_hotmail.com (english/deutsch)

A revendica "noaptea"

De cateva decenii, pe plan international, termenul “Take Back the Night” este folosit ca metafora pentru abordarea si mediatizarea unei probleme adeseori trecute sub tacere – violenta impotriva femeilor. Marsul “Take Back the Night” (TBTN) a fost initiat in 1877 in Anglia, de catre un grup de muncitoare si prostituate, in semn de protest fata de nesiguranta si pericolul constante resimtite de femei noaptea pe strazi. De atunci, actiunea a evoluat intr-un mars care adreseaza violenta sexuala, violenta domestica, si discriminarea sexuala in general. Versiunea moderna a TBTN a inceput in 1973 in Germania; importat intai de San Francisco, TBTN s-a extins apoi la toate orasele mari si cele universitare din Statele Unite. Acum se organizeaza anual, in conjunctie cu luna pentru “sexual assault awareness” (aprilie) sau luna pentru “domestic violence awareness” (octombrie).

De ce pomenesc toate acestea? In primul rand, pentru ca vreau sa spun cateva cuvinte despre experienta mea personala cu TBTN, sa pun aceasta intr-un context international si, in sfarsit, sa sugerez posibilitatea organizarii unei astfel de actiuni si in Romania.

Eu particip la TBTN din 1997 in orasul Champaign-Urbana, statul Illinois. Acesta este un oras mic, universitar, cu o populatie extrem de diversa si activa. Pe planul activitatii pentru imbunatatirea situatiei femeii, Urbana se bucura de o distinctie speciala: este primul oras din Statele Unite in care s-a infiintat un adapost pentru victimele violentei domestice, in anul 1971. Acesta continua astazi ca A Woman’s Fund, o fundatie care include centrul A Woman’s Place si agentia Rape Crisis Services (RCS). Voluntariez la momentul de fata ca advocate la RCS – o munca (de ajutor si consiliere a victimelor de violenta sexuala) extrem de dificila, dar in acelasi timp si plina de satisfactii. TBTN se organizeaza in Urbana de 20 de ani, de obicei de catre RCS impreuna cu facultatea de studii de gen de la Universitatea Illinois. Este unul din evenimentele ce fac parte din programul Sexual Assault Awareness Month. In ultimii patru ani, s-a ocupat de organizare o grupare numita Women’s Direct Action Collective, a carei membra fondatoare sunt si eu. Pentru TBTN 2003, am format o coalitie cu toate organizatiile locale interesate de problema violentei impotriva femeilor, ceea ce a ajutat enorm cu planurile pentru actiune.

TBTN, la noi, consta dintr-un rally, la care pot participa atat femei cat si barbati, cu vorbitori si pregatirile pentru mars, urmat de marsul in sine – alcatuit exclusiv din femei. Exista o echipa de protectie si blocarea strazilor, cateva coordonatoare, reprezentante pentru presa, counselors, etc. … In timpul marsului, grupul Men Against Sexual Violence organizeaza o discutie despre rolul si responsabilitatile barbatilor cu privire la problema, si despre modalitatile in care se pot implica si ei in eforturile pentru eradicarea sa.

Care sunt scopul si impactul de baza ale acestei actiuni? Declaratia oficiala de misiune include urmatoarele: “violenta impotriva femeii cuprinde mult mai mult decat acte separate de brutalitate fizica. Femeile au fost de-a lungul istoriei, si continua sa fie, supuse unei violente sistemice care ne refuza accesul la resurse si puterea de decizie. Violenta domestica, violenta sexuala, hartuirea sexuala, rasismul, homofobia, saracia, limitarea libertatii de reproducere si accesul neadecvat la servicii de sanatate sunt toate nedreptati care afecteaza viata femeilor in mod diferit de cum sunt resimtite de barbati. Mai mult, toti barbatii – fie ca realizeaza sau nu – beneficiaza de privilegiile pe care le acumuleaza prin simplul fapt ca traiesc intr-o societate marcata de vaste inechitati de gen. Astfel, Take Back the Night nu are in vedere numai violenta sexuala. In schimb, este un act de solidaritate impotriva violentei sistemice care ne influenteaza vietile”. In plus, iata cateva statistici graitoare (pentru Champaign-Urbana si SUA) : http://www.prairienet.org/tbtn/stats.html. Pentru mine si majoritatea organizatorilor si participantelor la mars, TBTN este o ocazie de a ne reuni cu toti cei din oras care se opun, activ, violentei impotriva femeii – o comunitate larga si diversa, cuprinzand de la tineri si tinere in anul I la Universitate pana la cei care muncesc in acest domeniu de zeci de ani, care au participat la primul mars si continua sa vina de fiecare aprilie. TBTN este, pe de o parte, o celebrare pentru femei: mergand pe strazi noaptea, trecand prin locurile cele mai “periculoase” fara ajutorul si protectia vreunui barbat, simtim, macar o data pe an, cum ar trebui sa fie lucrurile. Mai mult, demonstram cum ar putea fi ele. Este cea mai energizanta, empowering experienta posibila! Pe de alta parte, TBTN ofera oricarei victime (termenul preferat este “supravietuitoare”) un mediu de siguranta si sprijin – pentru multe femei, TBTN este prima data cand isi confrunta propria experienta cu un abuz sau atac sexual. De aceea exista consiliere de la RCS care participa la mars in aceasta capacitate oficiala. In sfarsit, pentru femei si barbati deopotriva, evenimentul reprezinta un forum abordabil de informare, reflectie, si discutii pe marginea unui subiect considerat inca tabu de societate.

La http://www.prairienet.org/tbtn/tbtn2003/summary.html se gaseste un sumar (in engleza) al TBTN 2003, inclusiv presa si o serie de fotografii.

Oare s-ar putea organiza si in Romania o astfel de actiune, si cu succes? TBTN se tine de regula si in Canada, India, America de Sud, si tari din Europa de Vest. Problema violentei impotriva femeilor e intalnita pe plan mondial – este o problema urgenta de drepturile omului, in aceeasi masura ca si saracia, foametea, somajul, razboiul, opresiunea politica… Este o problema sistematica, si de sistem, in Romania nu mai putin ca in alte locuri – ba chiar mai mult in unele privinte (in special la capitolul violenta domestica). Pentru informatii despre acest subiect, cititi cele de mai jos:

“Statutul femeii in Romania” (raport in engleza, format DOC);

alte doua rapoarte in engleza, de la Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (format PDF): “Drepturile reproductive ale femeii in Romania – un suplement” (in special sectiunea C) si “Women of the World: Drepturi reproductive in Romania” (in special sectiunea C) ;

”Femeile victime ale traditiei” in ziarul “The Bullet” (proiect al Centrului de Jurnalism Independent);

”Femeile sunt pe agenda lumii...” ;

Programul "Cutia Pandorei" la Pitesti;

si pentru ceva mai filozofic (desi nu consistent progresist): ”Fetele patriarhatului”;

pentru baze de date, proiecte in domeniu, un jurnal de teorie "de gen", si alte informatii foarte utile: Societatea de Analize Feministe AnA.

Este clar ca, referitor la problema, Romania are o mare nevoie de dezvoltarea de resurse, de informarea publicului si de masuri de toate felurile. Suntem abia la inceput, dar pasi au fost facuti. Ei trebuie continuati... Si sporiti, in orice mod posibil. Deci, ce-ar fi sa “luam noaptea inapoi”?!