In the last few weeks, thousands more people are waking up to the misery caused by the borders. Let’s take this energy and grow it into a movement of solidarity and rebellion against the border system. Let’s tear down the walls.
We believe in solidarity not charity. Charity is an unequal relationship. One person is the active giver, the other is a passive beneficiary. Charity in Calais keeps alive the division between powerful, active, mainly white Europeans with passports, and powerless, passive, African and Asian victims without papers. However well meaning, it helps cement the deep inequalities of this world of states, borders, colonialism and capitalist exploitation.
Solidarity strives to be an equal relationship. We fight alongside each other. As the famous quote says, because “your liberation is bound up with mine”. The borders certainly hit some people much harder than others. But they are an affront to all of us, and one part of a sick system that attacks us all.
The problems in Calais will not be covered by a million blankets. The violence and misery here are a direct result of the border. As long as the French and British states keep on using razorwire fences, cops, batons, tear gas, media hatred, and other weapons to try and stop people crossing, there will be suffering. The only way to address this problem is to rise up against the border.
Action against the border can take many forms. Every person who crosses undermines the border. Every hole in the fences undermines the border. Defending each other against police violence helps undermine the border. Sharing information and ideas helps undermine the border. Challenging racist media propaganda, and spreading our own visions of solidarity and rebellion, helps undermine the border.
The border is not just here in Calais. The borders run across Europe, and not just at the crossing points but wherever there are immigration raids, street stops, detention centres, reporting centres, workplace or landlord ID checks, racist attacks, etc. Many people are asking us: what can we do? Our answer is: fight the border wherever you are. Find out where are the border controls and flashpoints near you. Take action. Help create a culture of solidarity, a world where borders are unacceptable. A world where no one is attacked or blocked because of the colour of their skin, the country they happen to have been born in, or what bits of paper they have in their pocket.
We encourage all individuals and groups to take actions against the border in your own ways. We are also interested in being part of coordinating mass actions and demos against the border with people in the UK and France and across Europe. Do contact us with suggestions. And stay tuned for announcements in the next few days.
Some links and ideas for action in the UK
“Bordered London” map of agencies and companies involved in the detention and deportation system in London
Some upcoming events in the UK in solidarity with Calais
Article with some more ideas about fighting the border regime
Antiraids Network: resisting immigration raids in London
Unity Centre: solidarity with migrants in Glasgow
SOAS detainee support: London students supporting people in detention
Right to Remain: campaigning for people facing deportation
Movement for Justice: organising with people in Yarl’s Wood and other detention centres
Motorway blocked! – The Jungle’s answer to Theresa May’s visit to Calais
Today Theresa May and Bernard Cazeneuve came to town. They told some lies, spilled some ink, and took a walk. Of course, they made sure to get no where close the Jungle or speak to any of those people who would be directly effected by their malign decisions. However, people here were not going to let their visit pass without making a statement.
There was a demonstration held in the city center. Local Calaisiens and people from the Jungle got together and tried to get close to the Prefecture and express their disgust with the so-termed “solutions” to the crisis in Calais that were being presented today. Although few, they were able to get quite close to the Prefecture before being met and forced back by CRS.
Meanwhile, people from the Jungle were continuing to try to come and join the demonstration. A group were walking in the road with a banner from the Jungle before being stopped by a van of Gendarmerie Mobile. They were told that they were holding an illegal demonstration and were prevented from continuing. For the next hour there was a stand-off with no one from the Jungle being able to go to the town; whether they intended to join the demonstration there or not. Many people claiming asylum in France had appointments that they were prevented from attending, and one man was ripped from his bicycle as he casually cycled past.
As more and more people were stopped and the group grew, the decision was made to walk back toward the Jungle, taking the road, stopping oncoming traffic. At the junction with the motorway, they held a sit-down protest for around half an hour. At this time they made the decision together to move up the ramp and take the highway. At first only a few took the 
road, but then as they shouted down to those staying in the Jungle, numbers began to swell. They held the highway for close to an hour and then those who were on their way back from the demonstration in town were able to join. There were about a hundred and fifty people on the bridge above the Jungle stopping traffic. Chants of “We are human beings!, “Open the Border!”, “Stop the violence!” and “We are hopeful!” were being shouted. This action was able to bring the endless flow of goods to the UK to a grinding halt, create a traffic jam through which a lot of people were able to try and hide themselves in UK bound lorries, and gave a strong voice to those stuck here in Calais. Even if May and Cazeneuve could not hear them from whatever hole they’d crawled in, the disruption that they caused was certainly felt.
After about an hour of occupation the CRS arrived in force to try to take back the highway. People shouted at them and were able to resist the initial police charges. When these intimidation tactics failed, and more people joined the fight, the CRS got their CS gas and batons out. Only with these weapons were they able to force people off the highway, bit by bit forcing people off the highway. People helped each other recover from the attack and, reorganising just inside the Jungle, moved back to face the CRS again. For an hour and a half more than one-hundred people continued in a demonstration on the road at the entrance to the highway, always threatening to take it again.
These actions show that while the politicians try to find new way of enforcing segregation, people continue to fight for open borders!
Motorway blocked! – The Jungle’s answer to Theresa May’s visit to Calais