<nettime> from scandinavia to albania

["[ueber die grenze]" <grenze@crg.net>]

[this message we received from italian friends these days.
Semira was an asylum seeker who was killed by policemen some 
weeks ago in Belgium. Schengen means a treaty most of the
countries of EU signed - officially to abolish internal
borderlines at least for EU-citizens, but in fact it is 
responsable for a new border regime set up by common visa 
policy, specific controls all over the territory and 
monstrous databases. /grenze]


We are ghosts that still haunt Europe. On the morning of the 24th we
stopped a while in the lagers of several Italian towns.

Only a few days have gone by since the morning of the 24th: the various
occupations and demonstrations in Italy in memory of Semira and to
demand the closure of the state lagers were well attended and have made
their way into the mass media. Now we are thinking of how we should
proceed from here, to insist on the definitive closure of all the lagers
and to challenge the Schengen policies. The aim is to strengthen the
movement and make sure everyone knows about the lagers and the logic
behind the policies that have produced them. We think that it is still
possible to get them closed in Italian towns and have delivered a
two-month ultimatum to the minister. At the same time we are demanding
general recognition for all the immigrants who are applying for permits
in this period. This is a part of the great battle of mankind against
neo-liberalism.

We want to take action on a European scale and e-mails are not
sufficient. We want to think in local terms and strike on a global
scale. We are madmen and dreamers and we still believe in the radical
transformation of a world that must not resign itself to disappointment.
In December we shall hold a national demonstration and, because we fly
on the wings of ideas, we shall set sail across the Mediterranean: i.e.
the demonstration will take place in Albania.

A demonstration on the borders, against borders. It will also be a
demonstration against all crimes perpetrated by the state, from the
crime of the 12 December 1969, which attempted to repress the Italian
movement, to that of the 23 December 1997, which tried to silence our
sisters and brothers in Chiapas. Delegations from all over Europe are
invited, from the network of human rights and of the Sans Papiers in
Zapatist Europe, in the hope of continuing with you along the routes
mapped out in Amsterdam and in Venice, and in the knowledge that there
is already an initiative by the European Marches against Unemployment in
Vienna. Before, during and after the demonstration, various associations
and groups, from Scandinavia to Albania, will be able to make direct
contact, get to know one another, arrange spontaneous seminars and an
itinerant European exhibition, see the Mediterranean borders of Europe
and put their enthusiasm into planning new initiatives on a European
scale.

During these next few months we would like to meet you and make as many
contacts as possible and this is why we, too, are taking action for
Europe.

The invitation is for 11-12 December. Further details of the initiative
will be communicated but we can already assure you that there will be
special trains from Imperia, Milan and Trieste, so that you are sure of
a free journey to Puglia.

Our slogans are:

IN SUPPORT OF HUMANITY AGAINST NEOLIBERALISM, AGAINST ALL CONCENTRATION
CAMPS IN ITALY AND IN THE REST OF EUROPE, IN SUPPORT OF A BOYCOTT
AGAINST THE ASSOCIATIONS THAT INTEND MANAGING THE CAMPS, IN SUPPORT OF
ABOLISHING THE SCHENGEN BORDERS, IN SUPPORT OF CONDEMNING THOSE
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE STATE MURDERS CARRIED OUT IN BELGIUM AND IN THE REST
OF EUROPE, AGAINST STATE KILLINGS, IN SUPPORT OF SOLIDARITY THROUGH
WIDESPREAD CIVILIAN DISOBEDIENCE, IN SUPPORT OF THE FREE CIRCULATION OF
PEOPLE, IN SUPPORT OF HISTORICAL MEMORY AND HUMAN DIGNITY, IN SUPPORT OF
SUBSISTENCE PAY FOR ALL CITIZENS.

Whoever is ready and willing to come to Italy for preliminary contacts
and for the demonstration, please indicate your support by replying to
this e-mail, or write or call the Leoncavallo Centre, Via Watteau 7,
20100 Milan, tel. 0039-2-6705185, fax 0039-2-6705621.

Please spread this initial information and material to other
associations that are concerned with Schengen, immigration and the fight
against expulsions.

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