The no border network is born of the convergence of campaigns in various European countries at the moment when undocumented foreigners had started to get self organized to get together and become visible to all (occupations, especially of churches, actions, demonstrations), to take their struggle in their own hands, in short to be autonomous. Freedom of movement, documents for all, abolish racist laws, no deportations were the main slogans of these sans-papiers.

The no border network was created in 1999. The European summit of Tampere in October 1999 was one more step toward the constitution of "corporation Europe" with its level of control adapted to the level of exploitation. Various European groups called for demonstrations against this summit, under the motto: "this actually means more controls, more arrests, more deportations". Actions and demonstrations took place in eight countries.

The first no border meeting took place in Amsterdam in December 1999. It's there that a mailing list was established. It enables many grass root groups, including out of Europe, to coordinate actions, to exchange information and to discuss about migrations and borders. Within the noborder network, we aim to work against all forms of exploitation and division, by working together to create new forms of collaboration and resistance. We aim to create a platform for exchange of information and experience among groups and individuals involved in different political struggles with an emancipatory anti-capitalist perspective. We also aim to work together with self organized groups of migrants. We aim to interconnect people working from different political practices and coming with different regional experiences.

Among the no border activities, one can mention five major axes:

1. the deportation alliance - It links the campaigns against airlines which take part in the deportation business: many successful actions were done against the main ones (Lufthansa, Air France, Swissair, Sabena, British Airways, Iberia ...) In several countries actions took place at the airports to prevent deportations, especially by talking the passengers into imposing that the migrant be disembarked. Some airlines renounced, at least officially, to accept forced deportations on their flights.
www.deportation-alliance.com/

2. the border camps - Many camps have been organized near the borders of European countries: Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia, Germany and Poland, Sicily, Spain, and also at the Mexico-US border. In 2001 more than 1000 people took part in a camp near the airport of Frankfurt. The aim of these camps is to act against the border regime which allows for the deportation and sending back of migrants; they are also an opportunity to create relations between various groups through debates and cultural and festive activities. In July 2002 a camp has been organized, where at least 2000 people gathered in Strasbourg, the city which houses the Schengen Information System (SIS), a data base for search and control, with tens of thousands of terminals all over Europe. It targets not only migrants, but every "suspected" individual. This camp was the scene of various demonstrations and actions and a platform of exchange between groups and individuals who struggle toward emancipation.
www.noborder.org/camps

3. the international action days around October 15th - They give rise to simultaneous actions in as many countries as possible on a common theme of the network (of course, there are also actions of the various groups on these themes at other moments). The first one has been at the time of the Tampere summit and was at the origin of the network.

4. The Campaign to combat global migration management - The presence of many countries of Eastern Europe in the network has made it possible to put on the agenda the problem of the IOM (International Office of Migrations) and beyond it the problem of the international management of migrations. The IOM presents itself as a manager of migrations: policy of internment and deportation of immigrants undesired for the governments, of recruitment and exploitation of the workers who are considered economically (and temporarily) "useful". It reigns over the control of migrants in Ukraine and other East European countries and also has an activity in other countries in the world.
www.noborder.org/iom

5. The struggle against deportations and against detention centres and other forms of privation of freedom - prisons, closed centres, imposed residence places. Various actions have been done in various countries in and out of Europe (demonstrations at airports and detention centres, evadings, destruction of centres, struggles against the construction of new centres).
Moreover, many initiatives and calls for actions in various countries circulate on the mailing list and we try to coordinate common activities. This particular approach to coordinate actions as an expression of a fundamental criticism of migratory policies is a major issue in the no border project. It implies a permanent work of networking and exchange of information, for or project is aimed at creating structures for a practical and effective resistance.

No border network member groups (last updated 2004):

ag3f/no one is illegal hanau
Autonoome Centrum Amsterdam
Collectif Anti-Expulsions of Paris-Ile de France (CAE)
No one is illegal Goteborg
London noborder group
noborder Finland
temporary association "everyone is an expert"
No Pasaran network
The Vienna noborder-artivists