Find out about and get involved in No Borders UK
From Noborders Network Wiki
Contents |
What is No Borders UK
No Borders UK is loose network of groups and activists across the country who struggle for the freedom of movement and equal rights for all people and fight against all immigration controls, which divide us into citizens and non-citizens, legal and illegal. While our broader struggle is against borders, both internal and external, and all the inequality and repression they create, the immediate focus is often on migrants' struggles against deportation, detention and other aspects of the border regime. We organise on a non-hierarchical, anti-authoritarian basis, using consensus decision-making, towards a world without borders, states and capitalism.
While the global No Border network had existed since late 1990's, the first UK-wide No Borders gathering was held in London in March 2006. The No Borders UK Network has been growing ever since, both in size and activity, and many local groups have formed under the banner of No Borders. There are currently 11 such groups in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, North East (Newcastle), Nottingham, Sheffield and South Wales (Cardiff).
Campaigns, projects etc.
Solidarity and support
Detainee support group
Camps
Dawn raids
Radical history
Open space
Where to find out about No Borders UK
Websites
The first place to check out, obviously, is the No Borders UK website at www.noborders.org.uk. The site's content ranges from news, in-depth articles, action and campaigning resources, to announcements and contact details.
Most regional No Borders groups in the UK also have their own sites or blogs. The list currently includes:
- No Borders Brighton: http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com
- Bristol No Borders: http://bristolnoborders.wordpress.com
- London No Borders: http://london.noborders.org.uk
- Manchester No Borders: http://nobordersmanchester.blogspot.com
- No Borders North East: http://nobordersnortheast.wordpress.com
- No Borders Nottingham: http://www.nobordersnottingham.org.uk
- No Borders South Wales http://noborderswales.org.uk
Newsletter
No Borders UK produces a two-page, print newsletter which typically contains brief news and action reports, important information on asylum- and migration-related issues, as well as some occasional analysis from a No Borders perspective. Copies can generally be found at social and community centres across the country and on stalls at many grassroots and alternative events. Copies of all issues can also be downloaded from the No Borders UK website.
In November 2009, the No Borders Newsletter was re-launched as "Movement", and is published monthly, the mailing list is movement@lists.riseup.net.
Indymedia
The grassroots news site Indymedia UK has a dedicated migration topic page, where most, if not all, No Borders announcements, news and action reports can be found.
Get in touch
No Borders UK is a loose network of local groups and activists. There is no secretary or central contact person. So the best way to get in touch is to contact local groups, whose email addresses and public mailing lists can be found on their websites listed above. A list of the contact details of all regional groups can also be found on the No Borders UK website under Contacts.
There is, however, a general announcement list for the whole network, where announcements and public information about all sort of No Borders-related stuff are posted. The list is noborders-uk-announce@lists.riseup.net.
The best way to get in touch and find us, however, remains face-to-face meetings, be they UK-wide gatherings or local groups meetings. The national No Borders gatherings are held twice or three times a year, each time in a different city where there is an active No Borders group. They are usually well publicised through the various communication channels listed above and are open to the 'public'. Local meetings are announced by the different groups through their own communication channels, so you would need to check their blog or website or email them to find out when and where the next meeting is.
Working collectively
Face-to-face meetings
about face-to-face
As a non-hierarchical, anti-authoritarian network, all our decision-making processes are based on consensus, that is, working creatively to include all persons making the decision rather than simply voting for or against. Thus, instead of having the majority getting their way, everyone is committed to finding solutions that everyone can live with, which ensures that everyone's opinions, ideas and reservations are taken into account.
Mailing lists
A mailing list is a group of email addresses used to send emails to multiple recipients (subscribers) at once. No Borders UK has many such lists used for different purposes, working groups and projects. They are typically hosted by radical tech collectives, such as riseup.net, who provide secure and non-commercial lists and email accounts.
The general (public) No Borders list is noborders-uk-announce@lists.riseup.net. This is used for all sort of announcements and information related to No Borders. Other No Borders lists include stopbrookhouse@lists.riseup.net.
All local No Borders groups have their own public and private mailing lists, which they use to publicise and organise their activities. You can find these on their websites listed above as well as on the No Borders UK site under Contacts.
Wiki
A Wiki is a special type of websites that enables a group of users (in this case, anyone on the Internet) to collectively create, edit, add and revise content without having to know anything about web programming, using only their web browser and some simple editing rules. Wikis are often used in big collaborative projects such as Wikipedia.
The No Borders UK website is provided with a wiki site based on MediaWiki and can be found at wiki.noborders.org.uk. It is used as a collaborative workspace where No Borders activists work collectively on all sort of projects, research, organisational issues and so on. There is an extensive help page to explain how to create and edit wiki pages.
IRC
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of real-time, text-based Internet chat that is used by groups and networks to communicate, organise and make decisions where face-to-face meetings are not possible or urgent matters need resolving.
No Borders UK has a special channel (room) on the Indymedia chat server. You can access this either with a special IRC client (programme), such as xchat, or use the web-based interface through your Internet browser (Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer etc.). To use the handy web version, go to https://chat.indymedia.org and join the 'noborders' channel. Alternatively, configure your IRC client to connect to irc.indymedia.org using the secure port 6697. There is an extensive IRC how-to here.
Indymedia
Indymedia is an open-publishing, grassroots, alternative news network, where anyone with Internet access can publish their news and reports directly or, in other words, be the media themselves. As such, Indymedia UK is often used by No Borders UK activists to publish their text, photo and video reports about all sort of events and actions.
Publishing on Indymedia is quite straight forward. Clicking the Publish button at the top-right will take you to the Publish Form, which will tell what and where to fill in. There is a brief how-to on publishing here and a detailed downloadable guide here. Other important things you should learn include rezising pictures (see this guide) and blurring faces (see this guide). See here also for some tips on writing good reports.