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Proposal and request for support and further contributions
09.Apr.03 - The "Immigrati in Movementi" collective in Naples and the "Tavolo Nazionale
Migranti" have decided to organize a 'no-border' camp in Puglia around the
two themes of border controls and migrant work. The initiative is part of a
series of proposals and campaigns launched at the European Social Forum held
in Florence last November. Puglia has been chosen due to its position on the
edge of "Fortress Europe" and because of the presence of thousands of
migrants who work under conditions of total exploitation, especially in the
agricultural sector.
The themes of the "No-Border camp"
The growing fortification and militarization of national boundaries,
exacerbated by harsher measures of expulsion and administrative detention
and by the introduction of new criminal offences, has led to the increasing
"clandestinization" of immigration and, as a direct result, greater
exploitation of migrant workers. Behind the rhetoric of "firmness" against
clandestine immigration, the country is guaranteed a quota of workers who
are forced to endure conditions of total exploitation without any protection
of civil and social rights. The recent changes to the immigration law in
Italy - the so-called "Bossi-Fini" law - have introduced the "contract of
residence" which rigidly links the possibility of residing in the country
with regular employment. Linking the resident permit to the place of work
transforms individuals into a "workforce" of "disposable" commodities. Thus
in the particular case of irregular immigrants who have no form of legal
protection in the work place, reporting conditions of exploitation often
means running the risk of expulsion from the country.
Who should particpate in the "no-border camp"
The camp - which is also supported by the 'no-border' network which in the
last few years has conducted campaigns against the politics of closing
borders and has organized "no-border camps" in many European countries - is
part of a number of initiatives which aims to involve organizations and
activists from across Europe in the creation of an international anti-racist
movement. Given the fact that the directives on immigration controls are
decided by the European Community, it is fundamental that the movements
which oppose such policies co-ordinate their activities at a European level.
However, the camp does not want to just involve anti-racist organizations
but other social movements and workers organizations as well. The politics
of closing borders has the effect of fragmenting the job market into
different segments, and drastically reduces the possibilities for entire
groups to aspire for better working conditions. Such politics aim to
radicalize a system which, far from being a guarantee for the national
workforce in the face of presumed competition with immigrant workers,
produces negative consequences for all workers. The protection and the
improvement of working conditions depends on the bargaining power wielded by
workers united together and the fragmentation and increasing precariousness
of the job market can only weaken this strength.
Work plan:
The camp intends to be a moment of discussion of the proposed themes through
the organization of seminars and workshops, but also part of the process of
identifying a series of concrete actions with the involvement of activists
and migrants.
We believe that we need to define together a programme which accompanies the
workshops and actions. The following three topics have been singled out: the
crossing of borders, the presence of administrative detention centres, and
the forms of exploitation of immigrant (and in particular irregular
immigrant) workers. We would be pleased to receive proposals around these
themes
Puglia is significant for a number of reasons: it is a coastal frontier of
Fortress Europe, the home to numerous detention centres and the seasonal
destination for thousands of migrant and above all clandestine migrant
workers who work on the tomato harvest. On this last point, we would like to
already propose to all the organizations and individuals interested an
investigation into the various aspects of immigrant employment
We believe that the camp is particularly important as an occasion for
European and migrant activists in the antiracist movement to meet, to
confront experiences of self-organization and to exchange information and
expertise in the fight against legal and material apartheid. The aim is to
consolidate the active elements of the antiracist movement within the
"movement of the movements", and to move away from delegated and specialized
forms of action which still today regard a minority of comrades and which
are inadequate to confront the questions in hand.
more infromation: www.migranti.net or noracism@virgilio.it)
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