AUT: cross the border - press release

[Thomas Atzert <atzert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pressgroup Bordercamp 99

Zittau, 08.08.1999 - 11 am

Start of Anti-racist Bordercamp near Zittau - site problem now
resolved

The summer camp with around 500 activists of the campaign "No one
is illegal" was launched on Saturday, 8 August, with a music
parade and a concert. After discussions between the organisers of
the camp and the local authorities, an old NVA (National People's
Army) site was agreed upon as a temporary location.

Today, on Sunday, the Border Camp will relocate from there to a
field along the Goerlitzer Strasse at the entrance of Zittau. The
camp organisers have thus imposed themselves against the will of
the mayor of Zittau in the dispute about getting a site.

During the concert on the town square of Zittau, a spokesperson
of the Campaign emphasised that the argument about the location
of the camp site was over now. "We have come to discuss how the
system of exclusion and border control increasingly forces people
who are trying to get into Europe into illegality." Whilst the
bands musically tackled the themes of power, borders and
communication, a Camp newspaper was distributed amongst
interested passers-by. Participants in the camp include
anti-racist and anti-fascist groups as well as musicians,
internet activists, DJs and artists from Germany, the Czech
Republic, France, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, from the Ukraine
and Russia as well as the organisation of African refugees "The
Voice".

A group of Polish activists was greeted at the border in the
afternoon. They reported on their action days at the
Ukrainian-Polish border, from where they had just come.

During one week, the participants in the camp will be present in
the area where the borders between Poland, the Czech Republic and
Germany meet, in order to oppose their resistance to the border
policies and to undermine a certain racist frame of mind.

We will gladly provide interested media people with more
information.
Call ++49-170-953 07 83




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