Freedom of Movement 2.0 Party – a day to imagine a world without borders

By: Rosanna Wiseman
Date: 13 February 2020
Campaigns: Migration

We currently live in a dystopian world of borders. In the past couple of weeks Greece has revealed plans to install a ‘floating wall’ in the Aegean sea to deter migrants from attempting to enter Europe. Trump has announced he will expand his travel ban to citizens from Nigeria, Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar. And Boris Johnson has deported 17 Jamaicans many of whom have been in the UK since they were children. None of this is natural, and none of this should be normal.  On 15 February we will gather at the radical, volunteer-run DIY Space for London in Peckham to listen, discuss and dance to the utopian ideals of open borders. Join us!

In our neoliberal global economy, capital is able to move freely. Corporations can set up factories in countries with fewer workers’ protections in order to cut costs, and the rich can save their money in offshore tax havens. Meanwhile those who are forced to move from their homes due to war, famine, climate change or economic precarity are met with restrictions; physical walls, racist visa bans, threats of detention and deportation.

If we currently live in a dystopia constructed for capital and supported by governments, it is up to those who want to live in a fairer and equal world to fight for freedom of movement alongside social justice. It is up to us to not only imagine a utopian world without borders but to build it. On Saturday 15th of February academics, activists and migrants will come together to explore what Freedom of Movement for all would look like. We will be selling tickets for Freedom of Movement 2.0 to fundraise for the migrant solidarity groups: All African Women’s Group, MASS Action and Project play* (free tickets are available for those who are low waged).

Freedom of Movement 2.0 – what’s in store

To kick off the day Maya Goodfellow (author of ‘Hostile Environment: how immigrants became scapegoats’) and Bridget Anderson (professor in migration at Bristol university) will be in conversation, discussing why we must move beyond the government’s inhumane hostile environment policies and towards a world where migration is welcomed and celebrated.

This discussion on why freedom of movement is the logical and humane approach to social justice will lay the foundation for the rest of the day where we will be exploring how to dismantle borders through solidarity action.

People and Planet’s workshop will outline how universities are being co-opted by the border regime and the hostile environment and introduce their ‘undoing borders’ campaign and strategy for this year. Global Justice Now’s London youth group, Our Future Now, will also lead a workshop to delve into different experiences of borders through an interactive game, ‘passport lottery’ that highlights the absurdity and inequality at the heart of current border regimes.

Following on from the workshops we will move into a ‘world café’ style discussion with campaign groups MASS Action, Patients not Passports and SOAS Detainee Support. The aim of the discussion is to get other people interested in the organisations and willing to support the campaigns.

For dinner, free delicious food will be provided by the Refugee Community Kitchen, who are an entirely volunteer-run and donation-based organisation. They have provided over 2.6million hot, nutritious meals with dignity to displaced peoples in France and the UK since December 2015.

Towards end the day, we have Novara Media’s Dalia Gebrial firing us up with an inspiring speech on why the left continuing to fight for freedom of movement is akin to fighting for the international working class.

We will end the evening dancing to the tunes of a diverse UK music scene, which reflects how cultural exchange in a world without borders would play out. In our exciting line up we have Latinx folk musician Alex Etchart, South London’s Jazz singer, guitarist and activist Jelly Cleaver, Rapper Algernon Cornelius and genre-defying DJ JODIE.

Come to Freedom of Movement 2.0 so we can collectively imagine a world without borders and, of course, begin to build it!

* Money raised from tickets will go to:

All African Women’s Group – a self-help group of women asylum seekers & immigrants, many of whom have been detained in Yarl’s Wood.

Migrant & Asylum Seeker Solidarity Action – supporting grassroots projects with dignified and sustainable initiatives for migrants and asylum seekers.

Project Play – working with displaced children in Northern France.