The No Border Network (In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

also called "No Borders Network" or "Noborders Network") refers to loose associations of autonomous organisations, groups, and individuals in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

and beyond. They support freedom of movement and resist

human migration Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another, with intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, at a new location (geographic region). The movement often occurs over long distances and from one country to another ( ...

control by coordinating international

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

camps, demonstrations, direct actions, and anti-deportation campaigns. The Western European network opposes what it says are increasingly restrictive harmonisation of asylum and immigration policy in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and aims to build alliances among migrant laborers and

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s. Common slogans used by the Network include; "No Border, No Nation, Stop Deportations!" and "No one is illegal." No Border Network has existed since 1999, and its website since 2000. The No Borders Network in the United Kingdom claims to have local groups in 11 cities.

No Border Camps

Groups from the No Border network have been involved in organising a number of protest camps (called "No Border Camps" or sometimes "Border Camps" or "Transborder Camps"), e.g. in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(2002),

Otranto Otranto (, , ; ; ; ; ) is a coastal town, port and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), in a fertile region once famous for its breed of horses. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(2003),

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

(2003, 2012),

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

(2007), United Kingdom, at Patras, Greece, Dikili,

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

(2008),

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

(2009, 2015), Lesvos,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

(2009),

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

(2010), Siva Reka,

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

(2011),

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

(2012),

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

(2013), Ventimiglia,

(2015),

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

(2016), near

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

(2019) in Wassenaar,

(2019), near

(2022), and in

(2022).

Activities

On 18 December 2007, to coincide with the UN International Migrants Day, the network carried out a coordinated blockade of Border and Immigration Agency (now UK Border Agency) offices in Bristol, Portsmouth, Newcastle and Glasgow to prevent dawn raids by immigration officers from taking place. This form of action has been repeated across the UK by the network several times since. On 24 October 2008, Phil Woolas, UK Minister of State for Borders and Immigration was pied by No Borders activists following his remarks on population control. On 10 August 2013, No Border groups from The Netherlands squatted a large terrain at

to gather and held several demonstrations. In February 2010 No Borders groups from the UK and France opened a large centre for refugees sleeping rough in

, France, under the name "Kronstadt Hangar". Calais authorities have accused "extremist activists" within to the No Borders network of being "driven by an anarchist ideology of hatred of all laws and frontiers" and engaging in, and encouraging, violence and harassment against French police and social workers at the Calais Jungle migrant camp, as well as "manipulating" and "misleading" the migrants living there. After the intercultural philosophy journal " polylog" demanded in connection with the book "Global Freedom of Movement: A Philosophical Plea for Open Borders" that the "debate on freedom of migration or restrictions on immigration should be received more strongly in the context of intercultural philosophizing", new local groups such a
NoBorder. NoProblem
oriented themselves to international migration-sensitive contributions - also in connection with Islamic and decolonial feminisms, degrowth, global ecofeminisms, or the "ethnic studies" less known in the German-speaking world. The group is a student-run independent project of th
Institute of Philosophy at the University of Hildesheim
which itself conducts research on philosophies in global perspective.

Publications

*''Freedom to Move, Freedom to Stay: a No Borders Reader.'' London: No Borders, 2007. *James A. Chamberlain
Minoritarian Democracy: The Democratic Case for No Borders
Constellations: An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory (forthcoming)

References

Other sources

*. *. *. *. *. *. *.

External links