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Subject: CROSS T H E BORDER - i nt ro
From: grenze <grenze@ibu.de>
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 1997 19:49:23 METDST

* * * * *

( general introduciton into the cross_the_border project
from june 28 to july 7th in workspace, fighting for the
rights of immigrants. )


C R O S S T H E B O R D E R

telephones are cellular, computers are portable and the quickly
moving bytes are invisible. the easier money and goods flow across
the territories of nations, the more western europe and united
states close their doors to migration. "we don't want you, we only
want to take everything you've got!". this could be a description
of the interrelations of postcolonial exploitation. people who try
to enter the so called first world - as refugees in order to
escape prosecution or simply looking for some luck -
are forced into illegality. One of the central political struggles
is to combat the hegemony of borders and the regime of migration,
to support migrants and refugees, documented or undocumented, in
their fights for the right to live, where they like and how they
like. because no one is illegal...


C R O S S T H E B O R D E R

what exactly is [cross the border] and what's going on?
[cross the border] is a project temporarily hosted by
Hybrid WorkSpace


during the 100 days of documenta X in Kassel/Germany.

on staurday 28th of june [cross the border] is opened by a meeting
of antiracist groups and initiatives from all over germany. the
groups are invited to discuss and decide over the call of the
campaign "kein mensch ist illegal". the activists are expected to
come from the autonomous left as the church asylum movement, from
refugee councils and self-organisation of migrants.

on sunday, 29th of june, the results of the meeting the day before
are reported to the press. on the afternoon there are going to be
round table talks about how to spread the campaign most efficiently.
during the ten days of [cross the border] the orangerie serves as a
central point communication, for questions, further suggestions and
ideas. these functions will be decentralized again afterwards.

all the week small workshops applying video-, audio- and computer-equipment work on work on electronic flyers, which should
be usuable and insertable in as many diverse ways as possible. these
flyers will either follow directly the campaign "kein mensch ist
illegal" or they will pick out certain aspects, discuss and comment
on them, and furthermore, refer on related issues. the results will
be partly stored to be rewritten, documented and titled later on,
or will be exposed and broadcasted immediately in the orangerie,
or spread via internet or a local radio station.

the employed material will be preserved in the archives and will
be placed to the disposal of all interested groups. visitors to
orangerie or w3-sites can view the raw-material or the results of
preceeding works during the ten days. these materials embrace
video- and audio-installations, lectures and public debates. a
detailled "sans-papier", which means undocumented paperless people.
several hundred migrants who had already fought against their
impending expulsion since months, occupied the church after
preceeding negotiations with the government had failed at last.
the occupation of saint bernard and the great supporters movement,
which came into existence throughout the summer gave birth to a
totally new dimension of against federal racism and ruling european
migration systems. this resistance is still lasting till today in
the appearance of spectacular action against the tightning up of
the french residence law. the sans-papiers do not demand less
than papers for all and equal rights for all - no matter if one
has a job or where she or he comes from.

via internet and live conferences [cross the border] will be consistently in contact with action in paris and other french
cities, culminating on the planned net-casting of simultaneous
actions in paris, kassel and some other cities on july 5th.

further goals of our work at the orangerie in kassel will be to
come into contact with activists from all over europe, and, if
these contacts already do exist, to improve them. the building
up of an efficiantly working european and international network
seems to be more necessary than ever. at least since the
assimilation and harmonization of immigrant policies, asylum
statutes and the going on of expulsions and detention practises,
and also because of the export to neighboured countries, which
most migrants and refugees have to pass through on their way
to western-europe.

who is organizing [cross the border]?


n.s.i.a.m.p. is a small group of activists, artists, filmmakers,
fotographers from different countries. [cross the border] is
organized in close cooperation with antiracist initiatives from
all over germany, as well as other european countries.
how to contact [cross the border]?

before june 28th und after july 7th:
e-mail:borders@dds.nl

june 28th till july 7th:
An der Karlsaue 20c
34117 Kassel
phone:0561 - 108 88 90
fax: 0561 - 108 88 91
WWW:http://www.documenta.de/workspace
e-mail: workspace@documenta.de