The Balkans have been a region of movement ever since. Still, over the last year there has been a lot of media attention on the region and many people made their way over the so called “Balkanroute” towards Northern and Western Europe. After a summer of migration the “Balkanroute” is only officially closed and people still on the move face a lot of repression, violence and highly militarized borders. Also in many countries right-wing and fascist organizations, both groups and parties, gained popularity by instrumentalizing the migration movement for their own sake and promoted racist stereotypes and nationalist ideas. In this context, many leftist movements all over Europe struggle with the dilemma of defending and protecting themselves on the one hand and having a strong and clear voice and message on the other.
Change everything!
Having a gathering of many different people at the No Border Camp in Thessaloniki, a loose network of collectives decided to organize various political actions on the way to the Camp and assemble the movement of activists in an Open Caravan.
From the 23rd of June until the start of the No Border Camp there will be actions taking place in Ljubljana, on the Slovenian-Croatian border, Zagreb, Belgrade, Bulgaria, Skopje and other spots that are on the route. Believing that self-organization is one of our strongest weapons, the caravan will not be organized by an external group but consists of those who join the actions and decide on further movement and actions among themselves. Everybody who wants to contribute to the fight for open borders and self-organized spaces is invited to join at any point and any time. We believe that by the opening of a consensual political space on the move, the movement of people traveling south can be transformed into a strong political statement for open borders itself. We are aware of the fact that it will be only people with papers and certain passports who will form part of the movement, but we believe that people can make use of their privileges in order to fight for a better place and open borders for all.
Unfortunately the groups organizing the actions cannot organize any accommodation or transport in any city or from one point to the other. Choose the style of accommodation and transport you feel most comfortable with – be it a car and hostel, a bicycle and tent, a train and couchsurfing, bus and air bnb or a pony and only the stars above your head.
If you are organizing another action that may or may not be on the route or if you have any questions regarding specific actions feel free to write an email to opencaravan [at] riseup.net. Please make sure to mention the city/country in the subject of your email.
See you somewhere!