Initiatives from France, the UK and Belgium organised the transnational Noborder Camp in Calais, France, a week of convergence, discussions and protest, which took place from 23-29th of June 2009, including a transnational demonstration for Freedom of Movement on June 27th 2009.

Transnational Demonstration (Photos): 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Articles on Indymedia UK: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Articles on Lille Indymedia (en): 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Radio Interview (10min, en)
Daily Camp Newspaper: June 23rd | June 24th
Microblogging: on identi.ca | NoBorders South Wales on Twitter
See also: Camp Info Website | Directions to the camp | Callout [en]| Video call out | Transnational demo in Calais | Travel Info | First aid call out | Breaking the Law of the Jungle (background article) | Repression against Refugees and Supporters in Northern France (again) | more articles

Getting to Calais: some suggestions for travel, combine as you will!

Travelling with NoBorders

London NoBorders is organising a coach/ferry for those who want to come to the weekend (including the demonstration). The coach will leave Friday (26th June) and return to London Sunday (28th) evening.

PLACES STILL AVAILABLE ON RETURN COACH LONDON-CALAIS (FERRY INCLUDED) (last update 23/06/09)

Depart: 9am Fri 26th, from the Old Vic, Waterloo Rd
Return: Sunday 28th evening - the ferry is at 5pm so we hope to be back to London by 9pm.

£35-40 waged, £30-35 unwaged return - ferry ticket included (slightly more than originally estimated due to the coach company cancelling on us), payable preferably directly into the No Borders London bank account:
Our bank details are:
* Co-operative Bank
* A/C number: 65252615
* Sort code: 08-92-99
* (International transfer, IBAN: GB85 CPBK 0892 9965 2526 15)
If not, you can pay in cash on the day but we are really trying to avoid this as we don;t want all that cash floating around all weekend.

Please confirm your place asap by emailing londonnoborders@riseup.net or, preferably, calling the following number: 07535319119. If there's no answer leave a messgae or send a text and we'll get back to you.

Departure is bright and early on Friday 26th so if you’re coming from outside of London you may well be travelling down the night before. If you need help finding somewhere to stay, let us know and we’ll see what we can do.

Individual Travelling

(NB. All prices quoted are based on single tickets and lowest fares available)

Option 1 “Scenic”: London to Dover (coach), Dover to Calais (ferry)

National Express coaches, London-Dover
Single tickets (no booking fee, non-variable according to timeframe booked)

Adult £10.80
Youth with Student Coachcard or NX2 Card £13.50
Child (3-15yrs), Over 60s and disabled adults £6.75
http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/index.cfm;
Tel: 08717 818181 Opening hours are 08:00 to 20:00 Monday to Saturday and 10:00 to 20:00 on Sundays (UK time). Calls cost a maximum of 10 pence a minute for BT customers. Mobile and other networks may vary.

P&O Ferries, Dover to Calais ferry ports

Departures every hour or so (day and night), crossing time 90 mins, check-in 45mins before departure, prices vary according to departure time - not necessarily your average peak and off-peak hours

Single tickets
Foot passenger (bike permitted at no extra cost) Approx £4-15
Vehicle (price includes all passengers) £25-40
Van or minibus £31.25-50 (up to £112 ish for last-minute booking)
http://www.poferries.com/tourist/index.html; 08716 645 645
Option 2 “Speedy”: London St Pancras to Calais Frethun

Eurostar ( Train , takes about 100min from ST.Pancras ! )

Adult
Youth (12-25yrs); Seniors (60+)
Kids (4-11yrs)
Early booking (5 weeks!)
£27.50 (weekdays) - £52.50 (popular times ie. Fri-Sun)
£22.50 – £42.50
£54.50 - £79.50 (based on 1 adult + 1 child)
Medium-term booking (3 weeks)
£27.50 - £67.50
£27.50 - £62.50
Last minute booking (less than a week)
£67.50 - £127.50
£42.50 - £77.50

www.eurostar.com; 08705 186 186, Opening hours: 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm Saturday, 9am to 5pm Sunday & UK Bank Holidays, please note a £5 booking fee applies to all phone bookings.
Option 3 : all the way by coach

Eurolines

Not available according to their website, but people talk as if they’ve done it ... you can try to book a ticket to Lille and ask to leave the coach in Calais (which they often refuse though).

online booking http://www.eurolines.com/;
or via National Express 08717 818181 (opening times and rates as above)

Cycling

Some people talked about cycling to the ferry in Dover. If you are interested contact noborderslondon@riseup.net and we get you in contact.

Car Sharing

If you look for a place in a car or (even better!) go in a car and have some free places, contact noborderslondon@riseup.net

here are some links to French car sharing websites:
http://www.123envoiture.com/
http://www.covoiturage.fr/
http://www.covoiturage.com/

General Infos: check london.noborders.org.uk for updates.

This meeting is for all London-based activists who are hoping to go to the Calais No Border camp (23rd-29th June), and/or the big demo from Calais town centre to Coquelles detention centre on 27th June.

The meeting will cover practical questions, such as how we co-ordinate travel from London to the camp and/or demo, and how we mobilise for Calais over the next month. There will also be some info sharing about the demo and what is happening during the camp.

We can also discuss the possibility of solidarity action(s) in the UK on 27th June, for those who are unable to travel to Calais.

The meeting will take place from 7-9pm at LARC - London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, E1 1ES.

Hope to see you there!

*CALAIS NO BORDER CAMP 23-29 JUNE*

The Calais No Border camp is a joint venture between French and Belgian activists and migrant support groups and the UK No Borders Network. It aims to highlight the realities of the situation in Calais and Northern France; to build links with the migrant communities; to help build links between migrants support groups; and lastly, but not least, to challenge the authorities on the ground, to protest against increased repression of migrants and local activists alike.

This camp calls for the freedom of movement for all, an end to borders and to all migration controls. We call for a radical movement against the
systems of control, dividing us into citizens and non-citizens, into the
documented and the undocumented.

Why Calais?

We have chosen Calais for two main reasons; it is an important location in the history, development and practice of European migration controls and has long been a major bottleneck for those seeking to get to Britain. But more importantly, it is also a focus of the struggle between those who would see an end to all migration into the EU, and those trying to break down the barriers between peoples, the borders that prevent the freedom of movement for all, not just the privileged few.

Since the mid-nineties tens of thousands have lived in destitution,
sleeping rough in Calais, waiting for their chance to cross the channel to
England. Between 1999 and 2002 the Red Cross ran a centre at neighbouring Sangatte but this was forced to close after political pressure from France and Britain. Since then, the massive police presence and repression in Calais has forced thousands of men woman and children to wander the Calais region and all along the North coast of France, Belgium and Holland. They are routinely brutalised by the police; tear-gassed, beaten, arrested and repeatedly interned at the nearby Coquelles detention centre. The police regularly burn their shelters and the few meagre possessions that they contain. The local groups that support the migrants by providing food and other humanitarian aid are coming under increasing attack from the police
and a number of activists have been arrested in recent months. Meanwhile British Immigration Minister Phil Woolas has been calling for the construction of a permanent holding/detention centre for migrants in Calais docks.

The Bigger Picture

Calais however remains only one small part of the overall picture of
European migration controls, a major internal border within the hi-tech EU borders regime. Since the beginning of the decade, the EU been attempting to build 'Fortress Europe'; externalising EU borders into Africa and Asia with EU border guards patrolling the Mediterranean, in Libya and off the West Coast of Africa courtesy of the Frontex borders agency; and via the European Neighbourhood Policy, where countries from the Ukraine all the way round the Mediterranean to Morocco are now paid by the EU to do its migration prevention work for it.

Migrants Rights Are Workers Rights

Through this system of border controls, authorities create two kinds of
migrants: a small number of "skilled" migrants, who are designated as "useful" to the state; and a massive number of undocumented workers who have no rights and are therefore exploitable as cheap labour. Thus is our fight for freedom of movement also a fight for the rights of all workers.

Transnational solidarity works!

Building links and working together allows us to share information between us on a transnational level. It also allows us to exploit the fault-lines and cracks in Fortress Europe. Last November, transnational solidarity helped to prevent the planned deportation of Afghans from Calais to Kabul.

Campaigning Against Borders

This camp will continue the tradition of the No Border camps across the
world since the late 1990s and, like the camp taking place this year in
Lesvos in August, it will be a space to share information, skills,
knowledge and experiences; a place to plan and take action together
against the system of borders which divides us all. For centuries European imperial powers have exploited the land, resources and people of the majority world to become wealthy and powerful, leaving war, environmental destruction and massive inequality in their wake. Those who attempt the journey to the UK or elsewhere in Europe are challenging this injustice by their movement. The situation in Calais is a result of the compromise and conflict of interest between French and UK immigration policy and we call on groups, networks and individuals here to take action across Europe and to become part of a global movement of solidarity that defends their right to choose where they move .

Equal rights for all !!

*No One Is Illegal. Freedom Of Movement And The Right To Stay For All*

*http://calaisnoborder.eu.org/ *

Presentation of the Idea of the NoBorder Camp in Calais in 2009 and Film Screening.
Wednesday March 18th, 7pm @LARC, London Activist Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, E1 1ES (nearest tube Whitechapel or Aldgate East)

Initiatives from the UK, France and Belgium are currently preparing a protest camp in Calais, France, which will take place from June 23-29th, including a transnational demonstration on Saturday June 27th.

In the last 15 years Calais became a symbol of the European border regime and repression against migrants, forcing thousends of migrants each year to sleep rough in the woods around Calais, denying them basic rights and humanitarian support.