Pressgroup Bordercamp 99

Zittau, 08.08.1999 - 11 am

Start of Anti-racist Bordercamp near Zittau,
site problem now resolved

The summer camp with around 500 activists of the campaign "No one is illegal" was launched on Saturday, 8 August, with a music parade and a concert. After discussions between the organisers of the camp and the local authorities, an old NVA (National People's Army) site was agreed upon as a temporary location.
Today, on Sunday, the Border Camp will relocate from there to a field along the Goerlitzer Strasse at the entrance of Zittau.
The camp organisers have thus imposed themselves against the will of the mayor of Zittau in the dispute about getting a site.
During the concert on the town square of Zittau, a spokesperson of the Campaign emphasised that the argument about the location of the camp site was over now. "We have come to discuss how the system of exclusion and border control increasingly forces people who are trying to get into Europe into illegality."
Whilst the bands musically tackled the themes of power, borders and communication, a Camp newspaper was distributed amongst interested passers-by. Participants in the camp include anti-racist and anti-fascist groups as well as musicians, internet activists, DJs and artists from Germany, the Czech Republic, France, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, from the Ukraine and Russia as well as the organisation of African refugees "The Voice".
A group of Polish activists was greeted at the border in the afternoon. They reported on their action days at the Ukrainian-Polish border, from where they had just come.
During one week, the participants in the camp will be present in the area where the borders between Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany meet, in order to oppose their resistance to the border policies and to undermine a certain racist frame of mind.

We will gladly provide interested media people with more information.
Call ++49-170-953 07 83.