From 19 to 23 of July took place the first no border camp on the border
between Italy en Slovenia. It has been organized by the Social Center
"Clandestino" in Gorizia-Nova Goriza, by the Area of Social Disobedience
and by the Slovenian network "Dost Je" The event saw the participation,
every day, of at least 150 people from various cities and social centers
in Italy, in Slovenia, Austria, France, England.
The main focus of the camp was the dispositive of administrative
detention that is working across that border with the detention centers
of Gradisca in Italy and of Veliki Otok, near Postumia, in Slovenia. The
strategy to close down this centers includes direct action and pression
on the private companies that run the facilities as the "Minerva"
cooperative in Gorizia and also blockades in front of the centers.
Along four days in the camp the actions where prepared with collective
discussions about asylum rights, local and migrant workers organization
with the presence of the new base trade union IWW that holds together
Italian and migrant workers.
The 20 of July, hundred people performed an "escrache" style presence in
front of the house of Adriano Ruchini, the boss of the Minerva
Cooperative that runs the CPT and that is the biggest employer of the
region with very bad and criticized working conditions. They asked the
immediate exit of Ruchini’s business from the detention facilities.
The 21 of July, 150 people with a surprise action took the two entrances
of the detention center in Gradisca d’Isonzo, blocked the state road 305
and made up a barricade in front of the police. The blockade lasted from
10h to 14h under a 40 C. degrees temperature and prevented the entering
of both police and worker, delaying both shifts. At 13 the police tried
to free the road charging the people and removing the blockade, the
people defended themselves, with the result of two injured in the
protesters and five between the police. One of the organizers of the
camp was badly beaten, took into the center and soon released for the
pressure of the blockade outside. That was the first violent police
action against protesters of the new Prodi government.
At 14h the no border camp decided to move out and suddenly two fires
started on both sides of the detention center, no one was blessed.
In the same day, started its activities a Commission form the ministry
of Interior, where several associations and NGO (like ARCI) are involved
in order to study the situation of the Italian CPT and make suggestion
to the government about the bypassing of detention politics. The no
border camp wanted to send a clear message of refusal to what they
called the "Farce-Commission" , stating that the administrative
detention centers are already well known to the civil society and that
the only possibility to by-pass them is the immediate closure.
The 22 of July a delegation of 100 people, form Italy, Slovenia,
Austria, went out of the detention center on Veliki Otok, Postojna, and
started to send messages to the detainees inside and pulling on the fences.
When some fences and the main entrance fence went down, anti-riot police
attacked the comrades and eventually after badly beating several of
them, stopped 7 people, 5 Italians and two Austrians, that where brought
in the police station of Postojna and charged with criminal offences and
then released.
The no border camp in Gorizia also went trough a reflection about the
forms of struggle and about the connections between the detention regime
and the forms of global war that are producing more and more migrant and
displaced people.
On the same issue, great importance was given to the necessity to move
beyond the simple anti-racist position and to assume the migrant
detention regime as an attack to the whole working class conditions.
The camp decided to participate into the third European day of action on
October 7th and to strengthen the cooperation toward eastern and
southern Europe for commons actions and campaigns.
Dost Je!, Network for permanent visits (Slovenia), Ya Basta!, IWW (Italia)
Links and information:
Articles on the No Border camp, in Italian
Report on the No border camp in Slovenian
Timeline and history of the Cpt of Gradisca, in Italian
History of Veliki Otokh, in English
