[spectre] Let us crosspost about Europe

[florian schneider]

[hi you all, here's one of the calls for the 13th (!)
noborder camp <http://noborder.org>
since we started 1998 in rothenburg at the german-polish
border <http://www.contrast.org/borders/camp/index2.html>
the camp 02 will take place from july 19-28, in
strasbourg/france. for the first time a noborder camp is
organized by groups and individuals from all over europe.
originally, the idea was presented at the occasion of the
make world festival <http://make-world.org>
and finalized during a follow-up meeting with participants
from 17 european countries.
the city of strasbourg has been chosen because it is the home
of the Schengen Information System (SIS), a huge database
accumulating the records of illegalized immigrants.
punch line of the noborder camp will be a demonstration
infront of the SIS on july 27th. hope to see you soon! /fls]


Let us talk about Europe
http://noborder.org
announcer: stra-l-request@noborder.org?SUBJECT=subscribe

Let us talk about Europe. A Europe that has been abandoned and is now
squatted like an empty house. Whose doors will be broken open, in order
to fill those run-down rooms with life again: a new vitality, that has
certainly nothing to with what was formerly known as Europe.

Now and then we still don't believe a single word this Europe is saying,
even though it tries to make some substitutions: humanitarian missions
for humanism, just wars instead of colonialism and security instead of
proxy battles.

When we talk about Europe, then certainly not because we believe in
Europe. But rather because we bet on the irony of history: In the age of
a new global souvereignty the questions of dependence and independence
have gained a new meaning all over the world. Positive as well as
negative fixation on the nation state has lost all of its perspectives.

When we talk about europe today, then because we aim to give Europe,
this rather dilapidated building, finally a meaningful use. Because we
see the chance to make another world possible in the midst of this Europe.

We talk about a Europe, that will be struggled for and won against the
powers of the old Europe, the Europe of the nation states, the old
Europe of colonialism, imperialism and fascism. One that will be won
against the powers of the existing Europe with its rightwinged and
postfascistic governments, with its progressive fantasies of great
power, it's regressive illusions of security and its unbroken and
unquestioned humanitarian hypocrisy.

We talk about a Europe, that has to be achieved against the new power of
an imperial command, that establishes the emergency state as a standard
and that planates the privlileges of a liberal society as well as the
hard-won zones of alleviated capitalistic exploitation.

In the end, we talk about a Europe, where we struggle less against the
existing but instead for a future. We talk about a virtual Europe. A
Europe that exists of and within many Europes. A Europe that could
already be anticipated in the past struggles of minorities, that is
about to rise from the struggles of the unemployed and undocumented
workers and that is going to grow in new union and enviornmental
movements. A Europe, that is already existing, in whose mid we are
living, but whose potential we may not really grasp yet.

The people, whom the hopes of a bare survival are robbed with the same
certainity as the right of self-determination, cannot be kept out of
Europe. They set off - if not voluntary, then with a good cause, with a
strong or last will to gain a better life.

Let us talk about an open Europe. A Europe that no longer tries to
secure and close itself. A Europe that will be captured from the rest of
the world. One that consists of everybody who is here or wants to get
here. A Europe without borders. A Europe, in which the interior and the
outside are so closely related that it turns out to be inseparably
connected with the world.

Let us talk about a minor Europe. A Europe without territory nor
identity. A Europe that belongs to all and where everybody belongs to,
who wants to - and may this be while passing by. A temporary Europe,
whose only and actual sense is to connect and to link, to build bridges
and to set up relations.

Let us talk about a democratic Europe. A Europe, that does not hold
majorities and therefore no minorities. A Europe, that does not part nor
expand but multiplies ongoing. A Europe where material as well as
immaterial rights belong to all human beings, no matter in which
injustice they where coincidentaly born into. A Europe that grants the
freedom of movement, the freedom of information and the right of a
decent living as well as the chance of a happy live to all people.

Let us talk about a productive Europe. A Europe that does not divide
people in useful and useless. A Europe, in which everyone is an expert.
A Europe that does not lock away knowledge as intellectual property but
release it for the universal use of the general intellect. A creative
Europe, in which the people own the means of production, that they need
in order to solve at least the most urgent problems of this world. A
Europe whose diversity, multiplicity and wealth are not produced on the
expanse of the remaining world, but contributes it to a globalization
that deserves this name.

[may 17th, 2002 temporary association 'everyone is an expert']

french version: http://listes.rezo.net/archives/zpajol/2002-06/msg00007.html

german version:
http://www.kein.org/cgi-bin/news/viewnews.cgi?newsid1023010315,89265,