On the Justice of Tearing Down Fences and Dismantling Borders

A Joint Statement of No One Is Illegal Toronto, No One Is Illegal Vancouver, No One Is Illegal Halifax, No One Is Illegal Montreal and No One Is Illegal Ottawa – April 28, 2011

No One Is Illegal groups continue to struggle on the streets for migrant justice across North America against increasingly repressive and racist immigration controls. We join together once again this year with workers around the world during May Day demonstrations to assert our dignity and affirm international solidarity with those who dare to challenge borders and capitalism. We also take our struggle to the courts where a member of No One Is Illegal, Jaggi Singh, is pleading guilty to counseling to commit mischief and is facing six months in prison (INFO: www.clac-montreal.net/jaggi), for rightfully asserting that the G20 security fence was illegitimate and courageously calling for it to be torn down!

Close to one year ago, No One is Illegal joined with thousands on the streets of Toronto and dared to dream of a world without borders and fences. We marched with Indigenous people, migrants, poor people, people of colour, queer and trans people, feminists, disabled people, anarchists, anti-poverty activists, rank and file labour activists, anti-capitalists, environmental justice activists, and community organizers to confront the G20 leaders in Toronto.

We dared to challenge the illegitimate fence that separated the rich and powerful elite conspiring to an agreement of global austerity at the G20 from the people on the streets who inevitably are meant to bear the brunt of these policies. We reclaimed power, we shook the fence, and we broke through the police lines. We then went back to our communities and continued building our movements for social, economic, and environmental justice and autonomy.

Today, we unite again in solidarity with our friends and allies who challenged the validity of the G20 security fence and are facing state repression. Those facing charges, including members of No One Is Illegal Toronto and Montreal, have been targeted and persecuted because of their work struggling for self-determination in our communities. The state's attempt to criminalize these individuals is a targeted attempt to silence our movements. But we have not allowed the courts, the police, or the media to divide our solidarity. We demand the immediate release and dropping of charges of all those still facing criminal charges.

The Crown and the courts are alleging it is a crime to challenge and call for the dismantling of the fence. We collectively stand by the public statements made by various members of No One Is Illegal and our allies at the People's Summit, the press conference at the fence, and our joint release. We asserted then, and we assert now, that the militarized fence - another physical and ideological symbol of global apartheid, corporate greed, and a way to keep the elite separate from the people – should have come down.

We recall that the same things were said of the acts of those who built the Underground Railroad, of those who dared to challenge slavery. We recall that the same things were said of those who tore down the walls of the Woomera detention camp, who dared to challenge racist and xenophobic borders. We recall that the same things were said of those who tore down the fences of Bantustans, who dared to resist Apartheid in South Africa. We reassert that the G20 fence among all other barriers that prevent ordinary people from making meaningful decisions about their lives must be torn down!

And we will tear the fences down. While the security state may have weapons of destruction, we too have weapons: weapons of hope, weapons of unity, weapons of solidarity – and they will overcome these fences!

The type of repression that has followed the G20 is symptomatic of the broader policies of exploitation that are the daily reality for Indigenous, poor and racialized communities. The G8 and G20 leaders and their corporate masters erect borders, manufacture weaponry, pillage the earth with industrial projects, and profit from war. The repression of migrants in Canada has steadily increased – we have seen unprecedented powers transferred to the Immigration Minister and enforcement officers to determine who can come into Canada and who is left out; we have seen major cuts to family reunification programs, to work visas, to avenues for permanent residency. New regulations mean that temporary migrant workers are permanently temporary, exploited and indentured, while thousands of refugees and asylum seekers remain behind bars in detention centres.

Daily, we stand in solidarity with those who are deemed “illegal” by the colonial state and are forced to live under the threat of detention and deportation. And daily, we organize against the racism and xenophobia that defines the history of colonization and displacement in Canada. We are growing and building as movements, and on May 1st thousands will take to the streets to assert that our dreams don’t fit in ballot boxes. That tangible political changes will only happen through the grassroots mobilization of our communities. We call on everyone residing on these occupied Indigenous lands to join us on the streets, in community centres, in schools, in work places, in parks and all other places where we are building resistance everyday. No One is Illegal unites with all of those around the world who are resisting austerity measures – from Greece to Egypt, from Chiapas to Six Nations, from Haiti to Palestine.

We understand that revolution at its root is driven by people’s dreams and desires. No Fences, No Borders! No One Is Illegal, Canada Is Illegal!

www.nooneisillegal.org

* June 19 Videos, courtesy NOII-Toronto, of No One Is Illegal and allies
at the People's Summit "“Colonialism, Capitalism, and Migration":
http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=2870

* June 22 Statement “No One Is Illegal at the G8/G20 Mobilizations in
Toronto”:
http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/3703

* June 24th Video of No One Is Illegal and Indigenous Defenders of the
Land at “No Fences, No Borders” press conference at the G20 fence in
Toronto: http://bchannelnews.tv/?p=5690

* July 3rd Statement "No One Is Illegal Solidarity with the anti-G20
Resistance":
http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=2108

**NOTE: No one criminally charged with being involved in anti-G20 related actions was involved in drafting or writing this statement.

No One Is Illegal at the G8/G20 Mobilizations in Toronto

Joint Statement of No One Is Illegal Toronto, No One Is Illegal Vancouver,
No One Is Illegal Halifax, No One Is Illegal Montreal, No One Is Illegal
Ottawa

No Fences, No Borders!
No One Is Illegal, Canada Is Illegal!

As most of you have heard, from June 25th to 27th the world’s richest countries (the G8 and G20) will send their poli-trickers and banking elite, along with heads of the EU, IMF and World Bank, to meet in Huntsville and then in Toronto. They will be talking bailouts, corporate
green-washing, and how to further deepen their own and their friends’ pockets. The G8 and G20 countries and their corporations make most of the weapons on the planet, profit from war, subsidize oil corporations and massive industrial projects and are responsible for pushing millions out of their homes and on to borders and fences each year. Migrants arriving
in G20 countries are treated as exploitable labour, fenced in to precarious work and often live in fear of detention and deportation.

This week, thousands will converge in Toronto to expose and challenge the deadly policies of the G8 and the G20. No One Is Illegal, a grassroots anti-colonial migrant justice group across Kanada with members primarily of racialized/immigrant background, will be there! We will fight to create a world free of the many fences and borders that divide us, and to create
communities that all can live with justice and dignity. We invite our friends and allies to join us and particularly for those who are vulnerable (as people of colour, trans folks, non status etc) we encourage you to form affinity groups to support each other and to stay safe.

On June 22nd, we will join our allies in the gender justice and queer liberation movements in their fierce and creative actions grounded in the daily lived experiences of women, queer, and trans folks to overcome marginalization. As part of No One Is Illegal’s Access Without Fear
campaign, we will be demanding the right to Shelter, to Sanctuary, and to Status for all migrant women and trans people. On June 23rd, we will gather with environmental justice activists exposing institutions and corporations responsible for the environmental and social impacts of
Canada's extractive industries at home and abroad.

On June 24th, we will stand alongside Indigenous defenders who struggle across Turtle Island against centuries of colonial and genocidal policies that have caused impoverishment, forced assimilation of distinct cultures, and theft of land and resources. As non-native multiracial supporters, we strongly believe that our movement must always be in active solidarity
with Indigenous communities.

On June 25th, we will march alongside community groups who daily organize against the indignities and dehumanization of poverty, discrimination, lack of inclusive services, wage-slave working conditions, repressive immigration policies, gentrification, environmental degradation, and police brutality. Joining struggles against homelessness and displacement,
we will march towards the fence and will build a Tent City that will showcase the just communities we wish to live in.

On June 26th, we will rally alongside anti war activists demanding an end to Canadian complicity in imperialist occupations from Afghanistan to Haiti. We will be alongside working people to oppose patriarchy, racism, privatization, cuts to services, and exploitation of (im)migrant workers; to demand living wages, workers control, and status for all; and to make
clear that the violence of capitalism cannot be reformed.

On June 26, we will also rise alongside anti-capitalists and radical labour activists who are continuing towards the fence to confront the police state and the billion dollar security apparatus that the G20 finance ministers and corporations hide behind. Just as resistance against the border walls from Palestine to Mexico cannot be contained, our love and rage for liberation cannot be contained. We assert: the militarized fence - another physical and ideological symbol of global apartheid, corporate greed, and a way to keep the elite separate from the people -should come down.

On the evening of June 26th, we will party alongside those reclaiming the streets, while on June 27th we will join prison abolitionists highlighting the growing insecurity and repression of the prison and surveillance industrial complex.

In the coming week, we encourage all our allies to join us on the streets and unite for justice. For a world with self-determination for all Indigenous communities; environmental justice; income equity and community control over resources; migrant justice; gender, queer, disability, and reproductive rights; and freedom for all oppressed peoples; Rise in
struggle till all the walls and fences fall!

“Walls turned on their sides, are bridges.”
- Graffiti on US/Mexico border wall

www.nooneisillegal.org

* For further details on these events and information on Accessibility,
Legal, Medics, Schedule, and more:
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/

* For G20 and G8 People's Convergence Breaking Updates:
http://2010.mediacoop.ca/
To contribute to this site, please tag youtube, twitter and flickr posts
with #g20report.

* Independent media:
http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/
http://rabble.ca/
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/altmedia

* Toronto Community Mobilization Network Solidarity and Respect Statement:
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/SolidarityRespect

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Migrant Justice Activists Protest Bill C-11

Refugee Reforms will hurt refugee claimants

HALIFAX -- Early this morning, migrant justice activists dropped a banner reading “Status for Refugees: No to Bill C-11” from the Cogswell interchange, in protest of the refugee reform bill currently being debated in parliament. The protests came in response to a visit by Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney, who is responsible for the proposed reforms.

“Already people are falling through the cracks in the refugee system and are deported to unsafe situations” says Jane Kirby, a member of No One is Illegal-Halifax. “These reforms will only impose further hardship on those who are fleeing unsafe situations”.

The proposed reforms would create a two-tier system for refugee claimants based on their country of origin, limit the availability of mechanisms like the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment and Humanitarian and Compassionate applications to refugees, and process claims so quickly as to deny refugees adequate preparation.

“It's the people who face real risks who will suffer most from these 'fast track' reforms. It makes it harder to be accepted as a refugee in Canada, which is already difficult”, says David Parker of No One is Illegal, who also criticizes the streaming of refugee claimants based on their country of origin, such that those from so-called safe countries would be denied appeal and have their claims fast-tracked. “This erodes the whole concept of justice by allowing non-judges to determine a refugee's risk not based on the individual, but based on origin. This is discrimination, and is unacceptable for a country that claims to uphold human rights”.

Critics also disagree with Kenney's claim that these reforms are necessary to combat “abuse and a backlog” in the refugee system. “This backlog was created by Kenney and the Harper government when they delayed appointments to the Immigration and Refugee Board in 2006 and 2007”, says Kirby, a member of No One is Illegal-Halifax. “Kenney created this crisis and cannot be trusted to fix it. Refugees should not be punished for Kenney's mistakes”.

Grassroots activists across the country have called for Jason Kenney's dismissal. He is best known for his appointing of a known anti-gay activist to the Immigration and Refugee Board, his barring of British MP George Galloway from Canada because of his support for Palestine, and for his frequent inflammatory and anti-immigrant comments. He has also overseen the largest immigration raids in Canadian history, including a large raid in a mall in West-End Toronto earlier this week.

In December 2009, Kenney cut the number of refugees accepted in Canada from 29,000 to 12,000. Although Kenney claims that the new refugee reforms would add 2500 new spaces for refugees in Canada, 2000 of these would have to be privately funded. Even with these additions, this still represents a 14,500 person cut in the number of refugees accepted.

“So many people are denied refugee status who actually deserve it and need it”, says Parker. “Federal immigration fails to take seriously the real risks these migrants face: The risks they faced just to get here to Canada, and the real risks they face if returning”.

In Halifax this past March, a man from Eritrea committed suicide upon hearing that his refugee claim was rejected. In December 2008, a young woman was murdered within months of being forced to return to Mexico, after applying for asylum in Canada twice. This came as Kenney was imposing visa requirements on Mexicans, claiming that they were bogus.

“These stories are not that uncommon”, says Kirby. “We should be putting the needs of people first, and opening our borders to immigrants and refugees, not closing them”.