No Borders Camp begins On US/Mexican Border

On Wednesday 7 November around 200
people, successfully began the first ever bi-national protest camp in
the borderlands of Mexico and the United States.

This report is from the Mexicali, on
the Mexico side of the camp.

On this day, 18 years after the fall of
the Berlin wall, we began with a bi-national meeting in the centres
of Mexicali/Calexico. Participating were folks from Mexicali,
indigenous Cucapa people from Baja California, and others from many
states of Mexico and parts of the world.

Drumming on the border fence between
us, we talked and interviewed one another, flew banners and flags,
and shouted various chants in spanish and english. After about an
hour of conviviality "sin fronteras" around 150 people on
the US side and 50 on the Mexican side began the 2 hour march to the
campsite.

During the march, the Mexican crew were
accompanied by 1 mexican federal police car and a few local police on
quad bikes for part of the way. The police presence in the USA was
somewhat heavier but there were no arrests. Marching along the large
road next to the border, in the dusty 30+ degree heat, we were able
to hear the shouts of the northern contingent although we couldn't
see them.

Arriving at the campsite tensions rose,
as we were greeted by around 15 US Border Patrol agents with an
assortment of weapons (including pepper pellet guns) and high-tech
surveillance equipment. Via megaphone, they informed us that we were
on US territory and if we advanced any further we would be arrested.
After a quick meeting, we decided we would not acknowledge their
border, and began to set up camp in the planned location.

A bi-national game of volleyball over
the fence lightened the mood as participants got to work constructing
a kitchen, media centre, first aid space and composting toilets. Then
for many it was time to sleep while others stayed up keeping watch,
aided by Border Patrol's floodlights.

On the Mexican side, non-US citizens
were continually threatened with arrest if they crossed to so-called
US soil. This was in contrast to the "other side", where
activists were permitted to cross initially, which facilitated
intercamp communncation, and the sharing of food and other resources.
Unforunately, this freedom of movement was revoked within a few
hours.

Initial meetings about the camp had
decided that only alternative and independent media would be
communicated with, due to the almost constant mis-representation of
activism in the mass media.

During dinner a mainstream TV crew
invaded the Mexican camp and attempted to film without permission, or
any communication with the camp participants. They were swiftly and
peacefully evicted and asked not to return.

The camp is an autonomous space,
self-organised by participants who are working and fighting to create
a world where no-one is illegal. For more background information
please read the 1st Communique from the camp also posted here on
indymedia aotearoa.

The No Borders camp is on the land of
Tohono O'odham people. We acknowledge the continuing colonialisation
of indigenous peoples lands in Mexico, the Americas, and world-wide,
and the illegitimacy of borders constructed by police states.

The camp will continue until Sunday the
11th with workshops, skillshares, cultural activities, and
de-centralised actions. Communiques will be published to indymedia
daily.