Elephant in the room #38 – Update on the situation at the polish-belarusian border

For many years the authoritarian regime of Lukashenko was providing the European Union with border security. The deal was simple – the dictator prevents refugees going through Belarus to the EU and gets money and training for the border guards in return. Despite sanctions from 2011 to 2015 Frontex was actively supporting and developing the Belarusian border regime.

At the end of 2020 the Situation changed. The EU imposed sanctions in response to the brutal repression of the uprising in Belarus against the dictatorship. Lukashenko, in turn, stopped protecting the borders. This created a new route to enter the EU. The conservative governments of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia introduced laws to legalize push backs and started militarizing the borders. Poland created a so-called restricted zone where nobody except residence, police and military is allowed.

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Elephant in the room #37 – Anarchists and war in Ukraine

For weeks, Putin has been moving military forces in the direction of Ukraine. Over 120 000 soldiers with military equipment spread all around the border. The chance of military invasion is extremely high with Ukrainian government mobilizing forces and different countries sending military support. Putin continues to build up military pressure. Official reason: attempt to stop expansion of NATO. In reality, we see Russian imperial politics in action with an attempt to return influence over Ukraine.

Anarchist in Ukraine have their own perspective on what is happening as well as what can be done in upcoming situation. We spoke to the activist currently living in the country about past, present and possible future of political conflicts in Ukraine and outside it.

art – David Chichkan

Elephant in the room #36 – Steps to food sovereignty in Germany

In this show we talk about food sovereignty. The right for people to define their agricultural and food policy without any interference of market policies. We learn about concepts implemented in Germany, which try to apply basic principles of food sovereignty. We discuss developments and challenges in already established structures and learn about self education projects for organic farmer.

Elephant in the room #34 – DIY Internet

In this episode we met with a tech comrade Bikepunk from France who is participating in the federation of small Internet Service Providers in the country. We will be talking about reasons behind DIY network approach and how simple people benefit from non-commercial network providers.

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Activists at the polish-belarusian border – A call for Solidarity #35

Since several weeks now the situation is becoming more and more dramatic at the polish-belarusian border. People try to cross and get pushed back by the polish border guards. Police, military and other forces hunting people in the forest to prevent them coming to poland. The weather is cold, the area swampy, people don´t have food, suffering from hypotermia, are injured from the fences and often get pushed back several times. More and more activists and NGO´s organize themself to help people to survive and give solidarity. How those work look right now and what do people experience through there stay at the border you will find in our show with three activists from different initiatives.

Contact to independent activist from no borders: borderofshame[at]riseup.net