Why we need No Borders to achieve Climate Justice by the No Borders in Climate Justice Collective
As we wade through a cluster of crises we bear witness to the deterioration of our ecosystem and the destruction of our communities. In the UK, a new bill has just been proposed by the Conservative government which will prevent people seeking asylum if they have arrived through “illegal” routes. In a similar vein, across Europe, draconian policies towards migrants have intensified, creating murderous conditions for those seeking refuge. These imperialistic practices which govern our ability to move freely have also shaped the abuse and exploitation of the living world for hundreds of years. The fight to destroy borders is part of our struggle to reimagine the relationships humans have with nature.
At the end of the summer 2022 a group of activists involved in both migrant and climate justice movements created a collective called ‘No Borders in Climate Justice.’ We recognised that the two movements needed to be even more intertwined because in order to achieve the scale of transformation necessary to confront the climate crisis, we need to build a shared conceptual framework between movements. Since then we have been putting on workshops and using social media to disseminate our message.
Our demand is clear. We need no borders to achieve climate justice. We believe that people should have the freedom to move and the freedom to stay. This means we fight to end the climate crisis so that people will not be forced to move, and also we fight for the abolition of borders so that as the climate crisis inevitably exacerbates, people will be able to seek safety.
It is important to note that the relationship of domination between humans and nature is inseparable from relationships of domination between humans. It is impossible to transform our relationship with the earth, from a relationship of domination to one of mutuality, if we legitimize a system where the earth is divided into nation states according to colonial logic. It is those who are most targeted and impacted by this colonial violence who are most impacted by the climate crisis and whose voices are the most ignored.
Borders are the physical manifestation of the systems of domination and racist hierarchy that have also fueled the climate crisis: a colonial mindset that renders the natural world and human beings as resources to be commodified, categorized and disappeared in the pursuit of power and capital. We recognise how the border facilitates the polluting industries that exacerbate climate chaos. Countries like the UK use their dominance to outsource production across the border, along with the blame for resulting emissions and ecological destruction. By linking climate and border abolition struggles more directly, as well as giving power to each other as we react against this violence, we can strengthen our shared analysis and fight against the root causes of both borders and climate change – white supremacist, patriarchal capitalism.
As more people are forced to flee we see the violent and discriminatory nature of borders. They exist to keep poorer and racialised people out of richer countries and they preserve the privilege of the wealthy at the expense of the poor. But borders do not really stop people from moving. All they do is make it more dangerous for people to move. Over 20,000 migrants have died in the Mediterranean region since 2014. Across Europe people are beaten by police, locked up in detention centers and forced to stay in camps. In France thousands are at the border waiting to cross to the UK, left in dire conditions without access to adequate food, water or shelter. As the climate crisis worsens and more people are being forced to move, the same countries that are most responsible for the climate crisis are the ones who are further militarising their borders. The power of borders to control who can move will become a power to decide who lives and who dies. We must abolish borders because we cannot allow this power to be in the hands of states and national governments, because we know who will be left to die.
One of our aims is to take the conversation around migration in the climate movement beyond the framework of ‘climate refugees’. The call for climate refugees to be recognised is the main way that borders have come into mainstream climate campaigning. Although we recognise the importance of this focus, we also know that creating another category, which, within our current regime will inevitably be aggressively gatekept and difficult to access, legitimises the idea that only certain people deserve to move. Categorizing migrants into “deserving” and “undeserving” legitimizes the border, and feeds into outdated colonial practices that influence how to interact with each other.
Demands for safe and legal routes for refugees to enter Europe and the UK are important but they are also at risk of legitimising this categorisation, and are not demanding enough in their scale. As states in the global north are becoming less democratic and more authoritarian, and global elites are being greedy in their demands for further destruction of the planet for the sake of their bank accounts, our demands for justice must be even greater.
We are fighting for the abolition of borders because we want an end to hostile environments, to detention, deportation, militarisation and surveillance. We want people who have recently arrived, or who have been living without documents for many years, to have the same rights and access to a home, a family, community, work, education and a dignified life as everyone else, whether they were forced to move or chose to. We want a world where all people have the freedom to move and to stay. We want a world where a person’s worth is not based on the passport they carry, and as the intersecting crises of climate and capitalism worsen we will not accept a world where arbitrary lines on a map will have the power of life and death over people.
We are told it is a pipe dream to have no borders, but Capital, big business and the super rich already live in a world without borders. Multinational companies cross borders to avoid paying taxes, set up factories that destroy the planet, and exploit cheap labour by pitting workers of different countries against each other in a race to the bottom. The world’s richest can also buy citizenship in different countries. It’s one set of rules for them and another for the rest of us. In order to really achieve climate justice we must have a world without borders for people, not just for money. We must have a world where we are fighting to change the conditions that produce the need for people to move, but also for a world where people can move freely without the risk of violence.
As the climate crisis worsens and right wing governments continue to treat those who cross borders as less than human, we are committed to embodying a liberatory and abolitionist practice. The fight to end the climate crisis must include the fight to abolish borders to ensure that those on the front lines of climate breakdown are able to move freely to seek safety. In order to achieve the scale of transformation necessary to confront the climate crisis, we will continue to build a shared conceptual framework between movements and work from a shared paradigm. Join us in our abolitionist practices by coming along to a workshop, organising one for your networks and integrating a no borders approach to the way you view climate justice.
Follow us on Instagram for information about upcoming workshops – @no.borders.in.climate.justice
If you interested in organising a workshop for your group or collective email us – nobordersclimatejustice@gmail.com
No Borders in Climate Justice is a collective of activists based in the UK working towards connecting the movements for climate justice and border abolition.