Archive - Ubuntu Women Shelter

Decolonising 'A No Borders Manifesto'

@Edinburgh Anarchist Feminist Bookfair

Date: Saturday June 29th

Venue: City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, Nicholson Square

Accessibility: Physically accessible, contact eafb@riseup.net for more information

Childcare: Book your space here

Directions/Travel: Detailed information here

Introductory talk by Dania Thomas of Ubuntu Women Shelter and the Unity Centre, followed by a practical hands on session aimed at generating alternative 'no borders’ narratives informed by the lived experience of the hostile environment.

The 'no-borders manifesto' we uncritically rely on in our activism and define our strategic intervention with the state is defined by the violence of sustaining state borders, though it is necessary to keep this violence in sight at all times we overlook:

the sustaining and nurturing resistance to and redefinition of borders in our everyday lives and practical politics, and
our own complicity in perpetuating violence and exploitation through unconscious acts of everyday racism and gender violence.

This talk argues that the 'no borders manifesto' that we adopt reinforces centuries of colonial erasure of lived experience and as such hardwires white saviour and white guilt. This hardwiring is evidenced as a focus on political borders which overlooks centuries of institutional sedimentation to facilitate the unimpeded flows of financial capital to the ‘global north’ extracting value from the ‘global south’. These unimpeded flows have re-configured political borders, what we see in our work is evidence of only one border - ‘a border’ between the rich and the poor- the underclass - the invisible (‘the illegal migrant’) and the strategically visible (‘the asylum-seeker’ and ‘the good migrant’). In our work we engage with whole universes of possibility, ferment, creativity and care at capital’s border between ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ labour. At this border, the most pressing practical problem we face relates to representing strategic invisibility. In this hands-on discussion we hope to engender activist strategies to re-direct resource flows that sustain, celebrate and politicize strategic invisibility as practical support.

Ally with Sexworkers on Decriminalisation

Date: Sunday 26th May

Venue: Kinning Park Complex, 43 Cornwall Street, Glasgow G41 1BA

Time: 12 – 7pm

Access: Disabled access. Childcare & bus pass money available. Read for details below

*Ubuntu members will be on on the panels*

Join Scot-PEP, SWARM and Decrim Now for a day of panel discussions + films on sex worker’s labour rights, sex work & migration and how decriminalisation can help in the struggle for sex worker safety.

This is a public event where sex workers and allies can come together to speak on how their work intersects and how we can organise collectively in the struggle for sex working labour rights. We aim to bring awareness to the issues faced by sex workers whilst building alliances with other progressive movements.

Childcare and bus pass money available – see access below.

DISCUSSIONS & FILM SCREENING

12 – 1pm
Panel discussion – What impact do different legal frameworks around sex work have on sex workers and our safety? An opportunity to hear various international perspectives & get up to speed on the differences between legalisation and decriminalisation, the nordic model and what happens in New Zealand etc. With representatives from SWAI http://sexworkersallianceireland.org (Ireland), fuckforbundet https://www.fuckforbundet.com (Sweden), PION http://www.pion-norge.no (Norway), Umbrella Lane (Scotland) and STRASS http://strass-syndicat.org (France)

1 – 2pm Lunch

2 – 3pm
Panel discussion – Sex work is work. Hear from Union and sex work activists – https://www.gmb.org.uk GMB, https://iww.org.uk IWW, UVW https://www.uvwunion.org.uk/about/ – about the process of how their unions came to take a stance in favour of decriminalisation in solidarity with sex workers. A chance to explore in detail how you or your organisation can stand with sex workers.

3 – 3:30pm Break (Tea, coffee & snacks)

3:30 – 5pm Film screening

This sex-worker produced documentary tells the untold stories of people from five European countries (Serbia, Macedonia, France, Spain, and Norway) who come from very diverse backgrounds but have something in common – all of them are migrants who sell sex. By sharing their experiences as women, men, migrants, LGBT people, single mothers, Muslims, Roma and sex workers, they challenge the sensationalist portrayal of all sex workers as “prostituted women” and “trafficking victims”.�

Panel Discussion on the intersections between sex work and migration with representatives from Ubuntu Women Shelter http://www.ubuntu-glasgow.org.uk (Scotland), SWAI http://sexworkersallianceireland.org (Ireland) and more panel participants with insights in this area.

ACCESSING THE EVENTS:

If you’d like to come but something makes that difficult for you, we would love to hear from you. Please get in touch with Cloudberry via cloudberry@arika.org.uk

Venue Access
The ground floor (where the event is taking place) is fully wheelchair accessible with a wheelchair accessible toilet.

Upstairs where the childcare is taking place is only accessible via two flights of stairs, which have a handrail.

Bathrooms
Kinning Park Complex have two public toilet blocks on the ground-floor, both with single stall toilets. During the 26th May both toilet blocks will be gender neutral & available for everyone to use.

Bus Pass Money
We will have bus pass/local travel money available for people who wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise.

Child Care
Free childcare will be provided by PVG registered childminders. Pre-booking is not required but if you are able to let us know in advance it would be very useful.

TRAVEL DETAILS TO GET TO KPC:
KPC is opposite Kinning Park underground station, less than a 5 minute walk/wheel from major bus routes, close to cycle routes, and has easy access on/off the M8.

Underground – KPC can be reached by underground, being located across the road from the Kinning Park underground station. There are two flights of stairs that connect the concourse and the platforms.

Bike – KPC is close to cycle routes and accessible by bike from many parts of the city. We also have covered bike parking spaces for your bike when you arrive.

Bus – KPC is at the end of Cornwall Street, off Paisley Road West, which is a main bus route. Please check bus company timetables for details. Buses along Paisley Road West include:
Arriva – 36, 36E, 38, 38E; McGills – 38; First – 9, N9, 54, 54c, 56, 56a, 90, 121, 153

Coming from either direction, the bus stop outside the District Bar is the easiest landmark. From the Paisley direction, Cornwall Street is the second right in front of you. From Glasgow city centre it is the second right behind you.

On Paisley Road West the corner of Cornwall Street is marked by the Bellrock Bar and on the opposite side of Paisley Road West by the Grapes Bar.

Or you can follow signs for Kinning Park Underground Station and walk through Plantation Park. KPC is the three-storey red-sandstone building with big windows, on the right-hand side of the smaller white prefab nursery building. The entrance is around the back.