See you in a moment for the 5th Annual Open Borders Conference today!
Join us! Still time to register for the timely quinquennial Open Borders Conference!
Fellow border abolitionists, advocates for open borders and free movement, & open borders/ border abolitionist-curious comrades,
Good morning/ afternoon/ night! We hope you’re well!
Today, October 29, 2022, is the fifth annual Open Borders Conference!
The Open Borders Conference is an annual one-day event, so be sure to join us today, Saturday, October 29, 2022, from 9 am to 6 pm EST! Check out our conference schedule below!
The #OpenBordersConference is a grassroots conference that brings people together who are border abolitionists, advocates for open borders and free movement, open borders/ border abolitionist-curious, and who want to envision a world where folks have the freedom to move without the horrific and violent experiences of borders and boundaries, to be with those they love, to be able to support themselves and/or their families, to be safe, and not to fear that the state will harm them in some way for purely existing.
We are all humans walking this earth. We should be free to move and live where we please, negating imaginary lines called “borders” and “boundaries” created by nation-states. And tragically, only to uphold capital, anti-Blackness, white supremacy, xenophobia, queer and transphobia, pos-phobia/ serophobia, Islamophobia, and more.
The creation of these divisions, or "othering" by the state, is only a formation of violence. Whether through expulsion, quarantine, back to the kidnapping and enslavement of African peoples, chattel slavery, and the plantation, is what our #21obc keynote, Dr. Karma Chávez, refers to as “Alienizing Logic” in her keynote about her book last year, The Borders of AIDS: Race, Quarantine, and Resistance.
The exploitation, criminalization, intentional creation of geopolitical violence, imperialism, global and climate apartheid, bordering, and control of brown and Black bodies are what we are fighting back against with the annual Open Borders Conference gathering.
Join our community and help us build a movement to fight back against allowing the “Alienizing Logic” of the empire(s) to continue. Be an active participant with us in the struggle for a borderless and boundaryless world.
The Quinquennial Open Borders Conference is incredibly timely. We are in an era of extreme border and boundary violence by the imperial core, the global rise of neo-fascism, state surveillance at every turn, climate destruction in the global majority (“global South”) caused by neoliberalism, and so much more, leaving people to choose to leave their homelands, whether they desire to or not.
Today’s Open Borders Conference speakers discuss these topics and more from various political perspectives. Join us!
5th Annual Open Borders Conference Schedule
We are thrilled to have our two incredible keynote speakers in our fifth year, Guerline Jozef and Chandran Kukathas.
Please review the complete schedule on our new website (and explore)!
But for your convenience, here is a quick rundown of the schedule of our day together:
9:00 am - 9:10 AM EST - Welcome & Opening Remarks
9:15 am - 10:15 am EST - Keynote Chandran Kukathas is the author of the book Immigration and Freedom, published in 2021 by Princeton University Press.
10:15 am- 10:45 am EST - Roundtable - Open Borders Conference: Histories & Futures
10:45 am- 11:45 am EST - Meal Break (Hey! We’re International, so we accommodate all ✨“meal times”✨)
12:00 pm EST- 1 pm EST - Panel - Abolishing Surveillance: Resisting Internal and External Borders
1:15 pm- 2:15 pm EST - Panel - Resistance as Praxis: Creative Strategies for a Borderless World
2:30 pm- 3:30 pm EST - Panel - Open Borders: The Bigger Picture
3:45 pm- 4:50 pm EST - Keynote Intro & Keynote - Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, co-founder of the Black Immigrant Bail Fund, and Cameroon Advocacy Network.
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm EST - “Healing In Justice with Yasmin Yonis session where the community can come together and discuss healing and liberation.
We’re ecstatic to feature two brilliant keynote speakers, three panels, one roundtable, and one special session his year! Learn more about our exciting speakers on our new website!
We care about community & building a movement! Join us!
If you are a student and need access to our Educational Justice Fund, please complete the brief form on our website!
If you are a community member and want to attend but need the fee waived, no problem! Please email us at contact@openbordersconference.org for the Community Justice Fund, no questions asked!
We are working to build a movement, and we want you to be a part of the building with us. There’s still time to register for #22obc: 2022 Open Borders Conference; join us. Tickets are sliding scale, starting only at $5 for directly impacted folks and students, ranging to general admission at the low rate of $20. Register and join us today before time runs out!
Support the sustainability of the Open Borders Conference!
Finally, the Open Borders Conference (OBC) is an entirely grassroots project. Committed to financial transparency to the broader community, the Open Borders Conference Steering Committee is volunteer-run and does not receive compensation for labor. Open Borders Conference generates funds through low-cost ticket sales to ensure access to the annual conference. All funds go to pay keynote speakers, panelists, and journalist moderators. We also pay interpreters.
Free Migration Project fiscally sponsors us, but the OBC Steering and Advisory Committee cultivates all funds for the conference. One of our priorities is to provide compensation to Black organizers impacted by migration restrictions for their labor on our Steering and/or Advisory Committee to ensure equitable involvement and access to leadership within the Open Borders Conference.
Open Borders Conference hopes that those with the financial ability and who are committed to full democratic participation and respect for human rights will mark this incredible event with us today by donating to Open Borders Conference’s fiscal priorities via one of our critical funds, the (new!) Black Undocumented Organizer Justice Fund, Educational Justice Fund, and the Educational Justice Fund. Please read more below about our Financial Priorities!
We look forward to seeing you in just a bit today, Saturday, October 29, 2022!
Sincerely,
#22obc: 2022 Open Borders Conference Advisory & Steering Committees
Jamila Hammami, Khury Petersen-Smith, Melissa Chandler Bermúdez, Aly Wane, Shirleen Achieng, & Fabio Rojas
Learn more about Open Borders Conference’s fiscal priorities, including the new Black Undocumented Justice Fund, Educational Justice Fund, Language Justice Fund, and the general Open Borders Conference Fund!
Support the sustainability of the Open Borders Conference!
Black Undocumented Organizer Justice Fund
The new Black Undocumented Organizer Justice Fund was created this year to compensate Black folks impacted by migration restrictions to ensure equitable involvement and access to leadership roles within the Open Borders Conference.
The Black Undocumented Organizer Justice Fund is a primary fiscal priority of the Open Borders Conference. The OBC Steering and Advisory Committees to compensate Black organizers impacted by migration restrictions for their labor on our Steering and/or Advisory Committee. Black migratory communities have historically been invisibilized in the broader immigration movement, leaving Black folks seeking to move at the mercy of global apartheid immigration enforcement. In comparison, the broader movement continues to engage in anti-Blackness and ignore the needs of Black migrants. Keep an eye out for an upcoming podcast with Shirleen Achieng and Jamila Hammami discussing the vital nature of this fund.
Limited #22obc: Language Justice Fund Poster
We also hope you will purchase your Limited #22obc: Open Borders Conference Language Justice Fund Poster (Check out the posters in Spanish and English below) and support the Open Borders Conference Language Justice Fund! We are grateful for your commitment and for being a part of creating the Open Borders Conference Language Justice Fund with us!
