Border 04 - On tour in East-Europe ...

In cooperation with local initiatives, media- and culture centers, old and new borders of administratory Europe will be revealed, researched and broken through. Beyond of political borders does virtual Europe exist? An open Europe, which isn"t anymore focussed on integration or exclusion, but rather on freedom of movement and freedom of communication?

Warsaw: Supposebly at old stadium, that serves as huge daily fleamarket you can buy everything, eg. also fake passports. By our short visit last year we found there especially unlimited trade of all pirate products, from newest DVD"s till Nike shoes. Visible for us been number of African sellers, which with this business supported their survival and collected money for their next "jump": farther West. We met some, that been here since few years, some was even shortly in Germany, but then got deported back to Poland according to certain laws. And he will try again as thousands of transmigrants, that waiting for their chance not only in Warsaw...

Ushgorod: It is an open "secret", that Ukraina borders with Hungary or Slovakia is so carefully guarded by ukrainian border police, also simply to secure their own money income. Official wage don"t offer good life, so bribes from smugglers are neccessery additionary income. In real, nobody supposed to go through without it. Yet, strenghtening of border regime goes in Ukraine on many levels. EU membership is far away, yet pressure from Schengen standards is visible. New deportation camps for refugees and migrants had been in last years builded not only along internal new EU borders (from Slovenia, through Hungary till Baltic states), but also here. Situation in 2 secluded and military guarded camps near Mukatchevo (some 80 km from Ushgorod), in which some 1000 people are kept under worst horrible condition speaks for itself...

Arad: Since many years women from this romanian city are coming to Germany as seasonal workers. They work e.g. at spargel or strawberry harvest for minimal (according to german wages) money. Still, 2 months of this work bring them more than one year of work according to romanian realities... if they"ll get paid! In summer 2002 a farmer in german Lampertsheim cheated on 18 of these women. They resisted, with support of one initiative also on jurisdical level and been able to defend their demands in front of the court. Yet, it was only because of coincidences, that possibility of demanding their rights at all appeared. In one video-project we interviewed some of them and asked about their motivations and doubts concerning hard work in West ...