RELEASE: 2020 Open Borders Conference – Imagining a World Without Walls

Friday, November 20, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
David Bennion, 646-441-0741, [email protected]
Fabio Rojas, 812-369-5242, [email protected]

When: Saturday, November 21, 2020, 8:45 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (EST)
Where: Zoom and YouTube – Register Here

The one-day 2020 Open Borders Conference will be a virtual space for people to come together to learn about an immigration policy framework based on the human right of freedom of movement. Conference presenters will lead a dialogue exploring immigration policies that protect human liberty and dignity instead of further militarizing the border and persecuting immigrant communities.

Hear from keynote speakers Harsha Walia, Shikha Dalmia, Samah Sisay, and Helena Maleno Garzón, who will be joined by other experts in a day-long dialogue on the theory and practice of open borders immigration policy.  

“If we learned anything from the various walls and refugee crises, we should know that national boundaries do not restrict mobility, they restrict rights,” noted conference panelist Dalia Abdelhady, Associate Professor of Sociology at Lund University, Sweden.

Now in its third year, the conference is being held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, when conference attendees are unable to convene in person. Free movement is a topic of great public concern and discussion. “Many of the immigration restrictions imposed by governments during the COVID-19 pandemic have more to do with power and privilege than with public health,” said David Bennion, one of the conference organizers and Executive Director of Free Migration Project. “Anti-immigrant governments have capitalized on the pandemic to implement restrictionist policies for political gain while simultaneously concentrating and spreading COVID-19 through mass detention and deportation.”

The 2020 Open Borders Conference aims to create a space to collectively imagine a world without borders. Speakers will address pathways for enacting this vision and arguments for why open borders politics would dramatically improve public safety, prosperity, and equality. 

 

The 2020 Open Borders Conference is Sponsored By: 

Pangea Legal Services envisions a world where the fundamental right to move is respected and appreciated by all. Pangea stands with immigrant communities by providing direct legal services and advocating on behalf of our community through policy advocacy, education, and legal empowerment efforts. 

Free Migration Project is a nonprofit organization that represents immigrant clients in their legal proceedings, provides legal support and training to organizers, and advocates for fair and open immigration laws.