The march 'Abriendo fronteras 2024' is kicking off on July 12. The initiative is organized by Spanish activists to promote migrant hosting. This year, it will reach the Balkans with stops in Italian cities including Padua and Trieste.
The 2024 edition of the event 'Abriendo fronteras' will kick off on July 12, an initiative in favor of migrant hosting promoted by Spanish activists, organizers announced, criticizing European migration policies.
The activists will stop in various Italian locations on their way to the Balkans, the organizers added.
The objectives of the initiative
"The central elements of this journey will be denouncing the violence endured by people on the move and policies and media reports fuelling it," organizers explained.
The project will see the participation of 220 people who will travel from Bilbao to Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona, moving initially by bus to Padua.
Subsequently, the group (joined along the way by more participants) is planning to take part on Monday, July 15, in an "anti-militarist" demonstration at the NATO base of Aviano, to then proceed to Bihac in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The group will then head back to Italy, in the area of Trieste, where several initiatives have been planned. The journey will wrap up on July 21 in Spain.
Organizers stated that the initiative aims to highlight the situation of people in transit along the Balkan route and learn from past and present experiences of resistance.
It seeks to showcase the violence endured by migrants, including sexist and racist abuse, and to denounce the externalization and militarization of borders, Frontex, arms trade, migrant deaths, and the exploitation of the global south and the planet, organizers stated.
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'Increasing dehumanization'
The organizers wrote on the website abriendofronteras.net that the situation is compounded by the "rise of the far right with the ensuing proliferation of xenophobic, racist, sexist and colonialist speech; and the growing militarization of this Europe involved in the business of war."
"Europe's increasing dehumanization makes the continuity of this experience of collective protest even more necessary," said organizers.
The initiative moreover aims to build networks resisting European policies, such as the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which they say undermine the human rights of migrants.