Before us are the violent borders that restrict movement to support the mechanisms of racial capitalism.

Before us we hear the Zapatistas call out: Make the road while walking.

Before us are the daily tasks of building and maintaining the fragile infrastructure of a collective, so it can support its members and welcome new members.

Before us are all the falsehoods and misunderstandings surrounding so-called ‘border problems’ and ‘border crisis’, which are actually symptomatic of broader problems like violent conflict, oppressive regimes, economic inequalities, and the increasing frequency of environmental disasters worldwide.

Before us is an international system of racial imperialism, perpetrating many injustices and placing the refugee and migrant at the centre of the struggle against it as a system.

Before us is the knowledge that borders operate invisibly within states, undermining the capacity of refugees and migrants to thrive – let alone survive – in the places they find themselves.

Before us are two large pieces of paper covered with a dense arrangement of hand-drawn, handwritten ideas – diagrams and thought models towards writing our collective manifesto. After much collective hairsplitting and discussion, it was decided that it’s impossible to find the right language and format for this manifesto. We’ve decided to pursue manifestations of direct action and solidarity instead.

Before us in the not-far off future is the realisation that the fate of the refugee will not be an anomaly and exception as it is now seen to be. Rather, it will be something the vast majority of the world’s population will face firsthand because of the many global crises and the mass displacement of populations resulting from them.

Before us is the line that needs to be crossed to find another way.

Before us is a place where notions of place and self become interchangeable, and an imaginary community of its own making is possible.

Before us is the search for ways of paying undocumented refugees while knowing that there’s no way other than practices of fraud (How do you pay those whose existence is not recognised?).

Before us is our desire to build something different, immediately.

Before us are future fruits of our daily acts of disobedience and solicitude.