Who are No Borders Herbals
A self-organised project of grassroots herbalists and organisers distributing herbal medicine packs to people on the move across the so-called Balkan route.
No Borders Herbals stems from the need to create autonomous healthcare networks in our regions and across borders. The project, made up of international radical herbalists, anarchists, organisers and plant lovers, aims to self-produce herbal medicine for first aid and acute conditions, working as closely as possible with local groups and people already active on the ground.
Some of us are clinically trained, others are self-learners with hands-on medicine making experience, some are long-term community organisers. Learning basic first aid and taking care of each other’s health while rediscovering plant kinship can be down to us, as individuals and as resisting communities.
Border violence in the Balkans
Border violence is an everyday reality for people on the move. In the Balkans it shows one of its most inhumane and violent sides, in one of the least publicly known contexts in Fortress Europe.
Read the testimonies and reports: Border Violence Monitoring Network (borderviolence.eu) and the Bloody Borders archive by No Name Kitchen (bloodyborders.org). Content warning: police violence and death.
Healthcare neglect
People on the move face severe barriers to healthcare. In many countries people without papers are denied it altogether; elsewhere a hospital visit can trigger detention and deportation.
We work from a principle of harm reduction: preventative medicine, self-care support and first aid materials to reduce the risks of untreated illness and injury. Herbal remedies can help stop a cold becoming a chest infection; herbal wound sprays can stop minor injuries becoming dangerous infections.
Where we are now
We are running our first small-scale test production and distribution from Serbia, with the help of local groups. Because of the criminalisation of solidarity in the region we may not be able to share regular updates about distribution, but we will publish major news when we can.
Get involved
Do you know herb growers, land, suppliers of dried herbs, tinctures, oils or palm-oil-free glycerine in Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia or nearby? Do you have a kitchen or storage space, or want to make medicine with us? Get in touch.