The wall separating the United States from Latin America is not only the death of relationships and numerous species it is a metaphor for a seriously disturbed man who happens to occupy the most powerful position in the world and that this wall might actually be built in the real world by a real hashtag along with the virtual law he is constructing?
Currently, about 40% of the 2,000-mile (3,200km) border fence testifies to the ineffectiveness of a barrier between countries, wall or fence. Much of this construction happened when the Secure Fence Act was passed in 2006. Since then, there have been continual breaches and no evidence of positive effects on the lives of people or stemming drug use. There is evidence that in terms of the environment there has already been serious habitat fragmentation.
Is a wall necessary? Historically, walls are not that useful in stopping migrations. Like rivulets people carve out alternative routes. In the case of the US/Mexico border this means an exponential rise in deaths as people seek other, more dangerous routes for a crossing. These are the poor and vulnerable people.
Drug cartels, as an example of power, have the money and other resources to continue making a profit. This is a chronic issue independent of walls.
Migrations have dropped significantly. In the last 15 years. Illegal crossings along the border with Mexico plunged to their lowest level in 45 years. US agents are catching a far greater share of those who attempt to illegally cross the border.
The US/Mexico border is not where illegal immigration is found. Instead, the states with rising illegal immigration are states such as Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Massachusetts and Louisiana.
If voices are loud enough in defense of freedom for all, then, perhaps, we will feel the vibrating presence of “Joshua fit the battle of Jericho” deep inside ourselves and resist all manner of walls facing us today and, in fact, create fluid routes between people.
When the Berlin Wall came down there were 16 walls separating countries. Today, there are 65. Migration, fear of the other, scarce resources real or perceived. The US leadership has fueled that fear by resisting globalization and embracing nationalism while imposing its belief system on other countries, as well. Now, 65 countries are documented as having completed or are constructing security walls on their borders. This does not necessarily include an increase in makeshift borders between regions and countries that are emerging daily.
Reliving Nazi Germany, let us hope that this is not a wall we build.
Artists' Raise the Ladder
30-FOOT WALL, 31 FOOT LADDER
Peace by Piece on border walls around the world
The wall is terribly coherent - The image of a large, clean wall is a symbol of a sterilized, tightly regulated environment. (Tucker Ch.4, Farrell Q&A). However, most border walls are also adorned with a changing a kaleidoscope of stories with global commonalities.
The current 650-mile US/Mexico border “wall” and the west bank separation wall Palestine depict balloons with humans floating over the wall. Birds fly over the walls in a number of countries and butterflies are ubitiquous on border walls around the world.
These depictions represent aspirations of freedom and peace.
The public art graffiti on border walls also represent yearnings around the world where you “… pour your soul onto a wall and [then] step back and see your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your weaknesses,…[toward] a deeper understanding of yourself and your own mental state."
in the last couple of years, representations of Freedom and peace on border walls have been swept into a vortex of oppositional discourse largely due to Trump’s rhetoric and declared intentions to build a border wall.
In response to the US president's intention to build a 30-foot wall, graffiti artists say the bigger the wall, the bigger the canvas. It should be noted that drug cartels and crime bosses according to some accounts are not that worried because they have resources, the wall might bring potential economic benefits, and whatever the wall porosity exists because of human desire, whatever the motive.
The existing US/Mexico border fence is contiguous and noncontiguous and primarily constructed using steel and barbed wire. While it looks like a fence, because it is a fence, though cobbled together with more or less penetration value, most of the time people living near the border call it a “wall.”
Donald Trump says “A wall is better than fencing, and it’s much more powerful. It’s more secure. It’s taller.” It will be made of concrete and graffiti proof.
One has the feeling that a whole lot of taxpayer money will be directed toward a losing proposition all for a man with fantasies of greatness.
The cost of a fence that would span 2,200 miles is projected to be $10 million a mile. If a $10 million mile of wall reduced the number of illegal entries by half — from 12 to six — the cost would be nearly $1.7 million per migrant turned away.
Artists' expenses are relatively less. Despite with floodlights and watchtowers and border agents lounging in air conditioned cars placed at intervals, frustrations can be broadcast with a few cans of paint. They can use guerilla warfare, where nothing has to be permanent, with glow-in-the-dark stickers, plywood treehouses along the border, or music by banging the existing metal fence/walls with used cello bows. They can use stenciled images, scratches, or expand their creativity with new kinds of typography.
A 30-foot climbing rope and grappling hook cost less than $70 at Walmart. Painting a ladder is even cheaper. Then, as criminal elements have noted, google maps is very helpful.
Children (the Border Bedazzlers) painted a mile of the existing wall. Just before Trump's inauguration, the fence/wall with the children’s representations it was announced that the fence would be taken down and replaced by a taller fence with two layers made of wire so it is impossible to paint. Defacing US property is a crime and anti-graffiti enforcement is expensive. By one estimate, the U.S. spends between 15 and 18 billion dollars a year to “monitor, detect, remove, and repair graffiti damage.”
It was not about saving the children or rescuing Mexico, it was about decorating a big ugly wall, says artist gretchen baer. She adds, it is also about looking at fatigues and guns and telling the children "you don’t have to fear."
While artists collaborate across the border in cases the sides of the wall are not equal .The mexican side is rich with meaning with arts of contestation, memories, protests, memorials of bones in the deserts and split families, outrage, and prophetic imagination. The Mexican police are relatively relaxed about graffiti these day given the current climate.
The US side is relatively blank. But then the US didn’t have Paulo Freire or “peasants”.
Freedom? What is forgotten by pro-wall advocates is, like anything, there are sides to the equation. A wall has two sides which means that it keeps the othe
The common experience is walls leak when it comes to migrations and create more conflict.
So if walls don’t work and they are not necessary, why is a wall considered by politicians of a certain persuasion? Some people want a wall out of fear of the other. Others in the political and economic realms without a conscience will use Trump’s deep-seated desire to wall himself in for political bartering. The need for a wall to counter “ barbarians at the gate” is not based on facts but symbolism. That’s enough for those voters who want to “feel” safe”.
It's Hard to Unsee A wall
Walls are not safe nor do they offer a sense of security. In fact,they increase a constant feeling of danger and uncertainty about the "other". One study found that it took a few months following the completion of a wall before hate and fear of the other side grew.
Germans use the phrase Mauer im Kopf (“wall in the head”) to refer to the phenomenon. The Berlin Wall may have been torn down long ago, but many people in Germany still feel divided; the wall continues to exist in their minds. In this sense, the current president wants you to be like him, walled-in.
It doesn’t matter what the design of a wall might be, virtual or otherwise. One can only hope that the more wall there is, the braver and more ingenious resistance gets at tearing down walls in the name of progress. A desire for peace and change is found in the graffiti that exists on almost all modern day walls in the world.
BUILDING BRIDGES
Otra (another) Nation a group of US and Mexican citizens suggested a utopian co-nation should be established that has “nodes of cultural production. The nodes would be libraries, museum galleries and workshops it would be safe zone from mining and drilling and could be designed with a “hyperloop transportation system. Then there are actual bridges happening that bring common interests such as trade and cultural exchanges.
The Friendship Bridge
Walls, virtual and otherwise, don’t work. What is needed is negotiations and cooperation.
The 70 year old Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge made of iron spans the Yalu River next to the “Broken Bridge” which represents a reminder that China’s Dandong City has emotional ties with North Korea ran deep partially thanks to its front-line position during the 1950 to 1953 Korean War when China and North Korea fought against a US lead UN coalition.
The bridge connects Dandong, a port city in Liaoning Province in northeast China, with North Korea's Sinuiju region and accounts for 70% of China's trade with North Korea.
It is the only direct road connection to Dandong City from the North Korean side.
The bridge spans and links two different economies, including underground economies needed for survival where ordinary citizens bypass some current UN sanctions pushed by the US.
Walking up as close to 200 meters from North Korea stark economic differences are apparent in a very short distance.
Lights from the more prosperous Chinese side fade away toward North Korea. On one side are new high rise apartments and giant advertising screens, on the other side, army watch posts and farmers cutting grass for heating. On one side of the river are peach tree orchards and restaurants; on the other, bare mountains and empty fields.
A new bridge The New Yalu River Bridge was built with graceful lines to replace the 70-year-old Sino-Korean Friendship bridge which is failing and needs constant repairs. The new bridge should have opened November 2015. Instead, it sits almost completed and abandoned and ends in a field outside of Sinuiju.
The state of limbo is felt everywhere. China’s Dandong New City was a product of rapid urbanization, that accompanied the construction of the replacement bridge. It is largely empty.
The old and new friendship bridge connecting North Korea and China bridge are symbols of bonds forged for better or worse, and abandoned, at least for the present. A reminder that history in its entirety is not only about war and inequities but also about commonalities.
There are other friendship bridges between countries around the world representing trade and supply routes including a route for humanitarian aid from one country to another, and in cases a symbol of brotherhood. These bridges between countries seeking peaceful trade are also vulnerable in the current world order.
Photo credit: REUTERS, August 4 2017