Andrew sits down with Gare and James to explain the history of borders and how states have used them to control people
Because for most of the world for most of human existence, really free movement has been the status quo. Traders, migrants, hunter gatherers, nomads, they freely traversed this little blue marble, as they call it. Of course, many ethnic groups maintained certain relationships with particular lands. But even when city states own such rules, it was rare for rulers to delineate precisely where their realm ended, and anothers began.
Andrew Sage, Borders with Andrew, It Could Happen Here Podcast
US Border Patrol in particular has escalated to employ 20,000 agents and Israel runs the largest open air prison in the world. These days militarized borders, with heavily guarded barbed wire and electrified fences, which were once common in times of war, have now been a staple of times of peace. These imaginary lines and a map have become in some places violent fixtures on the landscape, where thousands of people lose their lives every year for simply trying to cross. We’ve entered an era of essentially bordering without precedent. And, as for today’s technology, governments know more now about the people that they govern – the people within their territory – than at any point in prior in human history. Cross Border surveillance keeps neighbors in the know, managing and monitoring their populace like lab rats. Data has become more valuable than black gold itself. These governments have chosen to wall and surveil. This is our world now. It’s not some future. Cyberpunk dystopia the surveillance capitalist hellscape is here now.
Andrew Sage, Borders with Andrew, It Could Happen Here Podcast
There’s only one world and the border is tearing it apart.
Andrew Sage, Borders with Andrew, It Could Happen Here Podcast
That doesn’t even get into all the different categories that have been constructed. Migrant, expat, refugee, asylum seeker, illegal alien (and that one in particular really grinds my gears). Because it is, I believe, the pinnacle of the dehumanization. To look at a person just by happenstance fell on the other side of the border, to look at them, and to deem them “alien”, deem them illegal. To brand them that and even acknowledge their humanity when referring to them. And it’s become a normalized part of political discourse to speak of illegal aliens. But I don’t think we should forget just how violent that kind of language is . It’s particularly violent when you account for the fact that while these borders are used to restrict the people on the lowest rung of society, capital has very few restrictions.
Andrew Sage, Borders with Andrew, It Could Happen Here Podcast
Passports inequality is issue that should not exist, passports should not exist.
Andrew Sage, Borders with Andrew, It Could Happen Here Podcast
These structures that disconnect and unravel the deep ties between communities borders us all into prisoners. And I think it’s about time we resisted them.
Andrew Sage, Borders with Andrew, It Could Happen Here Podcast
Just for a final word, I would say that there is nothing necessary or inevitable about borders. Only the violence of their most ardent believers keep them in place and without them, borders would cease to exist. Borders can only exist if they are enforced. And together, we can make borders unenforceable. Together, we can create a world in which everyone is free to travel, free to create and free to exist on their own terms.
Andrew Sage, Borders with Andrew, It Could Happen Here Podcast