A few days ago I passed between Europe and Africa via a 12 kilometer crossing at the Straight of Gibraltar. This was not my first time passing from the First World to the Third World - leaving the global North and entering the global South in a matter of minutes.
There is something unsettling about the potentials for an invisible boundary to impact many of our opportunities in life and the people we may meet along the way. Even in Northern Ireland seen and unseen boundaries have limited mobility, the schools where we study and the people we love. In other places, where the borders are even more restricted, this harsh reality is even more powerful.
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| El Paso, TX, Inside US but looking to Mexico |
My first experience of this stark division was in my own country along the border of Texas and Mexico. I felt angry that I could move so easily between these countries while others were separated from their families without any hope of reuniting. When I returned home I wrote a reflection of this experience in my university newspaper (http://goo.gl/0dw2NP) excluding some of the realities of violence and exploitation I'd yet to fully process. After years of reflection and study on the nature of ethnic conflict it became clear that the border between the United States and Mexico is among other divisions around the world whereby people of different ethnicities and class are separated by physical barriers. This worldwide phenomenon has been illustrated by the Guardian's Walled World interactive map including my wee city of Belfast, the two cases discussed here and other similar expressions of division the world over (http://goo.gl/61MwEs).
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| The border between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso |
The truth is that El Paso, Texas at the time of my visit was the third safest city of its size while Ciudad Juarez is among the most dangerous in the world. These cities are essentially one large settlement, divided by fencing fortified by border patrols and a meager stream that was once the Rio Grande. In Ciudad Juarez people are threatened by drug wars, femicides and poor working conditions in maquilas. Hundreds each year are recorded to lose their lives in pursuit of the American dream, burning in the desert, drowning in the waterways and dying from unbearable trafficking conditions en route.
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| Border patrol on the border of Tangiers, 12 km from Europe |
The issues facing Africans trying to reach Europe are much the same. The European Union pays the Moroccan government to prevent people and drugs from leaving its border - a difficult task which challenges even the most advanced countries. After the disaster of Lampedusa this October where over 400 people lost their lives travelling between North Africa and Europe, where the waters of the Mediterranean clash with the tides of the Atlantic, the world is beginning to pay closer attention to the importance of protecting human security in the case of immigration. The US as well is undergoing extensive immigration reform - asking important questions about the human rights of newcomers.
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| Where Europe meets Africa |
The real question we should all be asking is not how can we stop illegal immigration, but how can we open legal immigration? At present these borders have been exploited by wealthy governments seeking cheap labour. They have been controlled by criminals in the trade of humans, drugs and illegal goods. But there is another way. There is a way we can end illegal trafficking. There is hope for reconnecting families. There is potential for globalisation to exist beyond the technological revolution through open mobility of people and goods. The question to ask now is not should we, but how should we we maximise the potentials for this close proximity of diversity so that we can all benefit? Rather than spending all of our resource on borders and defense why don't we find legal and fair ways to utilise migrant workers, offering benefits and fair wages in exchange for hard work? Instead of rejecting ships of 'illegals' in search of a better life, why don't we openly accept people eager to build a more peaceful future via regulated means of transit?
There are radical answers to immigration reform that are not under consideration because of the fear people in positions of power feel when considering the potentials of open borders. The current situation of injustice, exploitation and death must be fully understood so that we begin to fear what will continue to happen if we do not consider such an alternative. There is more to be gained rather than lost, if only we open our minds, and borders, to the possibilities!
