Global Reservations

THOSE WITH MORE MONEY AND POWER THAN MOST fight to retain the right to ignore borders when it comes to moving monies or goods to their own financial advantage, or opening bank accounts to evade taxes, or opening sweat shops and hiring populations that will work for substandard wages, or dropping bombs or firing bullets into bodies not like theirs, or dumping nuclear waste, or committing rape and torture to evade laws in the land of the torturer.

But when the people in general start to move about to try and escape the vacuums and pressure zones that open up suddenly and make life a suffering thing as a result of all these behaviors? The Global attitude suddenly constricts violently. And borders are seen as safeguards of civilization. And civiliation—the people—are actually seen as dangerous.

The people—civilization—of course, are not allowed to hop borders to better their situation. The poorer folk, the rabble, the great unwashed masses, the labor force, the buying force, the engines of this society, who work and toil in stores, factories, fields, farms or worse yet who just starve and wish for something different—we are to remain behind fences, ocean-moats, and walls. For national security.

The [Australian] Federal Government has warned the nation to brace for more illegal boat arrivals, describing the surge as a “threat” which must be stopped.  …

Senator Evans blamed increased armed conflict in northern Asia for people taking to leaky – and increasingly deadly – boats to try to reach Australia and seek asylum, The Sunday Telegraph reports. …

Senator Evans’ warning follows the death of three people and injuries to a further 47 on a sinking refugee boat last week after it had been doused in petrol and set alight off Ashmore Reef, 600km from Broome. …

—Prepare for another wave of boat arrivals, says Immigration Minister Chris Evans

Hard to blame “armed conflict” as Armed Conflict doesn’t have a mind nor mouth nor bank account but easier than pointing at the powerful people who initiate or allow or sustain or benefit from that armed conflict—that might get tricky. The conversation we have about these things generally veers away from that end of it.

When we talk of Iraq, we talk of soldier bodybags and sometimes even of vague death counts that spiral up past one million. We talk of of Civil War Brinks, we talk of whether or not we should have used phosphorous to sear the flesh off them, we talk of Whether Or Not They Desire A Strongman, we talk of how Saddam Gassed His People, and we talk of whether or not we should build bases there…even when we dare talk of removing our soldiers (won’t happen) we don’t so much talk about the massive humanitarian crisis involving the actual Iraqi refugees who are fleeing this hell we opened up over there. We hear the TV sneer and sizzle threats of more bombs and war when it is rumored that Iraq’s next door neighbors may be aiding them. You see, that is another illegal use of a border. Iraq’s border is for us to run troops and supply lines and bullets and body armor over. Not for Iranian people to aid our targets. Not for people to escape over, either. Like the concrete barriers we have erected in Baghdad, people are to remain in their little reservations while BigBoys divide all the goods.

It is estimated that there are at least 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria today. I believe it. Walking down the streets of Damascus, you can hear the Iraqi accent everywhere. There are areas like Geramana and Qudsiya that are packed full of Iraqi refugees. Syrians are few and far between in these areas. Even the public schools in the areas are full of Iraqi children. A cousin of mine is now attending a school in Qudsiya and his class is composed of 26 Iraqi children, and 5 Syrian children. It’s beyond belief sometimes. Most of the families have nothing to live on beyond their savings which are quickly being depleted with rent and the costs of living.

Within a month of our being here, we began hearing talk about Syria requiring visas from Iraqis, like most other countries. Apparently, our esteemed puppets in power met with Syrian and Jordanian authorities and decided they wanted to take away the last two safe havens remaining for Iraqis- Damascus and Amman. The talk began in late August and was only talk until recently- early October. Iraqis entering Syria now need a visa from the Syrian consulate or embassy in the country they are currently in. In the case of Iraqis still in Iraq, it is said that an approval from the Ministry of Interior is also required (which kind of makes it difficult for people running away from militias OF the Ministry of Interior…). Today, there’s talk of a possible fifty dollar visa at the border.
—Baghdad Burning blog

When we speak of Mexico and the people there that have been systematically exploited by larger powers, who watched half their land (including the gold-rich California) become US land, who saw Porfirio Díaz build trains that all ran up to El Norte, but not East to West in their own country, who were told NAFTA would open up the Mexican market to the world but saw their corn rot after it was replaced by cheaper US corn,  who have provided so much of the workforce necessary to build this mighty engine and have since the railroads first were laid down, often responding to Spanish language advertisements US companies pay to broadcast in MX—we talk of “invaders” and “ILLEGALS” and parasites on the system and even voices of popular politicians (and crazy martial artist TV stars) talk of building a huge fence and wall to keep the Mexicans on “their side.” Where they should remain while we keep pillaging the global market and economy and stacking it in our favor.

Just as a wall that keeps the poor away from the rich in our own cities and towns and marks the divide where law enforcement begins caring a whole lot more about property and people, so do the borders operate in our world. This entrenched and justified and bullet-peppered divide is a crime in and of itself. In towns, in cities, in nations, and in the world. All the rest that follows is fallout. And if the conversation omits the destination from where the debris is dumped, we may as well not be talking about it at all.