• First-ever private border wall built in #New_Mexico

    A private group announced Monday that it has constructed a half-mile wall along a section of the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico, in what it said was a first in the border debate.

    The 18-foot steel bollard wall is similar to the designs used by the Border Patrol, sealing off a part of the border that had been a striking gap in existing fencing, according to We Build the Wall, the group behind the new section.

    The section was also built faster and, organizers say, likely more cheaply than the government has been able to manage in recent years.

    Kris Kobach, a former secretary of state in Kansas and an informal immigration adviser to President Trump, says the New Mexico project has the president’s blessing, and says local Border Patrol agents are eager to have the assistance.

    “We’re closing a gap that’s been a big headache for them,” said Mr. Kobach, who is general counsel for We Build the Wall.


    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/may/27/first-ever-private-border-wall-built-new-mexico
    #privatisation #murs #barrières_frontalières #USA #Mexique #frontières #business #complexe_militaro-industriel
    ping @albertocampiphoto @daphne

    • The #GoFundMe Border Wall Is the Quintessential Trump-Era Grift

      In 2012, historian Rick Perlstein wrote a piece of essential reading for understanding modern conservatism, titled “The Long Con” and published by the Baffler. It ties the right’s penchant for absurd and obvious grifts to the conservative mind’s particular vulnerability to fear and lies:

      The strategic alliance of snake-oil vendors and conservative true believers points up evidence of another successful long march, of tactics designed to corral fleeceable multitudes all in one place—and the formation of a cast of mind that makes it hard for either them or us to discern where the ideological con ended and the money con began.

      Lying, Perlstein said, is “what makes you sound the way a conservative is supposed to sound.” The lies—about abortion factories, ACORN, immigrants, etc.—fund the grifts, and the grifts prey on the psychology that makes the lies so successful.

      Perlstein’s piece is all I could think of when I saw last night’s CNN story about the border wall GoFundMe, which seemingly has actually produced Wall. According to CNN, the group We Build the Wall says it has produced a half-mile of border wall in New Mexico. CNN was invited to watch the construction, where Kris Kobach, who is general counsel for the group, spoke “over the clanking and beeping of construction equipment.”

      #Steve_Bannon, who is naturally involved with the group, told CNN that the wall connects existing fencing and had “tough terrain” that means it was left “off the government list.” The half-mile stretch of wall cost an “estimated $6 million to $8 million to build,” CNN reported.

      CNN also quoted #Jeff_Allen, who owns the property on which the fence was built, as saying: “I have fought illegals on this property for six years. I love my country and this is a step in protecting my country.” According to MSN, Allen partnered with United Constitutional Patriots to build the wall with We Build the Wall’s funding. UCP is the same militia that was seen on video detaining immigrants and misrepresenting themselves as Border Patrol; the Phoenix New Times reported on the “apparent ties” between the UCP and We Build the Wall earlier this month.

      This story is bursting at the seams with an all-star lineup of right-wing scammers. The GoFundMe itself, of course, has been rocked by scandal: After the effort raised $20 million, just $980 million short of the billion-dollar goal, GoFundMe said in January that the funds would be returned, since creator Brian Kolfage had originally pledged that “If for ANY reason we don’t reach our goal we will refund your donation.” But Kolfage quickly figured out how to keep the gravy train going, urging those who had donated to allow their donations to be redirected to a non-profit. Ultimately, $14 million of that $20 million figure was indeed rerouted by the idiots who donated it.

      That non-profit became #We_Build_The_Wall, and like all good conservative con jobs, it has the celebs of the fever swamp attached to it. Not only #Kris_Kobach, a tenacious liar who failed at proving voter fraud is a widespread problem—but also slightly washed-up figures like Bannon, Sheriff David Clarke, Curt Schilling, and Tom Tancredo. All the stars are here!

      How much sleazier could it get? Try this: the main contractor working at the site of New Wall, according to CNN, is Tommy Fisher. The Washington Post reported last week that Trump had “personally and repeatedly urged the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers” to give the contract for the border wall to the company owned by Fisher, a “GOP donor and frequent guest on Fox News,” despite the fact that the Corps of Engineers previously said Fisher’s proposals didn’t meet their requirements.

      Of course, like all good schemes, the need for more money never ceases: On the Facebook page for the group, the announcement that Wall had been completed was accompanied with a plea for fans to “DONATE NOW to fund more walls! We have many more projects lined up!”

      So, what we have is: A tax-exempt non-profit raised $20 million by claiming it would be able to make the federal government build Wall by just giving it the money for it and then, when that didn’t happen, getting most of its donors to reroute that money; then it built a half-mile of wall on private land for as much as $8 million, which went to a firm of a Fox News star whom President Trump adores.

      Perlstein wrote in the aforementioned piece that it’s hard to “specify a break point where the money game ends and the ideological one begins,” since “the con selling 23-cent miracle cures for heart disease inches inexorably into the one selling miniscule marginal tax rates as the miracle cure for the nation itself.” The con job was sold through fear: “Conjuring up the most garishly insatiable monsters precisely in order to banish them from underneath the bed, they aim to put the target to sleep.”

      The Trump era is the inartful, gaudy, brazen peak of this phenomenon. This time, instead of selling fake stem cell cures using the language of Invading Liberals, the grifters are just straight-up selling—for real American dollars—the promise of building a big wall to keep the monsters out.

      https://splinternews.com/the-gofundme-border-wall-is-the-quintessential-trump-er-1835062340

    • Company touted by Trump to build the wall has history of fines, violations

      President Donald Trump appears to have set his sights on a North Dakota construction firm with a checkered legal record to build portions of his signature border wall.
      The family-owned company, #Fisher_Sand_&_Gravel, claims it can build the wall cheaper and faster than competitors. It was among a handful of construction firms chosen to build prototypes of the President’s border wall in 2017 and is currently constructing portions of barrier on private land along the border in New Mexico using private donations.
      It also, however, has a history of red flags including more than $1 million in fines for environmental and tax violations. A decade ago, a former co-owner of the company pleaded guilty to tax fraud, and was sentenced to prison. The company also admitted to defrauding the federal government by impeding the IRS. The former executive, who’s a brother of the current company owner, is no longer associated with it.
      More than two years into his presidency, Trump is still fighting to build and pay for his border wall, a key campaign issue. After failing to get his requests for wall funding passed by a Republican-held Congress during his first two years in office, Trump has met resistance this year from a Democratic-controlled House. His attempt to circumvent Congress through a national emergency declaration has been challenged in the courts.
      On May 24, a federal district judge blocked the administration from using Defense Department funds to construct parts of the wall. The Trump administration has since appealed the block to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals and in the interim, asked the district court to allow building to continue pending appeal. The district court denied the administration’s request.
      Despite the uncertainty, construction firms have been competing to win multimillion-dollar contracts to build portions of wall, including Fisher Sand & Gravel.

      Asked by CNN to comment on the company’s history of environmental violations and legal issues, the company said in a statement: “The questions you are asking have nothing to do with the excellent product and work that Fisher is proposing with regard to protecting America’s southern border. The issues and situations in your email were resolved years ago. None of those matters are outstanding today.”
      Catching the President’s attention
      The company was founded in North Dakota in 1952 and operates in several states across the US. It’s enjoyed public support from North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer, who as a congressman invited the company’s CEO, Tommy Fisher, to Trump’s State of the Union address in 2018. Cramer has received campaign contributions from Fisher and his wife. A photo of the event shared by Fisher in a company newsletter shows Tommy Fisher shaking Trump’s hand.
      The Washington Post first reported the President’s interest in Fisher. According to the Post, the President has “aggressively” pushed for the Army Corps of Engineers to award a wall contract to Fisher.
      The President “immediately brought up Fisher” during a May 23 meeting in the Oval Office to discuss details of the border wall with various government officials, including that he wants it to be painted black and include French-style doors, according to the Post and confirmed by CNN.
      “The Army Corps of Engineers says about 450 miles of wall will be completed by the end of next year, and the only thing President Trump is pushing, is for the wall to be finished quickly so the American people have the safety and security they deserve,” said Hogan Gidley, White House deputy press secretary.
      A US government official familiar with the meeting tells CNN that the President has repeatedly mentioned the company in discussions he’s had about the wall with the head of the Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite.
      Fisher has recently made efforts to raise its public profile, both by upping its lobbying efforts and through repeated appearances on conservative media by its CEO, Tommy Fisher.

      In the past two years, for example, the company’s congressional lobbying expenditures jumped significantly — from $5,000 in 2017 to $75,000 in 2018, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit that tracks lobbying expenditures.

      When asked about Fisher Sand & Gravel’s lobbying, Don Larson, one of Fisher’s registered lobbyists, said: “I am working to help decision makers in Washington become familiar with the company and its outstanding capabilities.”
      Media Blitz
      As part of a media blitz on outlets including Fox News, SiriusXM Patriot and Breitbart News, Tommy Fisher has discussed his support for the border wall and pitched his company as the one to build it. In a March 5 appearance on Fox & Friends, Fisher said that his company could build 234 miles of border wall for $4.3 billion, compared to the $5.7 billion that the Trump administration has requested from Congress.
      Fisher claimed that his firm can work five-to-10 times faster than competitors as a result of its construction process.
      The President has also touted Fisher on Fox News. In an April interview in which he was asked about Fisher by Sean Hannity, Trump said the company was “recommended strongly by a great new senator, as you know, Kevin Cramer. And they’re real. But they have been bidding and so far they haven’t been meeting the bids. I thought they would.”
      Despite the President’s interest, the company has thus far been unsuccessful in obtaining a contract to build the border wall, beyond that of a prototype.

      Earlier this year, Fisher put its name in the running for border wall contracts worth nearly $1 billion. When it lost the bid to Barnard Construction Co. and SLSCO Ltd., Fisher protested the awards over claims that the process was biased. In response, the Army Corps canceled the award. But after a review of the process, the Army Corps combined the projects and granted it to a subsidiary of Barnard Construction, according to an agency spokesperson.
      It’s unclear whether the project will proceed, given the recent decision by a federal judge to block the use of Defense Department funds to build parts of the border wall and the administration’s appeal.
      Fisher, which has a pending lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims over the solicitation process, is listed by the Defense Department as being among firms eligible to compete for future border contracts.

      It has moved forward with a private group, We Build the Wall, that is building sections of barrier on private land in New Mexico using private money raised as part of a GoFundMe campaign. Kris Kobach, the former Kansas Secretary of State who is now general counsel for the group, said a half-mile stretch is nearly complete, at an estimated cost of $6 million to $8 million.

      In a statement, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said Fisher Industries has told them that the company has begun construction on private property along the border “in the approximate area of a USBP border barrier requirement that was not prioritized under current funding.”
      The spokesperson added: “It is not uncommon for vendors” to demonstrate their capabilities using “their own resources,” but the agency goes on to “encourage all interested vendors” to compete for border contracts “through established mechanisms to ensure any construction is carried out under relevant federal authorities and meets USBP operational requirements for border barrier.”
      In responses provided to CNN through Scott Sleight, an attorney working on behalf of the company, Fisher maintained that it’s “committed to working with all appropriate federal government officials and agencies to provide its expertise and experience to help secure America’s southern border.”
      The company says it has “developed a patent-pending bollard fence hanging system that [it] believes allows border fencing to be constructed faster than any contractor using common construction methods.” It also added: “Fisher has been concerned about the procurement procedures and evaluations done by the USACE to date, and hopes these issues can be remedied.”
      Relationship with Sen. Cramer
      A month after attending the 2018 State of the Union address with Cramer, Fisher and his wife, Candice each contributed the $5,400 maximum donation to Cramer’s campaign for the US Senate, Federal Election Commission records show.
      Fisher also donated to several Arizona Republicans in the 2018 election cycle, including giving the $5,400-maximum donation to Martha McSally’s campaign, records show.
      A recent video produced by Fisher Sand & Gravel demonstrating its ability to construct the wall includes a clip of Cramer at the controls of a track-hoe lifting sections of barrier wall into place, saying “this is just like XBOX, baby.” Cramer was joined at the demonstration by a handful of other Republican lawmakers from across the country.

      Cramer has been publicly critical of how the Army Corps has handled its border wall construction work, arguing that it has moved too slowly and expressing frustration over how it has dealt with Fisher. In an interview with a North Dakota TV station, Cramer said that he believes the corps “made a miscalculation in who they chose over Fisher” and that the company had been “skunked so to speak.” Cramer added that Fisher “remains a pre-qualified, high level, competitor.”

      In an interview with CNN, Cramer said that the company has come up in conversations he has had with administration officials, including the President and the head of the Army Corps, but while the senator said that he would “love if they got every inch of the project,” he added that he has “never advocated specifically for them.”
      "Every time someone comes to meet with me, whether it’s (Acting Defense Secretary) Shanahan, General Semonite, even with Donald Trump, they bring up Fisher Industries because they assume that’s my thing," Cramer said.
      “One of the things I’ve never done is said it should be Fisher,” Cramer said. “Now, I love Fisher. I’d love if they got every inch of the project. They’re my constituents, I don’t apologize for that. But my interest really is more in the bureaucratic process.”
      According to an administration official familiar with the situation, Cramer sent information about Fisher to the President’s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner, who then passed it along to the Army Corps of Engineers for their consideration. The source tells CNN that Kushner was not familiar with the company prior to getting information about them from Cramer.
      Cramer said he does recall passing along information about the company to Kushner, but that he did not know what Kushner did with the information.
      On May 24, Cramer told a North Dakota radio station that the President has asked him to examine the process of how federal border wall projects are awarded.
      “We’re going to do an entire audit,” Cramer said. “I’ve asked for the entire bid process, and all of the bid numbers.” Cramer told CNN the President said he wanted the wall built for the “lowest, best price, and it’s also quality, and that’s what any builder should want.”
      Asked about aspects of the company’s checkered legal record, Cramer said “that level of scrutiny is important, but I would hope the same scrutiny would be put on the Corps of Engineers.”
      Environmental violations
      Though its corporate headquarters are in North Dakota, Fisher has a sizable footprint in Arizona, where it operates an asphalt company as well as a drilling and blasting company. It’s there that the company has compiled an extensive track record of environmental violations.
      From 2007 to 2017, Fisher Sand & Gravel compiled more than 1,300 air-quality violations in Maricopa County, culminating in the third highest settlement ever received by the Maricopa County Air Quality Department, according to Bob Huhn, a department spokesperson. That’s a record number of violations for any air-quality settlement in the county, Huhn said. The settlement totaled more than $1 million, though the department received slightly less than that following negotiations, Huhn said.
      Most of the violations came from an asphalt plant that the company was running in south Phoenix that has since closed. While the plant was still running, the City of Phoenix filed 469 criminal charges against the company from August to October of 2009, according to a city spokesperson.
      According to a 2010 article in the Arizona Republic, Fisher reached an agreement with Phoenix officials to close the plant in 2010. As part of the deal, fines were reduced from $1.1 million to an estimated $243,000 and all criminal charges were reduced to civil charges.
      Mary Rose Wilcox was a member of the Maricopa Board of Supervisors at the time the city and county were fighting Fisher over the asphalt plant, which was located in her district. “They tried to persuade us they were good guys since they were a family-owned company. But they were spreading noxious fumes into a residential area,” Wilcox said. “We tried to work with them, but their violations were just so blatant.”
      Michael Pops, a community activist who lived in the area around the plant, remembers fighting with Fisher for six years before the plant finally shut down. “The impact they had on this community was devastating,” Pops said, adding many low-income residents living near the asphalt plant were sickened from the fumes the plant emitted.
      The company has also racked up more than 120 violations with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality from 2004 until as recently as last summer, according to the department.
      In 2011, Fisher agreed to a Consent Judgement with ADEQ over numerous air quality violations the company had committed. As part of that settlement, Fisher agreed to pay $125,000 in civil penalties, and that it would remain in compliance with state air quality standards. Within two years Fisher was found to be in violation of that agreement and was forced to pay an additional $500,000 in fines, according to the state’s attorney general’s office.
      Legal trouble
      Internally, the company has also confronted issues.
      In 2011, Fisher Sand & Gravel agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a sexual discrimination and retaliation suit filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The lawsuit charged that the company violated federal anti-discrimination laws when it “subjected two women workers to egregious verbal sexual harassment by a supervisor and then fired one of them after she repeatedly asked the supervisor to stop harassing her and complained to a job superintendent.”
      The settlement required Fisher to provide anti-discrimination training to its employees in New Mexico and review its policies on sexual harassment.
      Micheal Fisher, a former co-owner of Fisher and Tommy’s brother, was sentenced to prison in 2009 for tax fraud, according to the Justice Department. Fisher pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to defraud the United States by impeding the [Internal Revenue Service], four counts of aiding in the filing of false federal tax returns for FSG and four counts of filing false individual tax returns,” according to a Justice Department release.
      The company also admitted responsibility for defrauding the US by impeding the IRS, according to the DOJ. Citing a long standing policy of not commenting on the contracting process, the Army Corps declined to comment on whether Fisher’s history factored into its decision not to award Fisher a contract.

      https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/31/politics/fisher-sand-and-gravel-legal-history-border-wall/index.html

    • Private US-Mexico border wall ordered open by gov’t, fights back and is now closed again

      The privately funded portion of the U.S.-Mexico border wall is now fully secure and closed again after one of its gates had been ordered to remain open until disputes about waterway access could be resolved.

      “Our border wall & gate are secure again and we still have not had a single breach. I want to thank the IBWC for acting swiftly and we look forward to working with you on our future projects,” triple amputee Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage posted to Twitter on Tuesday night.

      Kolfage created We Build The Wall Inc., a nonprofit that is now backed by former Trump Administration Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. The group crowd-funded more than $22 million in order to privately build a border wall and then sell it to the U.S. government for $1.

      A portion of that wall has been constructed in Texas for between $6 and $8 million. The 1-mile-long wall is located on private property near El Paso, Texas, and Sunland Park, New Mexico.

      However, the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) had ordered a 33-foot gate within the private border wall to remain open – not locked and closed – over a waterway access issue, according to BuzzFeed News. The IBCW addresses waterway issues between the U.S. and Mexico.

      “This is normally done well in advance of a construction project,” IBWC spokesperson Lori Kuczmanski said. “They think they can build now and ask questions later, and that’s not how it works.”

      BuzzFeed reported that the IBWC said the gate “had blocked officials from accessing a levee and dam, and cut off public access to a historic monument known as Monument One, the first in a series of obelisks that mark the U.S.–Mexico border from El Paso to Tijuana.”

      By Tuesday night, the IBWC said the gate would remain locked at night and issued a statement.

      “The U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) will lock the privately-owned gate on federal property at night effective immediately due to security concerns,” it said.

      The statement continues:

      The USIBWC is continuing to work with We Build the Wall regarding its permit request. Until this decision, the private gate was in a locked open position. We Build the Wall, a private organization, built a gate on federal land in Sunland Park, N.M., near El Paso, Texas, without authority, and then locked the gate closed on June 6, 2019. The private gate blocks a levee road owned by the U.S. Government. After repeated requests to unlock and open the private gate, the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC), accompanied by two uniformed law enforcement officers from the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office, removed the private lock, opened the gate, and locked the gate open pending further discussions with We Build the Wall. The gate was also opened so that USIBWC employees can conduct maintenance and operations at American Dam.

      The USIBWC did not authorize the construction of the private gate on federal property as announced on We Build the Wall’s Twitter page. The USIBWC is not charged with securing other fences or gates as reported by We Build the Wall. The international border fences are not on USIBWC property. The USIBWC did not open any other gates in the El Paso area as erroneously reported. Other gates and the border fence are controlled by other federal agencies.

      When the proper documentation is received for the permit, USIBWC will continue to process the permit application.

      Before the statement had been released, Kolfage posted to Twitter.
      https://a

      mericanmilitarynews.com/2019/06/private-us-mexico-border-wall-ordered-open-by-intl-group-later-closed-locked-after-security-concerns/

  • The border fence (en allemand: Die Bauliche Massnahme)

    Brenner Pass, Alpine border, spring 2016: the Austrian government announces the construction of a border fence, expecting a shift of the refugee routes to Italy after the Balkan route is closed. The residents fear the fence just as much as the supposedly threatening influx of foreigners to their homeland.

    Two years later, the fence is still rolled up in a container, as the inrush of refugees never occurred.

    https://www.geyrhalterfilm.com/en/die_bauliche_massnahme
    #frontières #murs #barrières_frontalières #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Alpes #Italie #Autriche #Brenner #film #documentaire #frontière_sud-alpine #Nikolaus_Geyrhalter

    Trailer:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebKkUIa4U-8

  • ’Walls Often Fail; They Have Unintended Consequences’

    Along the Iraq-Syria border, Iraqi patrol forces have swapped their hard tactical helmets for the warmth of beanie caps. The soldiers look out from their observation towers, across a stretch of desert into Syria.

    From this concrete tower on the border, you can almost see the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, where the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has made its final stand. Over there, Syrian Democratic Forces—a Kurdish-led alliance dedicated to rooting out ISIS and backed by the US—have nearly liberated the city and its suburbs, and American troops are beginning a long-awaited drawdown. A plume of gray-white smoke breaches skyward as an artillery strike reaches the villages and towns near Deir ez-Zor. The horizon is a diaphanous blur of dark smoke.

    Between us and Syria is a fence. It is about 43 miles long, and a guard tower is located every few hundred feet, manned by squadrons from the Iraqi border security forces. The roughly 10-foot-tall chain-link barrier bucks and rattles in the wind. Barbed wire unspools along the top, and about 20 feet beyond the fence, on the Syrian side, there’s a ditch to stop explosive-laden ISIS vehicles that might charge the border. Beyond the ditch is a desiccated stretch of desert now mostly cleared of booby traps.

    The fence divides two villages, both called #Baghouz. The residents of Syrian Baghouz and Iraqi Baghouz once traveled freely between the towns, visiting with family and friends in a place where international borders are as hazy as the smoke between them. “It was normal for us to go to Syrian Baghouz,” says Alaa Husain, an Iraqi shepherd who has lived in this hamlet for 28 years.


    https://www.wired.com/story/the-wall-journey-across-divide-iraq-syria
    #murs #barrières_frontalières #frontières #Irak #Syrie #ISIS #EI #Etat_islamique

  • (Dé)passer la frontière

    En ce début de 21e siècle, l’heure est à la #fermeture_des_frontières. Si ce durcissement des #politiques_migratoires peine à produire les résultats escomptés, il participe à la multiplication de situations de violations des #droits_humains, partout dans le monde.

    Les frontières, leur gestion et leur actualité traversent les débats publics et médiatiques sur les #migrations, attisant les controverses et les fantasmes, en particulier en Europe et en Amérique du Nord. Les frontières cristallisent un grand nombre d’enjeux – sociaux, (géo)politiques, économiques, historiques – et mobilisent une grande diversité d’idées, de projets de société et d’acteur·rices. Étudier, questionner la frontière et tout ce qu’elle véhicule comme #symboles est donc indispensable pour penser l’avenir des territoires et de leurs populations dans une perspective de respect de la #dignité_humaine, autrement que sous le seul angle d’analyse de « la crise migratoire ».

    L’objectif principal de ce nouveau numéro de la collection Passerelle est donc de proposer des pistes d’analyse et de réflexion sur les enjeux autour des frontières : dans un monde globalisé, entre territorialisation et dématérialisation, qu’est-ce qu’une frontière aujourd’hui ? Quels sont les intérêts politiques et économiques qui régissent les mouvements d’ouverture pour certain·es, et de fermeture pour d’autres ? Cette publication invite également à explorer les multiples formes de #résistance à travers la voix de celles et ceux qui défient les politiques de fermeture, mais aussi les idées et propositions qui remettent en cause le régime des frontières actuel.

    Il s’agit donc bien d’établir des liens entre ce sujet d’une actualité brûlante et des dynamiques de long terme dans les différentes parties du monde, d’en éclairer les différents enjeux et de donner de la visibilité aux luttes actives d’hier et d’aujourd’hui. C’est cette perspective qui est au cœur du débat à travers les articles compilés ici : des réflexions, des témoignages et des pistes d’horizons politiques qui nous permettront de mieux saisir les enjeux des frontières, afin de nous armer de meilleurs outils de solidarité internationale pour la #justice_sociale et la garantie des droits fondamentaux de toutes et tous.


    https://www.coredem.info/IMG/pdf/_de_passer_la_frontiere-2.pdf

    Sommaire :


    #souveraineté_nationale #symbole #murs #Israël #barrières_frontalières #externalisation #externalisation_des_frontières #spectacle #victimisation #business #tunnel #Roya_Citoyenne #frontière_sud-alpine #La_Roya #caravane #Amérique_centrale #disparitions #mères #justice #passeport_aborigène #internationalisme #liberté_de_circulation #Touaregs #nomadisme #nomades #confédéralisme_démocratique #membrane

    ping @isskein @reka

    #frontières

  • Mexicans Are Stealing Border Wall Materials, Using Them For Home Security

    Unnamed Mexican officials told San Diego’s KUSI-TV that 15 to 20 people have been arrested for stealing concertina wire from the U.S.-Mexico border and selling it to security-minded homeowners in Tijuana.


    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/border-wall-stolen-tijuana-home-security_n_5c9291bbe4b08c4fec33b5f4
    #murs #utilisation_alternative_des_ressources #ré-usage #recyclage #barrières_frontalières #walls_don't_work

    Autres exemples sur twitter, publiés à la demande de Reece Jones:
    https://twitter.com/tlesam/status/1108523471104081920

    Autres exemples, donc:


    https://qz.com/484342/locals-are-using-the-us-mexico-border-fence-as-a-giant-volleyball-net
    #sport #volleyball


    http://time.com/4346012/greek-migrants-macedonia-idomeni-camp


    https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/north-east/sc-order-on-border-fence/cid/1436674
    #séchoir


    https://www.thelocal.de/20091019/22677
    #tourisme et #souvenirs


    https://www.cntraveler.com/story/usmexico-border-art-installation
    #art


    https://subtopia.blogspot.com/2007/06/extreme-border-sports.html
    #sport

    • An 8-year-old girl climbed an 18-foot replica of Donald Trump’s ’un-climbable’ border wall in seconds

      An 18-foot replica of Donald Trump’s border wall has been scaled in a matter of seconds by novice climbers, an eight-year-old girl, and a man who returned for another attempt while juggling with one hand.

      The US president described his wall as “virtually impenetrable” during a trip to the US-Mexico border in September, claiming 20 “world class” mountain climbers had told him his chosen prototype was difficult to climb.

      “We had 20 mountain climbers. That’s all they do, they love to climb mountains … some of them were champions,” Mr Trump said. “And we gave them different prototypes of walls, and this was the one that was hardest to climb … this wall can’t be climbed.”

      His remarks were taken as a challenge by 75-year-old Rick Weber, co-founder of Muir Valley, a rock climbing park and nature reserve in Kentucky.

      “You don’t tell a bona fide rock climber something’s impossible to climb,” he told Time magazine.

      Mr Weber, a retired engineer, decided to build a replica of Mr Trump’s wall using official dimensions and recent images of the structure.

      He wrote in to popular climbing magazine Rock & Ice to announce a climbing competition on 11 and 12 October to coincide with Rocktoberfest, one of the largest annual gatherings of climbers in the US.

      “No one in our climbing community knows any of these 20 mountaineers. I doubt if they exist,” he wrote. "More importantly, to declare something to be impossible to climb to a bona fide rock climber is to issue a challenge.

      “So, I decided to build an exact replica and hold a competition.”

      Ahead of the official competition, several people had already managed to climb the wall.

      Among these was eight-year-old Lucy Hancock, who climbed the replica using a belay – a rope that acts as a safety measure, rather than an aid. Footage showed her scaling the majority of the wall in little more than a minute.

      Erik Kloeker, a 29-year-old climbing guide and property manager at Muir Valley who told The Courier Journal he had been climbing for nine years, climbed the structure in about 30 seconds in a demonstration.

      “The border wall that they’re building could be climbed pretty easily,” said Mr Kloeker, who juggled several items in one hand during repeat attempts.

      Mr Trump’s border wall is being built at heights of 18-feet and 30-feet, consisting of singular pillars and a larger panel along the top.

      Mr Weber told Time that as the large top panel is the same size, a climber who manages to ascend pillars of the 18-foot version would have no difficulty scaling the additional distance.

      He decided to allow climbers to hold on to the side of the top panel, as he claimed such gaps existed between each section of wall in the real designs.

      The retired engineer said a wall without pillars would be far more difficult to climb.

      “I’m not making an argument that we shouldn’t have a secure border. I’m not doing that at all,” he said. “What I’m trying to do is to make sure that we’re not blowing a lot of money on some silly nonsense of putting up something that he thinks can’t be climbed. Because it can. And will be.”

      During his September visit to the San Diego border, Mr Trump claimed hopeful climbers would “have to bring hoses and waters [sic]” to combat the large top panel of the design, which he said was designed to absorb enough heat to “fry an egg”.

      Mr Trump recently denied making enquiries about creating a moat filled with alligators and snakes along the border.

      Despite campaigning on the promise that Mexico would pay for the structure, the Defence Department has been forced to divert some $3.6 billion in military funding.

      https://www.businessinsider.com/8-year-old-climbs-replica-of-trump-wall-in-seconds-2019-10?IR=T

  • Calais : 46 migrants investissent un ferry à destination du Royaume-Uni

    Jamais le port de Calais, très sécurisé, n’a connu une intrusion aussi importante de migrants. Une centaine d’entre eux se sont introduits illégalement dans l’enceinte, samedi soir, entre 21h15 et 21h30. La moitié a réussi à grimper à bord d’un ferry de la compagnie DFDS, qui venait d’accoster en provenance de Douvres, à l’aide d’une échelle et en profitant de la marée haute. La police est intervenue très vite. Au total, 63 migrants ont été interpellés.

    https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/15485/calais-46-migrants-investissent-un-ferry-a-destination-du-royaume-uni

    Jamais le port de Calais, très sécurisé, n’a connu une intrusion aussi importante de migrants.

    –-> #walls_don't_work

    #murs #barrières_frontalières #contrôles_frontaliers #asile #migrations #réfugiés #frontières #UK #Calais #France #Angleterre

  • Quelques extraits de la #BD
    #Humains, #La_Roya est une fleuve , dont il a déjà été question ici :


    https://seenthis.net/messages/693475

    Extraits :


    #ligne #ligne_frontalière #zone_frontalière #frontière_mobile


    #histoire #Giraude #grillage #barrières_frontalières


    #walls_don't_work


    #pas_de_la_mort #campement


    #tunnel #refoulement #push-back #risque


    #légende_de_mamadou #passeurs #vêtements


    #ouverture_des_frontières


    #Roya_citoyenne #délit_de_solidarité #business #armée #militarisation_des_frontières #drones


    #jeu_de_l'oie #migrerrance


    #Bella_ciao #fête


    #Méditerranée #mer_Méditerranée


    #memoria_delle_Alpi


    #20_km #20_kilomètres #Sospel #PAF #police_aux_frontières


    #illégalité #légalité


    #sans-papiers #papiers


    #Francesco_Biamonti


    #Briançon #Hautes-Alpes


    #ouvrir_les_frontières


    #inhumanité


    #mourir_aux_frontières #décès #mort


    #invisibilité #invisibilisation


    #neige #froid

    #bande_dessinée #livre #frontière_sud-alpine #solidarité #frontières #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Cédric_Herrou #Vintimille #Italie #France #Menton #Alpes #montagne

    ping @nepthys @reka

    • Dans la BD on cite le #livre
      "Les Paroles la nuit" de Francesco Biamonti

      Dans l’obscurité de la nuit, sur les sentiers des collines ligures battues par le vent, parmi ces terres arides, de roches et d’argile, de ronces, d’oliviers et de mimosas, erre une humanité inquiète en proie à la violence qui règne sur les côtes : ce sont les laissés-pour-compte de la modernité occidentale, attirés par la frontière française, à la recherche d’une terre d’accueil.

      Des coups de feu, un bruissement dans les arbres, les restes d’un bivouac, des traces de sang, un cadavre retrouvé au petit matin sont les signes du passage de ces hordes de damnés, incarnés par deux personnages poignants, un homme et une petite fille kurdes qu’un implacable destin poursuit.

      Donnant voix aux silences de Leonardo et de ses amis, à leurs remords, à leur perception des événements et des choses, l’auteur nous livre des tranches d’existence qui se détachent sur un paysage à la lumière changeante ; la dérive de notre monde malade revient sans cesse dans une conversation suspendue au-dessus de l’abîme.

      http://www.seuil.com/ouvrage/les-paroles-la-nuit-francesco-biamonti/9782020350105

  • What a wall means for landowners on the border

    Customs and Border Protection has been preparing to acquire land in the Rio Grande Valley for new barriers since last fall, according to a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration.
    Last Friday, the advocacy group Public Citizen filed a lawsuit on behalf of three landowners and a nature preserve arguing that the President had exceeded his authority and the declaration violated the separation of powers. But some attempts to acquire land came well before the declaration was announced.
    In September, Customs and Border Protection requested access to survey private property in the Rio Grande Valley region “for possible acquisition in support of US Customs and Border Protection’s construction of border infrastructure authorized by Congress in the Fiscal Year 2019 appropriation and other funded tactical infrastructure projects,” according to a letter reviewed by CNN.

    A form is attached to grant permission to the government to conduct “assessment activities.”
    The documents reviewed by CNN were addressed to the late father and grandfather of Yvette Gaytan, one of the plaintiffs. Her home sits on an approximately half-acre lot near the Rio Grande River that she inherited from her father, according to the lawsuit. She is also one of the heirs of land owned by her grandfather.
    Gaytan, a Starr County, Texas, resident, said she signed the form allowing Customs and Border Protection to survey her land, despite her reservations. Still, in January, she received another set of documents from the agency stating it expected to file a “Declaration of Taking and Complaint in Condemnation” in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas in order to access the land.
    The back-and-forth has been frustrating for Gaytan, who says she’d be cut off from some of her property if a wall were mounted.
    “This is very personal,” she told CNN. “Everyone wants to make it political. This is personal; this is my home.”
    Gaytan’s story is emblematic of what landowners in the region can anticipate as plans move forward to build additional barriers in the Rio Grande Valley, where much of the land is privately owned.
    Generally, the government is allowed to acquire privately owned land if it’s for public use, otherwise known as eminent domain. Eminent domain cases can be lengthy, though they generally don’t keep the agency from being able to proceed with construction. Landowners are often fighting for what is known as just compensation — what they deem a fair price for their property.
    According to the Justice Department, as of last month approximately 80 cases were still outstanding.
    The Trump administration still hasn’t acquired all the land it needs to build new barriers along the border, even as it embarks on new construction that was previously funded.
    Customs and Border Protection plans to begin building about 14 new miles of wall in March, though that partly depends on real estate acquisitions, according to a senior agency official. Those miles were funded through the fiscal year 2018 budget.
    Congress appropriated $1.375 billion for about 55 miles of new construction in its fiscal 2019 budget. Trump, seeing it as insufficient, is tapping into other federal funds through executive action and a national emergency declaration, though not all at the same time.
    The White House does not plan to spend any of the funds that hinge on Trump’s national emergency declaration while lawsuits challenging that authority work their way through the courts, a source close to the White House said.

    Instead, the White House plans to focus on building new portions of the border wall using funds from the Defense Department’s drug interdiction program and the Treasury Department’s asset forfeiture fund, which do not rely on the national emergency declaration. Those two sources of funding alone amount to $3.1 billion.
    That allows the White House to move forward with construction without risking an injunction tied to the national emergency declaration.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/21/politics/border-wall-land-seizure/index.html
    #terres #murs #barrières_frontalières #frontières #propriété #expropriation #USA #Etats-Unis

  • Secondary border wall construction starts

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection started Tuesday construction on its second border wall project along the U.S-Mexico border.

    The 14-mile long project consists of crews replacing existing barriers with new 30-foot tall steel bollards.

    The contract was awarded to Texas-based construction company #SLSCO Ltd.

    The secondary wall project runs just north of the primary fence replacement project which started last summer.
    “These two important barriers, in combination with a patrol road and technology, create an enforcement zone for the USBP as part of a border wall system,” wrote CBP in a statement, “given the high-density population in the San Diego-Tijuana area, the updated border infrastructure is critically needed.”

    Both projects are funded by Border Patrol’s 2017 and 2018 appropriations, not the money President Trump is seeking with his emergency declaration.

    Border Patrol has been highlighting their aging infrastructure as the wall debate has raged on.

    Department of Homeland Security says they have apprehended more than 18,500 people illegally crossing the border in San Diego since October 2018.


    https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/secondary-border-wall-construction-starts
    #murs #construction #migrations #frontières #barrières_frontalières #Mexique #USA #Etats-Unis #San_Diego #mur_secondaire

  • A Fence, Steel Slats or ‘Whatever You Want to Call It’. A Detailed Timeline of Trump’s Words About the Wall

    As a candidate, Donald J. Trump’s language about the southern border was remarkably simple: He would build a great wall, and Mexico would pay for it. He repeated this promise hundreds of times.

    But his language has shifted since his election as president, particularly since the government shutdown last month.


    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/13/upshot/detailed-timeline-trumps-words-border-wall.html?smid=tw-share
    #murs #barrières_frontalières #frontières #terminologie #mots #vocabulaire #Trump #langage

    ping @reka

  • Democrats’ ‘smart border’ technology is not a ‘humane’ alternative to Trump’s wall

    In response to President Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion for a physical barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, and his threat to shut down the government again on Feb. 15 if Congress doesn’t provide it, Democratic Congressional leaders are promoting an alternative they refer to as a “smart border.” This is essentially an expansion of existing technologies like remote sensors, integrated fixed-towers, #drones and other #surveillance assets.

    On Jan. 29, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the third-ranking Democrat in the House, wrote an op-ed in The Hill arguing that this kind of “smart border” is preferable to a physical wall because it will “create a technological barrier too high to climb over, too wide to go around, and too deep to burrow under,” resulting in an “effective, efficient and humane” alternative to Trump’s border wall. Meanwhile, the “opening offer” announced on Jan. 31 by the Democrats in bipartisan budget negotiations included $400 million for this “smart border” surveillance package.

    In a recent peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Borderlands Studies, we raised fundamental questions about these kinds of “smart border” technologies, including their humanitarian implications. Using geospatial modeling and statistical analysis, we show how previous “high-tech” border solutions failed to deliver on their operational objectives; instead of preventing unauthorized crossing, the surveillance network simply shifted migration routes into much more difficult and remote terrain, with a measurable impact on the geography of migrant deaths in the southern Arizona desert.

    From 2006 to 2011 the United States appropriated $3.7 billion for the SBInet system, intended as a high-tech network of ground sensors connected to integrated fixed towers mounted with infrared, high-resolution cameras and motion-detecting ground radar. Experimentally deployed southwest of Tucson, Arizona, the surveillance network aimed to provide the Border Patrol “complete situational awareness” through the real-time, automated integration of multiple sources of surveillance data.

    The outcomes delivered by the SBInet program fell well short of these aspirations, however. In 2010 the Government Accountability Office concluded that the Department of Homeland Security had “yet to identify expected benefits from the [program], whether quantitative or qualitative.” After continuous operational shortcomings and delays, in 2011 the Obama administration quietly canceled the program.

    Simultaneously, the area where SBInet was deployed has become a “land of open graves,” according to anthropologist and 2017 MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Jason De León. From 2006 to 2011, at least 1,267 people died in southern Arizona attempting to cross the border. A significant majority of these deaths were the outcome of exposure to the elements: dehydration, hyperthermia and exhaustion. Meanwhile, during this same period the rate of death (the number of deaths / 100,000 Border Patrol apprehensions) skyrocketed, nearly tripling between 2008 and 2011 alone.

    These deaths are the result of many factors. But our research shows that significant among these has been the expansion of border surveillance technology. Using Geographic Information Science, we analyzed the mapped location of human remains pre- and post-SBInet. We then plotted the visual range of the SBInet system using publicly-available information on the location of the towers and the operational reach of their various components.

    Next, we created a model using variables like vegetation, slope and terrain to measure the physiological difficulty associated with pedestrian transit along different routes of travel. We found a meaningful and measurable shift in the location of human remains toward routes of travel outside the visual range of the SBInet system, routes that simultaneously required much greater physical exertion, thus increasing peoples’ vulnerability to injury, isolation, dehydration, hyperthermia and exhaustion.

    Our research findings show that in addition to its monetary cost and its questionable operational efficacy, the “smart border” technology presently being promoted by the Democratic congressional leadership contributes to deadly outcomes.

    Based on these findings there is a need to reconsider the premise that surveillance technology and infrastructure can provide a “humane” alternative to Trump’s border wall (a proposal we also consider to be wasteful and destructive). Instead, we’d like to see a shift in U.S. border policy that genuinely prioritizes the protection of human life, regardless of a person’s citizenship or immigration status.

    This kind of shift, of course, would require reforms not just to the Border Patrol and its enforcement strategy, but to U.S. immigration policy overall, allowing people to seek safety or reunite with family and loved ones without risking their lives crossing through the desert.

    https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/429454-democrats-smart-border-technology-is-not-a-humane-alternative-to-tru

    #frontière_intelligente #alternative (?) #murs #barrières_frontalières #frontières #smart_border #smart_borders #technologie #mourir_aux_frontières #morts #décès

    En gros:

    Our research findings show that in addition to its monetary cost and its questionable operational efficacy, the “smart border” technology presently being promoted by the Democratic congressional leadership contributes to deadly outcomes.

  • #Börderless, manuel pour démanteler les frontières

    Esta es la guía del usuario que acompaña al producto BÖRDERless. Es importante conservar y consultar este manual para el correcto (des)montaje de una valla fronteriza.

    Siga cuidadosamente las instrucciones que acompañan a esta IDEA y no debería sobrarle ninguna pieza.


    https://porcausa.org/articulo/borderless-se-desmonta-una-valla
    #frontières #murs #barrières_frontalières #Ikea #manuel #instructions #migrations #asile #réfugiés
    ping @reka

  • #Giles_Duley, survivre pour mieux photographier les victimes de la guerre

    Invité par le Centre international de déminage humanitaire à l’occasion d’une conférence sur les mines à l’ONU, à Genève, le photographe britannique, triple amputé, a survécu par miracle à un engin explosif improvisé en Afghanistan. Ce tragique épisode a décuplé son empathie pour les sujets qu’il photographie et renforcé une vocation

    « Tu es un dur, tu vas vivre, buddy. » Le 7 février 2011, au cœur de l’Afghanistan. Dans l’hélicoptère qui l’emmène d’urgence à l’Hôpital des Nations unies à Kandahar, des soldats américains s’évertuent à maintenir Giles Duley en vie. Incorporé dans la 101e Division aéroportée de l’armée américaine pour photographier l’impact humanitaire de la guerre sur les civils, il vient de sauter sur une mine improvisée. Deux jambes et un bras arrachés. Transféré à Birmingham en Angleterre, il passe 46 jours aux soins intensifs. Il survit. Un miracle. Il subit 37 opérations en un an avant de pouvoir quitter l’hôpital.
    Façonner ma vie future

    Invité par le Centre international de déminage humanitaire (GICHD) à Genève à l’occasion de la 22e Conférence internationale de Mine Action réunissant plus de 300 responsables nationaux et onusiens au Palais des Nations jusqu’à vendredi, ce Britannique de 47 ans n’est pas du genre à s’apitoyer sur son sort. A l’ONU, mardi matin, équipé de ses deux prothèses, il lâchera devant un parterre plutôt rangé : « Si je n’avais plus été capable de faire de la photo, j’aurais préféré mourir en Afghanistan. »

    « J’ai d’emblée perdu mes ressources financières, ma maison, ma fiancée, poursuit Giles Duley. J’ai vécu dans une petite chambre où même ma chaise roulante ne rentrait pas. Tout le monde voulait façonner ma vie future. A moi qui avais été un sportif (boxe et athlétisme), on m’avait dit, un an après l’Afghanistan, que j’allais pouvoir désormais m’intéresser aux Jeux paralympiques de Londres de 2012. » Une remarque offensante pour lui qui voit le handicap comme l’incapacité de faire ce que l’on veut faire.

    « Or aujourd’hui, je fais ce que j’aime. Je suis un meilleur photographe qu’avant. » Dans son appartement de Hastings faisant face à la mer, ce Londonien s’en fait un point d’honneur : son appartement n’est pas aménagé spécialement pour lui. Il rappelle qu’il y a quelque temps, il posait vêtu de noir, avec les amputations visibles, sur un tronc blanc pour un autoportrait, prouvant qu’il acceptait son nouveau physique. « Au British Museum, explique-t-il, il y a bien des statues en partie abîmées qu’on continue de trouver belles. »

    Pour la seule année 2018, Giles Duley, exemple de résilience, a voyagé dans 14 pays. Avec la photo comme raison d’être, de vivre. Pour documenter les horreurs réelles de la guerre : « Je ne suis pas un reporter de guerre. Je suis anti-guerre. Je ne photographie jamais des soldats au combat. » Son empathie pour les sujets qu’il photographie est décuplée. En 2015, le Haut-Commissariat de l’ONU pour les réfugiés (HCR) lui confie un mandat pour raconter la crise des migrants de Syrie en lui donnant pour seule directive : « Suis ton cœur. » Une manière de bien cerner le personnage.

    A Lesbos, l’arrivée de migrants épuisés le touche profondément. Il le confesse au Temps : « Je n’ai pas que des blessures. Mes souffrances physiques et émotionnelles sont quotidiennes. Mais c’est précisément cela qui me connecte aux gens. » Giles Duley n’a plus la même palette de possibilités qu’auparavant. Mais il s’en accommode : « Les limites que je peux éprouver me forcent à davantage de créativité. » D’ailleurs, ajoute-t-il, « les meilleures photos ne sont pas celles qu’on prend, mais celles qu’on nous donne ».
    Une vérité, pas la vérité

    Quand, en 2014, il rencontre Khouloud dans un camp de réfugiés dans la vallée de la Bekaa au Liban, il est touché par cette Syrienne, atteinte par un sniper à la colonne vertébrale et alitée dans une tente de fortune depuis plusieurs mois. Un cliché la montre en compagnie de son mari, « une scène d’amour » davantage qu’une scène dramatique dans un camp de réfugiés, relève-t-il. Deux ans après sa première rencontre, il constate que Khouloud est toujours dans la même tente. La situation l’insupporte. Il lance une campagne de financement participatif pour lui venir en aide. Un jour, il recevra de Khouloud, médicalement traitée aux Pays-Bas, un message disant « Vous m’avez redonné ma vie. »

    Giles Duley reste honnête. Ses photos ne représentent pas la réalité, mais une réalité qu’il a choisie. Préférant le noir et blanc, il aime utiliser un drap blanc comme seul arrière-fond pour effacer tout contexte : « Si je photographie une personne dans un camp de réfugiés, on va se limiter à la voir comme une réfugiée. Or elle est bien autre chose. Elle n’est pas née réfugiée. »
    La puissance de l’esprit

    Aujourd’hui directeur de sa fondation Legacy of War, Giles Duley estime être « l’homme le plus chanceux du monde » à voir les milliers de mutilés qui croupissent dans des conditions de vie inacceptables. Dans une interview avec Giles Duley, Melissa Fleming, directrice de la communication au HCR, le relève : « Au cours de toute ma vie, je n’ai jamais rencontré une personne aussi forte, ayant été si proche de la mort et capable de recourir à la puissance de son esprit et de sa volonté pour surmonter » l’adversité.

    La vocation de Giles n’était toutefois pas une évidence. Des cinq frère et sœurs, il est le plus « difficile ». Les études ne le branchent pas, au contraire du sport. Il décroche une bourse d’études aux Etats-Unis pour la boxe, mais un accident de voiture met fin à ses espoirs. Il se lance dans la photo de groupes de rock (Oasis, Marilyn Manson, Lenny Kravitz, etc.) et de mode. Mais un jour, face à une jeune actrice en pleurs dans un hôtel londonien, il réalise que la photo de mode ne le rend plus heureux. Il abandonne, travaille dans un bar, cédant brièvement à la dépression et à l’alcool.
    A 30 ans, une nouvelle vocation

    Mais comme une bouée de sauvetage, il se souvient d’un cadeau laissé par son parrain à peine décédé quand il avait 18 ans : un appareil photo Olympus et Unreasonable Behaviour, l’ouvrage autobiographique de la légende de la photo Don McCullin. Les images du Vietnam et du Biafra le bouleversent. A 30 ans, il identifie sa nouvelle vocation : raconter par l’image l’histoire personnelle des victimes oubliées du cynisme humain à travers la planète. Pour leur donner la chance d’une nouvelle vie. Malgré les douleurs qui ne le lâchent jamais. Ou peut-être à cause d’elles.

    https://www.letemps.ch/monde/giles-duley-survivre-mieux-photographier-victimes-guerre
    #photographie #victimes_de_guerre #handicap #autonomie
    ping @albertocampiphoto @philippe_de_jonckheere

  • #El_Paso to Trump: Stop Telling Lies About Us

    The president is holding a rally in the city on Monday. El Paso leaders are not pleased.

    President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address on Tuesday to repeat the made-up claim that border barriers “immediately” saved El Paso from being one of America’s most dangerous cities. On Wednesday, Trump’s reelection campaign announced that he will double down on the lie by holding a rally on Monday at the El Paso County Coliseum.

    Local officials have not been pleased with Trump’s interest in their city. “What he’s saying and doing is extremely insulting,” says Peter Svarzbein, one of El Paso’s eight district representatives. He adds that Trump’s message is also damaging to El Paso’s economy at a time when the city is trying to attract professionals and students.

    Alexsandra Annello, another district representative, says it was disappointing to hear Trump continuing to mislead Americans. “El Paso has been a diverse, binational, bilingual community,” she says. “And it has been safe long before the fence was put up.”

    Trump’s claim that El Paso went from being one of America’s most dangerous cities to one of its safest because of a border fence is entirely false. El Paso’s violent crime rate peaked in 1993 and fell by more than a third by 2006. The El Paso Times reported in January, “From 2006 to 2011—two years before the fence was built to two years after—the violent crime rate in El Paso increased by 17 percent.” El Paso is now one of the safest cities in America.

    After Trump’s speech, El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles, a Democrat, said in a statement, “It is sad to hear President Trump state falsehoods about El Paso, Texas in an attempt to justify the building of a 2,000-mile wall…El Paso was a safe city long before any wall was built.” Rep. Veronica Escobar, the Democrat who replaced Beto O’Rourke in Congress, called Trump’s El Paso reference a “sucker punch” in an interview with the El Paso Times.

    El Paso’s Republican mayor Dee Margo tweeted that “El Paso was NEVER one of the MOST dangerous cities in the US” but called Trump’s upcoming visit “a positive” on Wednesday.

    Svarzbein lamented that if Trump actually came to El Paso with an open mind, he would see the benefits of a free exchange of people and ideas across the border, between El Paso and the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez. “You constantly have people from outside of this city and this region that don’t understand those dynamics,” Svarzbein says. “They don’t understand that the border is a blessing.”

    He says, “I really wish this president would come here to see how these two cities thrive with each other, not in spite of but because of our relationships.”

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/02/el-paso-to-trump-stop-telling-lies-about-us
    #mensonges #fake_news #USA #Trump #sécurité #murs #frontières #barrières_frontalières #tur_tur

  • Bangladeshis being killed 20km inside India, says BGB chief

    Border Guard Bangladesh director general major general Md Shafeenul Islam on Wednesday said Bangladeshi people were being killed 20 kilometres inside India and he condemned those incidents as ‘killings’ in the name of fighting petty crimes while refusing to accept the conventional category — ‘border killing.’
    Border Guard Bangladesh chief came up with a new definition at a programme held at the border force headquarters in Peelkhana during the inaugural ceremony of a Data Centre.
    The BGB chief went on to add, ‘Human life is very important whether it is our citizen or theirs. Our force is cognizant of human rights. No killing is acceptable to us.’
    ‘But the term border killing is a misnomer. It implies that the killing has taken place on the border,’ the BGB chief told the reporters and hastened to ask, ‘Can we term these murders “border killings” when they take place 15 to 20 kilometres inside [Indian] border?’
    He pointed out to the journalist that a spade should be called a spade and termed every murder as ‘killing.’ He further said that it is killing in the name of fighting ‘petty crimes’.
    If the killing took place within 200 yards of the border or on the no man’s land it could be termed as border killing, he argued.
    Asked whether he had any statistics on such killings inside the Indian territory or in areas proximal to the border, he said this year eight Bangladeshis were killed so far.
    BGB chief took issue with such incidents. ‘Why do members of Indian Border Security Force are killing Bangladeshis instead of arresting them. Bangladeshi people were getting killed when the Indian force were supposed to use non-lethal weapons instead of lethal ones,’ he added.
    The BSF troops join the rank from various regions across India including Kashmir, and they need more time to become sensitised to the people living near the border areas. They easily become ‘trigger-happy’ when Bangladeshis are involved, said the BGB chief.
    Last year, he said border killing was reported until October. It increased slightly during the winter.
    ‘Due to the fog in winter, the illegal trespassing usually increases. People cross the border even by cutting the barbed wire fences,’ said BGB chief.
    He said they have intensified their vigilance along the western frontier so that none can cross the border.
    ‘We are arresting people every day when they set out to cross the border,’ he added.
    According to the Border Guard chief, they have now a digital surveillance system in place on Putkhali border to check the border crime while another surveillance system was under trial on Tekhnaf border.
    They have started getting benefits of the surveillance systems, he said, adding, ‘We expect that human trafficking and smuggling will reduce in the border regions.’
    He said their troops were facing extreme hardship to protect the borders. ‘We can give better protection of borders once we will have border road that are yet to be constructed,’ he said, adding, ‘There are many border outposts which need seven days to reach.’
    Binoy Krishna Mallik, executive director of Rights Jessore, said it doesn’t matter how far the place of incident is from the border, it is important whether it is related to the border or border forces. These are nothing but border killings,’ he told New Age.
    As of February 3, 2019, the Indian Border Security Force shot dead seven Bangladeshi in less than five weeks along the Bangladesh-India border.
    According to Ain o Salish Kendra six Bangladeshis were shot dead by BSF along border in January, four of them on the Thakurgaon frontier and one each on Nilphamari and Rajshahi border.
    In 2018, ‘trigger-happy’ BSF killed 14 Bangladeshis, according to the Kendra.
    According to Odhikar, at least 1,144 Bangladeshi were killed by the Indian border force between 2001 and 2018. Bangladesh and India share a border of 2,429 miles.

    http://www.newagebd.net/article/64063/bangladeshis-being-killed-20km-inside-india-says-bgb-chief
    #meurtres_aux_frontières #frontières #mobile_borders #frontières_mobiles #décès #mort #murs #barrières_frontalières #Bangladesh #Inde #zone_frontalière

    –-> et la question sur les #mots :

    ‘But the term border killing is a misnomer. It implies that the killing has taken place on the border,’ the BGB chief told the reporters and hastened to ask, ‘Can we term these murders “border killings” when they take place 15 to 20 kilometres inside [Indian] border?’

    #terminologie #vocabulaire

  • Israel starts construction on 20-foot-high fence surrounding #Gaza

    Covered in barbed wire and sensors, new fence to sit atop tunnel-blocking subterranean wall and connect to sea barrier.
    The Defense Ministry has begun the final phase of construction of a 20-foot high galvanized steel fence that will completely surround the Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said Sunday.

    The barrier will extend 65 kilometers (40 miles) miles around the enclave and sit atop the subterranean concrete wall Israel is constructing around the Gaza Strip to block terrorist groups’ attack tunnels from the coastal enclave.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the barriers were needed to “prevent the infiltration of terrorists into our territory,” at the start of weekly cabinet meeting.

    The fence will connect to the barrier recently built out into the Mediterranean Sea from north of Gaza, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

    The overall Gaza barrier project is due to be completed by the end of 2019, according to the army.

    “On Thursday, we began work on the final component of the Gaza Strip border barrier project. The obstacle is unique and specially designed to protect against the threats from the Strip and to give a superior solution to preventing infiltration into Israeli territory,” said the head of the project, Brig. Gen. (res.) Eran Ofir.

    The barrier project is expected to cost approximately NIS 3 billion ($833 million), with each kilometer of the underground portion of the barrier costing approximately NIS 41.5 million ($11.5 million). The above-ground fence is significantly cheaper, at just NIS 1.5 million ($416,000) per kilometer.

    The new fence surrounding the Gaza Strip will be constructed within Israeli territory, a few dozen meters east of the current shorter, more easily penetrable fencing. The old barrier will not be removed.

    According to the Defense Ministry, the new galvanized steel fence will weigh approximately 20,000 tons and comes equipped with a number of sensors and other “modern security components.”

    The barrier is being constructed jointly by the Israel Defense Forces-Defense Ministry Borders and Security Fence Directorate, run by Ofir, who has overseen the construction of barriers along Israel’s borders with Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

    In 2016, Israel began construction of the new barrier around the Strip, focusing first on the underground portion, following the 2014 Gaza war in which Hamas used subterranean attack tunnels to deadly effect against Israeli troops.

    Over the past two years, work has persisted on the underground sensor-studded concrete wall, despite regular riots and clashes along the border and occasional attacks on the construction sites.

    In addition, the Defense Ministry built a barrier extending out from Israel’s coast aimed at preventing maritime infiltration from Gaza, as occurred in the 2014 war when a team of Hamas naval commandos landed on the beach near the community of Kibbutz Zikim before they were killed by Israeli forces. Construction of the undersea wall and breakwater was completed last month.

    The new above-ground fence will begin at the Egyptian-Israeli-Gaza border, near Kerem Shalom, and will continue out to the sea barrier, according to the Defense Ministry.

    “The above-ground barrier… is another important element in the defense of the [Israeli] communities surrounding Gaza, which already includes: the sea barrier, which provides a response to terrorist infiltration from the sea to the west, and the underground barrier that surrounds the Strip and is meant to prevent the digging of terror tunnels into Israel,” the ministry said.

    The military proposed building the barrier following the 2014 Gaza war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge. During the fighting, Hamas made extensive use of its tunnel networks to send fighters into Israel as well as to move its terrorist operatives and munitions within the Gaza Strip.

    Hundreds of people, some Israeli and others from abroad, are involved in the project, wearing flak jackets and under guard by IDF soldiers as protection against attack from terror groups in the Strip.

    Concrete factories were built next to the Gaza Strip to speed up construction.

    To build the underground wall, the workers use a hydromill, a powerful piece of drilling equipment that cuts deep, narrow trenches into the earth, which was brought to Israel from Germany.

    In addition to opening up the ground where the barrier will be constructed, the hydromill also exposes any previously undiscovered or newly dug Hamas tunnels that enter Israeli territory. The space left behind by the hydromill — and any Hamas tunnels that get in the way — is then filled with a substance known as bentonite, a type of absorbent clay that expands when it touches water.

    This is meant to prevent the trenches from collapsing, but also has the additional benefit of indicating the presence of a tunnel, as the bentonite would quickly drain into it. Workers then pour regular concrete into the trench. Metal cages with sensors attached are then lowered into the concrete for additional support.


    https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-starts-construction-on-20-foot-high-fence-surrounding-gaza/amp
    #murs #barrières_frontalières #frontières #Israël
    ping @reka

  • Géographies en mouvement - L’amour des murs - Libération.fr
    http://geographiesenmouvement.blogs.liberation.fr/2019/01/28/lamour-des-murs

    L’amour des murs, sentiment universel

    On peut – avec raison – s’offusquer de l’obsession de Trump pour « son » mur, prolongement de la barrière érigée à partir de 2006 sous la présidence de George W. Bush. Mais il faut garder à l’esprit un autre chiffre : depuis la chute du Mur de Berlin en 1989, les États membres de l’Union européenne et/ou de l’espace Schengen ont construit, le long de leurs frontières, près de 1000 km de murs[2]. Sans compter les systèmes de surveillance de toutes sortes – les « murs virtuels » – ni les patrouilles en Méditerranée, les limites physiques de la « forteresse Europe » s’étendent aujourd’hui sur une distance plus de six fois supérieure à celle de la double ligne de béton armé érigée en 1961 par le gouvernement est-allemand.

    #murs #frontières

  • Why a #high-tech border wall is as silly as a physical one

    Opinion: Technology is an attractive answer, but it’s no panacea for economic and geopolitical problems at the border.

    There’s a loud and growing chorus of opposition to a physical border wall. That view is shared by leaders of border cities like McAllen, Texas, by every congressman representing a district along our 2000-mile-long southern border, and by the majority of Americans (to say nothing of a long list of bygone societies stretching from the Ming Dynasty to East Germany). Tying a partial government shutdown to funding for the wall has also been deeply unpopular, and the president’s historically low approval ratings were slumping further during the shutdown.

    Out of the political jockeying during the longest partial government shutdown in American history, there’s one idea everyone seems eager to agree on: Technology can help redress serious problems at the border. It’s an attractive, almost magic-sounding solution, lending a Silicon Valley ring to a stale debate. In the rhetorical shoving match over a physical wall, it’s become the rallying cry for those seeking sensible alternatives.

    Unfortunately, border technology is not the panacea many people think. And in many of its applications it runs counter to our core values.

    Increasing border security with a force field of sensing and response technology, what many are calling a digital or virtual wall, isn’t a new idea — in fact, it’s about 50 years old and grew out of strategies and technologies first developed during the Vietnam War. And it hasn’t worked.

    Technology already in place

    There are currently about 12,000 motion and seismic sensors along the U.S. border with Mexico, along with a vast electronic perimeter of radar and high definition cameras. Predator B drones have extended the radar net in places and can pick out a snake slithering through brush a mile away. Miniature facial recognition drones, 3D mapping technology, tethered blimps first developed to guard forward operating bases in Afghanistan, tunnel-navigating ground robots used in Iraq, invisible dyes dropped from the air to mark migrants, and acoustic deterrents of various types have all been tested or deployed along the border. (Here’s an excellent article on the history of this technology buildup by Lauren Etter and Karen Weise.)

    Meanwhile, electronic fingerprinting has been in use by immigration enforcement officials since the 1990s to track the massive flow of people, legal and illegal, across U.S. borders. Border security agents currently have access to military-grade technology like nightscopes, suppressors, infrared and holographic sights, and a thick catalog of tactical weapons and gear.

    We’re not talking about small-scale pilot programs or testbeds, either — far from it. In the mid-2000s, the America’s Shield Initiative and Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System cost taxpayers billions. The objective was “to use the right technology at the right places for the right terrain to … have the rapid response capability to get to the points of intrusions to increase our overall apprehension rate,” CBP Commissioner Robert Bonner told the House Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security in 2006.

    Soon after, George W. Bush kicked off the #Secure_Border_Initiative, what he called “the most technologically advanced border security initiative in American History.” And just this past March, the latest government spending bill allocated $400 million for border technology. During what’s become a perennial state of frenzy over illegal immigration, it’s safe to say there’s been a decades-old gold rush to bring tech to the border. Rather than promoting new technology development, battle tested technology has migrated over from the defense sector. Contractors are reaping the benefits.

    And what are the results of all this technology on immigration? Well, here’s how President Trump feels: “We can’t have people pouring into our country like they have over the last 10 years.”

    Scrutinizing that assertion through the lens of reality is an exercise in confronting just how bellicose and misinformed the immigration debate has become, but the important takeaway is that a lot of people believe there’s still a big problem at the border despite the massive investment in technology. Maybe it’s time to reevaluate our faith in a digital fix. Maybe it’s also time to reevaluate the problem.

    https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-a-high-tech-border-wall-is-as-silly-as-a-physical-one
    #technologie #murs #barrières_frontalières #frontières #migrations

  • Denmark Is Building a Border Wall to Keep Boars Away Amid Swine Fever Fears

    Denmark began construction Monday morning on a 42-mile border fence designed to keep out wild boar from neighboring Germany.

    The government chose to erect the barrier amid fears that African swine fever is spreading across Europe, it said in a statement. An outbreak of the disease, which is highly contagious, has no cure and is fatal to pigs, was recorded in nearby Belgium in late 2018.

    (...)

    The fence will be five feet tall, designed to allow larger animals such as deer to jump over it. The government says the project, which will be completed in fall 2019 and is expected to cost $12 million, is “common sense.”

    http://time.com/5514415/denmark-border-wall-boars

    #Danemark #frontières #barrières_frontalières #murs #santé #peste_porcine #Allemagne #élevage #porcs