• Matteo #Salvini veut construire un mur à la frontière entre la Slovénie et l’Italie

    Voilà une semaine que des #patrouilles slovéno-italiennes parcourent la frontière entre les deux pays pour empêcher les passages illégaux de réfugiés. Présentée comme une intensification de la coopération entre Rome et Ljubljana, la mesure ne satisfait pas le ministre italien de l’Intérieur, Matteo Salvini, qui a évoqué l’idée d’un mur à la frontière Est de la Botte.

    L’image, digne d’un spot de campagne proeuropéen, a fait le tour des médias slovènes : tous sourires, deux gardes-frontières slovène et italien se serrent solennellement la main, encouragés par un concert de bons mots sur la coopération policière entre Rome et Ljubljana. La mise en place d’une patrouille frontalière binationale, proposée par le ministre slovène des Affaires étrangères Miro Cerar et approuvée par son homologue italien, vise à empêcher plus efficacement les franchissements illégaux. « Nous nous attendons à des résultats positifs », a déclaré à la télévision slovène 24UR Vincenzo Avallone, chef de secteur de la police frontalière basée à Udine. « Cette coopération contribuera à un meilleur partage d’informations, crucial pour continuer notre travail. »

    Jusqu’au 30 septembre, quatre patrouilles de police se succèderont chaque semaine, trois côté slovène et une côté italien. Formées à Trieste, les équipes pourront entrer jusqu’à dix kilomètres dans le territoire des deux pays, avec pour mission de surveiller les points de passage les plus sensibles. « Nous avons travaillé sur cette initiative durant des mois », s’est félicité le gouverneur de la région de Frioul-Vénétie julienne, Massimiliano Fedriga, cité par l’agence italienne ANSA. « La pression politico-diplomatique sur la Slovénie et les pays des Balkans s’est accentuée », précise-t-il, tout en présentant la mesure comme « un commencement, pas une solution ».
    « Rendre la frontière infranchissable »

    La semaine dernière, Matteo Salvini, vice-Premier ministre italien en charge de l’Intérieur, a affirmé que si ces patrouilles ne suffisaient pas, il ferait installer des « obstacles physiques » à la frontière, à commencer par une barrière de fils barbelés. Avant d’évoquer l’idée de sceller la frontière orientale : « Nous allons rendre la frontière avec la Slovénie infranchissable, et ce par tous les moyens disponibles ».

    Le 5 juin, 500 personnes s’étaient rassemblées en signe de protestation dans la commune frontalière de #Nova_Gorica - #Gorizia, et 300 autres à Trieste lors d’une visite de Matteo Salvini à Trieste pour la signature d’un contrat d’investissement avec la Hongrie. « Chez nous, le dernier mur est tombé en 2004 [date de l’entrée de la Slovénie dans l’UE]. L’érection d’un nouveau mur éveillerait le passé, ce qui serait non seulement douloureux mais également contreproductif », explique le maire de Gorizia, Rudi Ziberna, à La Repubblica. Au premier semestre 2019, 5306 migrants auraient franchi la frontière slovéno-croate, une hausse de près de 50% par rapport à 2018 (3612 passages). 146 auraient été renvoyés en Slovénie, contre 158 l’année précédente.

    https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/refugies-Salvini-mur-frontiere-Slovenie-Italie
    #frontières #frontière_sud-alpine #murs #barrières_frontalières #Italie #Slovénie #asile #migrations #réfugiés #coopération_bilatérale #gardes-frontière #militarisation_des_frontières #patrouilles_mixtes

    • Il muro anti-migranti tra Italia e Slovenia proposto dalla Lega costerebbe 2 miliardi di euro

      Il governatore del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fedriga, ha parlato dell’ipotesi di costruire un muro di 243 chilometri al confine orientale dell’Italia, tra Friuli e la Slovenia.

      In un’intervista rilasciata al Fatto Quotidiano domenica 30 giugno, ha dichiarato che sta valutando l’ipotesi di realizzare il piano insieme al Viminale. La sua realizzazione risponderebbe infatti alla necessità di “fermare l’ondata migratoria che avanza”.

      “Se l’Europa non tutela i suoi confini noi saremo costretti a fermare l’ondata migratoria che avanza attraverso altri altri Paesi dell’Ue con tutti i mezzi. Non possiamo mettere poliziotti a ogni metro”, ha detto il leghista.
      Muro anti migranti Friuli | Costo

      Ma quanto costerebbe realizzare un vero e proprio muro anti migranti tra Friuli Venezia Giulia e Slovenia?

      Il coordinatore nazionale dei Verdi, Angelo Bonelli, ha calcolato che la sua costruzione costerebbe circa 2 miliardi di euro alle casse dello stato.

      “Per 100chilometri di reticolato al confine tra Usa e Messico il congresso americano ha autorizzato a Trump la spesa di 1,3 miliardi di dollari. E quindi per 243 chilometri di reticolato in Italia, il costo sarà di circa 2 miliardi di euro”, ha detto Bonelli.

      Un’infrastruttura del genere sarebbe, per questo, non solo discutibile dal punto di vista politico e morale, ma anche dal punto di vista pratico.

      Le spese per la costruzione del muro ricadrebbero su molti di quei cittadini italiani che, di questi tempi, probabilmente accoglierebbero con favore il piano.
      Muro anti migranti Friuli | Le critiche

      Le critiche all’idea del progetto non sono tardate ad arrivare anche da parte di altri personaggi pubblici, che si sono concentrati sull’aspetto politico del piano, ritenuto da alcuni anacronistico.

      Lo scrittore e saggista Claudio Magris ha scritto sul Corriere della Sera che un progetto simile sarebbe anti-storico, e rievocherebbe l’epoca della cortina di ferro, costruita alla fine della seconda guerra mondiale tra Trieste e la ex Jugoslavia di Tito.

      Anche diversi membri del Movimento 5 stelle hanno criticato il piano, tra cui il deputato e giornalista Emilio Carelli, che ha detto: “Spero che l’idea del governatore Massimiliano Fedriga non venga raccolta da nessuna forza politica. Non è alzando i muri che si governano i problemi delle migrazioni”.

      Giuseppe Brescia, presidente della Commissione Affari costituzionali della Camera ed esponente del M5S, ha invece affermato: “Questa iniziativa non ha né capo né coda, non se ne dovrebbe nemmeno parlare. Non è in agenda né nel contratto di governo, quelli della Lega non possono spararla sempre più grossa”.

      https://www.tpi.it/2019/07/01/muro-anti-migranti-friuli-fedriga-costo/

    • PM Says Fence Not Needed on Slovene-Italian Border

      Prime Minister Marjan Šarec has dismissed ideas by senior Italian officials that a fence should be erected on the Slovenian-Italian border, telling the National Assembly that such proposals had to be interpreted “in the domestic policy context”.

      “In talks with the Italian government we will state that there are no reasons for the border, this is clear from the numbers ... Italy is not threatened by Slovenia’s inactivity, and we will substantiate that,” he said.

      Šarec made the comment when he was quizzed by opposition MPs in parliament on Tuesday about the recent launch of mixed police patrols on the border, their implication being that the beefed up controls are the result of Slovenia’s failure to properly protect the Schengen border.

      Stressing that the number of persons Italy returned to Slovenia had dropped by 17% in the first half of 2019 compared to the same period last year, Šarec said Slovenian police were doing all they could to protect the Schengen border and curb illegal migrations.

      Border patrols are “not a measure that would squeeze Slovenia out of the Schengen zone,” as Democrat (SDS) MP Branko Grims claimed, as Italy has such cooperation with all of its neighbours and Slovenia also had such mixed patrols on its other borders, according to Šarec.

      New Slovenia (NSi) deputy Jernej Vrtovec wondered why Slovenia had proposed mixed patrols, labelling it an admission of its inability to control the Schengen border. But Šarec stressed that it was not the government that had proposed joint patrols, this was the result of an agreement at the level of both police forces.

      For Šarec, the key thing to dam migrations is for Frontex, the EU’s border agency, to be deployed on Croatia’s borders with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia.

      Overall, border control is “a serious issue that the new EU Commission will have to tackle with all seriousness... Migrations will be with us for years to come ... the EU is not active in tackling these issues,” he said, adding: “Schengen is de facto not working anymore.”

      Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini recently suggested Italy might erect a fence on its border with Slovenia if joint police patrols do not suffice to stop migrations, raising fears of a return to border checks that would severely disrupt life along the border.

      While the right has taken the announcement as evidence of Slovenia’s failings, politicians on the left have started urging the government to take action to prevent such a scenario from unfolding.

      Social Democrat (SD) deputy Matjaž Nemec thus urged Šarec today to take the initiative and invite the prime ministers of all countries on the Western Balkan migration route, including Italy and Austria, to jointly tackle the issue.

      But others think Italy will do as it likes regardless of what Slovenia does.

      Robert Polnar, an MP for the Pensioners’ Party (DeSUS), said Italy’s measures would probably be harsher than the measures Slovenia is adopting.

      And Luka Mesec, the leader of the Left, said Salvini was “playing his game” in order to win the election in Italy.

      "What the Slovenian right is doing, and partially the government by starting to announce drones and fencing ... is acquiescing to this game... Our politicians are dancing to Sallvini’s tune, Mesec said on the margins of the plenary today.

      https://www.total-slovenia-news.com/politics/4072-pm-says-fence-not-needed-on-slovene-italian-border

    • Misure rafforzate contro l’immigrazione irregolare e per difendere i porti

      Nell’occasione è stato espresso apprezzamento anche per la decisione della Slovenia, che confermando le intenzioni anticipate al governo italiano ha annunciato il via ai pattugliamenti congiunti con la polizia croata.

      www.interno.gov.it/it/notizie/misure-rafforzate-contro-limmigrazione-irregolare-e-difendere-i-porti

      Commentaire Sara Prestianni, reçu via email:

      « l’Italie, qui avait annoncé il y a quelque semaine de vouloir construire un mur avec la Slovenie puis dementis puisque ont été relancé les patrouilles conjointes Italie/Slovenie, se felicite de l’annonce de la Slovenie de proceder à des patrouilles conjointe avec la Croatie »

    • Reçu via la newsletter Inicijativa Dobrodosli, le 29.07.2019 :

      Slovenia deployed 35 soldiers at the border to Italy to prevent migration and confirmed its “commitment” (www.h-alter.org/vijesti/slovenija-od-danas-s-vojskom-na-granici-kod-kopra) in helping Croatia with combating illegal migration, and proposed the potential sending of #Frontex to the EU’s external borders, H-alter writes (www.h-alter.org/vijesti/slovenija-od-danas-s-vojskom-na-granici-kod-kopra).

      Slovenija od danas s vojskom na granici kod Kopra

      Slovenski mediji objavili su jučer kako će se od danas “u zaštitu granice s Italijom od ilegalnih migracija” uključiti dodatnih 35 vojnika, koji su poslani kao ispomoć policiji kod Kopra, gdje je prošli tjedan uhićeno 122 osoba u tranzitu. Vojnici će koristiti sredstva koje vojska ima u redovitoj upotrebi, od sredstava za promatranje do oklopnih vozila.

      Pojačani angažman Slovenije na sprečavanju migracija na granici s Italijom počeo je početkom ovog mjeseca kada su uvedene zajedničke ophodnje slovenske i talijanske policije.

      Slovenski ministar unutarnjih poslova Boštjan Poklukar i njegov talijanski kolega Matteo Salvini sastali su se prošlog tjedna i potvrdili svoju “predanost” pomoći Hrvatskoj “u borbi protiv nezakonite migracije”, te su predložili potencijalno slanje Frontexa na vanjske granice Europske unije.

      http://www.h-alter.org/vijesti/slovenija-od-danas-s-vojskom-na-granici-kod-kopra
      #armée #armée_slovène

    • Reçu via la newsletter Inicijativa Dobrodosli, le 02.08.2019 :

      Also, after last week’s news on the Slovenian army at the border with Italy and the proposal to send Frontex to the border with Croatia, this week we learn (https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/slovenci-navukli-uniforme-i-sami-stite-granicu-s-hrvatskom-od-migranata-vice) that a group of Slovenian locals in the Metlika and Črnomelj area dress in camouflage uniforms and patrol the border area. Non-sanctioning of such patrols, especially fueled by anti-immigrant attitudes, may further jeopardize access to international protection and the safety of persons on the move.

      –----

      Slovenci navukli uniforme i sami štite granicu s Hrvatskom od migranata : ’Vičemo im : Ovo je moja zemlja, odmah lezite’, a oni bježe’

      Neobična priča dolazi iz pograničnog područja uz Kupu sa slovenske strane granice s Hrvatskom. Razočarani odnosom službene Ljubljane, koja bi po njima trebala činiti više da zaštiti granicu od migrantskog vala, dio mještana tog kraja organizirao se u ’seoske straže’. Iako nisu naoružani, tvrde da im je cilj povećati osjećaj sigurnosti uz granicu

      Kako izvještava slovenski portal Siol.net, straža se sastoji od desetak mještana koji u maskirnim uniformama patroliraju pograničnim područjem u okolici Metlike i Črnomelja. Jedino oružje koje koriste u svom ’nadzoru granice’ njihov je glas.

      ’Vičemo im: ’Ovo je moja zemlja, ovo je Slovenija, odmah lezite!’ No oni ne slušaju naša naređenja, okrenu se i bježe’, svjedoči Blaž Zidar, jedan od mještana koji svakodnevno patrolira.

      https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/slovenci-navukli-uniforme-i-sami-stite-granicu-s-hrvatskom-od-migranata-vice ?

      Les photos publiées avec l’article :

      ... dont une qui montre le nom du village : #Gibina (#Gibanje_Omejeno), à la frontière entre la #Slovénie et la #Croatie, et non pas avec l’Italie —> donc sur la route vers l’#Autriche :

      #barrières_frontalières #barbelés

    • Reçu via la newsletter Inicijativa Dobrodosli, le 12.08.2019:

      The Slovenian government (http://hr.n1info.com/Regija/a425162/Slovenija-mobilizirala-pomocnu-policiju-zbog-migranata-i-sigurnosti-u-pro) has mobilized an increased number of reserve police forces, arguing that the Slovenian border is threatened by ’’an increased influx of migrants’’. The Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina (https://m.vecernji.hr/vijesti/eurozastupnik-podupire-bih-sram-me-je-hrvatska-granicna-policija-se-ne-sm) said it expects border surveillance equipment from the Czech Republic, stating that they "urgently need sophisticated sensor and radar systems to monitor day and night conditions and detect illegal crossings, special cameras, drones, vehicles for monitoring and surveillance, mobile equipment for direct access to databases as well as border control equipment intended for the detection of people in hidden spaces.’’

    • Italy/Slovenia enact joint patrols along their shared border

      This month saw the introduction of joint Slovenian and Italian police patrols on their mutual border, raising concerns about the retrenchment of national boundaries contra the Schengen Agreement. The collaboration between authorities, due to be implemented until the end of September, mobilises four joint operations per week, with respective police forces able to enter 10km (https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/17916/italy-slovenia-start-joint-border-patrols) into the territory of their neighboring state in order to apprehend migrants. Mixed operations by member states signifies a growing trend towards the securitization of the EU’s internal borders, and in this case a tightening of controls on the departure point from the West Balkan route. The patrols aim at stemming the transit of migrants from the western Slovenian regions of Goriška and Obalno-kraška, into the eastern region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy. Given the extensive pushback apparatus being employed by Slovenian and Croatian officials, arrival in Italy has often been the first place where persons-in-transit can apply for international protection without the threat of summary removal. However, these developments in cross border patrols highlight a growing effort on the part of the Italian government to prevent people seeking sanctuary on its territory. The Telegraph reported (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/08/anti-migrant-patrols-italy-slovenia-border-raise-spectre-post) that the operations had already generated “the arrest of 97 migrants in just 48 hours”, and were being carried out on both local roads and motorways across the breadth of the 120 mile land border. But the newspaper also expressed its concerns around the reintroduction of border controls, suggesting the joint operations were “conjuring up memories of the barbed wire and fences which made peoples’ lives miserable after World War Two”. The article cited the rise in local tensions in the town of Novi Gorica, as the functions of a more formalised border came back into place. Split in the aftermath of WW2, #Gorizia came to form half the town on the Italian side while the other half, #Novi_Gorica, was under Yugoslavian control. The local experience of separation within the community has informed a growing unease regarding these new border procedures, as seen in demonstrations on the Slovenian side by locals opposing a hard border. But it would seem the patrols are likely to become a regular function within the bilateral work of the Slovenian and Italian police given the rising anti-migrant rhetoric being mobilized by Italian Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini. The Interior Minister has already made calls for a border fence between the countries, should these joint patrols not bring transit into Italy under control. The knock on effect has been felt in Slovenia, where conservative opposition party NSi have made subsequent calls for the further protection of its border with Croatia. Concerned by what Balkan Insight termed a “Hungarian-style border fence” in Italy, the Slovenian parliamentary right are seeking assurances that Slovenia will not become a bottleneck for migrants whose passage to Italy is blocked. To this end, Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec made a visit to the southern border and, according to Croatian media (https://www.total-croatia-news.com/politics/37027-slovenia), pledged further police to the efforts, along with military assistance and drones. Here once again, the courtship rituals of these respective member states continues to dance ever closer to the reestablishment of fixed borders and further from a reappraisal of their obligations to international asylum law.

      (pp.16-18)

      Source: https://www.borderviolence.eu/wp-content/uploads/July-2019-Final-Report.pdf

    • Italy, Slovenia start joint border patrols

      A joint border patrol mission between Italy and Slovenia started Monday. The aim is to stem the flow of migrants reaching the north-eastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia from the eastern border.

      A joint Italian-Slovenian border patrol officially began Monday. The main aim of the cross-border collaboration between the police forces is to stem the flow of migrants who cross into Italian territory from the eastern border, authorities said.

      To start, four joint patrols have been planned per week with two Italian border police officers and two Slovenian colleagues who can be deployed in an area of up to 10 kilometers within their respective territories.

      Massimiliano Fedriga, governor of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, said ’’we have been working for months on the initiative’’ because ’’Italy’s political-diplomatic pressure on Slovenia, as well as on Balkan countries, has increased." He added that the measure is “a start, not a solution.”

      Italy is ready ’’to adopt other’’ measures, the governor also said, including the suspension of Schengen rules, ’’as already done by Austria with Slovenia’’, or erecting a border barrier in northeastern Italy, The barrier, the governor added, would not be erected along the entire border, as previously reported, “but potentially on some of the most critical points,” citing the woods in the Karst region, in order to “channel undocumented (migrants) along routes that are easy to control.” Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has repeatedly spoken over the past few days of “sealing the eastern border.”

      Slovenia says no emergency at the border with Italy

      Speaking at a press conference at the former Lipica border crossing to mark the start of the joint patrols, Slovenian authorities said there “is no emergency at the border with Italy.” Since the start of the year, said the director general of Slovenian police, Marian Stubljar, ’’the readmissions of illegal (migrants) from Italy to Slovenia were 146 against 158 last year." The most critical situation in terms of migrant arrivals today is at the border with Croatia, the Slovenian official said.

      As of June 29, Slovenian police at the border with Croatia registered 5,306 illegal crossings, compared to 3,612 in 2018, noted Stubljar. Most of them were ’’Afghan, Algerian and Pakistani citizens." Therefore the situation remains critical outside the Schengen area ’’at the border with Bosnia," said the official.

      Patrols to prevent migrants from crossing into Italy

      Although readmissions have not increased compared to last year, Italian authorities explained, the aim of the joint border patrols is to prevent migrants from entering national territory. Once they have crossed into Italy, they cannot be sent back if they apply for asylum, the officials said. Vincenzo Avallone, the official in charge of the so-called Fourth zone of the Udine border police, said authorities ’’expect good results’’ from the operation.

      Further developments in immigration policies could follow the visit of Deputy Premier Salvini who is expected on Friday to travel to Trieste, the main city of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

      https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/17916/italy-slovenia-start-joint-border-patrols

    • Migranti: fine pattugliamento congiunto Italia-Slovenia

      Il pattugliamento congiunto del confine fra Italia e Slovenia, una iniziativa avviata a luglio scorso e programmata fino alla fine di settembre, è formalmente terminato, ma la collaborazione transfrontaliera delle forze di polizia in alcune aree prosegue. Lo scrive l’agenzia di stampa STA, che riporta una dichiarazione della polizia distrettuale di Capodistria, dove la collaborazione prosegue. A Nova Gorica invece le pattuglie congiunte sono state sospese. Durante il pattugliamento congiunto nell’area del capodistriano sono state condotte 46 operazioni di pattugliamento congiunto, 36 in Slovenia e 10 in Italia. Fino al 30 settembre di quest’anno sono stati poco meno di quattromila (3.922) gli stranieri intercettati lungo la zona di frontiera, un numero leggermente in crescita rispetto allo stesso periodo dello scorso anno, quando furono fermati 3.272 migranti.

      http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/it/notizie/rubriche/cronaca/2019/10/02/migranti-fine-pattugliamento-congiunto-italia-slovenia_c0eb4322-dde5-4141-

    • La frontiera invisibile che passa da Trieste

      “Quando sono entrato in Italia ho ringraziato dio e poi mi sono messo a ballare in mezzo alla strada”, racconta Tariq Abbas, un ragazzo pachistano di 26 anni, mentre mostra il punto esatto in cui è sceso dall’auto del passeur che qualche mese fa lo ha portato dalla Bosnia all’Italia, davanti a un bar sull’autostrada che dalla Slovenia conduce a Trieste. Aveva provato ad attraversare la frontiera tra Bosnia e Croazia quindici volte, senza riuscirci. Alla fine ha deciso di pagare un trafficante per essere portato in auto a destinazione, in Italia, insieme ad altre dieci persone. Si trovava da mesi nel campo governativo di Bira, un’ex fabbrica di Bihać, in Bosnia, dove è stato allestito un campo ufficiale dall’Organizzazione internazionale delle migrazioni (Oim).

      A Bira mancava tutto, racconta Abbas. L’acqua, i servizi, la fiducia negli altri. Risse e furti erano all’ordine del giorno in una situazione sempre più difficile. “Ero partito dal Pakistan un anno e mezzo prima e mi trovavo bloccato in Bosnia da mesi”. Così l’unica strada è stata quella di affidarsi a uno dei tanti passeur che frequentano il campo. “È pieno di persone che offrono di facilitare il viaggio, all’interno degli stessi campi in Bosnia”, racconta. Ha speso una cifra altissima: 3.500 euro per farsi portare prima a piedi e poi in auto dove voleva arrivare. Mentre percorre il sentiero che costeggia l’autostrada, Abbas mostra gli oggetti che altre persone hanno lasciato lungo la strada: zaini, sacchi a pelo, indumenti. Sono le tracce di un passaggio costante e silenzioso.

      Una rotta di cui non si parla
      L’8 novembre un ragazzo siriano di vent’anni è stato ritrovato senza vita nei boschi della Slovenia. Come tanti prima di lui, come tanti dopo di lui, provava ad attraversare la frontiera, percorrendo una rotta che non è mai stata chiusa, nonostante l’accordo con il presidente turco Recep Tayyip Erdoğan costato all’Unione europea sei miliardi di euro nel 2016 e malgrado la costruzione del muro tra Ungheria e Serbia voluto dal premier ungherese Viktor Orbán nel 2015. Il ragazzo siriano aveva vent’anni e voleva raggiungere i suoi due fratelli, emigrati anni prima in Germania. Si è perso nei boschi, in autunno, per sfuggire ai controlli della polizia slovena e croata lungo i sentieri che attraversano il confine.

      Lo stesso giorno trentacinque persone sono state fermate nella stessa zona, tra Croazia e Bosnia, e rimandate indietro in quella che si è trasformata nella frontiera orientale dell’Europa, proprio nelle stesse ore in cui in tutti i paesi del vecchio mondo si celebrava il trentesimo anniversario della caduta del muro di Berlino. “Non si è trattato di una fatalità”, afferma Gianfranco Schiavone del Consorzio italiano di solidarietà (Ics) di Trieste, membro dell’Associazione studi giuridici sull’immigrazione (Asgi). “Ma è la manifestazione di una situazione drammatica che riguarda migliaia di profughi lungo la rotta dei Balcani. Quella morte si aggiunge ad altre avvenute negli ultimi anni lungo questa rotta”, continua Schiavone, secondo cui gli arrivi in Italia dalla rotta dei Balcani sono bassi, ma costanti.

      “Stiamo parlando di una ventina di persone al giorno che arrivano a Trieste dai Balcani”, continua. Eppure, secondo l’esperto, “c’è molto silenzio su quello che succede lungo la frontiera orientale, perché è come se non si volesse riconoscere che pesanti violazioni dei diritti umani stanno avvenendo in territorio europeo: in Croazia, in Slovenia”. Sono numerosi i report che denunciano le violenze della polizia croata che picchia, deruba e respinge indietro migranti e profughi, violando una serie di norme internazionali. Ma, secondo gli esperti, su questo aspetto è sceso un silenzio preoccupante.

      Il muro e i cani
      Invece c’è molta enfasi sulle misure di contrasto all’ingresso degli immigrati sul territorio italiano: qualche giorno fa i consiglieri di Fratelli d’Italia nel comune di Trieste hanno proposto di dotare la polizia di frontiera di cani poliziotto per rincorrere i migranti che provano a entrare nel paese. L’estate scorsa aveva fatto discutere la proposta del governatore del Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fredriga, di costruire un muro al confine con la Slovenia. Per monsignor Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli, presidente della Caritas e arcivescovo di Gorizia, “nessuno vorrebbe la costruzione di un muro in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, c’è stata troppa sofferenza legata alla frontiera”. Il ricordo del muro è ancora molto presente: “Appena fuori Gorizia c’è un paesino che ha un cimitero dalla parte slovena: sono passati in mezzo alle tombe per segnare il confine e quando la frontiera era in piedi gli abitanti di quel paese non potevano andare neppure a mettere un fiore su quelle tombe”, racconta Redaelli.

      Per gli esperti l’idea di costruire un muro è irrealistica e contraria alla legge. “La frontiera è lunga trecento chilometri, di cui la maggior parte in montagna”, spiega Schiavone. “Inoltre nessuna barriera fisica può essere innalzata tra due paesi che fanno parte dello spazio Schengen, quello che è possibile è ripristinare in maniera temporanea i controlli di frontiera. Ma il ripristino deve essere giustificato da un motivo preciso”, commenta il presidente di Ics, che aggiunge: “La discussione pubblica rimane dominata dall’ossessione dei respingimenti, ciò porta spesso le persone a nascondersi, a fare percorsi pericolosi e ad affidarsi alle reti criminali, che così alzano il prezzo dei loro servizi”.

      L’Asgi – di cui Schiavone fa parte – ha lanciato un progetto di monitoraggio transnazionale delle violazioni dei diritti umani che stanno avvenendo lungo la rotta dei Balcani. Per Schiavone l’ultima misura adottata delle pattuglie miste italo-slovene per intercettare i migranti prima che entrino in Italia è un ulteriore spreco di risorse pubbliche, potrebbe aver violato alcune norme internazionali che impongono di non respingere dei potenziali richiedenti asilo o dei minorenni e produce come unico effetto l’apertura di percorsi ancora più pericolosi, che mettono a serio rischio la vita delle persone, specialmente con l’arrivo dell’inverno.

      Anche per il prefetto di Trieste Valerio Valenti le pattuglie italoslovene, sperimentate tra luglio e settembre 2019, sono state poco efficaci. Sono state intercettate quaranta persone in tutto e rimandate in Slovenia. Le riammissioni totali dall’Italia alla Slovenia nel 2019 sono state 118 a fronte di circa cinquemila ingressi. “Le pattuglie miste sono formate da tre agenti: due sloveni e un italiano e operano alla frontiera per sei ore, quattro giorni alla settimana, per intercettare i migranti prima che arrivino sul territorio italiano. In termini di numeri l’esperienza non è stata particolarmente produttiva. Ma la collaborazione tra polizie di stati confinanti è sempre una buona cosa, spero che la collaborazione (ora conclusa, ndr), possa continuare”, afferma il prefetto. Ma il problema a Trieste, come in tutto il paese, sembra essere più legato ai tagli economici al sistema di accoglienza che non all’aumento degli arrivi di migranti.

      “Abbiamo avviato un programma di alleggerimento e ridistribuzione delle persone dal Friuli-Venezia Giulia all’intero paese, nell’idea che il flusso di migranti è costante in Friuli e per garantire che i centri non fossero mai sovraffollati. Da luglio a settembre abbiamo spostato 1.160 persone in altri centri italiani e le persone presenti in accoglienza nella regione al momento sono circa 2.600”, spiega Valenti. Inoltre “i bandi per i centri di accoglienza sono andati deserti, perché le organizzazioni che si occupano di accoglienza hanno ritenuto che i tagli previsti siano troppo alti (dai 35 euro a persona ai 27 euro a persona) e non consentirebbero di offrire i servizi di base”, continua il prefetto.

      Schiavone di Ics è molto critico: “Il sistema del Friuli-Venezia Giulia è stato destrutturato dal cosiddetto decreto sicurezza, soprattutto a Udine e Gorizia. Nel caso di Trieste è rimasto uguale, perché Ics e Caritas si sono rifiutati di accettare gli standard dei capitolati, anche se c’è un’atmosfera molto precaria. Si voleva trasformare il sistema di accoglienza in una specie di dormitorio, inoltre si rischiava di perdere posti di lavoro. Tuttavia, anche con il nuovo governo, la vicenda non è ancora chiusa. Ci troviamo ancora nella stessa precarietà”. Anche Oliviero Forti della Caritas è dello stesso parere: “I nuovi capitolati d’appalto hanno ribassato gli importi destinati all’accoglienza nei centri di accoglienza straordinaria (Cas), ma non solo. A fronte di un minor costo, sono stati anche previsti minori servizi, trasformando le accoglienze da percorsi di integrazione a meri servizi di albergaggio. Questa situazione ha portato moltissimi enti del terzo settore a scegliere di non partecipare ai bandi sia come scelta dettata dalla non accettazione di un simile modello di accoglienza, sia​ per la non sostenibilità economica di questo sistema”.

      https://www.internazionale.it/reportage/annalisa-camilli/2019/11/12/trieste-frontiera-muro

    • Réfugiés en Slovénie : de plus en plus de passages, de plus en plus d’arrestations

      Depuis le début du mois de juillet, des #patrouilles_mixtes italo-slovènes contrôlent la frontière entre les deux pays, comptant sur les dénonciations de la population locale pour arrêter les exilés, toujours plus nombreux à tenter de rejoindre l’Italie.


      Depuis le printemps 2019, la police slovène constate une hausse constante des passages depuis la Croatie. Selon InfoMigrants (https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/20830/slovenie-des-patrouilles-de-police-quotidiennes-pour-intercepter-les-m, les autorités slovènes ont relevé 14’000 traversées illégales sur leur sol entre le 1er janvier et le 30 octobre 2019, contre 8200 à la même période en 2018. « Entre le 4 et le 10 novembre, 124 migrants ont été arrêtés par les patrouilleurs, dont une majorité de Syriens, de Pakistanais et de Marocains », rapporte la journaliste Charlotte Boitiaux. La police explique compter sur les signalements de la population civile, invitée à dénoncer les mouvements « suspects ».

      Parmi les nationalités enregistrées, la police slovène note une hausse du nombre des Marocains et des Algériens (https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/20911/de-plus-en-plus-d-algeriens-et-de-marocains-passent-par-la-route-des-b), qui empruntent la route des Balkans depuis la Turquie, où leurs passeports bénéficient d’un régime de visa favorable. Surtout, le passage par les Balkans coûte moins cher et est moins risqué qu’un transport à travers la mer Méditerranée.

      Ceux qui sont arrêtés font une demande d’asile en Slovénie pour éviter d’être expulsés vers la Croatie. « Ici, quand on demande l’asile, on a le droit à un toit, on peut dormir au chaud, et pas dans la forêt. Ça nous change de la Bosnie », explique Mohamed à InfoMigrants. Le seul centre du pays pour les demandeurs d’asile se trouve à Vič, près de Ljubljana, et peut héberger 200 personnes. Il est rarement plein. La grande majorité des résidents n’y restent que quelques jours, avant de « disparaître dans la nature » et de reprendre leur route vers l’Ouest.

      L’objectif reste de passer en Italie. « Ce n’est pas si dur que ça », explique Amir, interrogé par InfoMigrants. « Je me suis arrêté à Ljubljana, le temps de m’acheter des bonnes chaussures de marche, de trouver un manteau plus chaud et je vais repartir bientôt. » Amir veut rejoindre la France et la région de Bordeaux où il a de la famille. « On va passer par la forêt avec un ami, pas besoin de passeurs, on se repère et on se déplace avec nos GSM ». Entre la Slovénie et l’Italie, il n’y a pas de barbelés. Le passage est plus facile, affirment les migrants. « Le pire, c’est de passer la Croatie, les barbelés, les policiers violents, après ça va », affirme Amir.

      https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/Slovenie-chaque-semaine-des-dizaines-de-migrants-arretes-a-la-fro
      #délation

    • Slovénie : des patrouilles de police quotidiennes pour intercepter les migrants à la frontière italienne (3/3)

      Depuis le mois de juillet, des patrouilles binationales de policiers italiens et slovènes ont été mises sur pied pour tenter d’enrayer le flux grandissant de migrants tentant de passer dans le pays transalpin. InfoMigrants a pu rencontrer la police slovène dans la ville de Koper, non loin de la ville italienne de Trieste, où chaque semaine, des dizaines de migrants sont arrêtés.

      Il est midi quand la patrouille commence à rebrousser chemin. La pluie tombe depuis plusieurs heures et le brouillard est omniprésent. Les deux policiers slovènes et la policière italienne rentrent sans « avoir vu personne ». La faute aux intempéries sûrement. « Tenter une traversée par ce temps, c’est plus compliqué, mais ça existe, évidemment », explique la policière italienne qui a commencé à patrouiller à 7h du matin – et qui prend la direction du commissariat de Koper, dernière ville slovène avant l’Italie, pour faire son rapport.

      La surveillance du jour a eu lieu dans les montagnes de Kastelec et de Socerb, à une dizaine de kilomètres au nord de Koper, du haut desquelles on aperçoit la petite commune italienne de San Dorligo. Cette fois-ci, donc, aucun migrant n’a été intercepté.

      Depuis le mois de juillet, des patrouilles binationales, italiennes et slovènes, ont fait leur début le long de leur frontière commune. Elles dureront au moins jusqu’à la fin septembre. Objectif affiché des deux pays : freiner l’immigration clandestine sur la route des Balkans, en direction de l’Italie et de l’ouest de l’Europe.

      Si, au plus fort de la crise migratoire, en 2015, des dizaines de milliers de migrants et réfugiés en provenance de Syrie, d’Irak ou encore d’Afghanistan, avaient emprunté cet itinéraire, le flux s’était tari ces trois dernières années. Mais depuis le printemps 2019, la Slovénie a vu le nombre des arrivées en provenance de la Croatie augmenter de nouveau.

      « Plus de 22% de hausse de tentatives de traversées de l’Italie dans la région par rapport à l’année dernière », précise Vicjem Toskan, l’un des chefs de la police de la ville de Koper. Et plus de 70 % sur l’ensemble du territoire. Les autorités ont en effet recensé 14 000 traversées illégales sur leur sol du 1er janvier au 30 octobre 2019, contre 8 200 à la même période en 2018.

      De plus en plus de Marocains et d’Algériens

      Parmi les personnes interceptées par la police, de nombreux Marocains et Algériens qui empruntent de plus en plus cette route des Balkans après avoir rallié la Turquie – qu’ils rejoignent grâce à des facilités de visa. « J’aurais pu passer par la mer pour aller du Maroc en Espagne, mais c’était trop cher. Le passeur me demandait plus de 5 000 euros », explique Amir* un migrant marocain croisé à Ljubljana. « Passer par les Balkans, ça me coûte presque rien ».

      Un autre, traumatisé par la mer Méditerranée, n’a pas voulu tenter la traversée maritime. « Mon frère est mort en essayant d’aller en Espagne dans un canot. Passer par la Turquie et les Balkans, c’est plus long, mais c’est moins dangereux », explique ce migrant, lui aussi marocain.

      Selon les chiffres des autorités slovènes, les migrants maghrébins font partie des nationalités les plus arrêtés – avec les Pakistanais et les Afghans. Face à cette réalité, la police dit « surveiller de près l’évolution de la situation et adapter ses activités en conséquence ».

      « Pas besoin de passeurs »

      Est-ce facile de rallier l’Italie ? « Ce n’est pas si dur que ça », répond Amir. « Je me suis arrêté à Ljubljana, le temps de me racheter des bonnes chaussures de marche, de trouver un manteau plus chaud et je vais repartir bientôt. » Amir veut rejoindre la France et la région de Bordeaux où il a de la famille. « On va passer par la forêt avec un ami, pas besoin de passeurs, on se repère et on se déplace avec nos GSM ».

      De ce côté-ci du pays, pas de barbelés. Le passage est plus facile, affirment les migrants. « Le pire, c’est de passer la Croatie, les barbelés, les policiers violents, après ça va », affirme Amir. Le gouvernement slovène a écarté la possibilité d’installer une clôture à sa frontière ouest, comme l’avaient suggéré récemment plusieurs responsables politiques italiens. Mais les autorités n’ont pas lésiné sur les moyens déployés à la frontière italienne pour empêcher les migrants de passer. Des vidéos surveillances et des drones sont utilisés pour aider les forces de l’ordre.


      https://twitter.com/chaboite/status/1194641459384913920

      Dans la forêt qui recouvre une large partie de la frontière sloveno-italienne, les policiers s’appuient aussi sur les signalements des civils. « On reçoit parfois des coups de fils des habitants de la région. Ils nous disent quand ils croient apercevoir quelque chose d’inhabituel dans la montagne à tel ou tel endroit ».

      Les « techniques » de passage varient selon les saisons. « L’été, on remarque que les migrants marchent davantage. L’hiver, ils tentent de passer la frontière dans des voitures, des vans, des camionnettes. Il y a des passages parfois la nuit. Le plus souvent, ils marchent une dizaine de jours pour rallier Velika Kledusha, en Bosnie, à Trieste, en Italie ».

      124 personnes arrêtées en une semaine

      En fonction de tous ces paramètres, les patrouilles changent souvent de lieux et d’horaires. « Evidemment, on ne vous dira rien à ce sujet », sourit le commandant de police.

      Amir ne connaissait pas l’existence de patrouilles binationales. Mais il n’a pas l’air stressé par leur existence. « Il y a toujours des contrôles à une frontière, c’est comme ça ».

      La police slovène se dit, elle, satisfaite de ce dispositif. « Hier [le 12 novembre], nous avons intercepté 12 migrants qui tentaient de passer en Italie, ils étaient répartis dans trois voitures de passeurs », précise Vicjem Toskan, le commandant de police de Koper. « Et dans la semaine du 4 au 10 novembre, nous avons arrêté 124 personnes. Nos patrouilles ne font pas de miracles, mais, pour l’heure, force est de constater qu’elles ont fait leur preuve et qu’elles sont efficaces ».

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/20830/slovenie-des-patrouilles-de-police-quotidiennes-pour-intercepter-les-m

    • Slovénie : des patrouilles de police quotidiennes pour intercepter les migrants à la frontière italienne (3/3)

      Depuis le mois de juillet, des patrouilles binationales de

      policiers italiens et slovènes ont été mises sur pied pour tenter d’enrayer le flux grandissant de migrants tentant de passer dans le pays transalpin. InfoMigrants a pu rencontrer la police slovène dans la ville de Koper, non loin de la ville italienne de Trieste, où chaque semaine, des dizaines de migrants sont arrêtés.

      Il est midi quand la patrouille commence à rebrousser chemin. La pluie tombe depuis plusieurs heures et le brouillard est omniprésent. Les deux policiers slovènes et la policière italienne rentrent sans « avoir vu personne ». La faute aux intempéries sûrement. « Tenter une traversée par ce temps, c’est plus compliqué, mais ça existe, évidemment », explique la policière italienne qui a commencé à patrouiller à 7h du matin – et qui prend la direction du commissariat de Koper, dernière ville slovène avant l’Italie, pour faire son rapport.

      La surveillance du jour a eu lieu dans les montagnes de Kastelec et de Socerb, à une dizaine de kilomètres au nord de Koper, du haut desquelles on aperçoit la petite commune italienne de San Dorligo. Cette fois-ci, donc, aucun migrant n’a été intercepté.

      Depuis le mois de juillet, des patrouilles binationales, italiennes et slovènes, ont fait leur début le long de leur frontière commune. Elles dureront au moins jusqu’à la fin septembre. Objectif affiché des deux pays : freiner l’immigration clandestine sur la route des Balkans, en direction de l’Italie et de l’ouest de l’Europe.

      Si, au plus fort de la crise migratoire, en 2015, des dizaines de milliers de migrants et réfugiés en provenance de Syrie, d’Irak ou encore d’Afghanistan, avaient emprunté cet itinéraire, le flux s’était tari ces trois dernières années. Mais depuis le printemps 2019, la Slovénie a vu le nombre des arrivées en provenance de la Croatie augmenter de nouveau.

      « Plus de 22% de hausse de tentatives de traversées de l’Italie dans la région par rapport à l’année dernière », précise Vicjem Toskan, l’un des chefs de la police de la ville de Koper. Et plus de 70 % sur l’ensemble du territoire. Les autorités ont en effet recensé 14 000 traversées illégales sur leur sol du 1er janvier au 30 octobre 2019, contre 8 200 à la même période en 2018.

      De plus en plus de Marocains et d’Algériens

      Parmi les personnes interceptées par la police, de nombreux Marocains et Algériens qui empruntent de plus en plus cette route des Balkans après avoir rallié la Turquie – qu’ils rejoignent grâce à des facilités de visa. « J’aurais pu passer par la mer pour aller du Maroc en Espagne, mais c’était trop cher. Le passeur me demandait plus de 5 000 euros », explique Amir* un migrant marocain croisé à Ljubljana. « Passer par les Balkans, ça me coûte presque rien ».

      Un autre, traumatisé par la mer Méditerranée, n’a pas voulu tenter la traversée maritime. « Mon frère est mort en essayant d’aller en Espagne dans un canot. Passer par la Turquie et les Balkans, c’est plus long, mais c’est moins dangereux », explique ce migrant, lui aussi marocain.

      Selon les chiffres des autorités slovènes, les migrants maghrébins font partie des nationalités les plus arrêtés – avec les Pakistanais et les Afghans. Face à cette réalité, la police dit « surveiller de près l’évolution de la situation et adapter ses activités en conséquence ».

      « Pas besoin de passeurs »

      Est-ce facile de rallier l’Italie ? « Ce n’est pas si dur que ça », répond Amir. « Je me suis arrêté à Ljubljana, le temps de me racheter des bonnes chaussures de marche, de trouver un manteau plus chaud et je vais repartir bientôt. » Amir veut rejoindre la France et la région de Bordeaux où il a de la famille. « On va passer par la forêt avec un ami, pas besoin de passeurs, on se repère et on se déplace avec nos GSM ».

      De ce côté-ci du pays, pas de barbelés. Le passage est plus facile, affirment les migrants. « Le pire, c’est de passer la Croatie, les barbelés, les policiers violents, après ça va », affirme Amir. Le gouvernement slovène a écarté la possibilité d’installer une clôture à sa frontière ouest, comme l’avaient suggéré récemment plusieurs responsables politiques italiens. Mais les autorités n’ont pas lésiné sur les moyens déployés à la frontière italienne pour empêcher les migrants de passer. Des vidéos surveillances et des drones sont utilisés pour aider les forces de l’ordre.

      Dans la forêt qui recouvre une large partie de la frontière sloveno-italienne, les policiers s’appuient aussi sur les signalements des civils. « On reçoit parfois des coups de fils des habitants de la région. Ils nous disent quand ils croient apercevoir quelque chose d’inhabituel dans la montagne à tel ou tel endroit ».

      Les « techniques » de passage varient selon les saisons. « L’été, on remarque que les migrants marchent davantage. L’hiver, ils tentent de passer la frontière dans des voitures, des vans, des camionnettes. Il y a des passages parfois la nuit. Le plus souvent, ils marchent une dizaine de jours pour rallier Velika Kledusha, en Bosnie, à Trieste, en Italie ».

      124 personnes arrêtées en une semaine

      En fonction de tous ces paramètres, les patrouilles changent souvent de lieux et d’horaires. « Evidemment, on ne vous dira rien à ce sujet », sourit le commandant de police.

      Amir ne connaissait pas l’existence de patrouilles binationales. Mais il n’a pas l’air stressé par leur existence. « Il y a toujours des contrôles à une frontière, c’est comme ça ».

      La police slovène se dit, elle, satisfaite de ce dispositif. « Hier [le 12 novembre], nous avons intercepté 12 migrants qui tentaient de passer en Italie, ils étaient répartis dans trois voitures de passeurs », précise Vicjem Toskan, le commandant de police de Koper. « Et dans la semaine du 4 au 10 novembre, nous avons arrêté 124 personnes. Nos patrouilles ne font pas de miracles, mais, pour l’heure, force est de constater qu’elles ont fait leur preuve et qu’elles sont efficaces ».

      https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/20830/slovenie--des-patrouilles-de-police-quotidiennes-pour-intercepter-les-

  • Migranti: premier annuncia più controlli a confine Croazia

    LUBIANA - Il premier sloveno Marjan Šarec ha deciso di aumentare la presenza di polizia e soldati lungo il confine con la Croazia. «Non abbiamo mai detto che non c’era alcun problema con i migranti», ha dichiarato Šarec durante un sopralluogo effettuato oggi lungo la frontiera meridionale, nel comune di #Ilirska_Bistrica, insieme al ministro dell’interno Boštjan Poklukar, e alla direttrice generale della Polizia, Tatjan Bobnar. Anche se ha preferito non dare dettagli sul numero di ulteriori agenti che saranno inviati per il pattugliamento dei valichi di frontiera, Šarec ha detto che le forze di sicurezza saranno dotate di attrezzature tecniche, come i droni, e che viene anche valutata l’eventualità di rinforzare recinzioni e barriere fisiche, ove necessario. Lungo alcuni tratti del confine fra Slovenia e Croazia è presente una recinzione con filo spinato, ma sin dalla prima visita del ministro Poklukar il numero di attraversamenti illegali è raddoppiato e «questo per noi è inaccettabile», ha dichiarato il primo ministro. Come si apprende da una nota diffusa dal governo, in linea con le aspettative di protezione dei propri confini il governo ha stanziato considerevoli risorse finanziarie destinate alla polizia slovena e continuerà a farlo in futuro. La collaborazione con la comunità locale, prosegue il comunicato, deve essere portata avanti senza che la retorica politica prenda il sopravvento. La visita di Šarec è poi proseguita nei comuni di #Kostel e #Črnomelj.

    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/it/notizie/rubriche/politica/2019/07/08/migranti-premier-annuncia-piu-controlli-a-confine-croazia_01b75f45-24ae-4f
    #militarisation_des_frontières #drones #barrières_frontalières #murs
    #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Croatie #Slovénie #frontières

    • Le Premier ministre slovène annonce le renforcement de la frontière avec la Croatie

      12 juillet - 11h30 : Au lendemain de l’agression au couteau d’un chauffeur de taxi par un ressortissant irakien, le Premier ministre slovène, Marjan Šarec, a promis l’envoi de soldats supplémentaires à la frontière avec la Croatie et l’achat d’équipement supplémentaire, dont des drones et de nouvelles barrières.

      Cette annonce survient peu après la création de patrouilles slovéno-italiennes. Le Premier ministre était pressé par l’opposition de droite, qui craint que la Slovénie ne devienne un goulot d’étranglement pour des réfugiés coincés à la frontière italienne. Le parti chrétien-démocrate NSi a demandé au gouvernement de prendre les « mesures nécessaires pour empêcher les franchissements illégaux de la frontière et garantir une protection efficace de la frontière sud ».

      https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/fil-info-refugies


      https://twitter.com/vladaRS/status/1148273439406534657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E11

      #murs #barrières_frontalières

    • While the Croatian Ministry of the Interior has publicly expressed concerns about maintaining the security of Croatian borders, neighboring Slovenia started building additional fences along the border with Croatia. The Slovenian Interior Ministry said that they plan to put an additional 40 kilometers of wire at the border with the river Kupa, which means that Slovenia will have a total of 179 kilometers of border covered by ’’ technical barriers ’’.

      Reçu via la newsletter de Inicijativa Dobrodosli, le 26.08.2019

      source:

      Mediji: Slovenija počela dizati dodatne ograde uz granicu s Hrvatskom

      U MUP-u kažu da se dodatne prepreke postavljaju na mjestima gdje je to neophodno za zaustavljanje ilegalnih migracija.

      Slovenija je počela postavljati dodatnu protumigrantsku ogradu uz granicu s Hrvatskom, na sektoru gdje je ove godine zabilježen povećan broj ilegalnih ulazaka, uz rijeku Kupu, prenose u četvrtak slovenski mediji.

      Kako je objavila televizijska postaja POP-TV, u srijedu je započelo postavljanje četiri kilometra duge nove panelne ograde na potezu između sela Žuniči i Zilje, prenosi Hina.

      Posao bi trebao biti završen u nekoliko idućih tjedana, nakon čega će granica na Kupi između Vinice i Žuniča, gdje je ovog proljeća i ljeta bilo mnogo ilegalnih prelazaka, biti praktično u cijelosti zaštićena, navodi televizijska postaja, pozivajući se na svoje izvore.
      Na granici 179. kilometara ’privremenih tehničkih zapreka’

      Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova je u vezi s tim navelo da se dodatne tehničke prepreke na granici postavljaju na mjestima gdje je to neophodno za zaustavljanje ilegalnih migracija.

      “Gdje će se prepreke konkretno postaviti i u kojemu opsegu, o tome se odluke donose temeljem konkretnih ocjena i prijedloga policije”, naveli su u izjavi u slovenskom MUP-u.

      Slovenija je tehničke prepreke za zaustavljanje migrantskog vala počela postavljati u jeku velike migracijske krize 2015-2016. godine, a vlada je ovog ljeta najavila da će postaviti dodatnih 40 kilometara ograde, na mjestima koja su najriskantnija i nalaze se na rutama ilegalnih migracija.

      Trenutačno je na granici Slovenije i Hrvatske 179. kilometara “privremenih tehničkih zapreka”, od čega 116 kilometara čini bodljikava žica, a 63 kilometra takozvana panelna ograda, potvrdilo je ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova.
      Odabrano poduzeće iz Beograda

      Ograde je do sada postavljala slovenska vojska, dok je za postavljanje dodatnih 40 kilometara panelnih ograda sada odabrano poduzeće Legi-SGS iz Beograda, koje je na natječaju za taj posao dalo ponudu od 4,56 milijuna eura.

      Kako prenose slovenski mediji, Slovenija je do sada za ograđivanje granice potrošila 19 milijuna eura, u što nije uračunat rad vojske te odštete vlansicima privatnih parcela na kojima su barijere postavljene.

      Dodatne ograde se postavljaju i zbog prijetnji talijanskog ministra unutarnjih poslova Mattea Salvinija da će postaviti fizičke prepreke na granicu sa Slovenijom, ako zajedničke patrole na granici i dodatne mjere slovenske vlade do ove jeseni ne rezultiraju smanjenjem ilegalnih ulazaka migranata u Italiji preko slovenskog teritorija.

      http://balkans.aljazeera.net/vijesti/mediji-slovenija-pocela-dizati-dodatne-ograde-uz-granicu-s-hrvats

    • En Slovénie, une #clôture « de la honte » à la frontière croate (1/3)

      Depuis 2015, le gouvernement slovène érige le long de sa frontière sud une clôture de barbelés pour tenter d’endiguer le flux de migrants en provenance de la Croatie voisine. Les villages slovènes traversés par les fils barbelés supportent mal l’installation de ce grillage qui, selon eux, abîme le paysage et n’empêche pas la traversée des migrants.

      « Qui aime se réveiller le matin avec des fils barbelés devant sa fenêtre ? » Rudy ne décolère pas. Cet habitant de Slavski Laz, un village perdu dans les montagnes slovènes, frontalier avec la Croatie, ne s’explique toujours pas pourquoi le gouvernement a construit, ici, au bord de la rivière Kolpa, une clôture de barbelés.

      « Ils disent que ce grillage est fait pour nous protéger… Mais nous protéger de quoi ? Je n’ai peur de rien… », continue ce retraité qui vit depuis des années dans la région encore largement sauvage. L’argument de « l’invasion migratoire » brandi par le gouvernement pour justifier la construction de ce mur de métal ne le convainc pas.

      « Les migrants ici, ils passent, c’est tout », explique-t-il. « Ils transitent par la Slovénie et puis s’en vont vers d’autres pays, vers le nord de l’Europe généralement ».

      Les amis de Rudy acquiescent, tous attablés dans le seul café encore ouvert à 19h de Kostel, un village de moins de 650 habitants non loin d’une des rares routes reliant le pays à la Croatie. Selon eux, la clôture est inutile, elle abîme le paysage, et son rôle de dissuasion est largement surestimé. « Ils disent que les barbelés vont empêcher le passage de migrants… Mais tout le monde passe quand même ! », sourit Marco, un ami de Rudy, habitant dans le village voisin de Fara, en déclenchant l’hilarité de l’assemblée.

      « Par exemple, en ce moment, avec l’hiver et les forts courants, les rivages sont boueux, poreux, alors, les terrains bougent, la clôture s’effondre. Les migrants qui veulent passer n’ont même pas besoin de se fatiguer, ils ont juste à l’enjamber », continue Marco en riant. « Il y a des endroits où des sillons se sont creusés. Ils peuvent aussi passer sous la barrière ! »

      116 km de grillages

      Près de 14 000 migrants ont traversé la frontière depuis le début de l’année, « soit 70% de plus que l’année dernière », à la même période, affirme la police slovène à InfoMigrants. « Ces clôtures ne sont pas une baguette magique mais elles nous aident », ajoute Viljem Toskan, un commandant de police slovène.

      Cet été, 40 km supplémentaires de grillages ont donc été construits à la frontière sud, le long de la rivière Kolpa. « Il faut empêcher le franchissement illégal des frontières », a indiqué le ministère de l’Intérieur dans un communiqué. En tout, depuis 2015, Ljulbjana a déjà érigé 116 km de grillages le long de la Kolpa qui parcourt les 670 km de frontière avec la Croatie.

      Khaled, un demandeur d’asile érythréen, aujourd’hui à Ljubljana, a tenté trois fois le passage de la frontière slovène avant de réussir à entrer dans le pays. La clôture, il s’en souvient très bien. « J’ai traversé la frontière au mois de mai, quelque part vers Ribnica. Je me souviens qu’une fois la rivière franchie, il a fallu passer ces barbelés. Alors j’ai grimpé, je me suis déchiré les mains, elles étaient pleines de sang, mais je suis passé ».

      Montagnes dangereuses, présence d’ours, eau glaciale

      Au delà de sa dangerosité, Rudy, le villageois, voit dans cet alignement de barbelés, une « clôture de la honte » qui, selon lui, stigmatise les migrants. « On voit arriver des familles, parfois des enfants. Je ne vois pas bien en quoi, ce sont des ennemis », continue le retraité.

      « Cette barrière, c’est le début de l’enfer », explique à son tour une jeune fille qui énumère les dangers qui attendent les migrants juste après son franchissement : la #montagne « très dangereuse quand on s’y perd », les températures « glaciales » et les ours, nombreux dans le pays. « Parfois, on entend des cris là-haut. Ce sont des migrants qui hurlent pour effrayer les animaux ».

      Ces dernières semaines, deux migrants sont décédés par noyade dans la Kolpa et un autre a été retrouvé mort de froid et d’épuisement dans la forêt.

      Surtout, les migrants doivent éviter les patrouilles de police. « La nuit, quand nous tentons la traversée, nous voyons les lumières des lampes torche, derrière la clôture. Les policiers sont partout. C’est ça qui nous effraie le plus », se souvient Khaled. « On fait tout pour les éviter. Quand la police vous attrape, elle vous renvoie en Croatie. Elle vous emmène rarement jusqu’à la capitale pour demander l’asile ».

      Depuis le début de l’année, plus de 8 000 renvois – aussi appelés « pushbacks » - ont été effectués depuis les frontières slovènes, soit près de 70 % des entrées clandestines dans le pays, affirment les autorités.

      Patrouille de miliciens d’extrême-droite

      « C’est une honte, il y a la police, l’armée, maintenant cette clôture et il y a même une milice ! », fulmine à son tour Katarina Bernad Sterva, directrice de l’association slovène d’aide aux réfugiés, qui se désespère de la situation à la frontière.

      Depuis quelques jours en effet, des #milices en treillis militaires, visages cachés derrière des cagoules noires, patrouillent aussi le long de la rivière #Kolpa. Dirigée par le leader d’extrême-droite, #Andrej_Sisko,cette #milice se veut un « renfort » à l’armée régulière pour « défendre la frontière » et intercepter les migrants. « Nous sommes le point d’entrée de l’espace Schengen », se justifie Andrej Sisko. « Nous voulons faire passer un message. Nous voulons dire aux étrangers de rester chez eux. La clôture est fragile, elle ne permet pas de stopper les migrants alors nous venons contrôler les abords de la rivière nous-mêmes ».

      La milice d’Andrej Sisko n’a aucun mandat légal. Et visiblement, les villageois s’expliquent mal leur présence.

      Si certains rient à leur passage - « C’est le carnaval quand ils sont là », entend-t-on ici et là dans les villages frontaliers – d’autres comme Katarina Bernad Sterva regarde cette armée parallèle avec une inquiétude grandissante. « Ce qui m’effraie, c’est qu’ils existent. Publiquement, le gouvernement a condamné leurs actions, mais, dans les faits, les autorités ne font rien. Ces hommes sont fous, nous nous attendions à une réaction forte du gouvernement, comme par exemple l’annonce de la dissolution de ces patrouilles ».

      Interrogée par InfoMigrants, la police reste muette sur le sujet. « Je n’ai rien à dire sur ces hommes. Ils n’ont pas le soutien de la police », déclare simplement Vicjem Toskan, l’un des commandants en chef de la police de Koper, à l’ouest du pays.

      Ce soir-là, à Kostel, les amis du café s’interrogent surtout sur le sort réservé aux migrants interceptés par cette milice d’extrême-droite. « On a déjà la police et l’armée pour intercepter les migrants. On a une clôture pour les empêcher de continuer leur route. Eux, qu’est-ce qui vont leur faire, la nuit, dans la montagne ? », s’inquiète Rudy. « Ils portent des masques, ils marchent dans la forêt. J’ai plus peur d’eux que des immigrés qui traversent la rivière », chuchote à son tour, une jeune fille en bout de table. « Si j’étais migrante, je n’aimerais vraiment pas tomber sur eux ».

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/20807/en-slovenie-une-cloture-de-la-honte-a-la-frontiere-croate-1-3?preview=

      #murs #barrières_frontalières #frontière_sud-alpine #Fara #Kostel

  • 3,800 Volunteers Have Joined an Artist to Challenge Trump’s Idea of a “Big, Beautiful Wall” on the US–Mexico Border

    With the help of thousands of volunteers, #Enrique_Chiu is creating a large-scale mural on Mexico’s side of the border to spread a message of peace.


    https://hyperallergic.com/506480/3800-volunteers-have-joined-an-artist-to-challenge-trumps-idea-of-a-b
    #USA #Etats-Unis #murs #barrières_frontalières #frontières
    #art #graffitis

    Et la question qui notamment Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary se pose... en invitant des artistes à rendre le mur "joli"... ne réifie-t-on pas le mur ? N’est-ce pas une démarche contre-productive ?

    • L’expression des artistes est qualifié de jolie par Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary. Ca me fait le même effet d’entendre reproché à une cause d’être porté par une belle voix.
      C’est ma manière de répondre par l’absurde à ce reproche qui me semble absurde.

    • En fait, Anne-Laure qualifie peut-être de « joli » l’expression des artistes, mais justement pour dénoncer l’effet pervers que ça induit... Pour connaître bien son travail, c’est vraiment quelqu’un qui a dès le début dénoncer l’effet pervers des actions artistiques sur les murs frontaliers.

    • Elle dit notamment cela :
      https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/file/index/docid/809322/filename/Amilhat_que_montrent_les_murs.pdf
      et ça :

      Partout où les frontières se ferment, des formes de border art surgissent. Le border art, c’est à la fois l’art de la frontière, l’art à la frontière et l’art sur la frontière. Les murs-frontières où le border art s’est le plus illustré sont les murs les plus médiatiques : Israël / Palestine, Etats-Unis / Mexique, Berlin et puis les deux autres cas qui ont été beaucoup mobilisés : Belfast et Chypre. Les murs-frontières sont un catalyseur extrêmement fort du border art et le border art est un catalyseur de ce que les murs-frontières nous disent.

      https://www.franceculture.fr/video/border-art-signe-de-fermeture-du-monde
      #border_art

      Elle met en évidence l’ambiguïté du border art, qui réifie ce qu’ils essaient de dénoncer...

    • Citation :

      « Ces images fonctionnent comme des prophéties autoréalisatrices : une fois investis des millions dans la construction d’une barrière dont les clichés seront régulièrement présentés dans les médias, il devient évident pour le destinataire de cette communication que le danger contre lequel la barrière devait le prémunir est réel. Selon un syllogisme fallacieux, l’immigrant illégal voit sa dangerosité confirmée par l’ampleur du dispositif mobilisé pour le combattre ».

      Amilhat Szary, 2015, Qu’est-ce qu’une frontière aujourd’hui ?

  • The Croatian government decided to put a fence at the Croatian-Bosnian border crossing #Maljevac (https://www.bilten.org/?p=28196#). This is another practice put in place by the government to frighten and harm both refugees and the local community living in the surrounding area. Building a fence, and using violence at the border, are two sides of the same coin: discourage and deny refugees their right to seek asylum in an EU country.

    #murs #barrières_frontalières #Croatie #frontières #migrations #réfugiés #Balkans #route_des_balkans

    Reçu via la newsletter de Inicijativa Dobrodosli, le 14.06.2019

    • Hrvatske anti-izbjegličke ograde i nacionalna nevinost

      Hrvatska je još jednom pooštrila svoje antimigrantske mjere. U ponedjeljak je na graničnom prijelazu Maljevac prema Bosni i Hercegovini podigla željeznu ogradu sa šiljcima, visoku tri metra. Temelji za postavljanje ograde napravljeni su i na graničnim prijelazima Gejkovac i Pašin Potok, izvijestilo je Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova RH (MUP) te podsjetilo na Schengenski katalog za nadzor vanjskih granica i odredbe Zakona o nadzoru državne granice.

      Ministarstvo financija kao tijelo nadležno za izgradnju i održavanje graničnih prijelaza, na traženje Ministarstva unutarnjih poslova RH, postavilo je 10. lipnja 2019. godine pomičnu fizičku barijeru (ogradu) na Granični prijelaz Maljevac s obzirom na to da je Schengenskom katalogu EU-a za nadzor vanjskih granica, povratak i ponovni prihvat navedeno “kako granične prijelaze i neposredno okolno područje treba tehnički nadgledati, a granične provjere i nadzor trebaju biti osvijetljeni“.

      Granični prijelazi, u pravilu, trebaju biti odijeljeni ogradom, a iznimke se mogu napraviti u slučaju graničnih prijelaza za lokalni granični promet, priopćio je MUP. Hrvatska dakako nije kriva, objašnjava nam MUP, jer je postupala u skladu s mogućnostima koje dopušta Europska unija – u skladu s “katalogom” za nadzor granica.

      Maddalena Avon iz Centra za mirovne studije kazala je za Bilten kako je “ograda na graničnom prijelazu Maljevac način na koji se RH pokazuje ispred Bruxellesa i institucija EU”. Dodala je i da “ova odluka još jednom pokazuje kako migracija mora biti zajednička odgovornost u cijeloj Europi, utemeljena na načelu solidarnosti, i kako bi odgovor na nju trebao biti kolektivan”. Iz CMS-a još jednom neumorno ponavljaju zdravorazumske društvene zahtjeve: “Još jednom, od RH zahtijevamo da poštuje zakon i prestane uskraćivati ljudima pravo na traženje azila u EU, a od EU tražimo da osigura legalnost prolaza za ljude koji traže sigurnost u Europi.”
      Obeshrabriti i uskratiti

      Avon zaključuje kako je ovo “još jedna praksa koju vlada provodi kako bi zastrašila i naškodila i izbjeglicama i lokalnoj zajednici koja živi u okolici.” Dodala je kako su “izgradnja ograde i korištenje nasilja na granici dvije strane istog novčića: obeshrabriti i uskratiti izbjeglicama njihovo pravo tražiti azil u nekoj zemlji EU.

      Granice se više ne štite od kriminalaca i mafije. Kao što vidimo po medijskim natpisima, droga i druge ilegalne potrepštine najnormalnije prolaze, nema gotovo nikakvih zastoja u opskrbi. Valjda to znači slogan “slobodan protok kapitala, roba i ljudi”. Ljudi su i u stvarnosti i u sloganu na posljednjem mjestu. Sad kada je eksploatacija prirodnih resursa dovela do klimatskih promjena koje vode u društvene nesigurnosti i egzistencijalne neizvjesnosti, zidovi koji se podižu vjerojatno generacijama neće biti srušeni. Hoćemo li u Hrvatskoj ostati poslušni i sretni zbog toga što smo se kroz ušicu igle provukli u EU koja nam omogućuje da ostanemo s prave strane zida i za promjenu i sami ne budemo izbjeglice?

      Hrvatska, zbog ograde dakako kriva nije, baš kao što nisu krivi ni ispitanici u poznatom Milgram eksperimentu provedenom na Sveučilištu Yale kojim se dokazalo da većina ljudi između svojih osobnih i društvenih vrijednosti i naredbe figure autoriteta zapravo sluša naredbe autoriteta, makar pritom te naredbe rezultirale smrću trećih subjekata. Najave kažu da imamo još 30 godina do kraja civilizacije. Društvena situacija može se samo pogoršavati, ako ili kad nestane hrane, začeci ove politike “svako sam za sebe” dobit će katastrofalne razmjere odustanemo li već sada od načela solidarnosti i uzajamne društvene pomoći.

      https://www.bilten.org/?p=28196#

  • Les bouquetins jouent à saute-frontière alors que les êtres humains (certains êtres humains, les #indésirables...)

    Dans le parc du #Mercantour, les bouquetins jouent à saute-frontières

    Parmi les actions de coopération entre la France et l’Italie soutenues par l’Union européenne, un programme vise depuis 2017 à recenser et protéger la population de bovidés.

    La #montagne n’ayant pas de #frontières, les projets ont très vite pris une envergure européenne.


    https://www.liberation.fr/france/2019/05/09/dans-le-parc-du-mercantour-les-bouquetins-jouent-a-saute-frontieres_17259

    #animaux #frontières_ouvertes #differential_inclusion #humains #êtres_humains

    ping @reka

  • Sunk Costs. The border wall is more expensive than you think.

    When the federal government builds a border wall, the taxpayer foots two bills. First, there’s the cost to get the thing built, a figure proclaimed in presidential budget requests and press accounts. And second, there’s a slew of concealed costs — expenditures that hide in general operations budgets, arise from human error or kick in years down the line. In the Trump era, those twin outlays combine to make the wall outlandishly expensive.

    Excluding the hidden costs, Trump’s wall is running taxpayers a cool $25 million per mile, up nearly fourfold from just a decade ago. To understand why, it helps to know a little border history. In 1907, the U.S. government took possession of a 60-foot-wide strip of land along the U.S.-Mexico border from California to New Mexico as a buffer zone against smuggling. During his second term, George W. Bush built much of his border wall on this government-owned land. But in Texas, the vast majority of border real estate is privately owned, forcing the government to seize property all along the Rio Grande if it wants to build a barrier. That extra burden is a main reason the Lone Star State hosts a small fraction of existing border fence.

    Then there’s the terrain. For example, in Starr County, an unfenced swath of South Texas that’s high on Customs and Border Protection’s priority list, Trump plans to build on the Rio Grande’s craggy, erosion-prone bank — an engineering challenge that adds millions of dollars per mile. As CBP spokesperson Rick Pauza wrote in an email to the Observer: “Every mile of border is different, and therefore there is no one-size-fits-all cost per mile.” In addition, taxpayers today are buying the luxury edition of the wall: a structure that’s up to 12 feet taller than the Bush-era fence and buffered by a 150-foot “enforcement zone.”

    But all that’s only part of the story. Not included in the $25 million-per-mile figure is a suite of hidden expenses. Among them:

    Routine Maintenance and Operation. Border barriers are potent political symbols. They’re also physical structures that accumulate debris, degrade and break over time. In 2009, CBP estimated that operating and maintaining $2.4 billion worth of fencing, along with associated roads and technology, would cost $3.5 billion over 20 years — almost 50 percent more than the original cost.

    Breaches. Depending on design, border fences can be cut through using either bolt cutters or power tools. From 2010 to 2015, fencing was breached 9,287 times, according to the Government Accountability Office. At an average repair cost of $784, the government spent $7.3 million patching those holes in the wall. And the more new wall, the more breaches.

    Waste. In November 2011, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General issued a scathing report regarding procurement of steel for the border fence. “CBP purchased more steel than needed, incurred additional storage costs, paid interest on late payments, and approved a higher-priced subcontractor, resulting in additional expenditures of about $69 million,” the report read.

    Department of Justice Litigation. Every time landowners refuse to sell their land for the wall, the Department of Justice must take them to court. According to a 2012 planning document prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, that legal process costs about $90,000 per tract of land. In sparsely populated Starr County — where property has been passed down for hundreds of years, often without legal record — almost every case must go to court to determine ownership. That money is unaccounted for in congressional appropriations for the wall; it comes instead from the DOJ’s general budget.

    Advertising. When the DOJ wants to take Texans’ property for the wall, the agency must sometimes issue notice to potential heirs in the local newspapers. So far, a DOJ spokesperson said, the agency has done so three times in the Rio Grande Valley — cramming many cases into a single publication. Each instance cost the DOJ about $100,000. At a November court hearing in McAllen, a DOJ attorney lamented the state of local media. “We have one person or corporation who owns both papers — so we can’t really negotiate,” he said. “So it’s a large expenditure.”


    https://www.texasobserver.org/the-border-wall-is-more-expensive-than-you-think
    #murs #barrières_frontalières #coût #prix #coûts_cachés #frontières #USA #Etats-Unis

  • 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

    • EDUCATION THAT LEADS TO LEGISLATION

      ‘Segregated By Design’ examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy.

      Prejudice can be birthed from a lack of understanding the historically accurate details of the past. Without being aware of the unconstitutional residential policies the United States government enacted during the middle of the twentieth century, one might have a negative view today of neighborhoods where African Americans live or even of African Americans themselves.

      We can compensate for this unlawful segregation through a national political consensus that leads to legislation. And this will only happen if the majority of Americans understand how we got here. Like Jay-Z said in a recent New York Times interview, “you can’t have a solution until you start dealing with the problem: What you reveal, you heal.” This is the major challenge at hand: to educate fellow citizens of the unconstitutional inequality that we’ve woven and, on behalf of our government, accept responsibility to fix it.

      https://www.segregatedbydesign.com

    • The Color of Law

      This “powerful and disturbing history” exposes how American governments deliberately imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide (New York Times Book Review).

      Widely heralded as a “masterful” (Washington Post) and “essential” (Slate) history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law offers “the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation” (William Julius Wilson). Exploding the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces, Rothstein describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans in white neighborhoods. A groundbreaking, “virtually indispensable” study that has already transformed our understanding of twentieth-century urban history (Chicago Daily Observer), The Color of Law forces us to face the obligation to remedy our unconstitutional past.


      https://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?id=4294995609&LangType=1033
      #livre

  • (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

  • Build a Border Wall? Here’s What Border Communities Say They Want Instead

    For many of us who actually live along the U.S.-Mexico border, the “Mesquite Manifesto” addresses economic and climate problems by building up industry around the native tree.

    President Trump has declared a national emergency to fund a wall along our nation’s southern border. The border wall issue has bitterly divided people across the United States, becoming a vivid symbol of political deadlock.

    But for many of us who actually live along the U.S.-Mexico border, the wall is simply beside the point. We know that a wall can’t fix the problems that straddle the boundary between our nations; nor will it build on our shared strengths. So a group of us—ranchers, farmers, conservationists, chefs, carpenters, small business owners, and public-health professionals from both sides of the border—have come up with a better idea. We call it the #Mesquite_Manifesto.

    Our plan would tackle the root causes of problems that affect border communities on both sides. While the media have fixated on the difficult conditions in Mexico (and other Central American nations) that propel immigrants northward, real problems are on the U.S. side, too. The poverty rate in this region is twice as high as for the nation as a whole, and joblessness drives many into the lucrative drug trade. Poor diets and inadequate health care contribute to high rates of disease: Nearly one-third of those who live along the border suffer from diabetes. And a rapidly growing population, along with rising demand from industry and agriculture, is stressing the region’s limited water supply—a problem made worse by the changing climate.

    To address these problems and build a sustainable future for the region as a whole, we look to mesquite, the iconic native tree that grows in every county and municipio along the border. Its gnarly branches have provided food, fuel, medicine, shade, and shelter to indigenous communities in the borderlands for more than eight millennia.

    Deep-rooted mesquite trees such as velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina) and honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) are remarkably drought-resistant, anchoring the arid desert land and fixing nitrogen to improve the soil. Their seeds contain more protein than soybeans and can be milled to make flour with a low glycemic index, which helps regulate blood sugar.

    It’s no wonder that mesquite long sustained indigenous communities in this fragile land. What is remarkable is that mesquite is seen as a nuisance tree by many who live here now. Indeed, there’s scientific consensus that mesquites are among the most “undermanaged” resources on our continent, though they cover nearly 200 million acres of arid and semiarid lands in Mexico and the United States.

    We believe that targeted investments in restoring and managing mesquite could become—dollar for dollar and peso for peso—the most cost-effective investment ever made in the future of arid America.

    Mesquite-pod flour, which is now used in baking, brewing and in the preparation of low-glycemic food products, sells in many states for $22-24 per pound.
    Sustainably harvested hardwoods that are of stunning color, texture, shape, and durability. Mesquite wood can be sold for $5-$10 per board foot, to be used by furniture makers, floor designers, guitar-makers, and builders.
    Fuelwood that is already valued at $200 million-$400 million per year by the “mesquite barbecue” industry, which now uses trees selectively harvested from rangelands in the U.S. Southwest.
    Mesquite honey, which is already a multimillion-dollar industry in most states along the border.
    Other products with emerging markets, including biofuels, biochar, culinary and medicinal gums, and mesquite-smoked beer, coffee, and whiskey.

    We propose the establishment of capacity-building centers to develop mesquite-based industries in every watershed crossing the border. These centers could provide bilingual training in a variety of skills related to arid lands agroforestry and sustainable forest-product development. Schools and churches that have been closed down in impoverished rural areas and border cities could be renovated by local construction workers and repurposed as training centers for a binational “Green New Deal” effort.

    Many bilingual teachers, researchers, craftsmen, brewers, and chefs already have the capacity to train and mentor others in range management, ecological restoration, permaculture, hardwood craftsmanship and furniture making, honeybee management, mesquite pod milling, brewing, and baking, and the marketing of non-timber forest products.

    Mesquite could be cultivated on private, state, and federal rangeland (but not in parks or wildlife refuges, which should remain pristine). Millions of acres could be managed in ways that restore, rather than exploit, the land. For example, the trees can be pruned or thinned for their wood, rather than clear-cut. And seedpods can be selectively harvested to leave enough for wildlife and regeneration.

    Managing mesquite in this way could produce environmental benefits. Mesquite forests and the plant communities they shape offer numerous “ecosystem services,” including wildlife habitat for beneficial insects, birds, and bats involved in pollination and pest control; flood control; heat amelioration in urban settings; and recreational amenities such as birdwatching and the hunting of game birds like quail and doves.

    Communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border need help. We do not, however, need a multibillion-dollar wall of concrete or steel. Instead, let us recognize our shared culture, economy, and geography — and value the tree that has long sustained the people of this unforgiving land. By investing in mesquite, we can build a restorative economy that enables communities on both sides of the border to prosper and thrive.

    https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/build-a-border-wall-heres-what-border-communities-say-they-want-instead
    #migrations #asile #réfugiés #murs #frontières #USA #Etats-Unis #alternatives #communautés_frontalières #communauté_frontalière

    • Mesquite Manifesto: A Collaborative Vision for the #Borderland

      The recent acrimonious debates about further fortifying barriers all across the 2000 mile US/Mexico boundary line beg a larger question: Just what might make communities more stable, secure and prosperous while providing more livelihoods as well as wildlife habitat on both sides of the border? What particular natural resources and cultural assets in the region can be utilized to offer long-term solutions to problems perceived to be border-related?

      Within the US, border counties have twice the level of poverty and food insecurity as the national average. But how do we deal with the irony that some of these same counties harbor the highest levels of biodiversity anywhere in North America? In other words, they have an abundance of underutilized natural resources that may help lift residents out of poverty, if properly managed. Mesquite (Prosopis spp.) is one of them. A mesquite-based restoration economy may help keep in place those who do not wish to leave their homes to cross border and take refuge in cities for lack of other economic activities.

      Disparities in income and access to resources are already the triggers of social conflicts and immigration issues that clearly affect citizens in both affect Mexico and the United States, as well as political and climate refugees emigrating from other countries to this region. As such, many members of communities along the border feel they lack sufficient economic capital to resolve a range of economic and social problems. However, they also have under-utilized natural and social capital—such as mesquite trees and the local knowledge and skills to utilize them economically.

      And yet, as global temperatures continue to rise, as groundwater levels plummet, and as rivers and reservoirs dry up, social conflicts and poverty will inevitably worsen in the US/Mexico borderlands. How do we move toward a cohesive, binational plan with tangible solutions to alleviate these problems? We feel that a concerted effort to better utilize the many arid adaptation of mesquite trees can leverage new solutions.


      BUILDING SOLUTIONS

      We need a collaborative initiative– involving communities, governments, foundations, impact investors and other stakeholders— that will heal our degraded landscapes, anticipate climatic changes, create new sources of food, fuel and fiber. How can we do so in a manner that generates a truly restorative economy? Such an economy based in biocultural restoration can provide residents on both sides of the international boundary with jobs that offer them dignity, live-able wages, and safe, healthy working conditions.

      Many have called for “disruptive innovations” with the potential to restore the integrity and productivity of both our landscapes and our communities in ways that heal deep historic wounds. And yet, what innovation or technology will enhance rather than deplete the natural and cultural capital of our region? Mesquite and its microbial allies have served as one such “bio-technology” in the region for over 8000 years, generating fermented beverages and foods, shelter and habitable environments. We believe that more knowledge transfer, use and innovative management of mesquite and its many products could generate multiple revenue stream without depleting key natural resources.

      We are calling for greater investment in innovations that will move us toward managing mesquites and restoring certain of their habitats known as “nurse plant guilds.” Just how can such investments help us to better utilize the borderland habitats now dominated by the several species of woody legumes in the genus Prosopis? These investments must be focused on assisting economically-impoverished communities of indigenous and immigrant populations so that they do not become “climate refugees.”

      There is scientific consensus that mesquites are “under-managed” on nearly 200 million acres of arid and semi-arid lands in Mexico and the US. Can targeted investments change that dynamic? Yes, we believe they can, because mesquite resources can become —dollar for dollar and peso for peso—the most cost-effective natural and cultural resource investment ever made in the future of arid America.

      Such an investment cannot come too soon, because our metro areas are suffering from urban heat island effects on top of global climatic changes. How exactly will such exacerbated heat conditions affect us? The degraded watersheds and foodsheds surrounding those who work outdoors in our cities make them increasingly vulnerable to fires, floods, heat stroke, heat exhaustion, thirst and lost work time.

      FORECASTING TRENDS

      The best predictions of what vegetation changes will occur in the borderlands over the next century suggest that mesquite woodlands will become more extensive and dense. But does that suggest that they could also become more economically important? Yes, provided that their habitats are properly restored managed and managed, for two of the three species of mesquites will increase their rates of woody growth, pod production and carbon sequestration.

      Mesquite root systems can fix nitrogen and sequester carbon more effectively than most arid-adapted trees and shrubs. But is the shade and forage they provide for wildlife and livestock on rangelands truly significant? Yes, it is, and at the same time, mesquites can provide much-needed shade and foodstuffs for metro residents dwelling in urban heat islands.

      Most ranchers of cattle, bison, goats and sheep already acknowledge that mesquite foliage and pods provide forage essential to the survival of their herds and flocks. Why don’t more ranchers acknowledge that mesquite is likely their best and most cost efficient livestock feed on Western rangelands below 5000 feet from April to late June? We need to encourage them to use “mesquite-and-perennial-grass banks” during particularly critical times when prolonged droughts make all annual forages scarce. Such scarcity will become more severe and frequent as climate change accelerates.

      In fact, many stockmen have already begun to manage their ranches for wildlife as well as for livestock. Is it a stretch for them to also manage their land for mesquite honey and fuelwood production as well? Not at all. Most ranchers would readily welcome public investment that would help them generate multiple revenue streams (from food, fuel, wood, hunting, hiking and birding) to gain more income from their mesquite resources.

      REQUISITES

      Such intensive land management requires a stable rural labor force, one that northern Mexico and the US have largely lost since the signing of NAFTA in 1992. But how do we now grapple with recent changes in immigration and trade policies that have further reduced and debilitated the transboundary work force? For starters, we promote training and other benefits for those who wish to participate in a well-managed guest worker program that complements rather than competes with the working citizens already living in the region.

      We advocate for an expanded guest worker program that guarantees Mexican citizens wishing to work as professionals in the US greater legal safety, health benefits, job training and upward mobility. But haven’t such programs historically focused on harvesters of agricultural crops, not on managers, harvesters and processors of wild trees? Not exactly. Guest worker programs have always included opportunities for ranch hands, woodcutters and artisans in rural communities as well.

      We propose greater public and private investment in infrastructure to harvest, mill, dry, store and elaborate value-added products from both mesquite wood and edible mesquite pods. Shouldn’t such investments be made principally in counties and municipios stretching along the border where mesquite is abundant but other jobs have been lost? Absolutely. They should particularly focus on those Native American communities that have long-standing familiarity and traditional ecological knowledge of mesquite resources.

      We also propose the establishment of capacity-building centers in every watershed crossing the border. Could these centers easily provide bilingual rather than English-only training in a variety of skills related arid lands agro-forestry and non-timer forest product development? Definitely, for there are many bilingual teachers and trainers who already have the capacity to mentor others in range management, ecological restoration, permaculture, hardwood craftsmanship and furniture making, honeybee management, mesquite pod milling, brewing and baking, and the marketing of non-timber forest products.

      CURRENT USES AND OPORTUNITIES

      Setting aside the enormous value—in terms of carbon bonds and ecological sustainability—of atmospheric carbon sequestration that results from proper forest management, a $200-400 million US dollar/year “mesquite barbecue” industry now uses trees harvested from rangelands in the US Southwest. But is the market saturated if this industry already provides firewood, briquettes and chunk charcoal to over 8000 barbecue restaurants and other outlets located in all 50 American states? Not necessarily. As other woody trees are impacted by climate change, mesquite’s proportion of the market is predicted to grow.

      Nonetheless, the retail value of custom-designed mesquite furniture, flooring, paneling, musical instruments and fencing for larger pieces of wood is many times more than that of the same wood burned as charcoal or kindling. How do we encourage more woodcutters into selecting and sustainably harvesting their mesquite for higher value markets? They need informed that carefully dried, straight mesquite lumber will soon be selling for $5-10 US dollars per board foot, and to be put in touch with those eager to purchase such hardwoods.

      Some mesquite continues to be clear-cut and killed, while most trees retain some re=sprouting capacity that generates multi-stemmed trees with lower-value wood. How do we change that dynamic? As with any other forestry resource, we need to explicitly train harvesters in the selection, coppicing and pruning practices needed to shift the industry toward better uses to prime pieces of lumber for their elaboration of value-added products.

      There is already expanding use of mesquite pod flour in baking, in brewing and in the elaboration of low- glycemic (anti-diabetic) food products. But how do ensure that demand for mesquite flour—which is currently sold for $22-24 US dollar/pound—continue to expand beyond niche markets on both sides of the border? We need to better promote the food safety, unique nutritional qualities and flavors of the dozens of new foods and beverages that are trying to get a foothold in the global marketplace for so-called “super foods” or nutriceuticals.

      Nevertheless, harvesting and processing of mesquite pods remains time-intensive and costly. How do we encourage agricultural engineers to develop more scale-appropriate milling equipment, cold storage protocols for mesquite flour, and rapid food safety monitoring techniques needed today? What natural resources can mitigate and adapt to rather than becoming devastated by climate changes? We need to lobby the deans and department chairs of agricultural land grant universities to think of mesquite as something other than a rangeland nuisance, and earmark funds for mesquite research and development positions in several disciplines.

      Mesquite honey is already a multi-million dollar industry in most states along the border. But what has the arrival of Africanized honeybees and the greater frequency of severe droughts done to create problems for beekeepers? Over the last two decades, beekeepers have found ways to competently manage and tame “hybridized Africanized” bees and to utilize their skills as efficient foragers and producers of honey. We need to revisit local laws that ban the keeping of bees in urban areas and near rural schools.

      Honeybees are not the only pollinating insects attracted to mesquite flowers. Dense clusters of mesquite trees nourish as many as seventy-five species of native bees in any rural landscapes. Especially important are the gnat-sized native bee genus Perdita with about 600 species in the U.S. Mexico borderlands. These, along with Centris, Megachile and other native bees, as well as wasps, are efficient pollinators of mesquite flowers. In fact, mesquite inflorescences are a resource magnet for many insects including beetles, butterflies, wasps and flies.

      Are any economic incentives for planting mesquites windbreaks and “pollinator-attracting” hedgerows on farms and orchards in the border-states? Yes there are, through both governmental agencies and philanthropic foundations. We need to help farmers and ranchers apply for such funding, and measure the return-on-investment from mesquite plantings.

      Biofuels, biochar, gums, propolis, meads, distillates, nutraceuticals and medicinal products are derived from mesquites. So how do we keep the economic potential and sustainability of such products from being under-explored and scarcely valued by today’s impact investors? We need to bring mesquite’s promise into discussion with the growing number of wealthy young entrepreneurs involved in “slow money” strategies to enhance environmental stability and solve border poverty issues while producing healthy foods for the marketplace.

      CONCLUSIONS

      In short, there are many economic uses and intangible values provided by mesquite and the nurse plant guilds they shape. We therefore urge regional planners, natural resource agencies and investors to assess comprehensively the societal value of the many “ecosystem services” that mesquite habitats provide.

      These nature’s services include wildlife habitat for beneficial insects, birds and bats involved in pollination and pest control; flood control; heat amelioration in urban settings; and recreational pursuits such as birdwatching and the hunting of gamebirds like quail and doves.

      It is time to make significant investments in holistically managing, conserving or restoring or reconfiguring extensive corridors of mesquite habitats. The level of investment should become commensurate with the overall economic value of mesquite.

      We call for an All-Border States Congress on Mesquite to reach consensus on a shared vision and action plan to lay out the next steps for re-valuing mesquites and their habitats.

      https://www.garynabhan.com/news/2019/02/mesquite-manifesto-a-collaborative-vision-for-the-borderland
      #manifeste #alternative
      ping @reka

  • 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

  • Formes d’expression alternatives sur les murs de la ville pendant la période de la crise

    Tandis que l’économie grecque peine à se redresser, le mécontentement social s’exprime de façon énergique dans les slogans tracés sur les murs des zones urbaines [1].

    Au cours de la crise, les murs de certains quartiers centraux d’Athènes se sont transformés en plateformes d’expression libre. Les graffitis et les slogans sont des modes d’expression alternatifs qui servent souvent à exprimer certaines revendications, et témoignent de l’état d’esprit de divers groupes sociaux. Par ailleurs, la physionomie des utilisateurs de ce mode d’expression est influencée par le fait que les représentations picturales extérieures non officielles sont considérées comme des actes illicites par les autorités dans la mesure où elles occupent sans autorisation une partie de l’espace urbain.

    Ce texte rend compte des « vibrations de la ville » tels qu’elles résonnent dans l’esprit et le psychisme de ses auteurs suite à une « dérive » expérimentale dans des quartiers centraux d’Athènes. Comme nous le verrons, les phrases qui sont inscrites sur les murs reflètent un large éventail d’opinions ainsi que la diversité des réactions de certains groupes locaux aux évolutions récentes.

    Bien que le cyberespace puisse être désormais considéré comme l’un des principaux environnements de la communication moderne, en pratique les hommes continuent d’interagir entre eux dans le cadre de l’espace réel et physique de la ville. Selon Park (1925), les grandes villes ne sont pas simplement et uniquement des constructions et des mécanismes artificiels, elles expriment dans le même temps la nature humaine. Lefebvre en particulier pensait que l’espace urbain appartient de façon indiscutable à la sphère politique puisque des groupes sociaux différents et aux intérêts opposés aspirent à sa gestion et à son exploitation (Lefebvre, Enders 1976). Selon Negri (2009), l’ « industrie architecturale » actuelle, en lien avec celles de la mode et du cinéma, contribue à réprimer toute éventuelle action de résistance à l’ordre établi, en projetant une « lumière artificielle » sur tous les aspects de notre vie. Mais, en définitive, comme le soutient Harvey (2003), tant individuellement que collectivement, nous sommes tous des architectes. Il nous appartient donc de réaménager l’espace urbain. Tous les êtres humains ont « le droit à la ville » (Lefebvre 1996).

    Les mouvements sociaux ont souvent recours à des méthodes radicales contre les structures du pouvoir. Atton (2001) a souligné le fait que les « moyens de communication alternatifs » rendent possible une communication démocratique pour des individus que les médias dominants ont exclus, tandis que Downing (2001, 2008) a qualifié de « radicaux » les moyens de communication utilisés par les mouvements sociaux. De plus, dans la théorie qu’il a développée au sujet des moyens de communication alternatifs, il inclut dans ces derniers la production artistique et les pratiques culturelles, tels que le théâtre de rue, les tatouages, les habits, les graffitis et bien d’autres. Dans le même ordre d’idées, Fuchs (2010) a également intégré dans la catégorie des « moyens d’expression critiques » les affiches, les fresques murales urbaines et les graffitis, soulignant que leur contenu présente des « possibilités d’existence étouffées » exprimées par des individus ou des groupes dominés.

    Dans la vie quotidienne, il est incontestable que l’espace urbain s’est transformé en une plateforme communautaire ouverte, qui présente des représentations picturales différentes par leurs formes et leurs contenus, transmettant des messages attirant souvent notre attention et nous invitant à la rêverie. Les publicités extérieures, les panneaux d’affichage municipaux, la signalisation routière, les graffitis légaux, entre autres, peuvent être considérés comme les vecteurs dominants de la communication visuelle urbaine. Au contraire, les moyens d’expression alternatifs incluent toutes les expressions extérieures non officielles, telles que les slogans sur les murs quel que soit leur contenu (politique, sportif ou existentiel), les affiches collées de façon sauvage, les graffitis, les autocollants, etc. C’est pourquoi, dans ce texte, lorsque nous parlons de représentations picturales extérieures non officielles, nous faisons référence à l’ensemble des expressions non institutionnelles, quelle que soit leur forme, qui sont réalisées sans autorisation sur les murs, les panneaux, les véhicules de transport collectif ou autres. Les représentations picturales extérieures non officielles remettent clairement en cause les structures de pouvoir existantes et font partie, en tant qu’activité de communication, des moyens d’expression radicaux.


    https://www.athenssocialatlas.gr/fr/article/formes-dexpression-alternatives
    #murs #Athènes #urban_matter #graffiti #graffitis #art_de_rue #street-art #Grèce

  • 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.