Stuff in General

The next thing I knew, a “Bienvenue en Belgique/France” sign was in front of me. I had walked into Belgium without noticing and the man I asked for directions didn’t even blink when I asked for a French village. Because it’s that normal here.

It is irresponsible to decontextualize “open borders” between European Union countries when increasingly the external borders of the EU are becoming militarized and enforced, to the extent that countries are now criminalizing and attempting to prosecute NGO rescue operations to save drowning people in the Mediterranean, accusing rescuers of being people smugglers. In the background at an institutional level, the EU makes disastrous deals with Turkey and Libya in order to capitulate to right wing anti-migrant sentiment at the expense of human lives and commitment to the right of asylum. In 2019, nearly 1100 people drowned trying to cross to Europe. In the first 6 weeks of 2020, 99 people have already died.

I don’t say this to lecture anyone, but it is an extreme misrepresentation of the situation to discuss “open borders” in Europe and remove it from the broader reality where these borders are violently enforced - directly by police or militaries and indirectly by policy - against certain “categories” of people. I don’t think this discussion can be had without understanding who is excluded and why. These pictures represent a false image of a free world that falls apart when examined even a bit critically.

I’m turning over inside my grave