HARSHA WALIA on Dismantling Imagined, Militarized, and Colonial Borders /211
Walking along a border fence in Trabzon, Turkey; Photo by Bilal
Migration has always existed, but in terms of human migration and climate change, we are poised to experience one of the greatest occurrences of global migration humanity has ever known. The number of migrants is now growing faster than our world’s population, and with this growth, we’ve seen the tremendous human rights violations and acts of depravity enforced by agents of the State across all global borderlands. This has caused many to call for serious inquiry and reform when it comes to national border guard agencies, but doing so fails to recognize that the border itself is inherently violent. It will never be able to operate without violence.
In this episode of For The Wild, we talk with guest Harsha Walia on why it is imperative to rid the concept of legal/illegal personhood in movements for the climate and environment. Harsha leads us in the deeply regenerative work of political imagination as we think about what our communities and livelihoods look like without imposed borders. And while for some this call may sound reckless and impossible, the truth is that in stretching our minds to think about a world that makes the unthinkable thinkable, we actually open ourselves to ways of being that have existed long before political borders, ways that have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to care and abundance for all.
“The random privilege of where you are born and what passport you carry has so much to do with the ways in which one can navigate space and life.”
Photo of Harsha Walia
Harsha Walia is a South Asian activist, writer, and popular educator rooted in migrant justice, Indigenous solidarity, Palestinian liberation, antiracist, feminist, anti-imperialist, and anticapitalist movements and communities for over a decade. Harsha’s advocacy work has resulted in significant transformation in government policies at the municipal, provincial, federal, and international levels. She is also the award-winning author of Undoing Border Imperialism, co-author of Never Home: Legislating Discrimination in Canadian Immigration, as well as Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Harsha is currently the Executive Director of British Columbia’s Civil Liberties Association and remains active in social movements like No One Is Illegal and the Women’s Memorial March Committee.
♫ Music featured in this episode is “Picking Moths” by John Newton, “Sauna Song” by Troll Dolly, and “Moon Is Rising” and “Slowly Dying Star” by Harrison Basch.
Episode References
Harsha Walia: On the Principles of DIY Activism
Undoing Border Imperialism By Harsha Walia
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For The Wild Podcast is an anthology of the Anthropocene; focused on land-based protection, co-liberation and intersectional storytelling rooted in a paradigm shift away from human supremacy, endless growth and consumerism.