US vs. them: a look to the Future

Border Repair
Originally uploaded by MarcelTam.

This past Saturday, I went to Playas de Tijuana and found the dUS-Mexico border fence at the beach totally dismembered (see picture at right taken by my sister, Martina). Was I dreaming? Had the beginning of a borderless future arrived? Kids jumped back and forth across the ditch in the sand that marked the division between the two countries. Fishermen followed the school of fish across the border line, joking that the fish on the dUS side were bigger than on the Mexican side. ¡Increible!

Yet, as I looked beyond the hub of activity bleeding onto the dUS beach, the white SUV of la migra (the Border Patrol) remained, ever-watchful with its tinted windows. Large steel plates lay on the sand, ready to replace the rusted ones that had just been taken down. New, taller fence posts were already put into place. Visions of a future returned to the reality that this opening in the fence was temporary.

I say visions of a future because I believe that the future is still in the hands of the present. There are many possible futures, of which I saw of a preview of only one. The prevista at Playas helped me to better understand the context of this fence. Put up in the early 1990's, this is far from a permanent structure. It's a kid just reaching puberty. Still malleable. Still culpable. Even the wall in Berlin - physically much larger and with more obvious life-threatening guardians - came down on November 9th, 1989, after 28 years of existence. How? By the will (and the force) of das Volk. They came first with protest songs, then with sledge hammers, and finally with bulldozers.

So, why is it that only 100 people turn out to a protest in downtown San Diego against civilian vigilante border patrols (google: "Minuteman Project")? Why are there no sit-ins on the beach (not a bad setting for a protest)? Why do the 4+ million people in the San Diego area (and the rest of the dUS) go about their daily business while more proposals to re-enforce the border make their way through the local and national legislatures?

Easy. Unlike the ideological border between East and West Berlin (enforced from the top down), the economically-driven dUS-Mexico border policies come from the bottom (or middle) up. They are policies that stem from our fear of change. Fear that an influx of immigrants (i.e. aliens, people that speak other languages, people with difference perspectives) will make things "worse." Fear that maybe we might have to change our way of life (i.e. using potable water to wash cars, water lawns, and hose the dog). Fear that maybe the "American Way" really isn't the goal. It's US vs. them. And by them, I mean the rest of the world.

"Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to Hate. Hate leads to Suffering."
-Yoda, Star Wars

Currently reading: "Development as Freedom" by Amartya Sen and "La Cigarra y La Hormiga" (Mexican children's book)
Currently listening to: Jack Johnson, Manu Chao, Maná, Pancho Barraza, Sergio Vega and ABBA.