The No-State Solution
By Bobby London
The murder of Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez by a United States border patrol officer amplifies criticism of US border security to a fever pitch. A photo of a toddler crying after being forcibly removed from their parents in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center goes viral. Stories of mothers being able to hear their children cry while being held in another room paint a horrific picture of what is happening within ICE’s detention facilities.
After years of activists working in the margins during the Obama years, ignored by the media and society, it’s become cool to say “abolish ICE.”
Former First Lady Laura Bush, whose husband President George W. Bush created the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, criticized the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy in an op-ed for the Washington Post. It feels like a concerted effort to erase the violence committed by Bush during his presidency, and follows a convenient path of rebranding all of America’s atrocities as “Trump’s America.”
And while identifying what may appear to be America’s recent descent into fascism as Trump’s America, we continue to ignore the foundational roots of white-human supremacist, capitalist, and authoritarian control through which this country continues to function.
Detaining people for “illegally” being in the United States is nothing new. The state has consistently drafted up laws to restrict “the other” from entering the colony. When we talk about immigration, what we are discussing is the of right of people to migrate. Borders control the movement of people and determine who is allowed in and who may leave. Whether we are discussing the shrinking borders of Palestine, or the further development of a wall between the US and Mexico, there is an assertion of oppression that must be maintained through violence in order for borders to exist.
This is why it’s not enough to say “abolish ICE.” If ICE is defunded, another agency will take its place. As long as there are borders to protect, there will be some sort of militarized force in place to enforce them. Our desire must be for the destruction of all borders, and therefore all nation-states.
When tweeting out her op-ed, Laura Bush wrote, “I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.” The refrain centered on the “need” to maintain “international boundaries” resonates with the conservative right, where white fear pushes for stricter and harsher border policies both in the US and Europe.
Movements like Defend Europa have shaped international call for whites around the world to defend “their homeland” from demographic changes in majority white countries. With an increase in international refugees provoked by these same countries, fear of the non-white immigrant has made border control the central goal for white nationalist movements. Hence, when Trump recently said white Europeans are “losing their culture” because of immigration, this not so subtle dog-whistle was enthusiastically embraced by identitarian groups who advocate nativism and xenophobia with growing support.
But the need to protect and enforce borders is not just a policy issue used by the right. Internationally, some on the political left have also embraced the fight to protect and broaden borders, out of a supposed commitment to fight western imperialism.
In countries like Syria, which have become a dividing issue for those within the left, pundits who favor Bashar al-Assad and his regime defend his violent reign over the Syrian people as a necessary act in order to protect the country against Western imperialism. Borders, in this context, act as a protection for a state to enforce and defend one’s sovereignty. But sovereignty, or autonomy for the state, does not inherently include autonomy for the people living under the state’s power. While conflict ensues throughout the region, Syrians have been displaced, causing a refugee “crisis” with horrific scenes of the dead washing ashore.
Those who are able to reach the beaches of an unwelcoming country alive are often turned away, even shot at. Similar to the South Sudanese refugees who know far too well how little the world cares about victims of war. Al Jazeera reported on the thousands of rape and sexual attack victims from the South Sudan, while famine decimated parts of the Unity state in 2017. European countries like France, Italy, and Belgium allow Sudanese police to interrogate and identify their citizens in an attempt to intimidate asylum seekers.
States have consistently seen refugees as a burden, especially those who are Black. The states and private powers responsible for their displacement have never seen them as their responsibility. Refugees will always be seen as an expendable excess to the organization of the state.
The term “refugee” was originally created by the League of Nations to deal with Russian aristocrats fleeing Communist Russia, but has since been used to racialize displaced people who are poor and dark skinned. It’s why Australia’s home minister Peter Dutton says that South African colonizers whose land was recently reclaimed by Black South Africans deserve a fast track to refuge in Australia, while at the same time calling for deportation of “African gang members.” “Gang member” and “illegal immigrant” are examples of racialized language, used to validate the racist need to deport and institutionalize xenophobia and anti-Blackness. The terms implicitly justify the use of police forces in white supremacist and anti-black countries to control demographics within their borders.
Refugee camps and detention centers used to cage the non-citizens reveal the nation-state’s true desire to separate the unwanted migrants from their general populace. The conditions of these camps are purposefully designed to be horrendous with the intent of discouraging others from attempting to cross their borders. Current White House chief of staff and former head of DHS John Kelly said that separating migrant children from their parents was intended to “deter” migrants from crossing the US/Mexico border.
Although children should not be imprisoned, and families should not be forcibly separated, why do we limit ourselves to statist solutions like imprisoning families together? Will there be a school or daycare center for the children to stay while parents perform prison labor?
The reality of US abuse toward immigrants being witnessed by the world isn’t about a president’s policy. It is about an entitlement to this land. The borders of this country do not need to be protected. Detention centers, refugee camps, prisons, are confines within borders designed to regulate the flow of bodies. They need to be destroyed, along with every other border drawn onto the world.
Prisons in the US have long been used to separate families and cage children. Once people accept the legitimacy of cages, the state will always be able to justify more caging. At what point do we stop saying separately, abolish the prisons, abolish ICE, abolish the police, and so on, and demand the destruction of the state and all its power to control us? We see, after all, that abolishing slavery only reformed oppression, slavery and the anti-Blackness that allowed for it, still subsist in this country.
Borders enforce anti-Blackness, especially for Black descendants of the enslaved. We are not refugees, nor immigrants. And while statehood and sovereignty might be achieved for some against their oppressors, where does that leave the children of slavery? For those of us whose ancestors were enslaved, is there a state for us? What land are we able to claim? Must we take a DNA test first before we are let in? And how high of a percentage do we have to have to qualify for admittance? Should we spend our time fighting for the right to exist in one country, or instead destroy borders and claim our right to be able to exist freely and where ever we would like?
As we endure a new era of global fascism, the synchronicity between borders and oppression has become clearer for more people. All across the world, people die trying to cross state boundaries because of whatever rapacious white-human supremacist capitalist endeavors have befallen their homeland. If they make it across violent obstacles and are caught, they are forcibly caged and deported. What we are seeing not just in America but all over the world is an enhanced fervor to control human movement.
The elite that rule this world travel freely to their castles throughout the globe. For them, this planet is truly borderless. They are even planning to conquer the rest of the solar system, while their drone fleets, high rises, and endless smog here on Earth block us from ever seeing the skies.
The concept of borders may never be defeated, even autonomous communities have borders that they enforce in order to maintain their autonomy. Someone, some entity will always try to claim ownership of land and space and therefore want to create borders. Liberation and freedom will not come by just simply tearing down the walls that divide us.
In “The Anti-blueprint,” I wrote about the many layers and challenges one faces who is anti-authoritarian, anti-statist, horizontalist, I wanted to include the conclusion of that piece here:
“The fight for autonomy has existed since the first crown was worn, and although there is a lot to be done, and we may feel overwhelmed, it does not mean it is impossible. The danger of only looking at revolution through the lens of revolting against a particular state, rather than the destruction of the State overall means we are only challenging a certain rulership instead of the idea of being ruled. The revolution must be a constant, we must continue to always question structures and ourselves. Utopia does not exist.”
Bobby London is a despair propagandist from Los Angeles. She co-host a weekly radio show on KPFK “On Resistance” and writes for her site ThisisBobbyLondon. Please support her work directly by becoming a patreon supporter or support her on PayPal at bobbylondonla@gmail.com.
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