Between The Lines by georgiaurie

BETWEEN

THE LINES

We allow lines to divide us, like they were slashed with a blade, crisp and clear.

We foster hatred, Immense, impenetrable walls, raise between us Dissecting one from the other, imposing who can stand where, severed.

We live by these lines, like itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s out of our control, distanced,

inhummane.

FRONT LINE MIGRANT 08

DEFINITION

UNITED NATIONS THE LINES

INTRODUCTION

GEORGIA URIE 01 A FINE LINE TENNIS ACROSS BORDERS 18

NEWS ARTICLE

ANNE-CHRISTINE DIAZ NO MAN IS AN ISLAND POEM

JOHN DONNE HUTT RIVER PROVINCE INTRODUCTION

RALPH KOBER WHEN AUSTRALIA IS NOT AUSTRALIA NEWS REVIEW

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD 02 BLURRED LINES THE SLASH 34

ARTICLE

KURT KHOLTEDT BORDER WALL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

ROMAN MARS JOE RICHMAN GUESTS

03 CROSSING THE LINE SPLIT 58

NEWS ARTICLE

MICHELLE MILLER DIVIDED NEWS ARTICLE

WILSON RING TWIN TOWNS

NEWS ARTICLE

HOLLY ROBERTSON 04 DRAWN THE LINE MAPS 76

POEM

YESENIA MONTILLA THE RADCLIFFE LINE INTRODUCTION

JOHNNY HARRIS A SLOPPY SURGERY ARTICLE

MANAN KAPOOR PARTITION POEM

W.H. AUDEN 05 DOWN THE LINE DECODING BORDERS 96

JOURNAL ARTICLE

BEATRIX HASSELSBERGER THE BOTTOM LINE THE LINE 122

CONCLUSION

GEORGIA URIE

FRONT LINE

Migrant:

Any person who is moving or has moved across

an international border or within a state away

from

his/her

habitual

place

residence,

regardless of (1) the personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legal status; (2) whether the movement is voluntary or involuntary; (3) what the causes for the movement are; or (4) what the length of the stay is.

FRONT LINE

MIGRATION

FOR

WITHOUT

THE

LINES

HAVE

DRAWN

MIGRATION,

KNOW

IT,

WOULD

NOT

EXIST

FOR

WITHOUT

THE

LINES

HAVE

DRAWN

MIGRATION,

KNOW

IT,

WOULD

NOT

EXIST

FOR

WITHOUT

THE

LINES

HAVE

DRAWN

MIGRATION,

KNOW

IT,

WOULD

NOT

EXIST

The Lines by Georgia Urie

Stripped back to its core human migration is the movement of people across borders. Over time the media has masked this term, representing it as a very specific minority, caught in extreme circumstances. Illegal immigrants, refugees, boat people. We have come to believe this as the definition, or at the very least the immediate stereotype. Yet, when you peel back the mask that has been placed over the term migration and look beneath the surface, there are real human beings, experiencing everyday moments — some peculiar, some unexpected, some heartbreaking, and some so very ordinary it would bore most. While borders are inherently black and white in the their governance of countries, if there is no line drawn on the ground, what are the areas of grey? Is there an exact moment in which one country becomes the next, or are their fragments of nomads land, and the blurring of boundaries. If human migration is the movement of people across borders, what are the experiences of these moments between the lines. Reflecting upon my own experiences of crossing borders, I can’t help but think of that tipping moment on the edge of a defined border, as you’re driving in a car. There is an uncanny sense of anticipation as you near the sign, and before you know it you have

crossed the line, now on the soil of a new country. Yet nothing has changed. I often catch myself feeling underwhelmed, like I was supposed to feel a shift, a grand change in the air. But why should I? Borders are a human construct — made-up lines, drawn on a map to divide land and people into areas of governance. While migration is a fundamental part of nature for many species, for human beings it is often controlled by authorities and deemed illegal for some. Between the lines is an exploration of the lines that divide us, with a focus on the small, unexpected and peculiar moments of everyday migration, as a result of these ‘fabricated truths’, and the impact the lines we have drawn, have on the lives of those living with them.

FRONT LINE

THE LINES

FINE

LINE

TENNIS ACROSS BORDERS NEWS ARTICLE

ANNE-CHRISTINE DIAZ NO MAN IS AN ISLAND POEM

JOHN DONNE HUTT RIVER PROVINCE INTRODUCTION

RALPH KOBER WHEN AUSTRALIA IS NOT AUSTRALIA NEWS REVIEW

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD 18

If migration is the movement across borders, how close can you get without actually crossing it, and who decides whether a border is to be recognised as one? It is a fine line to dance upon, and not something to be taken lightly, with penalties enforced by state law, ranging from fines and deportation, to imprisonment.

A FINE LINE

CHAPTER 2

Tennis Across

Borders

Anne-Christine Diaz

ON AVERAGE A TENNIS PLAYER SWAPS SIDES 13 TIMES DURING A GAME. IN THIS GAME, THEY WEREN’T ALLOWED TO.

11.07.17

Great Guns director Klaus Thymann directs the new campaign for Swedish sportswear brand Björn Borg. The brand has established a tennis match on the U.S. and Mexican border with one player on each side of the border, half the tennis court on Mexican soil and the other half on US soil. Borg Open, ‘Tennis across Borders’, is an initiative intended to manifest an open world in which sport has the power to unite people and Klaus was the perfect choice to capture the game. The brand wanted to highlight how the world of today seems full of conflicts; conflicts that can lead to frustration, causing people and nations to build walls between each other. But why build walls, when we could get to know and learn from one another instead? That’s why the Swedish sportswear brand decided to establish a tennis match on the US/Mexican border, at Tijuana River, where a game is played between tennis players Mariano Argote (MX) and Peter Clemente (US). On average a tennis player swaps sides 13 times during a game. In this game, they weren’t allowed to. Henrik Bunge is the CEO of Björn Borg. HENRICK BUNGE: Borg Open is our way to state that we, as a sportswear brand, believe in an open world. Unfortunately, the activity is not likely to make those people who promote raising walls change their opinion. But, with our heritage, we know that not only tennis nets, but sport in general, has the power to unite people. KLAUS THYMANN: This year I have been working a lot with Round & Round and they had the outline for this idea a while ago. I got onboard and made the impossible happen, we are really on the real physical border. We were looking at many sights and wanted to find something that was logistically possible first and foremost. But as we investigated further it turned out this was almost impossible. It was not until I thought of a kind of legal loophole where we did everything from the Mexican side, minus US player, that it became a reality. When we were filming, the US Custom and Border Patrol were observing us but never interfered.

KLAUS THYMANN: It is very difficult doing a film shoot not knowing how long you have, and that we could get shut down at any time. So instead of planning the shoot in a more traditional way, we shot with 3-4 cameras simultaneously to get as much footage as possible. It was interesting watching the crew. Because we had such intense pressure, everyone was mega effective, but we still had fun on set.

A FINE LINE

SET MATCH

No Man is an Island by John Donne

No man is an island Entire of itself Every man is a piece of the continent

A FINE LINE

HUTT RIVER PROVINCE

Lenard George C

C asley established Hutt River Province, in 1970 to circumvent the wheat quota imposed by the Western Australian Government. By proclaiming his principality, Casley created his own â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; within the Western Australian outback and gladly marooned himself in his very own creation, perhaps seeking a more authentic version of statehood. The desolated nature of the outback and the challenging distance through unsealed roads ensured the isolation of the principality.

A FINE LINE

HUTT RIVER PROVINCE

Hutt River

Province

Ralph

Kober 26

The principality is located approximately 500 km north of Perth and is 75 square km in size. The area is mainly flat or undulating farmland with a small local resident population of 20 – 25 people. The small main town site is Nain, which contains buildings for tourism and administration such as a post office, government offices, an inter-denominational chapel and a five-foot tall sculpture of Casley’s head. Hutt River itself has been described as ‘a stretch of water which flowed like a torrent during the brief winter and hardly at all during the endless summer, which produced flies the size of Honda 50s’. Wheat farming was common business in the Western Australian outback in the 20th Century. It is reported that the Casley family bought the farm at the Hutt River in the late 1960s, acquiring 18,500 acres of land, with the intention of establishing a wheat farm. However, to keep the wheat price elevated, the Western Australian Government issued wheat quotas for farms. Farmers were notified of the maximum amount of wheat they could sell from their harvest. In November, 1969, Casley was notified that the total amount of wheat he could sell from his harvest was 1,647 bushels. As recorded in the historical archives of the PHR, the quota was inappropriate for the farm: Under this new quota, it would have taken five hundred years to crop the same average amount of wheat that had been harvested in the previous twenty years. The gross proceeds would not have even paid the interest on the hire purchase on two four-wheel drive tractors that were in use. This did not allow any return for maintenance of their homes and families, no income on which to survive let alone profit. Casley filed complaints with the Wheat Quota Board, the Premier of Western Australia, and the Governor of Western Australia. However, the Governor of Western Australia passed down the Ministerial advice that there would be no change to the wheat quota. Further, Casley became concerned that the Western Australian Government could resume his property. To circumvent these threats, Casley decided to secede his farm from Western Australia. As the story goes, the matter was discussed during a family meeting: At this meeting a law was discussed which states that if the economy has been taken and a threat to the loss of the lands exists, a self-preservation Government may be formed. It was decided to exercise this entitlement and serve a formal secession notice. Consequently, due to the risk of having his economic livelihood taken away and the threat of loss of land, Casley argued that under international law he was entitled to form a self-preservation government. A formal notice of secession was served on 21 April 1970 to the Western Australian State Premier, the Governor of Western Australia, the Acting Prime Minister of Australia, and the Governor General of Australia. Under Australian law, the government had two years in which to object. Given that no objection was received, Hutt River Province (as it was then known) claims to have become a new country on 21 April 1972. It is significant that Casley chose to secede from Western Australia but remain part of the Commonwealth of Nations: The principle of the Ratification is principly [sic] the retention of the Western Australian Governments concession of newly conceded area to be still a sovereign part of the British Commonwealth where in also the Queen is the Sovereign ruler of the newly conceded area as is her Royal right, and her lawfull right under the Western Australian Constitution.

A FINE LINE

HUTT RIVER PROVINCE

Small territories declaring secession without external support certainly struggle to achieve international recognition, and the PHR is no exception. During Casley’s administration there is evidence of people using the PHR passports while travelling internationally, perhaps even diplomatic passports. The principality has also tried to establish diplomatic missions in a number of countries. It is worth noting that the PHR fulfils the four basic criteria for nationhood established by the Montevideo Convention of 1933 on the Rights and Duties of States 1933, having a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and a capacity to enter into relations with other states. The use of the PHR diplomatic passports is an interesting case, as in the early years of the formation of the PHR immigration authorities in other countries were unaware of what was occurring, and timely exchange of information with Australian authorities was impossible. This is illustrated in the following report of an experience at Orly Airport, Paris immigration; Ericksen stood politely in the queue while the officer conferred with his superior. Presently the two men returned to the counter. “Yes, excuse me, Your Excellency,” said the more senior man, ushering Ericksen through the desk and slapping his underling at the same time. “Right this way, Your Excellency,” he said as he led Victoria’s ambassador to Hutt River Province into As the principality pursued international recognition, several people bore diplomatic passports issued by the PHR and tried to use them during international travel. Besides diplomatic passports, the principality has reportedly issued normal passports for its approximately 13,000 citizens during Casley’s administration. Based

on evidence from diplomatic cables from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, it seems that the Australian Government took a stand in 1985 with Cable CH252073. This diplomatic cable is a response for clarification requests from diplomatic missions concerning the status of the principality. The concept of small territories declaring independence unilaterally often attracts mainstream media attention, though such initiatives are not usually taken seriously. Although Australian mainstream media does not take the principality seriously, it is evident that the PHR does attract media attention, and Casley has been regarded as a good showman. Casley has been able to use the media as an efficient vehicle to attract tourists to the principality. In a 1972 interview, he has stated his intent to invest more in tourism. In 1973 a post office was opened and by 1985 the DFAT has noted that Casley “has built his wheatgrowing property in Western Australia into a thriving tourist attraction. By the end of Casley’s administration, the PHR was equipped with buildings for tourism and administration, a post office, an interdenominational chapel, and a five-foot tall sculpture of Casley’s head. Australian authorities have done their best to ensure that the landlocked principality did not gain recognition from other countries. Nonetheless, tourism flourished under Casley’s administration. The PHR developed its own islandish identity, with the story of the man who defied the government by creating his own principality is now ingrained in the mythology of the Australian outback.

France, pausing only to stamp his passport on the way through.

A FINE LINE

HUTT RIVER PROVINCE

When Australia is not Australia by Tiana Sparacino

The government intends to excise the from the so-called migration zone. This is being done so that anyone who happens to reach the

So, to make it clear, asylum seekers who reach wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t officially reach Australia when they reach

So where can asylum seekers go to claim refugee status?

We believe asylum should be granted via a test of intelligence and ingenuity. It should be like one of those old-fashioned radio quizzes, like the secret sound or having to answer the telephone using the correct words. Parliament should legislate for just one secret square metre of

Australian mainland

mainland by boat is treated the same as someone who arrives at

Christmas Island or

Ashmore Reef.

That is to say, badly.

Australia Australia. Unless of course they aren’t seeking asylum, is part of Australia.

in which case So if you arrive on

Christmas Island Christmas Island

with a valid visa it’s part of Australia, OK? And if you’re an Australian, it's part of Australia, and they will probably offer you a beer and a barbie.

Tasmania

Macquarie Island

Lord Howe

Has anyone consulted the Hutt River principality?

Australia to be inside the migration zone. Perhaps it could be hidden underneath one of our ‘big’ roadside monuments. But which one? The big banana, the big merino, or the big prawn?

It will be up to the best and brightest of the huddled masses to find it.

A FINE LINE

WHEN AUSTRALIA IS NOT AUSTRALIA

R B

RE D

N E S

THE SLASH

NEWS ARTICLE

KURT KHOLTEDT BORDER WALL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

ROMAN MARS JOE RICHMAN GUESTS

At face value borders are rigid lines, defined clearly on a map, separating each country from the next. However at ground level they are complex and irregular systems, signified by geography and sparsely placed markers, stretches of nomads land and fragments of heavily militarised walls. What happens though when the geography changes, or a marker is misplaced? How are these lines blurred, and what are their implications on the lives of those who find themselves in their range.

BLURRED LINES

CHAPTER 3

by Kurt Kohlert

The Slash 19.01.18

Camp Widjiwagan counselors have been known to tell young campers (including this author) certain tall tales as they ventured up through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota. Crossing into Canada, for instance, they would say that if you squint hard, you can see a ‘border chain’ hanging in the lake below. Some kids laughed it off — others were convinced they could spot it. This mythical nautical divider was an inside joke among counselors, but the land border is more visibly marked than many people realize. From Arctic Village, Alaska to Houlton, Maine, the border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world. Much of the surrounding landscape is relatively wild and untouched. But extending out ten feet from the line on either side is a zone known as ‘the Slash’.

BLURRED LINES

THE SLASH

Stripped of trees, this slice runs through national forests and over mountains. It is too long and remote to be continuously cut down, but every few years (longer on the Western sections, where growth is slower) workers freshly deforest the greenery that grows back. It might seem unnecessary, but there is a reason for this intervention: a person on either side wandering close to the border can see it and recognize theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re approaching

SO EACH YEAR, AMERICAN TAXPAYERS PAY AROUND HALF A CENT EACH TO HELP MAINTAIN THIS DIVIDING VOID. 38

the line. So each year, American taxpayers pay around half a cent each to the International Boundary Commission (IBC) to help periodically maintain this dividing void. The work is split between countries. Per Julia Shipley, “U.S. and Canadian divisions of the IBC both have their own staff, equipment and budget. The two groups meet once a year to divvy up their work.” Crews of five to ten people are sent out to various locations. To the east, many of the crews stay in motels — in the west, they camp out. It all started in the 1800s, when the USCanada border line was set at the 49th parallel. The Slash was cut and over 8,000 original border markers were laid down, most of which are still standing along The Slash to this day. But without GPS systems, the markers strayed by hundreds of feet in many places. Other mapping errors led to the creation of things like the Northwest Angle. “Seeing the Slash can be as simple as going to Google Maps,” explains Blank, “zooming towards the US-Canada border, and switching to satellite view. Those looking for a more up close view can travel to Newport, Vermont and hop aboard Northern Star Cruises, which will take you right alongside the Slash. Another way to see the slash is in Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, on the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail to Canada, or the Long Trail in Vermont.” The Slash also seems like a unique opportunity to travel from coast to coast — an intrepid hiker and paddler could perhaps portage and kayak through otherwise overgrown sections, forever following the thin line.

BLURRED LINES

THE SLASH

WE’RE GO

BUILD A

IT’S GOIN

A REAL

I ME

THIS IS A

THAT I

GET UP

YOU’RE

COMING

VERY E

IT’S T

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A WALL

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A WALL

IF YOU

P THERE

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G DOWN

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R RI

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RI V

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RR VE

In the run-up to his election victory, Mr Trump promised to build a wall along the border’s entire 2,000mile length. He later clarified that it would only cover half of that — with nature, such as mountains and rivers, helping to take care of the rest.

BLURRED LINES

BORDER WALL

Border Wall

Podcast Transcript

ROMAN MARS: One week into his presidency, Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin building a wall between the US and Mexico. Trump says that will be quote, “an impenetrable physical, tall, powerful, beautiful Southern border wall.” JOE RICHMAN: But campaign slogans are easy. Reality is harder. ROMAN MARS: That’s Joe Richmond from Radio Diaries, and on this episode, with the help of Radio Diaries, we’re going to tell a few stories about the physical border on the Southern edge of the United States. JOE RICHMAN: And what happens when instead of people crossing the border, the border crosses the people. ROMAN MARS: Joe Richmond will take it from here. JOE RICHMAN: In 2006, President Bush signed a law to begin building an 18-foot high fence along a few key parts of the US Mexico border. The project went by different names. Operation Gatekeeper in California. Operation Safeguard in Arizona. And in Texas, they called it Operation Hold the Line. Today that fence looks like a somewhat random dotted line, covers about a third of the entire border. And the border fence has always been controversial. But it’s based on a very human impulse to have an actual physical barrier that marks the imaginary one on the map. It’s a simple idea and like most things, it turned out to not be so simple. 45

BLURRED LINES

BORDER WALL

PAMELLA TAYLOR: Hello. PAMELLA TAYLOR: It is. PAMELLA TAYLOR: I’m in my living room. I’m looking out the window. I see my front yard and beyond that is the fence. It is a huge iron, about 20 feet tall. The fence was put in there by Homeland Security.

PAMELLA TAYLOR: We’re on the Mexican side. The fence is in front of my home.

PAMELLA TAYLOR: No, it’s not true.

PAMELLA TAYLOR: If they followed the river, it would be a winding fence, whereas now it is a straight fence and therefore they did not need to install that much fence. And in the beginning, we were told this fence was going to go right through my living room.

PAMELLA TAYLOR: We’ve gotten used to it. Now we just can’t go on and be miserable about it.

PAMELLA TAYLOR: Well, actually it’s a no man’s land and I firmly believe that I shouldn’t be paying taxes.

JOE RICHMAN: Hello. Is this Pamela Taylor? JOE RICHMAN: So can you tell me where you are right now?

Pamela Taylor is 86 years old. After World War II, she married an American and they moved to a small brick house outside of Brownsville, Texas. That’s the house she’s in right now and she has been there for more than 60 years. Now that house is technically in the US but for the past six years, it’s been on the wrong side of the fence. JOE RICHMAN: So let me just go over this. For many people thinking about the border fence, they just assume it’s on the border.

The Rio Grande river is the legal border between the US and Mexico, but the border fence doesn’t follow all the natural contours of that river.

Luckily they ended up building it about a mile North. Today Taylor has about a half dozen neighbors and the exact same situation as her. Down the road, there’s also a farm, and a golf course, all on the Mexican side of the fence. JOE RICHMAN: So how would you describe where you are living?

BLURRED LINES

BORDER WALL

ACTU

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NO

LAND

FIRM

BELI

I SHOU

BE PA

TAX

ELL

UALLY

O MAN’S

AND I

MLY

IEVE

ULDN’T

AYING

XES

MARIA EUGENIA TRILLO: My name is Maria Eugenia Trillo. I grew up in the Chamizal area during the fifties and sixties. I lived one street away from the river, which was the division between the two countries. The river was just more like a highway that you had to cross to get to get where you needed to be. There was a baseball team on the Mexican side and then there was a team on the El Paso side. And they would just signal each other through whistles and then they would cross. (laughs) It was just life. Life with the river between us. VICTOR GUZMAN GARCIA: My name is Victor Guzman Garcia. The Garcia clan goes back to about 386 years in this area. A lot of Mexicans from the interior thought that the Chamizal, which was basically just a square mile of land, they thought it was as large as California. And that it probably had oil and gold. So every time there was an issue between two countries, Mexico would, of course, bring up the Chamizal.

JOE RICHMAN: A no man’s land is the land between two countries. That’s what our next story is about. NEWS RECORDING: The United States is not as big today as it was at this time yesterday. President Johnson and President Diaz Ordaz of Mexico met at the border today and ended an old dispute. JOE RICHMAN: The Rio Grande river has been the border between the US and Mexico ever since Texas became a state. The problem is rivers can move and that’s exactly what happened in 1864. Torrential rains caused the river to jump its banks and go south. All of a sudden the border was in a different place. What that meant is that Texas had gained a square mile of land. It was called the Chamizal, named for the scrubby desert plant that grew there. The Chamizal was a thorn in the side of US Mexico relations for a century. And then finally, 50 years ago, the US gave the land back to Mexico. But by that time thousands of people had moved to the Chamizal and made it their home. And that is where this story begins.

JOE RICHMAN: In Mexico, the Chamizal represented illegally occupied territory, but in the United States, very few Americans had even heard of it. And then in the 1960s that all changed, in a really unexpected way.

BLURRED LINES

BORDER WALL

MARIA EUGENIA TRILLO: This is a letter from the International Boundary And Water Commission to Mr. Luis Rivera. “Dear sir, We advise that the appraisal of your property would be undertaken as soon as practical preparatory to acquisition by the Federal Government, as authorized by the Congress…” As kids are kids, we were eavesdropping and we heard there was going to be removal. We remember our fathers stomping around the kitchen, saying, “No they can’t”. We were Mexican by heritage, but we understood that we were American by nationality. People were given a choice of going back to Mexico and only one man that we know of actually accepted to go back. Everybody else said “No.” But we all had to be out by October 1964. ANGIE NUNEZ: My name is Angie Nunez. It was a very big disappointment because they did not pay for the house. They paid us for the land. My father had just built four extra rooms in our house. We had central heating. He even had the bricks made special, adobe with the hay because the house was going to be that much thicker, that much warmer, that much whatever, and we had to leave all that. MARIA EUGENIA TRILLO: One by one. The family started moving out and what was left behind were empty shells of homes and the windows were all boarded up and then yellow ribbon was placed on them so that we couldn’t even go into the backyards. So it looked like a crime scene with this yellow tape all over. Until the only family left was ours. Ours, historically, was the last one and I remember my dad said, “Don’t look back. You are forbidden from looking back.”

NEWS RECORDING: This is NBC News presenting today a new special, Crisis in Cuba. This government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military build-up on the island of Cuba. JOE RICHMAN: With the Cuban missile crisis, and specifically the fact that Mexico does not cut off its ties to Castro. The Kennedy Administration becomes very concerned that Mexico could be vulnerable in the Cold War. Suddenly there’s a real willingness to remedy the Chamizal dispute. To use it as a kind of bargaining chip. And so the big question is — the residents of this tiny patch of land, what’s going to happen to them?

NEWS RECORDING: An enthusiastic welcome, at the US Mexican border, for President Johnson and Gustavo Diaz Ordaz arriving together to settle a century-old border dispute. 53

BLURRED LINES

BORDER WALL

VICTOR GUZMAN GARCIA: I remember thousands and thousands of people on top of the bridge and everything. And I could see Johnson, I could see him sitting at the table and Diaz Odaz. Pretty much the whole of the White House, with Congressmen and Senators, and everybody was here. I mean this was a big thing.

MARIA EUGENIA TRILLO: Well, I’ll show you. The river is now encased in cement. That poor thing. It’s about five feet across. It looks like a muddy creek. Where we used to go it was wide. Sometimes it had quite a bit of water and it would ripple across. There’s only so much control a man can do on a river. Sooner or later, I personally think that river is going to do what mother nature has taught it to do.

NEWS RECORDING: An unpredictable river has been converted into a controlled source of water for Mexicans and Americans alike. JOE RICHMAN: By December 1968, Mexico and the United States jointly sponsor the digging of a cement line channel that will make the river go where the authorities want it to go in terms of maintaining the boundary that they want. NEWS RECORDING: After speeches, the two men walked over to press the buttons that would detonate a retaining wall about a mile away and send the water down its new channel. JOE RICHMAN: At the appointed time, the two presidents approached this black box that’s been set up on the bridge, which has these two red buttons and they’re supposed to hit the buttons and detonate these explosives to release the mighty Rio Grande into its new channel. In fact, there’s just a puff of smoke. Nothing happens. And so very quickly, technicians bulldoze the dam and release the river, completing the ceremony. NEWS RECORDING: It’s taken a hundred years but it’s finally done. Mexico has its piece of scruff land back though perhaps it hasn’t decided what to do with it. And the river is once again the international boundary. It cost $40 million, but it’s very tidy this way. Jack Perkins, NBC news, El Paso.

To move.

BLURRED LINES

BORDER WALL

BUILD

WALL

PREVENT

WHY

ARE

THEY

THE

ROOT

MANY

MODERN

ISSUES?

CROSSING

THE

LINE

SPLIT NEWS ARTICLE

MICHELLE MILLER DIVIDED NEWS ARTICLE

WILSON RING TWIN TOWNS

NEWS ARTICLE

HOLLY ROBERTSON

The media likes to paint the picture of migration as boat journeys and stealth night missions, however for those living on border towns, small moments of migration is an everyday part of their life, essential for them to get to work, buy groceries or even cross the street.

CROSSING THE LINE

CHAPTER 4

Split

THE TAPE ON THE ROOM INDICATES THE BORDER RUNS

Michelle

Miller 62

E FLOOR IN THE UPSTAIRS APPROXIMATELY WHERE S THROUGH IT.

29.06.17

Brian DeMoulin inherited a home 30 years ago and is reluctantly putting it on the market. BRAIN DEMOULIN: Have a look at my stone house, there’s the border post. He also showed us what makes the residence special. BRAIN DEMOULIN: This is the stairway that leads to the Canadian apartments. You heard him right. His house is literally in two places at once: Beebe Plain, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec, Canada. The tape on the floor in the upstairs room indicates approximately where the border runs through it. Selling a home that straddles two countries is proving to be quite a challenge. Realtor Rosemary Lalime spoke with CBS News. She said her ideal homeowner has dual citizenship. ROSEMARY LALIME: It makes it more difficult because I have to make sure they have the right customs papers to own the property. I’ve had calls from Lebanon, I’ve had calls from Cuba, L.A. Most of the people are interested in a restoration project. The historic home was built in the early 1800s as a place to ease commerce between both countries. The nine-bedroom, five-bath estate is listed at $109,000 dollars. However, there is one sticking point. DeMoulin says one door in the residence has to absolutely stay bolted shut at all times. BRAIN DEMOULIN: You step out that door and you’re

in Canada off the property and subject to be arrested. Border patrol offices for both nations are right across the street. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agent Troy Rabideau spoke with CBS News. TROY RABIDEAU: It’s always something we need

to be cognizant of who’s coming in who’s going out. We do a pretty good job of monitoring it. It’s always something we need to be cognizant of who’s coming in who’s going out. We do a pretty good job of monitoring it, Rabideau said. BRAIN DEMOULIN: I have a wonderful relationship with both sides... I feel equally U.S. and Canadian. DeMoulin has dual citizenship, but that perk won’t come along with the deed. And there is no avoiding property taxes. Both the U.S. and Canada will come calling.

CROSSING THE LINE

SPLIT

Was h

gton

Idaho

British

Colombia

Montana

Alberta

Saskatchewan

North

Dakota

Manitoba

Minneso ta

Onta r i

c h

n io

ew Brun

Canada

ig a

ick

ns w

ain

Hamshire

Qubec

Ver m

ont n

vania

Y or

nsyl

N ew

United States

CROSSING THE LINE

SPLIT

BORDERS

ARE

MADE

HUMANS

FOR

HUMAN

PURPOSES,

MIGRATION

ARE

CUT

TIES

TOO?

Divided by

Wilson Ring

THE HOMES ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE STREET ARE IN VERMONT WHILE THEIR NEIGHBORS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET ARE IN

29.06.17

Some of the residents of a residential Vermont street that is split lengthwise by the Canadian border are irked by what they feel is the latest indignity imposed on them by U.S. border officials who they feel continue to make it harder for them to reach their homes. But officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection say that narrowing the entry to the United States from Canada is needed to prevent people from running the border without stopping. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all part of a broader to ensure they know who is entering the United States from Canada. The officials say they are doing everything they can to minimize disruptions for the people in the 14 Vermont homes whose across-the-street neighbors live in Canada, but they acknowledge the difficulty of the change.

QUEBEC. 69

CROSSING THE LINE

DIVIDED

PAT BOISVERT: They’ve been a real pain

for most of the summer.

STEPHANIE MALIN: We are not trying to make

this difficult for anybody in the community. We want to preserve the integrity of this being a cross-border community, but there are elements we need to do from a security standpoint to ensure that we are protecting the entire nation.

PAT BOISVERT: I will say, I think things have gotten noticeably worse in the last few years. sometimes people don’t want to visit, it can be hard to do business from home and it’s difficult for people to sell their homes.

PAT BOISVERT: My perspective is seriously tainted by the good-old days because, back then, growing up there was nothing here, It was an invisible border. You ran across the street a hundred times a day, which I used to do.

Earlier this year, U.S. officials installed orange Jersey barriers to block much of the crossing between the two countries on what had been the wide-open north-south street that leads from one country to the other. Now they are finishing construction on what they call a ‘hydraulic barrier’ that, when up, will block the crossing completely except for the lane that goes under the canopy of the border post. Canusa Avenue resident Pat Boisvert, 77, has lived in the neighborhood his entire life. U.S. officials are planning a meeting for later this month with the people who live on the street in hopes of winning their understanding, if not their happiness with the extra hoop they are being forced to go through.

Over the summer Boisvert said he’s been annoyed because a lane he has used to get home has frequently been blocked by cars waiting to enter Canada, although he says it has improved lately. He says the only notice they received of the change was a handout. On the east-west Canusa Avenue, which intersects with the north-south road that is blocked by the new barriers, the border is located approximately on the double yellow line that breaks the street into two lanes. Most access to the street is from Canada, but U.S. residents have a working relationship with both U.S. and Canadian officials who, mostly, recognize them and work to make it as easy as possible for people to reach their homes. Vermonters who live on Canusa Avenue have grown accustomed to nodding at U.S. border agents when passing south through the official port of entry, but they do not formally enter the United States. When they head to their Vermont homes from the south they have always driven around the U.S. border post without stopping until they get into their driveways. Now with the street narrowed, traffic on the U.S. side is funneled through a single lane that is frequently blocked by vehicles waiting to proceed to the Canadian port of entry across Canusa Avenue in Stanstead, Quebec.

Canusa Avenue in the Beebe Plain neighborhood of Derby is believed to be unique on the 5,525 mile U.S. Canadian border. The homes on the north side of the street are in Vermont while while their neighbors on the other side of the street are in Quebec.

CROSSING THE LINE

DIVIDED

MY PERSP

IS SERI

TAINTED

GOOD-OL

BACK T

GROWI

THERE

NOTHIN

IT WA

INVISIBLE

YOU RAN

THE STREET

TIMES

PECTIVE

IOUSLY

D BY THE

LD DAYS, THEN,

ING UP

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NG HERE

AS AN

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N ACROSS

A HUNDRED

S A DAY

Twin

Holly

Towns

IT WAS CRAZY TO VEHICLES DRIVIN SEASIDE TOWNS, AS A SINGLE COM

Robertson

O SEE THE ARMY STOPPING NG THROUGH THE LAID-BACK WHICH USUALLY FUNCTION MMUNITY

16.04.20

CROSSING THE LINE

A state border that bisects Australia’s neighbouring beachside towns of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads has rarely troubled locals, long accustomed to crossing the invisible line daily for coffee or a surf. But as Australia began shutting down last month in response to the coronavirus outbreak, Queensland closed its border to badly hit New South Wales (NSW) state for the first time since the Spanish Flu pandemic a century ago. Concrete barriers sprung up across suburban streets — dividing friends, families and even neighbours on roads where some people can’t leave their homes without crossing state lines. The community’s reaction to being cut in two was “one of shock”, said Dean Saul, who owns a cafe in Queensland but lives over the border in NSW.

DIVIDED

DEAN SAUL : Not in any of our

lifetimes have we thought that this would happen. The border closure means the intertwined ‘twin towns’ at the southern end of the Gold Coast are now dotted with checkpoints manned by police and soldiers. While all Australians have been urged to stay at home, residents of Tweed Heads in NSW now cannot cross into Queensland’s Coolangatta unless they work there or have an essential reason to do so. Coolangatta resident Amy Jobson, 31, said it was crazy to see the army stopping vehicles driving through the laid-back seaside towns, which usually function as a single community and whose beaches attract throngs of tourists. AMY JOBSON: I completely understand why it’s happening... but for somebody who’s lived here their whole life, it’s very strange to have those barriers across places you cross every day. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the new ANNASTACIA PALASZCUK: These restrictions on March 24. are not directed at our border communities who cross to shop or work, attend medical appointments and return to their homes, but in these extraordinary times, people should stay in their own states and in their own suburbs. Local residents on both sides with a valid reason to cross into Queensland have been granted permits allowing them to avoid being turned away at the border — as hundreds of people were over Easter — or having to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine on arrival. Jobson owns a mechanic repair shop in AMY JOBSON: I’m always a bit Tweed Heads. anxious having to cross the border and prove what you’re doing but if you’ve got the permit in your window it’s quite easy to cross.

Gold Coast councillor Gail O’Neill said many locals had found the initial messaging confusing, but most were now complying with the rules — even surfers who usually go out of their way to chase the best waves. In scenes echoed countrywide, most of Coolangatta’s shops, restaurants and all pubs are closed due to the coronavirus shutdown, forcing thousands out of work. Dean Saul and his wife, Lisa, have kept open their Cafe Kirra but seen revenue plummet by 70 percent as tourists stay away — a situation exacerbated by being cut off from NSW-based regulars. DEAN SAUL : We’ve had contact via social media just saying ‘We’re so sorry, we can’t come. All the best, see you when the border opens’.

It is unclear the extent to which the border closure alone has helped prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Queensland, which now has 1,001 cases and four deaths. NSW has almost three times as many cases and 26 deaths — accounting for almost half the national total — but also a much bigger population. Overall new cases in Australia have slowed to a trickle but authorities say strict movement and gathering restrictions will remain for at least a month, warning that lifting them too quickly could lead to another spike in numbers. That has left the twin towns facing the possibility of being cleaved in two for a prolonged period. But many are taking it in their stride. DEAN SAUL : We live in a lovely place; there are worse place, it’s nice to be here and participate in that community spirit, and that will survive. Everyone’s got a little smile on their face, even though things are pretty grim.

CROSSING THE LINE

DIVIDED

DRAWN

THE

LINE

MAPS

POEM

YESENIA MONTILLA THE RADCLIFFE LINE INTRODUCTION

JOHNNY HARRIS A SLOPPY SURGERY ARTICLE

MANAN KAPOOR PARTITION POEM

W.H. AUDEN 80

Migration exists as a result of borders. What is the impact when a line is drawn for political agenders, without careful thought placed into how it will divide the people living with it.

DRAWN THE LINE

CHAPTER 5

I wish

Maps by Yesenia Montilla

what a world that would be.

& if I were to see you tomorrow & everyone you came from had

disappeared

I would weep with you & drown out any black lines earth allowed us to give itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;

because what is a map but a useless prison?

what

map

but the delusion of safety?

The line drawn

maps would be without borders & that we belonged to no one & to everyone at once,

Or not a world maybe we would call it something more intrinsic

like forgiving or something simplistic

like river or dirt.

that this

We are all blank spaces

so lost & no naming of

can save us.

is always in the sand & folds on itself before weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re done making it.

DRAWN THE LINE

MAPS

The 1947 partition of India and It split roads, farms, railroads; b To draw the line that would becom Cyril a lawyer who had never

Cyril Radcliffeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s line separated the India into East and West Pakistan. I Hindus, but Sikhs and people from The border disrupted a centuries-old people of all faiths from each other

d Pakistan was a traumatic event. but also families and communities. me the new border, the British tasked Radcliffe, been to the region before.

e Punjab and Bengal provinces from In doing so it separated Muslims and m other faiths were affected as well. d Sikh pilgrimage, separating Punjabi r. And ultimately, it divided a culture.

DRAWN THE LINE

THE RADCLIFEE LINE

0 the po

latio n

r o fd

k t o oo l i f fe t

il R

d r a

line 1 he

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e d num b

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DRAWN THE LINE

p e

or a

of wars ct 3th er b e e n u

bdu

I ndia

i nc & Pa kist an

igra ted by

tween ht be g u fo

r of w be

India

THE RADCLIFEE LINE

SOMETIMES

THOSE

ASSIGNED

RUN

THE

PENCIL,

WITHOUT

REALI

SING

THE

IMPACT

THAT

THEIR

LINE

GOING

Cyril Radcliffe was one of them.

HAVE

HUMANKIND

A Sloppy Surgery

Manan

Kapoor

DRAWN THE LINE

A SLOPPY SURGERY

If nations are ‘imagined communities’, then what does one make of the borders that confine them? It is impossible to speak of India or Pakistan’s past in isolation without mentioning the ‘other’. The two nations, as they stand today, are separate entities with their own histories and ideologies. However, for people living life at the borderline, reality is not a matter of ideology or how history took a violent turn, it is simply a geographical notion of home. ‘Sometimes those assigned to run the pencil do so, without realising the impact that their line is going to have on humankind,’ wrote Bishwanath Ghosh, adding, ‘Sir Cyril Radcliffe was one of them’. Radcliffe, a British barrister, set foot in India for the first time on July 8, 1947, when he was assigned the task of dividing the territory. He had five weeks to partition the Indian subcontinent and chair the two Boundary Commissions — one for Bengal and the other for Punjab. Each had four representatives — two from the Indian National Congress and two from the Muslim League. The division was not only supposed to focus on religious and socio-political divisions, but also on natural boundaries, water bodies and irrigation systems that would affect both countries. On August 17, 1947, three days after Pakistan’s independence and two days after Nehru delivered his iconic ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech, the final demarcations were announced. Radcliffe had drawn his

lines on the map —

the 553 km-long zigzag line that divided Punjab and the 4096 km line that halved the Bengal Presidency. But even before the lines that amputated the subcontinent were decided, blood had been spilt and violence had ensued along the borders. The demarcations would lead to decades of violence, war and conflict in regions such as Punjab, Bengal, and Kashmir — an area he was ‘not even aware of’ and would hear about only after he returned home.

Appalled by the bloodshed, Radcliffe left for England, never to return to India.

He burnt his papers

and refused to collect his fee of Rs 40,000.

DRAWN THE LINE

THE RADCLIFEE LINE

BUT EVEN BEFORE THE LINES THAT AMPUTATED THE SUBCONTINENT WERE DECIDED, BLOOD HAD BEEN SPILT AND VIOLENCE HAD ENSUED ALONG THE BORDERS.

Sumanta Banerjee, writing in the Economic and Political Weekly, called Radcliffe’s division a ‘sloppy surgery’, while Bishwanath Ghosh said, ‘The surgical scars will remain as long as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh exist as separate countries. The scars, considered together, are called the Radcliffe Line’. Justifying his decisions, Radcliffe, in an interview with veteran Indian journalist Kuldeep Nayar, said, ‘I had no alternative; the time at my disposal was so short that I could not do a better job. Given the same period I would do the same thing. However, if I had two to three years, I might have improved on what I did,’ adding, ‘if aspirations of some people had not been fulfilled the fault must be found in political arrangements with which I am not concerned’. He was probably referring to comments like the one made by the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, which called it ‘territorial murder… Pakistan has been cheated by an unjust award, a biased decision, an act of shameful partiality by one who had been trusted to be fair because he was neutral’. In the interview with Nayar, Radcliffe said, ‘I nearly gave you [India] Lahore. But then I realised that Pakistan would not have any large city. I had already earmarked Calcutta for India’. He would later confess that he had relied on out-of-date maps and census reports, since it was ‘impossible to undertake field survey in June because of the heat’. He wasn’t very happy with the members of the Border Commission either, as the ‘natives’ were divided and had vested interests in the betterment of their own nations. Recounting his experience, he narrated to Nayar how a Muslim member of the Bengal commission asked him if he could include Darjeeling in Pakistan as his family went there each summer. Through a series of mistakes committed by Radcliffe — as well as leaders from the subcontinent such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Sardar Patel — the cartographer’s work remains an open wound even today, and will forever define the two nations. It not only created Pakistan and, eventually, Bangladesh, separating the nations from India ideologically and geographically, but its waves also hit the shores of England, where numerous people, such as the poet W.H. Auden, responded to the absurdity of the division in his poem, ‘Partition’. Auden summarised the events that led to Partition, Radcliffe’s helplessness, the extent of the task he was bestowed with and its consequences.

DRAWN THE LINE

THE RADCLIFEE LINE

Partition by W.H. Auden

A continent for better or worse

divided. The next day he sailed for England, where he quickly for g o

The case, as a good lawyer must. Return he would not,

Afraid, as he told his Club, that he might get shot.

DRAWN THE LINE

THE RADCLIFEE LINE

DOWN THE LINE

DECODING BORDERS

JOURNAL ARTICLE

BEATRIX HASSELSBERGER

100

Borders have the power to unify and divide, include and exclude, and change over time and space. Created with consideration of geography and social dynamics they can promote fluidity and connection. Yet when drawn based purely on political agenders they become rigid and oppressive, only to the detrimate of society.

101

DOWN THE LINE

CHAPTER 6

Decoding Borders

102

by Beatrix

103

DOWN THE LINE

Haselsberger

DECODING BORDERS

104

Borders should not be taken for granted, as if they were elements with one essence,

function

and trajectory.

Neither should borders be understood as having some universal, independent causal power. Instead they are social and political constructs that are established by human beings for human — and clearly at times for very non-human — purposes.

105

DOWN THE LINE

DECODING BORDERS

Borders either confirm differences or disrupt units that belong together by defining, classifying, communicating and controlling power relations.

This article examines how borders unify and divide, include and exclude, change over time and space and, most importantly, why this all matters.

It explains that each countries border is uniqueâ&#x20AC;&#x160;â&#x20AC;&#x201D;â&#x20AC;&#x160;made up of different of overlapping boundaries, as a result of geography politics, and social dynamics.

106

1.0

Borders are complex phenomena. They are multifaceted, multilevel and interdisciplinary institutions and processes transecting spaces in not only administrative and geopolitical but also cultural, economic and social terms. Borders either confirm differences or disrupt units that belong together by defining, classifying, communicating and controlling geopolitical, sociocultural, economic and biophysical aspects, processes and power relations. It is therefore no longer sufficient or advisable that planning scholars consider only the physical demarcation function of borders. On the contrary, planners need to acknowledge their entire complexity. Over the past two decades a border studies literature has emerged, informed by a wide range of academic disciplines, such as geography, anthropology and political science, but not planning. These border discourses provide valuable insights for planners, who in the frame of their daily work are both consciously and unconsciously confronted with border consequences. This article reviews the border studies literature from a planning perspective and in doing so makes it accessible to the planning discipline. Central to this endeavor are multiple interpretations of visible and invisible border functions as well as border-related power relations in society concerning border framing and discourse practices and border perception and interpretation processes. Unpacking borders by examining their functions helps to develop an understanding as to why borders are never perfect fits. The main objective of this article is to offer a comprehensive understanding of borders and the bordering processes as well as border-related physical and virtual relational geographies. It examines how borders unify and divide, include and exclude, change over time and space and, most importantly, why this all matters to planners. The article starts with a theoretical discussion about borders and space, to provide a theoretical framework (including definitions) for the rest of the article. Afterwards it focuses on depicting different border functions as well as bordering practices. It demonstrates, through examples, what happens if contradictory boundary functions clash and what kinds of planning challenges emerge from this clash. Arguing that these challenges can only be addressed effectively by shifting the focus to relational geographies, the article suggests that planners need to think in multiple relational geographies, which exist in parallel. It is not the aim of this article to provide a unified and static theory of borders; this is considered undesirable both for a theoretical border discourse and for any professional group working on borderland issues. Instead, this article introduces a two-step approach towards the decoding of borders. Step one reveals concrete planning challenges by unpacking the many different components and processes which constantly create and diminish borders with the help of a dynamic border interpretation framework. In the second step the focus is shifted to the different types of spaces demarcated by the diverse boundaries. It explains that every type of space has its own dynamic and that all of these different spaces are meant to coexist. Considering that state borders are comprised of a set of different boundaries, this step assists in figuring out border layer-based planning solutions. This two-step approach helps readers to uncover the inherent complexities of borders as well as their changing and contested nature. It also makes clear that, even in a globalised world, it is unimaginable and undesirable that borders should disappear altogether and that the focus for further research should be on different forms of coexistence alongside a permeable border.

107

DOWN THE LINE

DECODING BORDERS

In Europe all of the borders have shifted at some point in history and only 10 European states have the same borders today as they did 100 years ago. This illustrates that borders are very much in flux and that their physical appearance changes both in space and time.

However, borders are not just visible lines in space or on a map; on the contrary they are complex social constructions, with many different meanings and functions imposed on them.

The more boundaries a border is comprised of (meaning the more functions are imposed on one particular line in space), the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;thickerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; or harder and even oppressive the border becomes.

The focus of ancient imperialism (eg. the Holy Roman Empire) was not on defining their territories in terms of fixed borders but on controlling people and cities. Since then the principle of nation-state sovereignty and the right of national self-determination has gradually emerged and provided a new understanding of frontiers dividing not just people, but territory.

108

If all the world is a stage, then borders are its scenery, its mise en sce`ne, its ordering of space and action, wherein actors and observers must work at making borders intelligible and manageable, and must do so in order for the drama to proceed. (Wilson & Donnan, 2012b, pp. 19, 20)

2.0

All the maps and atlases with which we are familiar confront us with a particular geopolitical picture of the world. It is a world’s surface divided into distinct state territories, each clearly demarcated by a line — the state border — and illustrated in a separate colour. This jigsaw of states is usually taken for granted, as if borders are built for ‘eternity’ and moreover as if the underlying concept is clear and well-defined. But in Europe all of the borders have shifted at some point in history and only 10 European states have the same borders today as they did 100 years

2.1

109

ago. This illustrates that borders are very much in flux and that their physical appearance changes both in space and time. Planners are to some extent aware of the changing nature of borders with regard to their role as physical demarcation lines in space. On the one hand planners work within pre-defined bordered territories or compartments when they develop a planning and development concept, a planning law or a plan for a local, regional, sub-national, national or supra-national territory. On the other hand, in the frame of their daily work, planners confirm, shift, diminish and create borders when they allocate functions to spaces (zoning) or when they define the outer limits of a new development area or a cross-border region. However, borders are not just ‘visible lines’ in space or on a map; on the contrary they are complex social constructions, with many different meanings and functions imposed on them. Planners are advised to acknowledge these nuanced and underestimated impacts on space and people as they are decisive for the success or failure of planning endeavours. Informed by the border literature, which has emerged from a wide range of academic disciplines, this article offers a unique insight into the complex border concept from a planning perspective. This section establishes the basic theoretical framework (including definitions) for the rest of the article. First it provides an overview of the emergence of state borders, drawing particular attention to the geopolitical function and power practices related to state borders. Second it proposes to consider borders as comprised of four overlapping sets of different types of boundaries: geopolitical, sociocultural, economic and biophysical. This approach helps to make clear that the more boundaries a border is comprised of (meaning the more functions are imposed on one particular line in space), the ‘thicker’ or harder and even oppressive the border becomes. As borders differ significantly from place to place and context to context and according to which and how many different boundaries they are comprised of, the subsequent normative border evaluation explains the difference between ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ borders. For a long time, Europe was characterised by dynastic realms, which in a geographical sense did not constitute a set of unities. Just as the dynastic realm was not unified, it was not clearly demarcated and moreover it was riddled with enclaves. In addition, the monarch’s effective control tended to diminish with proximity to the border. Thus the focus of ancient imperialism (for example, the Holy Roman Empire) was not on defining their territories in terms of fixed borders but on controlling people and cities. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire and the starting point for the modern state system in Europe. Since then the principle of nation-state sovereignty and the right of national self-determination has gradually emerged and provided a new understanding of frontiers dividing not just people, but territory. Though the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia is often referred to as ‘the hour of birth’ of the modern sovereign state in Europe, political geography suggests that it was not until the early nineteenth

DOWN THE LINE

DECODING BORDERS

From then on mapping became an important business of the state and maps were seen as crucial to the maintenance of state power. However, this does not mean that state borders in Europe were fixed as stable, sealed and efficient lines separating states.

The twentieth century saw the successive break-up of the great European empires. Although history clearly shows that state borders are very much in flux, the period of the Cold War has to be recognised as the high point of stable, sharply demarcated state borders. During this period states achieved an unprecedented degree of control over the economy, politics and culture of their citizens and a capacity to regulate cross-border flows. This complexity of a states relationship to citizens magnified the practical importance of belonging to one state rather than to another.

The increased number of borders was due to the reestablishment of some state borders long-suppressed under imperial reign or subsumed within federated structures.

Globalisation increased the complexity of borders, as they grew to become complex social constructions, comprised of four overlapping sets of different types of boundaries: geopolitical, sociocultural, economic and biophysical.

110

century that exclusive border lines were established instead of the former more or less permeable frontiers. From then on mapping became an important business of the state and maps were seen as crucial to the maintenance of state power. However, this does not mean that state borders in Europe were fixed as stable, sealed and efficient lines separating states. Indeed, the opposite is true. On the one hand, Europe had been through a process of consolidation (driven by the imperatives of territorial aggrandisement) of small states and fiefdoms (like king- and dukedoms) into larger multi-national entities, a process which reached its zenith at the end of the nineteenth century. On the other hand the twentieth century saw the successive break-up of the great European empires, as will be demonstrated through the case of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in a later section of this article. Although history clearly shows that state borders are very much in flux, the period of the Cold War (1945â&#x20AC;&#x160;â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x160;1991) has to be recognised as the high point of stable, sharply demarcated state borders in twentieth-century Europe. In this period, which was characterised by a proliferation, consolidation and privileging of state borders by the doctrine of national self-determination, states achieved an unprecedented degree of control over the economy, politics and culture of their citizens and a capacity to regulate cross-border flows. The remarkable density of the then emerging state institutions and the unprecedented complexity of their relationship to citizens magnified the practical importance of belonging to one state rather than to another, thus drawing attention to the territorial boundedness of states. Contemporary Europe is characterised by many more state borders than existed in the period prior to the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989, which marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Central and Eastern European countries are now [in 1998] framed by approximately 8,000 miles of new political lines [since 1989]. In this respect, the so-called old continent is the newest of all, with more than 60% of its present borders drawn during the twentieth century. The increased number of borders was due to the re-establishment of some state borders long-suppressed under imperial reign or subsumed within federated structures. It also involved initiatives to create new state borders for new states dividing older states (as in the case of Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1993). Globalisation certainly played a key role in all these developments. While globalisation impacted upon state borders in the sense that they became more porous, it has also produced more rather than fewer borders and has increased rather than decreased their complexity. This new border complexity matters in order to understand that borders are complex social constructions, which are comprised of four overlapping sets of different types of boundaries: geopolitical, sociocultural, economic and biophysical. 111

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DECODING BORDERS

Border-related terms are very elastic and that they reflect cultural nuances of meaning in different cultural contexts.

The term border is often used synonymously with the terms boundary and frontier. This is not surprising, as all three terms describe a limit or a barrier and indicate a division or separation in space. Thus their main significance derives from their importance in defining, classifying, communicating and controlling a territory, in the sense of assigning things to particular spaces and regulating cross-border movements and access into and/or out of specified areas. Accordingly, borders have traditionally served the role of ordering society. Hence one could argue that their usage and interpretation is a result of the modern state system.

Border: a legal line in space, separating different jurisdictions, nations, cultures, etc.

Boundary: a limit, either natural or artificial. Typically deemed to be imprecise or indeterminate and are frequently contested.

Frontier: Historically the neutral zone between two countries, however today these spaces are often occupied, sometimes sharing an underlying cultural unity.

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Over the past two decades a border studies literature has emerged, informed by a wide range of academic disciplines, such as geography, international relations, anthropology, political science, sociology, history and philosophy. But despite an increased interest in border studies, an overall border terminology has not emerged from the literature. Rather, it has been demonstrated that border-related terms are very elastic and that they reflect cultural nuances of meaning in different cultural contexts. This article does not seek to examine the current use of border terminology semantically. The classification and typology provided serve the purpose of highlighting the differences and interrelationships between the border, boundary and frontier edge concepts from a planning perspective. Moreover, these explanations are instructive for the arguments developed in this article. The term ‘border’ is often used synonymously with the terms ‘boundary’ and ‘frontier’. This is not surprising, as all three terms describe a limit or a barrier and indicate a division or separation in space. Thus their main significance derives from their importance in defining, classifying, communicating and controlling a territory, in the sense of assigning things to particular spaces and regulating

2.2

cross-border movements and access into and/or out of specified areas. Accordingly, borders have traditionally served the role of ordering society. Hence one could argue that their usage and interpretation is a result of the modern state system. But borders have many different meanings, which vary widely from time to time, place to place, culture to culture and even language to language. Whereas German has only one term (Grenze), French has four: frontie`re, front (military), limite and marche and Spanish has three: frontera, marca and limite. Though the English terms border, boundary and frontier are frequently used interchangeably, one must be aware that each of these terms has its own specific meaning. Border: Derived from the French Term bordure, meaning the out edge of a particular thing. Its geopolitical use began in the seventeenth century, and came to refer to an unambiguous and ‘fixed’ line both on the map and on the ground. Today, the term refers to a legal line in space, separating different jurisdictions, nations, cultures, etc. Boundary: derived from bound [a limit] as well as from bonnarium [a piece of land with fixed limits]. Natural boundaries follow natural features, such as rivers, mountains or coastlines. Artificial boundaries are established by social or political agents or agencies to distinguish between national, ethnic, religious, linguistic, legal or security differences and cut across natural landscapes. Boundaries are typically deemed to be imprecise or indeterminate and are frequently contested. Frontier: emerged in the fourteenth century to define the neutral zone between empires or state, usually empty territory. Over the years this transformed into populated marchlands, whose purpose was to defend the empire or state against attacks from outside. Nowadays, the term is more frequently used to define an area immediately alongside a state’s external border. These regions may have an underlying cultural unity that is not congruent with state borders, e.g. the Basque countries of France and Spain.

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We live in a world full of compartments that enable us to manage our lives collectively. How could we acquire a national identity if we were not able to distinguish between us and them? How could we draw up a plan or develop a given territory unless the appropriate region was defined beforehand? Thus, borders are essential to our everyday life and attempting to eradicate them is a meaningless project. But not all borders are perfect fits. This article argues that the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;thickerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; a border is (meaning the more boundaries it consists of and the more functions imposed upon it over the years), the more difficult it is to cross, both physically and mentally. Thick borders are extremely rigid. They are characterised by disrupting relational geographies which belong together and which, as a consequence, can easily become a breeding ground for political disputes. This includes, for example, situations where there is a lack of congruence between a border and other types of boundaries, or where a border fails to coincide with the boundaries of nation, culture or ethnicity,

On the contrary, while a thin border clearly demarcates a political and administrative space, at the same time it allows different forms of coexistence to emerge and flourish irrespective of the underlying state border.

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A world without borders and boundaries is a utopia. Unbounded functional activities, be they social, cultural or economic, would be formless. And no territory could be administered unless it was clearly demarcated. In short, we live in a world full of compartments that enable us to manage our lives collectively. How could we acquire a national identity if we were not able to distinguish between us and them? How could we draw up a plan or develop a given territory unless the appropriate region was defined beforehand? Thus, borders are essential to our everyday life and attempting to eradicate them is a meaningless project. But not all borders are perfect fits. This article argues that the thicker a border is, meaning the more boundaries it consists of and the more functions imposed upon it over the years, the more difficult it is to cross, both physically and mentally. Furthermore, borders that divide what should belong together are in most cases perceived as uncomfortable and oppressive, disturbing lines by the borderlanders. Classifying borders into thick and thin borders implies looking at their formative influences and impacts on the development of the adjacent border region(s) as well as the way they continue to impede the conditions of the people living in these areas.

2.3

Thick borders are extremely rigid. They are characterised by disrupting relational geographies which belong together and which, as a consequence, can easily become a breeding ground for political disputes. This includes, for example, situations where there is a lack of congruence between a border and other types of boundaries, or where a border fails to coincide with the boundaries of nation, culture or ethnicity, as can be observed in the case of the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Syria or the Basques and Catalans in Spain. A good example of a thick border is the Iron Curtain, which was a difficult-to-cross border, inhibiting interactions with neighbouring states. The result was that border regions along the Iron Curtain were — and still are in some parts — economically disadvantaged and have experienced significant volumes of out-commuting or, at its most extreme, outmigration, reducing these areas’ vitality. The Iron Curtain is probably the most extreme example in Europe; however, similar developments can also be observed along other borders throughout the world (e.g. the closed border between the two Koreas or the border between Mexico and the USA). Other quite representative examples, where thick borders can be detected, are divided cities, such as Berlin (Germany), Nicosia (Cyprus) or Gorizia (Italy). Thin borders are permeable for certain kinds of flows. This does not mean that a border should be open for everything and everyone, as this would make the border itself redundant. On the contrary, while a thin border clearly demarcates a political and administrative space, at the same time it allows different forms of coexistence to emerge and flourish irrespective of the underlying state border. The border between the Innviertel (Austria) and

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Niederbayern (Germany) serves as a good example of a thin border. Though the Innviertel (Austrian land) belonged to Germany until 1779 â&#x20AC;&#x160;makes up the border, this cross-border region represents itself as a lively hub of cross-border interactions between people and institutions.

This example demonstrates the benifit in allowing a state border to be more permeable, as doing so allows for different kinds of soft spaces to emerge. Europe is compromised of majorly thick borders, as a result of the two world wars.

The European Commission places much emphasis on softening borders as well as solving borderrelated problems, by enabling and promoting different forms of cooperation beyond borders. There is great value in re-establishing those relational geographies which have been disrupted in a former bordering process

Borders are socially constituent power practices, which give a demarcation in space its meaning and by doing so represent time written in space. They have both material and symbolic appearances and meanings. The obvious physical presence being things such us the US/Mexico Border Wall, while the visually indistinct, become reality through stereotyping of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; behind the wall.

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Niederbayern (Germany) serves as a good example of a thin border. Though the Innviertel belonged to Germany until 1779 and a natural difficult-to-cross barrier — the River Inn — makes up the border, this cross-border region represents itself as a lively hub of cross-border interactions between people and institutions. The establishment of the European Nature Reserve ‘Lower Inn’ in 1979, which is now also protected under the Ramsar convention on Wetlands, certainly favoured the exchange in this cross-border region. Equally, the border city of Braunau (Austria) and the border city of Simbach (Germany) are currently looking for a crossborder city manager. The main task of this person will be to coordinate trade development in both cities with the aim of establishing a competitive twin city. This example shows that both border regions have refrained from aligning further functions to the existing state border. On the contrary, the focus lies in making the underlying state border more permeable and in doing so allowing different kinds of soft spaces to emerge. Unfortunately, Europe is currently comprised of more thick than thin borders, which results from the border drawing practices in the aftermath of the two World Wars. While it appears obvious that the external border of the European Union is a thick border, it has to be highlighted that also many internal borders of the European Union are not perfect matches. This issue has already been acknowledged by the European Commission, which has declared that the ‘frontier . . . is the place where the success of the European integration will be proven’. So it is not a surprise that the European Commission places much emphasis on softening borders as well as solving border-related problems, by enabling and promoting different forms of cooperation beyond borders. As discussed in this article, there is great value in re-establishing those relational geographies which have been disrupted in a former bordering process, for instance, in the case of ‘divided cities’. But such a move is not as easy as it might seem. After a long period of living in a divided city, differences may have congealed to an extent and relational geography may be difficult to achieve. Going beyond definitions, it is important to recognise borders as socially constituent power practices, which give a demarcation in space its meaning and by doing so represent time written in space. Also, borders have both material and symbolic appearances and meanings. They can have a very obvious physical presence (e.g. the Iron Curtain) and/or a visually indistinct one, which becomes reality through, for example, stereotyping of the ‘others’ behind the border. In order to understand the relationships between borders and boundaries (the product) and bordering (the process) the next section introduces a dynamic border interpretation framework. This framework helps planners to uncover the different planning challenges resulting from borders and boundaries as well as from bordering processes.

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In the case of Austria, different boundaries were aligned to a single line, which was imposed on the worlds surface in 1955 and was meant to define the national territory. But in drawing this line, many relational geographies were simultaneously disrupted and new differences between one side of the line and the other subsequently evolved, initiated to some extent with the help of symbolic and educational unifiers.

It is naive to think that border-opening processes will automatically remove all barrier functions of the border that allowed differences to appear in the aftermath of the border-drawing exercise.

Even though the Iron Curtain was removed in 1989, some of the sociocultural boundaries still exist today. They become evident in terms of mutual antipathy and distrust, which hinder effective forms of contemporary cooperation.

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3.0

Borders should not be taken for granted, as if they were elements with one essence, function and trajectory. Neither should borders be understood as having some universal, independent causal power. Instead they are social and political constructs that are established by human beings for human — and clearly at times for very non-human— purposes. (Paasi, 2005, p. 27) Due to the complex and multi-disciplinary nature of borders, as well as the fact that different types of boundaries exist within the same space, it seems undesirable and even counter-productive to develop a unified and hence static theory of borders. Every border and moreover every part of a border is unique. Therefore, a first step to decoding borders is to acquire a better understanding of the diverse factors which bring boundaries and borders into being. Thus, agreeing with Newman (2003), it is necessary to shift the focus from borders to bordering practices. This article has demonstrated that borders are boundary sets and that every border is unique, with its own history. In the case of Austria, different boundaries were aligned to a single line, which was imposed on the world’s surface in 1955 and was meant to define the national territory. But in drawing this line, many relational geographies were simultaneously disrupted and new differences between one side of the line and the other subsequently evolved, initiated to some extent with the help of symbolic and educational unifiers. What happened afterwards and what is often underestimated is that this newly established collectivism got transmitted from one generation to the next via time-independent preservative symbolic artefacts (e.g. anthem, flag, state treaties, national holidays) and operational educational practices (e.g. school curricula, musical tradition, collective remembering). As a result, the newly created differences became essential points of reference for the subsequent generations. This makes it more difficult, sometimes even impossible and inadequate, to re-establish formerly relational geographies. It is naive to think that border-opening processes will automatically remove all barrier functions of the border that allowed differences to appear in the aftermath of the borderdrawing exercise. Thus, overcoming the container effect of state borders through various forms of cross-border cooperation is a very challenging and sensible task that requires much more than just addressing the geopolitical dividing function of the state border under consideration. It requires the detection of relational geographies which are disrupted by this state border, and moreover, the working out of appropriate solutions to reunite them, where this is still possible. This includes, among other things, the coordination of differing or even conflicting interests and intentions on both sides of the border.

3.1

The example of the Austrian-Slovakian cross-border region helps to explain this argument. This particular territory builds on a long shared history (1526 – 1918), which, however, is currently largely academic rather than an active cultural variable. The completely separate development triggered in particular by the Iron Curtain created many boundaries, not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. Even though the Iron Curtain was removed in 1989, some of the sociocultural boundaries still exist today. They become evident in terms of mutual antipathy and distrust, which hinder effective forms of contemporary cooperation. This has

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Despite their apparent stability, borders fluctuate over time. They do not simply happen but are the outcome of a bordering process, where certain functions are aligned to one concrete line in the territory by power elites. As Van Houtum (2011) says, a border is a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;fabricated truthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

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been experienced by the author in the frame of an INTERREG IIIA project along the Austrian-Slovakian border in 2005 – 2006. The aim of the project was to draft a cross-border master plan for the Austrian-Slovakian cross-border region. In this example, the visions for the undeveloped land of the former Iron Curtain were driven by two conflicting interests. On the one hand the prodevelopment coalition in Bratislava (Slovakia) was aiming to develop exclusive upmarket real estate in an area of natural beauty. On the other hand, the landscape preservation coalition in Austria was keen on contributing to the ecological network initiative of the European Green Belt that runs from the Barents to the Black Sea (following the path of the former Iron Curtain). Moreover, the actors involved immediately found it easy to agree on what should happen over the border for their own benefit, with Slovakian actors keen to benefit from the recreation and landscape potential of the Austrian territory and Austrian actors with many ideas for the unspoilt territories of the former Eastern Bloc lands on both sides of the state border. This project failed in drafting an effective cross-border master plan, simply because it ignored the underlying border complexity. It did not offer appropriate solutions for overcoming the sociocultural boundaries; rather, it focused merely on the geopolitical dimension of the border. The lesson learnt is that the social affiliation to each group’s own country (on both sides of the border) was much stronger and more developed than the desire for cooperation with any other country. Because of this, each group’s own interests (irrespective of the other group’s interest) were favoured at every stage of the project. At the dawn of the twenty-first century we live divided along cultural, economic, political, and social lines, in a world of territorial borders whose main purpose is to mark differences in space. (Popescu, 2012, p. 1) This article has argued that borders consist of an overlapping set of boundaries with different and often contradictory functions, meanings and roles. Despite their apparent stability, borders fluctuate over time. They do not simply happen but are the outcome of a bordering process, where certain functions are aligned to one concrete line in the territory by power elites. The article explains how borders are produced, reproduced and justified, and yet, despite repeated changes, tend to fix themselves in people’s minds. As Van Houtum (2011) says, a border is a ‘fabricated truth’. The main objective of the recent border opening processes (e.g. within the European Union) was to make borders more permeable for different kinds of flow (e.g. the free movement of people, goods, services and capital) by addressing the geopolitical layer of the border. But borders are boundary sets, and thus composed of a number of different layers. Thus, to make a given border more permeable for selected geopolitical types of flow is only a first, though essential, step towards overcoming negative border effects as the Austrian-Slovakian example has emphasised. No border, however, can be open for everything and everyone, as this would make the border

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This perspective may make it possible to overcome negative border effects by transforming thick borders into thin borders and consequently expanding the horizon to an intertwined network of spaces.

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itself redundant. I therefore argue that as a second step towards overcoming negative border effects it is necessary to identify those relational geographies which are currently being disrupted, and thus could easily become a breeding ground for political disputes. In addition, new relational geographies should be established according to the contemporary needs of the borderlanders from both sides of the border. The argument here is not that planning professionals who use their managerial skills to undertake the process of delimitation and border implementation should focus on creating new thick borders. Planners have to be aware that when they set up a cross-border region (e.g. a Euroregion) or re-unite a relational geography, they both diminish the importance of the state border, and also create a new boundary demarcating this new region. The main function of this new boundary creating a cross-border region should be primarily administrative and political. Rather than aligning other functions to this new line, its main objective would be to make the underlying border more permeable and by doing so allow different kinds of soft spaces to emerge. All of these different relational geographies need to exist in parallel and assist that in the long term boundary after boundary is removed from the state border under consideration. Shifting the perspective from borders to relational geographies goes hand in hand with breaking away from the shackles of pre-existing container thinking. Yet it is difficult to do this, because these two perspectives — container and relational thinking — are in fact interrelated. Whereas a certain degree of container-thinking is required when addressing issues of sovereignty, other issues such as identity or ethnicity demand relational thinking. The challenge is thus to think and work within multiple hard, soft and fuzzy spaces in parallel. The territorial expansion of these different spaces is not identical. Therefore each of these spaces not only transcends the border, but many other geopolitical, sociocultural, economic and biophysical boundaries too. This perspective may make it possible to overcome negative border effects by transforming thick borders into thin borders and consequently expanding the horizon to an intertwined network of spaces.

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THE BOTTOM LINE

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BORDERS

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1900

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The Line by Georgia Urie

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Throughout history borders have constantly fluxed and moved, it is only within the last century they have become more solidified. It is through this rigidity we have become protective and divided, dissecting ourselves from one another. If we were to look at borders as an ordering system, rather than steal walls — immense and unforgiving — maybe we could move towards a more unified world, that values human connection over possession. That is not to say borders should be made redundant, as they are the fundamental basis of global structuring and individual identities. However, there is much to be gained from promoting the flow of goods and people across the lines we have drawn. We must evolve our perceptions of migration, inclusive of all forms, understanding the diversity of facets it involves within society . By doing so we can work towards normalising the term migration, understanding its everyday impacts on the people involved, not just the extreme circumstances that often feel distanced and out of our control. In understanding how borders operate in our society, and seeing them for what they truly are — made-up lines drawn on a map — we can work alongside them, to ensure they aid humanity, rather than impede.

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THE BOTTOM LINE

THE LINE