Can humanity live without borders?
by Frank Furedi, spiked:
‘When are we going to reach the border?’, asked my older sister on a wet and cold November night back in 1956. The Furedi family was on the move, anxious to escape the Stalinist regime in Hungary and cross the border to Austria. For us at that moment, the border to the West appeared as a magical door to a new wonderful future. From the perspective of history, we were fortunate; as suggested by the recent experience of many refugees coming to Europe, borders are often less magical doors than insurmountable walls.
Europe, as well as many other parts of the world, has become obsessed with borders. Debates about borders are sharply polarised, and they’re often ill-informed. Some regard borders as an affront to the human condition; others are convinced that borders make up the very foundation of their security. As the debate about Europe’s borders rages on, it is worth taking a step back and asking this question: Can humanity live without borders?
A contradictory experience
The human experience of borders is a contradictory one. People are continually drawing boundary lines. At the same time, throughout history, and especially in modern times, people have tried to transcend the borders established by their ancestors. Often, borders are portrayed as a relic of the past. In recent decades, advocates of globalisation have insisted that a more globalised world, with greater movement of goods, services and people, would make borders redundant. And yet the record of globalisation indicates that, the expansion of mobility notwithstanding, borders in their geographical, symbolic and virtual forms remain very salient features of our lives.
Within Europe, and also within many national communities, borders are experienced differentially. Well-off, secure, sophisticated travellers perceive of border controls, like American immigration procedures, as an annoyance and an unnecessary obstacle in their lives. Others, however, especially those who are less travelled and more community-bound, regard borders as essential to their security – both their psychological and cultural security. They often regard the relaxation of controls on migration as antithetical to their wellbeing. Throughout history, the fundamental human aspiration to move freely and cross boundaries has coexisted with the fundamental human yearning for the reassurance provided by secure borders. Human beings have migrated throughout history, and often these well-travelled people later turn their energies towards drawing borders.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
