Boundaries not Borders

By Pasquale Zoro Pulella

NATA-NY

The point of this article is not to propose a belief of any kind on whether or not to have an open border, my idea is to transcend beyond that paradigm. I am not for or against open borders policy I simply propose an alternative to both. If you regard my article as “racist” you haven’t understood it, in which case I would hope that you would read it a second time and try to pretend you are a Martian examining the human race form a scientific point of view.

An anarchist is someone who believes that any form of hierarchical violent authority is immoral, illegitimate, and must be removed. As an Anarchist one would naturally believe that certain unnatural systems that depend on an organized system of hierarchical violence are also immoral regardless of its purpose. As an anarchist one would naturally believe that the borders imposed by government are also themselves an immoral act, and an unnatural human conception. In a nation state one would travel to close proximity to a border from a main road only to find violent agents of the state regulating, tracking, fining, or restricting your right to travel. However the purpose for borders is dualistic in nature. The Nation-State border is used to restrict travel but also to preserve culture. An example of what happens when borders are not enforced can be seen in the southern area of the United States. For better or for worse people from south of the border have been moving across the border; Mexicans, Cubans, Haitians, etc. This is not necessarily a bad thing nor is it necessarily a good thing however some people may have their opinions on this fact either way. For those who propose an open border policy or for anarchists who oppose borders entirely (such is the case for me) one might say that an enforced border would restrict someone’s right to travel and find greener pastures, also they might say that the people who oppose the open border policy are “racist” regardless of whether or not it is true. One who advocates for an enforced border proposes either that the aforementioned “illegal” immigrants are coming to take the peoples jobs OR they would say that they are coming and transfusing their culture into that of the so called “natives”.

The question for an anarchist is therefore what would be the case in a free society? If both Mexico and the US ceased being Nation-States and began being Stateless-Nations then the reason for immigration becomes lost because the uneven distribution of wealth and employment created by global state-capitalism disappears. However say for example the US became a stateless society and Mexico continued being a Nation-State wouldn’t the immigrants continue to enter into the territory once called the USA? Yes they probably would because there is no border and no State to enforce one if there were one. However the “taking of jobs” would no longer be an issue because the lack of taxation would mean that the cost of living would be drastically reduced therefore the higher paying jobs would not be as necessary. But the second (Legitimate) reason for the border still remains, the preservation of culture. If one was a Nationalist American who loves apple pie, Johnny Appleseed, and George Washington and does not want the influence of outsiders in their culture. These people do not need a government to preserve their culture, they can simply set up an enclave where they have the intention of preserving their culture, this idea is not a Borderit is a Boundary. The difference between a border and a boundary is simply a tribal issue and it is not unnatural at all, it is simply the way of nature. The main difference is that a Border is enforced while the Boundary is not enforced also that borderlines are considered property of a nation state.

Border: a line separating two political or geographical areas, especially countries.

Boundaries: a line that marks the limits of an area; a dividing line

(Dividing line between groups of people) 

Different packs of animals in the wild tend to live with their own, weather that means traveling together in packs, or living in a certain territory. Hippopotamuses are very territorial, Chimpanzees, and gorillas as well. As for migrating species that travel in groups there are Buffalo, sheep, and geese. Even certain groups of fish tend to travel in their groups. Different herds of Humans tend to do the same; gangs have their territories and even mark their territory with graffiti. Whether or not we should have boundaries is of no consequence, the fact is that people have a natural tendency to trust their tribes and be weary of outside tribes, therefore boundaries will exist. And groups of humans will always be in conflict.

 An example of a boundary would be in Native American culture where they had “territory’s” in these territory’s the natives had no state to force people to stay away from them but rather to make known that they were in the land of a certain tribe. If for example one was to walk in an enemy tribes territory they would not be confronted by tribal border police but rater they would be entering land where he knows that he is not welcome and he is running the risk of  being attacked.  However say for example you were in an allied or neutral tribe’s territory what would happen is you would be left alone or at most questioned in a friendly manner by the home tribe. They would ask if you wanted to trade, share stories, smoke, engage in rituals, etc. The idea of a boundary does leave room for bigotry and hatred to continue however it would only happen if such hatred already existed and by enforcing borders and “togetherness” bigotry will only worsen. My question for anyone who refutes the idea of boundaries for example would be, if you have two groups of people who hate each other would you have them live near each other? Like gangs of today? Or would it be better if they lived apart; they don’t have to like each other, just leave each other alone.

Africa is a perfect example of why Borders are bad and boundaries can be good. The problems in Africa today arise from tribal conflicts. Tribal conflicts had always existed in Africa; take the expansion of the Zulu tribe as an example. The Zulu tribe had conquered many other tribes and has become the biggest tribe in South Africa, due to its aggression against its neighboring tribes. However when the European empires had begun to expand into Africa they made the problems worse. The Europeans had formed borders around the African people regardless of ethnic boundaries and forced people of opposing tribes to live under the same government and many times as neighbors. The African conflicts today are so much more devastating and destructive now that they are forced to live together. The people of Africa had lived in a much more balanced lifestyle before the Europeans had conquered.

Not all boundaries have to be ethnic in origin. Some boundaries can be places to protect the environment for example. In some areas people can shun the activity of fracking so they can do their part in protecting the earth’s crust from man-made destruction. Other places can be a safe haven for nudists (people who don’t want to wear cloths). Still other places can be places where they shun the use of electricity (such as Amish communities). If someone does not want to partake in the idea that the community is promoting such as nudism or Amish lifestyle, they can communicate their concerns with the community and they can work something out. If the individual and the community do not strike and agreement, they can choose to dedicate a land as outside the boundary or leave the area completely. A community based on a religion or ideology can be formed, if there is someone who is anti said religion or ideology they know that that is a zone of conflict for them. There is no limit to the kind of living spaces people can create if we just eliminate the enforcement mechanism of state borders.