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World Towards a Global Apartheid

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World Towards a Global Apartheid CENTRE DELÀS REPORT 46 WORLD TOWARDS A GLOBAL APARTHEID Authors: Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto · Mark Akkerman · Pere Brunet Publicado por: Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau Carrer Erasme de Janer 8, entresol, despatx 9 08001 Barcelona T. (+34) 93 441 19 47 www.centredelas.org [email protected] Authors: Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto, Mark Akkerman, Pere Brunet Partners: Maren Mantovani, Niamh Ní Bhriain Benjamin Ladraa and Sidahmed Jouly Editor: Jordi Calvo Rufanges, Nick Buxton Copy Editor: Deborah Eade Thanks to: Alejandro Garcés Peiró, Sabina Puig Cartes, Carles Conejos, Ares Perceval, María Vázquez Barcelona, November 2020 Graphic design: Esteva&Estêvão Cover photo: Délmagyarország/Schmidt Andrea; p. 5: Robert Hickerson; p. 9: The Advocacy Project; p. 11: Ignatian Solidarity Network; p. 21: William John Gauthier; p. 32: Israel Defense Forces; p. 45: Russ McSpadden D.L.: B-19744-2010 ISSN: 2013-8032 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary . 5 Introduction ..................................................... 9 1. Walls, Security and Fear........................................11 1.1 The Globalisation of Fear, Insecurity and Risk.....................11 1.2 Building Walls in the World ......................................13 2. Walls for a Global Apartheid .................................. 21 2.1 The Construction of a Global Apartheid ..........................21 2.2 The Concept of Global Apartheid ............................... 23 2.3 Significant Cases in the Global Apartheid Regime ............... 24 3. The industry behind the walls . 31 4. Conclusions ..................................................45 References .....................................................47 Annex...........................................................64 A WALLED WORLD: TOWARDS A GLOBAL APARTHEID 3 Index of tables, figures and annex Table 1. Border Walls built Worldwide from 1968 to 2018 ....................................................15 Table 2. Number of Walls, according to Governments’ Reasons ..............................................19 Table 3. Ranking of countries by Border Walls Built between 1968 and 2018................................. 20 Table 4. Companies involved in the construction of Israel’s separation barriers ..............................33 Table 5 Companies contracted for work at Ceuta and Melilla border fences ..................................37 Table 6. Companies funded under the ‘Secure Border and Ports’ Mérida Initiative Line of Effort ...............41 Figure 1. Border Walls built Worldwide from 1968 to 2018 ...................................................17 Figure 2. Border Walls by Sub-region .......................................................................18 Figure 3. Governments’ Main Jusifications for Border Walls ..................................................19 ANNEX Walls References.......................................................................................... 64 ExecUTIVE SUMMARY Towards the end of 1989, two historic walls tumbled, astonishing and inspiring people worldwide. The first, on 9 November 1989, was the fall of the Berlin Wall after 28 years. The second wall was more symbolic, but equally important in the way it divided people and segregated lives – the system of apartheid in South Africa. Even while Berliners started to dismantle the wall that separated them piece by piece, the newly ap- pointed president of South Africa, F.W. de Klerk, had begun negotiating with the African National Congress (ANC), starting a process of ending apartheid. In February 1990, de Klerk unbanned the African National Con- gress, released Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners, and ended the state of emergency. It is sobering, therefore, that 30 years later, the world has more walls than ever. From six in 1989, there are now at least 63 physical walls along borders or on occupied territory across the world, and in many countries, political leaders are arguing for more of them. Many more countries have militarised their frontiers through the deployment of troops, ships, air- craft, drones, and digital surveillance, patrolling land, sea and air. If we counted these ‘walls’, they would number in their hundreds. As a result, it is now more dangerous than ever before for people fleeing poverty and violence to cross borders, after which the border apparatus is still an active threat. We are truly living in a walled world. These fortresses segregate people, protecting privilege and power and denying others human rights and dignity. This report argues that 30 years after its dismantling in South Africa, our walled world is creating a new kind of global apartheid. Such borders are constructed on racist ideologies, deny groups of people ba- sic rights and perpetuate violence. As this report argues, the concept of global apartheid ‘helps explain tendencies and structures of power and global segregation’ in which ‘walls are just one of the physical and visible dimensions of the growing cultural, structural and physical violence that A WALLED WALLED WORLD: WORLD: TOWARDS TOWARDS A GLOBAL APARTHEID A GLOBAL APARTHEID 5 this system creates in the world’. ■■Mexico’s militarised border with Guatemala does not require a physical wall. Here an extensive se- The report examines the expansion of walls built by curity infrastructure, with US equipment and fund- a growing number of states, the underlying causes of ing through the Frontera Sur programme, has been the emergence of a global apartheid, and the corpo- constructed at and around the border, pushing mi- rations that are seeking to profit. As well as providing grants to embark on more dangerous routes and a global overview of border walls, the report looks at into the hands of traffickers and smugglers. seven case studies: Australia, India, Israel, Mexico– Guatemala, Spain, Syria and Western Sahara. It shows ■■Four of the five countries bordering Syria have built that: walls, although the situation of the civilian popu- lation is critical: 13 million are in need of humani- ■■There has been a steady increase in the number of tarian aid and 6.2 million are internally displaced. walls since 1989 with notable surges in 2005 and 2015. Fourteen walls were built in 2015 alone. As of Driving and profiting from this surge in wall-building 2018, there are 63 physical walls worldwide. is an entire Border Industrial Complex. This industry has reinforced a narrative in which migration and ■■The research concludes that 6 out of every ten peo- other political and/or humanitarian challenges at the ple in the world live in a country that has built walls border are primarily framed as a security problem, on its borders. where the frontier can never be secure enough, and for which its latest military and security technologies ■■Asia has the largest number of walls (56%) fol- are always the solution. lowed by Europe (26%) and Africa (16%). Many walls and fences are built by local construction ■■The principal justifications for governments to companies or by state entities, such as the military. erect walls are to stop immigration and terror- However, the walls are invariably accompanied by a ism – the key motives for half of the world’s walls. range of technological systems – such as monitor- Specifically, the reasons given are to prevent im- ing, detection and identification equipment, vehicles, migration (32%), terrorism (18%), contraband of aircraft and arms – which military and security firms goods and people trafficking or smuggling (16%), provide. Autonomous and robotic systems, such as drug-trafficking (10%), territorial disputes (11%), drones and smart towers, are also increasingly used and stopping foreign militants (5%). (or tested) for border security, including as part of, or connected to, walls and fences. ■■Israel has the largest number of walls (six), fol- lowed by Morocco, Iran and India (three), and South ■■Our earlier research identified large arms compa- Africa, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), nies such as Airbus, General Dynamics, Leonar- Jordan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Hungary do, Lockheed Martin, L3 Technologies, Northrop and Lithuania (two). Grumman and Thales as the major beneficiaries of contracts connected to the building of border ■■India has three border walls of 6,540 km, covering walls and fences in Europe and the US. This re- 43% of its borders. port shows that a range of companies, including CSRA, EDat-Con, Elbit, Indra, Leidos and Raytheon ■■Western Sahara has a wall built by occupying Mo- are also hugely involved in the global market for roccan forces considered ‘the greatest functional walls and fences. military barrier in the world, 2,720 km long sur- rounded by nine million land mines’, making it one ■■Israeli companies such as Elbit and Magal Security of the world’s most heavily mined countries. are globally significant in building and supporting walls, often promoting their work internationally by ■■Australia’s case shows that countries do not need highlighting their ‘field-tested’ involvement in the physical walls to keep out migrants. Australia’s building of Israel’s extensive infrastructure of walls armed forces and the Maritime Border Command of and fences within its occupied territories. the Australian Border Force use patrol vessels and aircraft to guard the maritime borders coupled with Behind the rise in walls and the border industry lies a a highly controversial offshore detention system powerful and manipulative narrative that has become that violates human rights. Australia spent an es- hegemonic. It argues
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