Project Takes a Candid Look at the Phenomenon, from the Migrant's Point of View
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1 2 "We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?" Ray Bradbury 3 4 This is a pocket guide for illegals attempting to pass through frontiers they wouldn't otherwise be allowed to cross. In times of border fences, travel bans, mandatory detention, deportation plans and an increasingly blurry line between refugee and criminal, the project takes a candid look at the phenomenon, from the migrant's point of view. The booklet collects in fact a selection of items used by illegals all over the world, holding together real tools - currently used by migrants - and fantastic ones - which still might soon be spotted around some border checkpoint -. All of them come with real, detailed instructions for assembly and use. The project takes inspiration from a pre-existing tradition of "warfare guides" for civilians, from WW II Airplane Spotter Cards, used to distinguish Allied aircrafts from enemy ones, to the How to protest Intelligently pamphlet circulating in Egypt during the Arab Spring. With the ironic yet very practical tone of a Do-it- yourself manual, the project aims to show what being an illegal migrant really implies, letting everyday objects tell the story. Without judging the reasons that brought its readers to the status of illegals - being it economic hardship, political instability or environmental disasters -, the manual collects testimonies of the most spontaneous form of design. A nomadic, cheap, desperate yet super- functional one. 5 N. Ireland Spain - USA - Morocco Mexico Morocco - W. Sahara FORTIFIED BORDERS AROUND THE WORLD existing fences planned / under Botswana construction 6 Estonia - Russia Hungary - Serbia TurkeyMacedonia - - SyriaGreece Turkey - India - Syria Pakistan Gaza Kuwait - Lebanon - Iraq Morocco - Israel India - Bangladesh Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Mozambique 7 8 CONTENTS Here’s a collection of tools, gathered by typology of barrier whose crossing they can facilitate. MAN-MADE Where entrance undergoes strict scrutiny. Thorough passport and lugagge checks, violent entrance denial and convincion as precautionary measure are to be expected. 10 — thermal invisibility cloak 18 — ladder bag — FENCES 24 fence hopping shoes NATURAL Where the issue is not just politics, but geographical distance or the nature of the physical obstacle be- tween you and the place you are trying to reach. 32 — traceless shoes 38 — refrigerated jerrycan — DESERTS 44 natural water filter 52 — plastic bottles floatation belt 58 — waterproof neck pouch — plastic bag overshoes WATERS 64 9 10 FENCES 11 WHAT YOU NEED scissors plastic storage bag superglue space blanket metal thread 12 FENCES THERMAL INVISIBILITY CLOAK This is for those attempting to cross the French border and reach the UK. Perfected from Talibans’ anti-drone tent, this collapsible invisibility cloak will in fact render you invisible to most thermal cameras adopted by authorities to control the inside of commercial trucks moving past the frontier. 13 HOW TO BUILD IT STEP 1 STEP 2 Cut and bend a bundle of thick Now take the space blanket(s): metal thread into three hoops you’ll need two strips,each 2 m of equal diameter, each large long and tall about half your enough to comfortably contain actual stature. So, let’s say your body shape. you’re 1,8 m tall: you’ll need to join 2 blankets together, ob- taining 2 pieces of 2x1,4 m each. 14 FENCES STEP 3 STEP 4 Glue (only) the top of each Take the two tubes you just strip of blanket all around the assembled and join them circumference of a metal hoop. together, gluing their bottoms Then glue together the edges to the third hoop you've made on the side, obtaining a tubu- before. You’ll get a collapsible lar shape. tube, reinforced with a metal frame. 15 HOW TO BUILD IT STEP 5 STEP 6 When the glue has dried, add a Now take the storage bag: circular piece of blanket to the you’ll use it to assemble a bag bottom and two strips of fabric large enough to contain your to the top - they will work as cloak. Cut down the side seams handles, to raise or lower your to unfold the bag completely, “invisibility cloak”. then detatch zip and handles. 16 FENCES STEP 7 STEP 8 Cut out of the main piece of Sew together the two circular fabric 2 wide circles - slightly cutouts for a small portion of larger than the tubular “cloak” their circumference and add you created - and a long strip a zip all around the rest of it. - it will be the shoulder strap -. Then stitch the shoulder strap Also, keep a rectangular offcut to the side. Now you can collapse to use as shoulder pad. and fit your “cloak” in it. 17 fig 1. - Illustration from an online pamphlet shows how use the device to hide from infrared cameras. fig 2. - A group of migrants hiding inside a truck, as detected by thermal imaging cameras at a checkpoint in Calais, French border. 18 19 WHAT YOU NEED plastic storage bag thread heavy duty scissors ratchet strap 20 FENCES PLASTIC LADDER BAG This is for those attempting to climb - a migrant detention centre wall, a border fence, the back of a truck, whatever -. Combining rock climbing training with the properties of woven PP fabric - the very cheap yet resistent one used for bulk storage bags -, here you get a soft ladder, for no more than a couple € / £ / $. 21 HOW TO BUILD IT rail STEP 1 STEP 2 Cut down the side seams of the Cut the strips into smaller bits storage bag; then unsew the - this will define the distance handles - they’ll be the rails between the rails of your of your ladder -. Also, cut out ladder-. Now sew each strip from the large flat cloth you’ve across the two rails, at a reg- obtained a couple of small ular distance - about 30/40 cm-: strips. these are your ladder steps. 22 FENCES STEP 3 STEP 4 Now take the ratchet: at the Go back to the soft ladder: bottom of the fabric strip you take an offcut, slightly longer should have a metal hook. Cut than the ladder steps you’ve the fabric to release it: by at- previously assembled, pass taching it to your ladder, it’ll the hook through it and sew it be easier to hook it and climb up to the top of both rails. all sorts of vertical surfaces -. Here you have a soft ladder. 23 fig 1. - An illegal migrant attempts to climb a metal fence. fig. 2 - A group of migrants in Calais attempts to climb on the back of a commercial truck, while queuing to board a ferry headed for the UK. 24 25 WHAT YOU NEED tin can electric drill heavy duty scissors washers, bolts, nuts running shoes 26 FENCES FENCE HOPPING SHOES Designed by migrants at the Moroccan border, trying to cross 3m tall fences dividing them from the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, it’s a simple trick that will give your shoes a stronger grip on a metal mesh. You might have to throw away your trainers after, but in exchange for access to the Schengen area. 27 HOW TO BUILD IT STEP 1 STEP 2 Take an empty sardine tin Now take your shoes - I sug- box and detatch the metal lid. gest trainers with no lug sole, With some heavy duty scis- as they’ll breake easier to drill sors, cut out of the sheet three into -. With an electric drill, metal strips, each of about 3 drill three holes in the top of cm width. the sole, as if they were the 3 vertices of a triangle. FENCES STEP 3 STEP 4 Take the three metal strips and Insert the bolts inside the drill two holes in each of them, shoe, through the sole and the with the same distance you drilled metal strips. Now leave defined between the holes you the head of the bolt inside the just drilled into the sole. shoe, leaving the threaded part sticking out. Fasten them by adding a washer and nut. fig 1,2 - Sub-Saharan migrants show shoes they hacked to have better grip on the 3 m high border fence dividing Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Melilla. 30 31 32 DESERTS 33 WHAT YOU NEED fabric (blanket, clothes) clothes line scissors foam rubber (upholstery) 34 DESERTS TRACELESS SHOES The success of your crossing also depends on how invisible you can be. US agents often patrol dirt roads near the border, looking for fresh footprints as a sign of aliens trying to cross illegally. Designed by Mexican migrants, this allows you to mask your tracks by attaching foam rubber to the bottoms of your shoes. 35 HOW TO BUILD IT STEP 1 STEP 2 Take 2 rectangular pieces of Cut from the clothes line 2 pieces of cloth (something sturdy, like an rope. Each should be the same old blanket), each large enough lenght of the fabric, plus 50 cm to contain your shoe. Now cut 4 on each side. holes in the fabric, right on the Pass each though 2 of the holes sole’s perimeter - 2 on the upper you’ve made in the cloth. and 2 on the lower part -. 36 DESERTS STEP 3 STEP 4 Now take the foam block - which Tie each rope around the shoe: should be about the same size of fasten one over the toe tip and the cloth - and place it on top of the other over the heel cap, the fabric and ropes. making sure the foam fully covers the sole.