by Juliana Birnbaum Fox
About 100 North American activists from No Borders Camp succesfully established itself on the U.S./Mexico border, while about 25 counter parts in Mexico encamped in the Mexican side on Nov. 7, 2007.(photo by Indybay)
Berkeley City Council unanimously passed a resolution last week condemning the federal government’s 1.2 billion dollar U.S.- Mexico border wall, stating that “billions of federal dollars intended for the border wall should be invested in health care, housing, education, job training, and infrastructure that will provide visible and tangible return to the country…” The resolution continued the Berkeley Council’s strong anti-military stance that created controversy last month regarding the Marine recruiting center there. “The border wall will have a destructive effect on the environment, economy and on human lives,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who introduced the resolution to the Berkeley City Council.
For those living along the international boundary zone, the wall could have a devastating impact, both environmentally and economically.
Lipan Apache activist and South Texas Land Grant community member Margo Tamez stated that a number of fragile plant and animal species are being affected by the clearing of the area to make it easier to track illegal migrants. Free Trade agreements have already forced indigenous peoples into exile from their homelands in the south.
The resolution also points out the devastating economic impact the border wall will have on South Texas, where residents on both sides of the border shop and carry out commerce in the neighboring countries.
President Bush signs the border bill. Witnesses, from left, are Janet Napolitano, J.D. Hayworth, Rick Renzi, Jon Kyl and Trent Franks.(photo by the El Reportero Wire Services)
“It is our ancestors who worked these lands prior to the first contact between the Spanish and the indigenous,” Tamez said in a prepared statement, thanking the Berkeley City Council.
“And since that time, for the last four centuries, our ancestors have suffered much and they and the memories of our hardships are buried in these lands. It is only fi tting that the indigenous now stand up in a call for unity and justice….We are honored on this day by your resolution to stop the “wall of death.”
“Among the many issues about the wall that Homeland Security is lawlessly constructing through the International Boundary Zone between the US and Mexico, perhaps the least known issue is the continuous militarization of the indigenous communities who have been and still are terrorized bi-national peoples ever since the lines were drawn,” activist Wendy Kenin told the council at the February 26 meeting.
Homeland Security filed suit in January against Eloisa Garcia Tamez, who has been leading the resistance to the seizures of private lands in Texas. The Berkeley resolution points out that Homeland Security is waiving numerous laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act among others, in order to construct the wall.
“There is clear documentation that shows militarizing a boundary zone between nation-states increases the likelihood that people will die. Many local jurisdictions are facing fi nancial crisis and could use additional monies to offset the loss of revenues from the housing market slump, the impending recession, and the cost of the war in Iraq,” stated Gabriel Hernandez, a long-time human rights activist who drafted the resolution.
The Berkeley No-Border Wall Resolution follows a number of other jurisdictions, including several Texas-Mexico border towns, and is being considered for adoption by government bodies and institutions from California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas.
