From Palestine to Oakland – we stand united.
November 9 marks the 28th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. As a teen, I had large poster in my bedroom celebrating this revolutionary day of reunification. While living in Berlin (1996), I would walk along beautiful pathways where the wall once stood – pathways that had been transformed from concrete barriers and a massive death strip to open spaces that provided city-dwellers with connection to nature and one another. The freedom of movement that these open spaces provided gave me time to reflect weekly on the hope of peoples transcending separation and division, learning to live side by side. That many Germans warmly greeted me, laughing at my American need to power-walk through these beautiful trails, only confirmed the joy of befriending strangers and learning from one another.
Dismantlement is the ultimate outcome of all walls that seek to divide, dehumanize and destroy – but what human costs must be borne by the unending cycles of violence before the walls come tumbling down? November 9 is also the 79th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a night of mass murder, destruction and deportation. Our current realities are pointing us far more in this direction of history. There is much dismantling work to do to end the ongoing construction of walls that destroy lives, communities and hope.
November 9 is a Global Day of Action for a World Without Walls. Anti-wall protests are taking place in more than 25 countries today, and throughout this week. Together, we are joining our voices in outrage at the nearly 70 concrete walls that are destroying lives and lands. These walls:
are monuments of expulsion, exclusion, oppression, discrimination and exploitation… Israel has been central in promoting this new global era of walls and the US has risen to back it up: From India, to Saudi Arabia, to Turkey, Western Sahara and Europe, today, the number of walls designed to forcibly define and seal borders has almost tripled over the last two decades. These walls bar the right to freedom of movement and self-determination. They have become cornerstones in a world where wars, militarization and exclusion are to substitute justice, freedom and equality. https://www.stopthewall.org/2017/06/19/november-9-global-day-action-world-without-walls
Here are a few ways to consider joining in this global protest:
- Identify walls (both visible and invisible) that wreck havoc in your communities – name them, protest them, work to dismantle them
- Support an organization that is actively building bridges
- Pay attention to how our tax dollars are being spent to erect racist walls of separation, and how these actions are being challenged
- Learn more about the walls that are being built across the globe, why they’re being built, and how you can help build an alternative world
- Commit yourself to the work of freedom, justice and equality
- Post your solidarity with the global day of action through the hashtag #worldwithoutwalls
- Livestream Nov. 10 and 11 workshops on resisting walls, from the U.S.-Mexico border to Palestine http://fosna.nationbuilder.com/encuentro_livestream
- Share how you are participating in the reply section of this blogpost!
28 years ago, one massive government-controlled wall of oppression was overthrown. Together we can overthrow them all.
giving voice to the struggle 
Allison, I salute your efforts at making peace in the world. I think of walls as scars on the face of the cultures who build them. They are signs of past victimizations and are efforts of cultural self-protection. They point to the failure of cultures on both sides of the wall to love their neighbors as they love themselves. Sometimes walls are a malicious effort by one society to steal land and resources from cultures they deem inferior and weak. Sometimes walls are defensive. They are designed to prevent a perceived enemy from attacking or to protect land and resources from theft or destruction. In any case walls demean the cultures on either side. We must all learn to take down our own walls and thereby build bridges of peace.
LikeLike