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modern emblems in the the city of the the “open wound” the the bleeding wound wound between the the North and the the the South in the the the ulcer of the the the busiest border in the world The barrier goes on on and and on on and and is rein- forced in the the heart of of the the city of of Tijuana itself Snippets different fragments from a a city with a a a a a thousand thousand colours and and and a a a a a thousand thousand adolescent stories that show us an infinite number of openings into what the fence represents in very diverse parts of this well trampled city This border is is brutally designed as part of the urban landscape – both in San Isidro and on the the outskirts of the the city- as as well as as in the the landscape of the the desert and of of the ocean A wall of of reddish metallic bars embeds itself in the Pacific edge right by the beautiful upmarket beaches of Tijuana And much further on in in the the indus- trial area the urban landscape makes reap- pearance at Nido de de las las Águilas the border country of the maquilas This is is an inhospita- ble place where the electrical wiring stalks us circulating freely from one side of the border to the the other The blots are physical That is why I’m trying to experiment here with the border closure by looking at at at the materials that phys- ically represent the closure: keys padlocks fences things that are the basis of what gives rise to such varied names: the the line the the mesh the the the board the the the sheet the the the hedge Keys padlocks fences handcuffs are also an an expression of of temporality of of the perception of time through the border closure a a dia- chronic perception viewed through different oxide shades They are also the the blots of the the control devices: cameras weapons patrol vehicles and trained dogs We can easily embark on a a a a journey through the materials that have been used in the the wall by starting from the the period of free circulation when things were more open until the the period marked by the the recycling of steel plates that had previously been used as run- ways in in the the Arabian Desert during the the Gulf War Steel plates that have now been recon- verted into kilometres of wall which is barely one one metre lower than the one one that used to be in in in Berlin The use of cement in in in the construc- tion of the walls didn’t come about until 1996 In the the sixties there was only one wire fence that divided up cities and countries wire fences that were easy to climb The barbed-wire that finished off the fence fol- lowed later and then the the Americans took it off In the seventies holes were excavated on both sides During the seventies and eighties the the crossing took place through the the bordo (in the the stretch that goes from the the beach area Tijuana up to el Soler) During the eighties the the the period of the the the first research on the the the cross-
ing carried out by the Colegio de la Frontera Norte undocumented migrants passed along the Cañón Zapata A small board was simply placed there and people could cross by paying the reasonable amount of five pesos Businesses appropriate for the occasion bloomed all around it: the sale of sweaters the the sale of plastic bags so as as they wouldn’t get wet All this small commercial dynamism went on on until 1989 From then on on other ditches and uncovered furrows opened up on the the American side This was when the the change change started change change in the use of materi- als a a a a a transformation phase in the control materials giving way to the period that can be defined as “from fragile to rigid” The New Panoptical:
the Technological Border
Everybody knows that nowadays we can be controlled by our bosses from a a screen that is is nowhere near us Border
traffic is is under 24 hour supervision via web My neighbour can control their children in the the nursery from a a a a a camera in in real time I am am being filmed when I use the the cash dispenser the the traffic police insist on photographing me But are we aware of of the development of of customs control when we enter the the cities in the the south of the United States?
The 11 000 strong border patrol that defends the the American border have the the help of the the most sophisticated technology in the the world: laser systems for night surveillance underground magnetic and thermal sensors cameras across the desert special vehicles radiation detectors access to to sophisticated databases for controlling people and x ray technologies in in the cabin areas In short a a a a huge array of devices that represent the technological border control However in spite of of the the the impact of of the the the digital era on the the the control of people the border patrol estimates that in the the desert they can only get one third of the three million undocumented people who cross the the border annually In the the end it is is the the sophisticated control of the the new tech- nologies that which we can’t see because it is not the physical presence of a a a mountain or a a a a brick wall that drives us crazy Its presence is strong even though we are are not aware of its existence Control of time and space using the tech- nology of of power reminds us of of the most extreme control forms of the Foucault pano- ptical The concept of this prison refers on on on the one hand to to allow somebody to to observe (optic) and on the the the other for all (pan) the the the pris- oners to be observed without them knowing thus establishing a a type of omnipresent control To put it it in a a very simplified way: it it is a a a way of controlling one mind over another in in in this case in in in a a a a way that intends to be omni-
present a a power controlling the circulation of people in in the surrounding city areas Going back to contemplating closure in in in the the city on the the road from San Diego to Tijuana I am waiting for a a a a a friend The revolv- ing entrance doors to the Mexican Republic are in in continuous movement the metallic clang of of iron bars marks the passing of of each one of of the thousand types of of Mexicans or Mexican-Americans that enter the the city the the clang that takes my acoustic memory back to the the sound of the the opening and closing prison doors Natalia Ribas Mateos