Harsha Walia talking about her book "Undoing Border Imperialism"

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Submitted by T. Forsyth on Fri, 2014-12-19 09:23

If you haven't heard of Harsha Walia or No One Is Illegal -- Vancouver (Indigenous Coast Salish territories), then you might want to look for her new book that came out in 2013 called Undoing Border Imperialism published by AKPress.org. In the meantime, check out the phone interview conducted by Rochester Indymedia from March 24, 2014 to get a glimmer of how wise and instructive her book is--and don't be fooled--as Walia states in the interview, "The thing that's always weird about writing is that everything gets ascribed to one person and what I'm saying isn't new. It comes across as different pieces of analysis put together but certainly it's a mix of other people writing."

Harsha Walia on the phone 3 24 14

In fact, aside from citations of others' writing, the book has a host of contributors: Yogi Acharya, Carmen Aguirre, Tara Atluri, Annie Banks, Mel Bazil, Nazila Bettache, Adil Charkaoui, Yen Chu, Karen Cocq, Jessica Danforth, Ruby Smith Diaz, Nassim Elbardouh, Craig Fortier, Harjap Grewal, Mostafa Henaway, Freda Huson, Syed Khalid Hussan, Jane Kirby, Aylwin Lo, Karla Lottini, Alex Mah, Robyn Maynard, Graciela Flores Mendez, Cecily Nicholson, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Toghestiy, Sozan Savehilaghi, Mac Scott, Lily Shinde, and Rafeef Ziadah.

According to AKPress.org, "Undoing Border Imperialism combines academic discourse, lived experiences of displacement, and movement-based practices into an exciting new book. By reformulating immigrant rights movements within a transnational analysis of capitalism, labor exploitation, settler colonialism, state building, and racialized empire, it provides the alternative conceptual frameworks of border imperialism and decolonization. Drawing on the author’s experiences in No One Is Illegal, this work offers relevant insights for all social movement organizers on effective strategies to overcome the barriers and borders within movements in order to cultivate fierce, loving, and sustainable communities of resistance striving toward liberation. The author grounds the book in collective vision, with short contributions from over twenty organizers and writers from across North America."

Walia writes for the movement and it shows. Her clear and informative style make the information presented easily digestible. She starts out naming the problem: border imperialism. Then she breaks down how No One Is Illegal - Vancouver (Indigenous Coast Salish territories) has fought against border imperialism with very concrete examples. The section after that is an amazing look at everyday practices that members of NOII utilize as well as the importance building relationships. Another wonderful chapter is a roundtable where questions are posed to many different organizers in Canada. Between each chapter are short essays and/or poems from folks who have experienced the brunt of border imperialism. This book is packed with knowledge, wisdom, and collective power.