I hate fences...

“To one who builds it, a fence is an image of safety, of security, of things being kept where they belong. Yet a person who feels safe, or secure, doesn’t bother building fences at all. And so a fence, or a wall, or a security barrier, is equally an image of gnawing insecurity, made tangible, in brick and razor wire.

Do fences really make good neighbours? We’ll find out soon enough!” – Adbusters Aug 2006

This quote has been gnawing away in the back of my mind since I read it. I think the question deserves an answer. Do fences make good neighbours?

It seems that just about everywhere we go, there is some sort of fence in the way. Whether it be made of the afore mentioned brick and razor wire, or perhaps less tangible, like a social barrier.

I remember when the Berlin wall came down. The entire world hung on that moment. Strangely that was a fence designed more so to keep people in, rather than to keep people out. When it came down, the world seemed like a little bit of a better place, like perhaps for a moment a blow had been struck. People had had enough and took matters into their own hands. It was a powerful moment in modern history.

Then, in less than 20 years, it seems like we live in a time that is becoming more hopeless. It’s as if that wall never fell. In fact, fences are going up all over the world at a near break neck pace.

If we look at the current (and very confusing) conflict between Israel and Palestine (As well as Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Hezbollah etc.) we find another physical wall constructed. It could not be more deliberate either. The differences of culture, wealth, and power are illuminated very clearly by the physical manifestation of hatred and frustration. A big fucking wall. One side is wealthy, and desperate to protect itself, and the other has tired of being displaced and treated like an under class.

On this side of the world we have a big wall too. It used to be the world’s largest unprotected border. That is not the case anymore. Now there are platoons of terrified hillbillies and their ilk, watching with vigilance over the border. (In addition to both Canadian and American Immigration authorities.)

Do these walls help? Likely not. I’m convinced they lie to us. Sometimes they imply safety where there is none. Other times they just add fuel to an already raging fire. Perhaps it makes more sense to remove all the walls, and knock down the fences completely. They don’t seem to be doing any real good.

Maybe all they really do is say “Hey I’m hiding something!” Maybe if we were left out in the open, it would be a lot harder to ignore the troubles staring us right in the face. To me a fence is just another tool of denial. If I can’t see it, it must not be there. Maybe on a Nation state scale it shields the populace from a sense of shame or guilt.
Wouldn’t it be better if you could turn to your neighbour and see what their world is really like? It’s a lot harder to be hostile when you understand those who surround you. The barriers that exist only serve to prevent us from ever being able to stand level footed with those who live on the other side.

How can you ever hope to communicate when there is something in the way?