Undoing Borders: A Queer Manifesto – A Review
Reading ‘Undoing Border: A Queer Manifesto’ is an inspirational read which talks about the legal restrictions and dangers that immigrants face on almost a daily basis. The US/Mexico No Borders Camp of 2007 brought together 10 members of HAVOQ or Horizontal Alliance of Very Organized Queers who represented the “Migrant Justice Working Group”. Through common consensus, they decided to raise their voice against the violence and imperializing of immigrants by developing a manifesto called “Undoing Borders: A Queer Manifesto”. Written in 2011, it is a working document and, thus, gives way to inputs and updates.
First and foremost, it is important to understand the relation between queers and immigration, and to comprehend the context behind the use of the terminology. The HAVOQ members in their manifesto attempt to broaden the scope of the word “queer” to include the complexities that are involved in a person’s identity, yet there are differences that pose as virtual borders between them. The authors want to do away with categorization of immigrants as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Further, they want to abolish the assumed notion of ‘family’ that people have in their minds and to broaden it to include the ideas of asexuality, polyamorous and homosexuality. As is mentioned in the manifesto the coming together of the United States in itself was a long-drawn process of oppression of different classes of societies in different times. There is the mention of slavery of labor force and violence against farmers which constitute three of the faces of oppression mentioned by Iris Marion Young, i. e. , violence, exploitation and powerlessness. Even the free trade agreements that were deployed brought about oppression in the form of marginalization of people because the heavy militarization prevented them the easy access to jobs across borders as given in the manifesto “militarization is tied to free trade agreements because it works to trap vulnerable workforces on both sides of the border while granting freedom of movement to capital”. These people are not tormented merely because of their will to cross the border but also because of prevalent homophobia, classism, transphobia and xenophobia. This institutional oppression can be seen as a result of olden days’ imperialistic ideas.
Iris Marion Young segregates oppression into five categories. One of these includes cultural imperialism which in our case is a gateway to most other forms of oppression. Cultural imperialism is the universalisation of the views, experiences and culture of the dominant group and its establishment as a norm, thus, serving as a foundation for further stereotypes against the minorities. The violence propagated against these immigrants isn’t simply because of them trying to cross the border but also appear because of sexism, racism, xenophobia and homophobia that is deep seated in a lot of people’s subconscious. The dominant groups see the emigrant workers as abnormal and inferior. Cultural imperialism is important in the sense that the basic bias in a person’s mind against Mexican migrant workers is developed from here. The authors also argue that the building of walls along the border does not only separate us physically but enhances feelings of hatred and violence towards one another.
Violence is a form of oppression which may be in the form of a threat or direct physical harm. “Members of some groups live with the knowledge that they must fear random, unprovoked attacks on their person or property, which have no motive but to damage, humiliate, or destroy the person. ” This is evident in the manifesto when the authors express their opposition to the criminalisation of aiding immigrants since it causes fear amongst the harbourers. Further the increased police on the borders has led to more deaths rather than a decrease in the number of attempts to cross the border, thus substantially increasing the violence against immigrants. This has been termed as “deterrence by death” by policy workers. [
The deployment of local police as a check on immigrants, operation streamline and ICE raids are all examples of implication of mental violence on these immigrants. Policies such as SB-1070 allows for the authorities to legitimately deport these workers out of the country thus the constant threat of deportation is in the minds of the immigrants. The manifesto also mentions many more policies which are all heavily inclined against the welfare of these workers. These workers are also oppressed by being subject to powerlessness. Powerlessness is the disadvantages that a certain group of people (non-professionals) have because of the authority the professionals or capitalists hold above them, leaving them incapable of individual decision-making abilities and judgement. The initial unprofessional status of workers causes a hindrance in the development of their capabilities because of inaccessibility to facilities such as a college degree. In fact, they are payed less respect as compared to others and there is not much they can do about it because of their status of servitude. The extensive flow of trade between borders because of NAFTA and CAFTA has caused immigrants to be rendered jobless and thus forced them to move to urban cities looking for jobs. As such these policies acted as an authority figure leaving the workers without the option of deciding to stay in their own homes and cities. Operation Gatekeeper was also a key element in this form of restriction. Some policies implemented such as H1 Visas and Guest Worker Programme also enable the employees to dismiss a worker thus causing him to get deported, with no means to reverse or prevent this action. Many a times deportation is used as leverage to make sure the workers don’t complain about the exploitative work conditions. Marginalisation is the complete exclusion of a person from the system of labour itself. Young considers this to be one of the most dangerous forms of oppression because here the potential of an individual lays stagnant and becomes useless. English language being made a prerequisite to get a job causes marginalisation at the very base level.
The manifesto speaks up against this and demand for removal of such English-only workplace legislations. The core belief of the Migrant Justice Working Group has been termed as “fabulosity”. Accepting differences between cultures and inviting overlapping of identities is a moral HAVOQ believes in. They are open to new ideas and inclinations, and further want to promote them by taking steps towards the persistence of a non-hierarchical structure within society therefore attempting to eliminate marginalisation/powerlessness. In an attempt to employ their vision HAVOQ seeks certain reforms which includes an end of medical screening of all individuals entering the border because they feel these are usually sexist or homophobic. This argument could be a controversial slope since the medical testing of any kind of visitor, in my opinion, is necessary to ensure the control of diseases and avoid epidemics. HAVOQ disregards the need of validation from the government in the form of ID cards and want access to documentation regardless of their immigration status.
Additionally, they are supportive of some terms of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which include the protection of queer immigrant workers. Likewise, they consider it to be marginalisation if it is made illegal to be sex workers as they see it as the person’s right to provide for themselves in any means they seem fit. In this arena, they also consider gang employment and drug dealing to be reasonable forms of employment. I disagree with this opinion as it would mean the promotion and propagation of drug usage and gang violence. These evils are as it is rampant amongst youngsters and the free trade of it would mean higher risks of addiction and consumption. Another proposal HAVOQ puts forward is education of the masses, however this is a reform that needs to be brought at the very basic level and thus would present its benefits in the generations to come but would probably not cause much effect for the present situation. Moreover, they have asked for “immediate and unconditional citizenship of all people living within the bounds of the United States as an initial step towards living without criminalization and fear from ICE”. This reform too, I feel, is slightly too extreme given that it would trivialise the concept of citizenship of countries. It would be unjust to others who work towards acquiring of the citizenship. An important issue brought up by HAVOQ is the discrepancy with the Real ID Act. Here, the documentation causes problem for transgender, asexual and pansexual people because of difference of description of gender under different documents, causing them to get deported. It is essential to make sure that such mistakes don’t result in deportation since many a time the forms do not provide for the ‘others’ coulomb under gender.
“Undoing Borders: A Queer Manifesto” is a bold and necessary attempt at shedding light on the problems faced by immigrants from a different perspective. Their expansion of the term queer and dismantling of misconceptions about families is essential as it leads the reader to realise the scope of comprehension that diversity opens up.
