[nettime-lat] *Report from Borderhack 2.0 (day 1)*

[cristine wang <cristinewang@yahoo.com>]

Report from Borderhack 2.0 (day 1)
by Cristine Wang

day 1:
arrived in Playas de Tijuana with Jenny Marketou
(artist of "Translocal: Camp in My Tent"
project), we got lost at the border, so we
emailed Fran Ilich (director of Borderhack) from
my cellphone which has a webconnection (for some
reason i think they scramble the mobile network
once you cross the border, so you cannot
communicate, send or receive phone calls on your
mobile)--luckily the web saved us, i told fran to
call Jenny's number, and finally we found our
way.

met w/ fran ilich (conceptualiser of borderhack),
luis humberto rosales (organiser of borderhack),
cindy flores (organiser of cyberfeministas panel)
as soon as we got to playas de tijuana, there was
only a fax machine, cables everywhere, phone/data
lines strewn on the floor next to the
lighthouse--but we could call anywhere in the
world...it was like the communications
headquarters, like setting up a military camp,
with means of transmitting information, data out
of the camp, and receiving from the rest of the
world...

there were some workshops going on in lean-to's;
but day 1 was mostly setting up the
infrastructure, as most of the participants
arrived the next day...

we went down on the beach where the tents were
being set up, next to the 10' high metal wall
dividing the first and third world...

on the other side, the american side, were 2
border patrol cars, waiting and ready for
action...it seemed a fairly benign situation,
seagulls flying freely between the two
geopolitical territories, unaware of the presence
of this defining line...couples were strolling
hand in hand along the beach, and vendors were
selling their brightly colored wares; but in the
midst of all this, i spotted someone squeezed
through between the gap in the wall, and i said
to myself--it can't be---this person can't be
attempting to cross the border in broad daylight!
and with the 2 border patrols waiting, crouching
to pounce--but in a blink of an instant, i saw 2
men running across the sand dunes up the beach,
only to be caught by the u.s. border patrol; and
handcuffed--then put into the patrol cars...!

since indymedia crew was filming this, i thought
to myself, maybe this was all staged? but then it
can't be, so i asked 2 locals why did they do it?
and their response was: "...even for one instant,
their wish was simply to touch freedom and 'the
american dream' on the other side..."

the day ended with electronic music crossing both
borders, as sound was easier to pass the border
patrol, it was hosted by gabriel of club orbit.

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relevant links:

http://la.indymedia.org
http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/ecd.html
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/beaumont/border_crossing/Border_Crossing.html
http://artcontext.com/act/01/USers
http://fakeshop.com/90N/index3.html
http://www.geocities.com/firstpulseproj/Borderhack.html
http://www.name-space.org/
http://www.tribes.org
http://ova.zkm.de/perl/ova-raplayer?id=998511570&base=ova.zkm.de
http://users.rcn.com/laporta.interport/bordercam/bordercam.html
http://www.metamute.com/
http://www.cellspace.org/
http://cristine.org/borders/Jenny.html
http://cristine.org/borders/Emil.html
http://de-lete.tv/borderhack
http://cristine.org/borders


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