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The Globalising Wall

Fences have a longstanding relation both with liberal individualism and imperialism. But it was only after 1945 that walls took over from fences, with an unprecedented determination to divide. They spread like a bushfire from Berlin to Palestine, from the tablelands of Kashmir to the villages of Cyprus, from the Korean peninsula to the streets of Belfast. When the Cold War ended, we were told to expect their collapse. Instead, they grew taller, more impenetrable, longer. They began resembling a mighty Wall. They globalised. Their spectre is upon us from the West Bank to Kosovo, from the streets of Baghdad to the favelas of Rio, from the killing fields of old Ethiopia to the US-Mexico border. Globalisation was meant as their death knell, only it ended up strengthening them.

  • Why?
  • What are the forces sustaining this Globalising Wall?
  • How does it feel to live in its shadow?

These questions emerged as part of an art project which led us, Danae Stratou and myself, to travel to seven of the world’s most notorious dividing lines. What follows is a mix of political economy, travel log, and photographs the purpose of which is to capture the ‘logic’, role and essence of the sharp, cruel divisions permeating a globalising world.

Biographies of Yanis Varoufakis and Danae Stratou

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