Fence Discrimination Defense - Essay Example

Fences, or the concept of them, have been around as long as life has been. The concept is not one which is unique to human civilization; after all what is territorial behavior in animals but a form of fencing in Even the cell, the basic unit of life, is fenced in by a membrane that keeps it intact and prevents its contents being lost. However human society has taken the idea of a fence to limits that cannot be condoned or tolerated. We use barriers in ways that deprive others of basic rights, in fact deprive them of even the right to call themselves human. This is not merely a practice of less "civilized" times or cultures, but one that exists even today in the 21st century, in some countries that pride themselves on being progressive and modern. The fences we put up are getting bigger, more inhuman and harder to overcome. It is the argument of this paper that these fences should not be allowed to exist, that we should not fence people in, whether the context is moral, social or cultural. Dr. Christina Kochemidova , in her article The Culture of the Fence: Artifacts and Meanings, brings up the various contexts a fence can be looked at. A fence can be used in many ways; as a bar, or barrier, to prevent ingress or to prevent escape. Alternatively it can be used as simply a marker, to demarcate a boundary. More often, fences are used as a division and increasingly as a means of control. These sorts of fences are invisible; they exist as rules, laws, and attitudes. This is also noted by Naomi Klein in her article Don' Fence Us In. There are numerous examples of this; racism, privatization and property rights are the most prevalent. These create barriers that are incredibly difficult to overcome. Man may have originally have used the fence to demarcate, but over the centuries it has evolved into more; a protective barrier, in one way, to keep the "other" out. The other can be anyone we perceive as a threat, or conversely anyone we wish to control. The fence as a control measure is frightening. This avatar is especially clear in the case of racism Racism is universal. Whether it manifests itself as the oppression and slavery of blacks in the United States, or as hatred of Pakistanis and Muslims in Norway, or the conflict between Hindus and Muslims in India and Pakistan, the common factor is the segregation and separation of two peoples based on the belief of the inherent superiority of one over the other. In fact, the word "apartheid" was created from the Afrikaans word for "separate"; the whole concept of a fence lies in that word. Racism has been responsible for some of the most horrible atrocities ever committed; the Holocaust, the slavery of blacks. In the United States, prior to the Civil War, Blacks were not even allowed the right to be citizens of the country; they were not even given the right to be considered human. Segregation in the south of the country took the form of separate facilities for everything including transport and housing. Even when they were finally recognized under the Constitution, they were still educated separately under the guise of "separate but equal" schools under the law. This sort of segregation is a fence. It separates and empowers one group, and suppresses another as is evidenced by the example given above. Denying an ethnic group the status of "human" is one of the most horrific fences that can be put up. This status was used to control the blacks and keep them "in their place". Denied education, proper housing, denied their very independence, the blacks were successfully controlled by these fences that kept them exactly where they were wanted. Education became an extremely important way to break out of these barriers. However, as noted by Hansman et al, education itself is prone to racist overtones. They remark that in many multicultural institutions, the structure of the work is planned around the majority culture, thereby leading to the ineffectual training of minority groups. Institutional factors therefore have a role in maintaining racial prejudice. Another example of racial barriers is in Norway, where the prejudice against Muslims leads to their subjugation as "immigrants". Subtle rules and laws thus are applicable to them and result in their further segregation. In a slight twist, in France, where there has recently been legislation preventing the wearing of veils and turbans, racial prejudice rears its head in a way that , though apparently meant to integrate, can also create a barrier to the practicing of ones religion or faith. A fence can not just separate, therefore, but control a people's right to their individuality, to their culture. Cultural barriers of this sort clearly infringe on one of the most basic human rights; that of practicing ones own culture and religion. Another major issue that creates fences is the one of privatization. Privatization is currently under great debate. Though it is meant to increase quality of goods and is economically favored by many governments in developed countries, in developing countries, privatization often equates to foreign control and therefore subjugation (Starr, The Meaning of Privatisation). Privatization of things like drinking water leads to situations wherein drinking water is no longer available to the poor of that country. Multinational corporations hike up the prices of bottled water, and the poor are forced into drinking unsanitised water, leading to increases in diseases like cholera and dysentery. Economic barriers like this and those created by trade - related intellectual property rights cause severe deprivation in developing countries. The Monsanto agreement for example prevents farmers from distributing their seeds, and in fact even from replanting their seeds (Klein, Monsanto). In an amendment to the Monsanto agreement, there is now a clause that prevents farmers from being granted financial remuneration if the seeds are defective and do not perform. With legal barriers like this to making a living how can one be expected to survive or prosper Patenting of things like ideas and natural substances also prevent people from accessing such basic things as affordable medical care. With the patenting of substances found in herbs, companies can raise prices of drugs made utilizing these substances and therefore put out of reach cures that could help thousands of people. More, it can prevent the use of those natural resources. People will literally be within a hands breadth from help and be unable to utilize it. If they do, they will be prosecuted. The invisible barriers put up by legalities such as the ones presented above are far more detrimental to people than the physical ones we put up. A fence is meant to shut out or shut in. It can be a deterrent or a protective device. All too often however we tend to use it to keep the other out; out of the good life, out of things that we consider them unworthy of. The excuse that we are merely protecting ourselves does not hold when we consider the examples given above. Can we really justify the exclusion of people from medical care, from education and water In many of these cases, physical fences are put up as well, for example, the wall erected by Israel to keep Palestinians out, on the excuse that it is keeping terrorists out. Hundreds of Palestinians are deprived of education in this manner. Physical barriers like the fence on the Mexican border ostensibly keep out illegal immigrants. Many of them are simply looking for a better life, one which they cannot access in their own country because of laws which also hinder them from such a life. This was also seen in Germany when many East Berliners tried to escape into West Berlin, digging ditches under the physical wall which existed to separate them, finally tearing it down. The fall of that wall represented the victory of the spirit, a new hope. Unfortunately, with patents and property rights on ideas, we face newer and higher walls to scale. These will not be so easily broken down. Fences not only shut out, they shut in as well. This is especially evident in the concept of purdah for women in Islam and also in some sections of Hindu society in India. Rules laid down, ostensibly by the Koran, prevent a woman from being seen in society without being covered in a burqa. They shut her in, preventing her from being seen and thereby also taking away her right to choose her own clothes, her own life and personality. Though this is not strictly enforced in all Muslim cultures, where it is, there is a definite barrier to a woman's freedom. Unfortunately, though a fence by itself is actually an innocuous mechanism to protect oneself and ones property, man has come to use it to take over other peoples rights by actively preventing them from things that are theirs as well. Originally a fence was simply meant to demarcate, a capitalist invention, in many ways. But now, it has been used ruthlessly. Globalisation, a concept that apparently seems to break down fences between nations and cultures, actually helps reinforce it by helping multinational companies to infiltrate and take over local custom, and then once they have a foothold in the market they take it over, leading to the exclusion of many smaller companies and the eventual prevention of any other competitors. Where a fence infringes on the rights of another human being, whether it is shutting in or shutting out, it is not a protective device. It is suppression and should not be allowed to exist. Though it can (and no doubt will ) be argued that fences are very necessary to protect ourselves, we should realize that more often than not we create fences not to protect ourselves so much as to prevent other people from having what we have. In terms of basic human rights, this is simply not acceptable. Protection is one thing, exclusion is another. In fact, by excluding people from the things we all need, we only exacerbate the problem, and result in having to erect bigger and bigger fences, only this time of the physical variety. REFERENCES 1. Gullestad, Marianne; Invisible Fences: Egalitarianism, Nationalism and Racism, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 2002;8 (1):45-63, 2002 2. Hansman, C.; Spence, L.; Grant, D., Jackson M.; Beyond diversity: Dismantling barriers in Education; Journal of Instructional Psychology, March 1999, www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCG/is_1_26/ai_62980765 3. Klein, Naomi; Don' Fence Us In; www.zmag.org/content/Economy/Klein_fence.cfm 4. Kotchemidova Christina, The Culture of the Fence: Artifacts and Meanings; www.nyu.edu/pubs/counterblast/fence.htm 5. Starr, Paul; The Meaning of Privatisation; www.princeton.edu/starr/meaning.html - 6. Monsanto Technology Agreement 1998; www.mindfully.org/GE/Monsanto-Technology-Agreement-1998.htm . 7. Trade -related property rights, access to medicines and human rights - Morocco. www.3dthree.org/pdf_3D/3DCESCRMorocco_April06Eng.pdf. 8. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Rights_Movement -htm Read More