Director’s Blog: Without Borders – what does that mean?

Recently, I received a message from a supporter, expressing the concern that Musicians Without Borders “may – in practice – have certain ‘borders'”, as we had not also written about Israeli children’s music life since October 2023.

By now, I know quite a lot about the history, also the recent history, of Israel, of Palestine and the Palestinians, of Gaza, and now of the US/ Israeli initiated war with Iran. And I could answer this message in those terms. But that is too easy, I prefer to address the unasked question behind the writer’s assumptions.

So what, actually, do we mean by ‘without borders’? Let’s start with what borders are.

Most borders in our world today were actually drawn by western (European) military powers. Think of the Berlin conference of 1884-85, when 14 European powers divided Africa up into ‘states’ to be ruled by those same Europeans – literally drawing straight lines on a map of a continent they had never seen. Or think of the Sykes-Pycot agreement of 1916, when Britain and France divided West Asia – the so-called “Middle East” – into other artificially drawn ‘nations’, to be controled by Britain and France, for their own financial gain and political influence.

And think of some of the genocides that have gone with the drawing of borders:

The genocide by the British of Aboriginal people in Australia and Maori people of New Zealand, and of indigenous peoples of South Asia. The genocide of millions of native people in North and South America by white-Europeans, expanding borders ever westward for dominance and profit. The mass murder by the Dutch of indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia for their spices, and by Germans, Belgians, Portuguese, British and French in Africa for its gold, minerals, oil and other resources. The Armenian genocide, perpetrated by the Ottomans in the early 20th century for land and regional dominance. And, so relevant today – the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by European Zionist settlers at the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, still ongoing today in what every respectable human rights expert and organization agrees – is a genocide.

These criminal historical events still largely define the borders that define today’s nations.

My critic seems to think that ‘without borders’ simply means that we accept these unjust borders that define illegitimate power behind militarily drawn lines, and make equivalencies between those with power and resources, and those without.

No.

Without Borders says that we do not accept these phony lines drawn to exploit, steal and oppress. We do not accept a world that is divided and patrolled, enforcing the privilege of some at the expense of the rest.

Without Borders rejects the vision of a world in which some people are allowed human rights, and others are not.

Without Borders stands for a world in which being human guarantees the right to human rights, no matter who you are, where you live, what your ethnicity, skin color, religion, or belief is.

We are not stupid, naive or uninformed, and we do know something about the state of the world today. We know that some ‘states’ have overwhelming (military, political, financial) power, and others have little or none; that some people live in privilege, while most people have neither privilege nor rights, and that that is a single, intertwined dynamic. We know that overwhelming military power stands on the side of the privileged, still the heritage of those colonial years of white-European domination, of conquer and exploitation. We know of today’s neo-colonial expressions of the same power differential: still stealing resources, buying off politicians, distributing profit to its own lackeys while impoverishing most of the world population. While the concepts of ‘colonialism’ and ‘imperialism’ are no longer approved of in polite society, we know that today’s world is still dominated by neo-colonial empires, even while cloaking themselves in the language of ‘equality’, ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’. And we know that it will take a long, hard time to change that system in any significant way. So Without Borders says something about what we strive for.

Without Borders says that we, as humans – we, as musicians – do not accept those power differentials. That we know that the struggle for peace in the world cannot be waged without a simultaneous struggle for justice. That those of us living in relative privilege and safety must stand in solidarity with people denied exactly those things by our own ‘leaders’ and governments.

For a while, it felt a bit silly – calling ourselves ‘without borders’. But now, thinking again about all the other ‘without borders’ organizations – from doctors to reporters to engineers to clowns (yes!) – it feels more like a shared vision that offers some hope to humanity. And without a vision, there is nowhere to go. If enough of us stand together with our fellows around the world – all those doctors, reporters, engineers, clowns, and musicians – perhaps we can sow the real seeds of change that our planet so desperately needs.

So no, ‘without borders’ does not mean that we see the situation of people in concentration camps as ‘equal’ to those guarding the walls around those camps, shooting at the children inside those camps.

It means that we stand for justice, in solidarity with those denied the massive privileges of today’s world order, on behalf of a world in which borders no longer define us.

Laura Hassler
Musicians Without Borders