'Borderhack' Festival a Call to Action

http://www.zdtv.com/zdtv/cybercrime/hackingandsecurity/story/0,9955,10407,00.html

Hackers and activists gather in Tijuana to protest violence and draw

parallels between physical and electronic borders.

By Annaliza Savage

September 6, 2000

PLAYAS DE TIJUANA, Mexico. Activists from across North America descended on

the border between the first and third world, protesting the inequalities

and dangerous conditions that would-be Mexican immigrants face. Borderhack,

a three-day event that took place over Labor Day weekend, promoted

hacktivism as a means of protest.

Playas de Tijuana, or Tijuana Beach, is an unlikely setting for one of the

world's most heavily guarded borders - or for a three-day protest that

emphasized civil disobedience. The festival was held on the beach.

Beach-goers sun themselves and vendors peddle balloons and cotton candy.

Shacks sell coconuts. 'Those names on the fence are there for a reason, and

the reason is that people are dying, some are children.'

-- Luis Humberto Rosales, festival organizer

Next to all this beauty, however, a massive wall protrudes from the ocean

and extends across the US-Mexico border. Along the wall, the desperately

poor line up looking for a way into the country. On the other side, a small

stretch of desert is punctuated by the tall buildings of San Diego

glistening in the sun. Parked on the US side is the border patrol, looking

rather bored. (This may change when the sun goes down, as most attempted

border-crossings happen after dark.) A group of dolphins is spotted in the

crystal blue ocean. They pass from Mexico into the United States. No one

asks for their papers.

Take a closer look at the fence and you'll see row after row of names, all

of them in Spanish. "Those names on the fence are there for a reason, and

the reason is that people are dying, some are children, two or five years of

age," said festival organizer Luis Humberto Rosales. "We're not trying to

say that borders are bad or wrong, we are trying to show people what's going

on."

Hacking for change

"We don't want to destroy the border, only to make us conscious of it,"

festival organizers wrote in the Borderhack Manifesto. "In the world of

computers, hacking is understood as the penetration, exploration, or

investigation of a system with the goal of understanding it, not of

destroying it, and that is exactly what we are trying to do." 'The hacker

and the activist are very intertwined.'

-- Lucas, festival organizer

Borderhack is an extension of Documenta X, a festival of musicians, artists,

and human-rights supporters that was held on the border between Germany and

Poland in 1998 to express outrage toward the treatment of illegal

immigrants. Borderhack's organizers decided to take the principles behind

Documenta X and bring them to Mexican soil.

The aim of the event was to use technology and activism to bring attention

to the border crisis as well as to bring hackers and activists together. The

organizers see hacking and activism as a natural combination.

"Hacking is nothing if it's just for kicks or ego, all activists need to

learn how to hack!" said Lucas, a festival organizer. "It's a powerful tool.

The hacker and the activist are very intertwined. I don't know why it's been

taking so long to come together. They're made for each other."

nos vemos en el futuro.

ilich.

http://neuroticos.com/borderhack

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