#9 of 30 – Hands

The last post in this series was about handwriting. This time it’s hands themselves. Just a few weeks ago, I travelled into the USA and found myself at US Customs and Border Protection desk in the airport having my fingerprints taken as well as my retina being scanned. It feels weird – like a massive invasion of my privacy, my fingerprints being recorded and kept by another country – and this as a condition of entry to that country. 

I understand the underlying security issues, but throughout my life I have always felt that borders and restrictions on movement are really about the control of the power of elites. By an accident of birth we are dealt our lot, and then that is sustained by the protection of nations through their borders. Many reading this will probably think I am naive, but imagine a world without borders, where we can travel wherever we want to and make gainful employment wherever we want to. 

Instead, we have a world where the wealthy protect ourselves from the poor, through restriction of movement and inhumane refugee and asylum seeker policies. And it’s getting worse.