#containerwall — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #containerwall, aggregated by home.social.
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Back last winter when I was photographing the #ContainerWall in southern Arizona, most conversations about the future or the San Rafael Valley section of the border seemed pretty unanimous that Biden would try to build more wall there at some point. Or, if not Biden, whoever the next president is, R or D. They all want it.
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I was visiting relatives (nice liberal Democrats) recently who watch CNN. I wanted to scream at the TV when reporters talked about the "crisis" at the U.S-Mexico border. Watching mainstream media, it is entirely understandable why no one understands the situation.
I now spend most of my year in the desert 30 miles from Mexico, doing desert aid (e.g. water drops on migrant trails) and, this winter, covering protests against the #ContainerWall. Every time I think I...kinda?...understand the border dynamics, I learn something new that torques my previous assumptions. So, I don't blame people who are not immersed in this for not understanding it.
But the way issues are framed by MSM are almost designed to lead to a sense of panic or a sense that this is too complex to understand. It's the result of a mix of ideological preconceptions, lazy reporting and the demands of fast-paced, ad-supported, corporate-profit-driven media.
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My story on the #ContainerWall will probably never feel done, but it's done for now until I feel like going back to edit more and add more side stories as blog posts. This image is from the "Coda" I wrote after the wall had been removed. I felt the need to articulate a larger context for activists.
There is no way to sustain a system of such gross inequity where (if you believe the Border Patrol's numbers; I don't), a shipping container full of goods and materials comes into the U.S. through or from Mexico for every 4 people who come here through or from Mexico without documentation. It's probably closer to 2 people per shipping container full of goods and raw materials.
Those numbers tell a much bigger story of injustice that needs to be addressed.
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Just got back from this event. If I can make time tomorrow, I'll write up a short piece with photos. About two dozen people showed up. It was lovely, and also lovely to be there when it was warm for a change. It was cold in mid-December when we were all camped there.
The #ContainerWall is gone, but "they", whichever administration, will eventually try to build a more permanent wall across the San Rafael Valley and anywhere else they didn't get one up the first round.
This time, there is a big commitment to stopping them. They will need a bigger jail.
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For more background on the #ContainerWall and the protests that stopped it, I wrote an extensive story with lots of pictures! https://mikaljakubal.com/container-wall-protest
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If you're in #Arizona, there's a celebration/rally this Sunday at the former #ContainerWall #protest campsite. It's a good excuse to come see this beautiful area and learn about this successful protest campaign.
Please share widely. -
I'm learning more than I ever expected about the San Pedro River and have been spending tons of time in the area. Part of its headwaters is the SW side of the Huachuca Mountains, where the #ContainerWall blocked some of its seasonal tributaries.
It flows northward from Mexico, east of the Huachuca, Whetstone, Rincon and Santa Catalina mountains and then into the Gila River. From there, it flows in to Phoenix where it is never heard from again.
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I've allocated this gorgeous day to staying inside to do 1 (one) of The Big Things on my list. I've narrowed it down to two:
Completely rework/finish my #ContainerWall story on my photo website (it's now a hodge podge of material tossed there as the story progressed);
Or fix/redesign the front page and site-wide nav on my business site (both front page and nav are a mess right now).
*flips coin*
"No, not that one."
*flips coin*
No, not that one either.Maybe a bike ride instead?
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I'm briefly quoted in this story about people organizing, fighting back and stopping the #ContainerWall along the southern Arizona border.
I'm still working on my longer photo journal story about it, but I do have lots of photos and some words on my website already.
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The last ten stacks of containers along the #ContainerWall as of late morning yesterday, January 30th.
I just received word this evening (Jan 31st) that the last containers were removed today, ending the saga of the container border wall. At least in Arizona.
Texas has since used the tactic along the border near El Paso. The insanity never stops.
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One of the last containers heads to the staging area where it will be loaded onto a flatbed trailer and hauled out. At this point, I don't know where they're going. The former container lot near Whetstone, AZ is mostly empty.
Note I'm in Mexico shooting this, just behind the barbed wire cattle fence. The "Normandy barrier" was built in the early 2000s. Protesters have vowed to stop any new walls through this area. Stay tuned.
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One of the last containers heads to the staging area where it will be loaded onto a flatbed trailer and hauled out. At this point, I don't know where they're going. The former container lot near Whetstone, AZ is mostly empty.
Note I'm in Mexico shooting this, just behind the barbed wire cattle fence. The "Normandy barrier" was built in the early 2000s. Protesters have vowed to stop any new walls through this area. Stay tuned.
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One of the last containers heads to the staging area where it will be loaded onto a flatbed trailer and hauled out. At this point, I don't know where they're going. The former container lot near Whetstone, AZ is mostly empty.
Note I'm in Mexico shooting this, just behind the barbed wire cattle fence. The "Normandy barrier" was built in the early 2000s. Protesters have vowed to stop any new walls through this area. Stay tuned.
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One of the last containers heads to the staging area where it will be loaded onto a flatbed trailer and hauled out. At this point, I don't know where they're going. The former container lot near Whetstone, AZ is mostly empty.
Note I'm in Mexico shooting this, just behind the barbed wire cattle fence. The "Normandy barrier" was built in the early 2000s. Protesters have vowed to stop any new walls through this area. Stay tuned.
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One of the last containers heads to the staging area where it will be loaded onto a flatbed trailer and hauled out. At this point, I don't know where they're going. The former container lot near Whetstone, AZ is mostly empty.
Note I'm in Mexico shooting this, just behind the barbed wire cattle fence. The "Normandy barrier" was built in the early 2000s. Protesters have vowed to stop any new walls through this area. Stay tuned.
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I want to point out that if I hadn't been there on multiple trips like this and gone to this crazy amount of effort, no one would have known about the hydraulic spill. There would also be no photos or videos of the month-long #ContainerWall removal project despite the fact that it is a public contract on public land, costing Arizona taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Here's a photo of the hydraulic oil leak from #ContainerWall contractor AshBritt's excavator used to move the containers. You can see it blasting out near the top of the arm and pouring off the bottom and puddling on the ground.
Local enviro groups are demanding that the Forest Service investigate and ensure the company does a thorough hazmat cleanup. (Because you know they won't otherwise.)
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Well, you win some you lose some. This was supposed to be the last day of the #ContainerWall. I'm on the Mexico side of the border and had my camera set up on a tripod for a time-lapse of the last dozen or so stacks of containers being hauled out. But just after I got set up, one of their giant excavators blew a hydraulic line. Looks like they're calling it a day. It's chilly, but sunny here today, but snow and rain predicted for tomorrow. So I am out.
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Just got word that tomorrow really is likely the last day of the #ContainerWall. I'm so tired today. The thought of a 4-hour drive tonight, camping in my truck in the cold and then flying my drone at dawn is...exhausting. But, I've come this far, so I might as well carry on one more day, right?
To paraphrase Darth Vader, "The sunk cost fallacy is strong in this one."
In the meantime, here are two close ups of a container wall worker. I'm only going to use one. Which do you prefer? Poll —>
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People have crossed this land for millennia. They will always cross this land.
This is an orphan segment of Trump-era border fence, from the Mexican side, at Monument 102.
The last section of the #ContainerWall is being dismantled in the San Rafael Valley below. Like the container wall, this should also be torn down.
#Border security is a racist fairy tale. It is not possible without global security. You can't fence your way to justice or wall your way to peace and stability.
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As always, lots more #ContainerWall photos on my site https://mikaljakubal.com/container-wall-protest
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Huachuca Mountains and #ContainerWall from Mexico.
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The #ContainerWall is almost gone. As of the end of work yesterday, January 27th, there were about four dozen container stacks left to go. The crew starts work before dawn and ends about 2-3pm. Oddly, yesterday the dismantling crew left at 10am, so I didn't get many pictures of that part of the work.
This is the view from near Coronado Peak just at dawn.
It's hard to tell when they'll be done, but for sure sometime this coming week. Good riddance.
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Reviewing the photos from yesterday, eh, it's a mix. I got some of what I wanted, but not exactly. I'll have to back for one more dusty-road series.
This pic shows the road out of the National Forest just after dawn and the massive dust clouds that fill the San Rafael Valley as caravans of trucks haul the containers out.
I'm guessing the wall will be completely gone in 10-14 days. I'll keep shooting till then.
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This was on the way back from photographing the #ContainerWall from the start of the Arizona Trail, at the U.S.-Mexico border, below Montezuma Pass. I was hiking back up the trail in the dark and had to stop and photograph a timelapse of this view. (This, by the way, is a very cropped version of the original.) The wind was blasting, so I had to hand-brace the tripod to steady it. Some of the shots are blurry anyway.
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Camping out near the #ContainerWall tonight so I can be along the road where the trucks are hauling the containers out at first light. I have several shots on my list, then I'll go to the edge of the closure and fire up my drone and get some aerial photos of the dismantling work.
Temperature tonight is supposed to be 26°F 🥶🥶
No one can say I am not dedicated! My guess is the last container will be gone in about two weeks. I'll be making more Mexico trips and more drone flights.
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A video of the dismantling of the #ContainerWall along the U.S.-Mexico border on Jan. 10th from Mexico. The barbed wire fence and "Normandy barrier" is a few feet on the U.S. side of the border line.
From here, these containers will be unstacked and eventually transported to a storage yard near Whetstone, AZ.
This is what the Forest Service and contractor AshBritt have gone out of their way to prohibit the public from seeing — but they can't stop me from going to Mexico to film it.
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Dragging the last section of #ContainerWall in this section up to a flatter spot where there containers will be unstacked. they will then be hauled to the staging area where they will be reloaded onto smaller trailers and hauled out of the National Forest to a storage yard. This was January 10th. There was about two miles of wall to be removed at that point. I had to go through Mexico for this shot. The Forest Service has denied all access to media, enviro groups or anyone but the contractors.
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Lots of new #ContainerWall photos up on my website. If you've seen the earlier ones, scroll down to the "Dismantling of the Container Wall" headline. That's where the new photos start. I wouldn't bother reading the text, since I needed to hack something out quickly and will edit it better later. But it gives an explanation of what I've had to go through to get these shots.
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Lordt I hope someone ever actually needs the alt text on my website photos. I finished editing about 20 of them and was going to spend the afternoon adding them to my #ContainerWall story on my website. Captions are easy, but alt text takes a while, since I like to try to be fairly descriptive. Hours later, I'm finally ready to start uploading the photos. I'll link when I get them done later.
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The #ContainerWall from Mexico on January 10th at dawn. Because the Coronado National Forest has closed the work site and prohibited anyone entry into the area, I and others have made the long trip through Mexico and cross-country to the site to document the dismantling of the wall and removal of the containers.
The Forest Service is acting like they have something to hide—but they really don't! And if they did, this photo shows that we'd see it anyway. The security guard was chill.
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The #ContainerWall this morning. If you look way out past the end of the wall, you can see the strip of dirt where more containers used to be. It's likely to take them 2-3 more weeks to finish removing all the containers. The predicted rain over the next several days may hamper work for a while.
The Coronado National Forest let this happen without interfering, but now will not allow environmentalists or any media — independent or credentialed — into the area to document the removal.
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The #ContainerWall loading area from above, just after dawn this morning.
The containers are dismantled from the wall a mile and a half away, loaded onto massive 8-wheel drive military flatbeds, brought here, unloaded and then reloaded onto gooseneck flatbed trailers pulled by large pickup trucks. They are taken about 50 miles away to a storage yard near Whetstone, AZ.
#drone #photography -
4/ Understand that this official press event is at the same place every week: a staging area where the shipping containers from the #ContainerWall are being loaded on to trucks as the wall is being dismantled elsewhere. It's the same scene every week and is far from where the rest of the work is being done. I wish more media would start asking hard questions about why no one is allowed to watch what they're doing.
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December 16 Ocelot Camp #ContainerWall protest update! We still have a great turn out and support is building. At this point, it looks like we have permanently stopped this phase of construction just by being here ready to blockade.
The next phase will be making sure that this travesty wall is not replaced by another "official" one.